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Sean Sidky

@ssidky.bsky.social
479 followers 553 following 34 posts

Teaching & writing about American Judaism, Holocaust lit., Yiddish, & Pedagogy | He/him/his

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Reposted by Sean Sidky
Rachel @rachelneedsanap.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I’m playing “Quartet,” a video game in which the ghost of Maimonides (living in a golem) lectures a Nazi about ethics using teachings from the “Shmoneh Perakim.”
Screenshot from “Quartet.” Two sprite-based figures stand in a ruined living room. In the background is a faded memory of Nikolai, a fantasy-Nazi soldier, confronting fantasy-Jews in their home. The figure in the center of the room, facing the player, is named “Maimun,” and is wearing a long robe, a turban, and a medal around his neck, consistent with visual depictions of Maimonides. He is saying “Making the right choice consists of walking the path between excess and deficiency.”
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Blanche K @blanchekolaczek.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Double congrats to all adjunct faculty who have been asked to find solutions, flex, innovate, and show grace continually since 2020 without job security , raises, bonuses, or benefits.
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Open the Gates Gaming @openthegatesgaming.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Check out this Digital Short from @vpm.org on @pbs.org ! Perfect for #AutismAcceptanceMonth @musicologist.bsky.social talks about being #ActuallyAutistic and the origins of OtG. Bonus: we play D&D with @cristobal55.bsky.social ‘s mom! bit.ly/OtGonPBS
Open the Gates Gaming on PBS.org Learn about Autism and the origins of OtG in a Digital Short from Life in the Heart Land Season 33 https://bit.ly/OtGonPBS image of Map and minis, including a beholder, mid-Dungeons and Dragons Game. Logo for OtG in the bottom. Background is purple with pink and orange line drawings of polyhedral dice and stars.
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
So happy to have been part of this! @openthegatesgaming.bsky.social
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
www.idsnews.com/article/2025... Ask me separately about this I got ~~thoughts~~ I was a grad student here, and then a postdoc in this program in 2023-24…
idsnews.com
Jewish Studies director replacement ‘unprecedented,’ students and faculty say
Dean Rick Van Kooten later held a nomination process one faculty member called “symbolic.”
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Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 07/10/2025
yoooooooo go get books from @bookshop.org the ebook of mine & @lollardfish.bsky.social's THE BRIGHT AGES is $1.99!!!!!! bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
bookshop.org
The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe
A New History of Medieval Europe
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Alex Gil @elotroalex.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Sums it up well. newrepublic.com/article/2013...
newrepublic.com
Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down
How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
thecrimson.com
Russian HMS Researcher Detained at Louisiana ICE Facility After Visa Revocation | News | The Harvard Crimson
Harvard Medical School researcher Kseniia Petrova is detained at a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana after her research visa was revoked last month for inadverten...
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Not sure how we decided to end the first day with this panel, but boy did we do great here #Farbindungen25 @farbindungen.bsky.social
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Farbindungen Yiddish Studies Conference @farbindungen.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
#Farbindungen25 Bad Yiddish kicks off this weekend! From Sunday February 2nd - Monday February 3rd come and hear some of most exciting new research in the world of Yiddish Studies! Register at the link in our bio, and we can't wait to see you all there!
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Day 1 of the best conference there is, the Farbindungen Yiddish Studies Conference @farbindungen.bsky.social is rounding out in the most *us* way possible - extremely *not* casual presentation, and readings, of Yiddish lesbian erotic poetry.
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Farbindungen Yiddish Studies Conference @farbindungen.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
#Farbindungen25 Bad Yiddish is in just two weeks! Take a look at the full schedule below to learn more about this year's panels, workshops, and keynote. The conference runs February 2-3. Register here - bit.ly/registerfarbindungen25 Full-text schedule - bit.ly/Farbindungen...
Graphic of schedule for Farbindungen 2025, day 1. A text-only schedule is included in the post above, which includes one line of Yiddish text in Panel 1, but is otherwise written in Roman characters.Graphic of schedule for Farbindungen 2025, day 2.
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 29/12/2024
Why’s the traditional one so FAST??
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
k I just read a like 45pg article about Merovingian & Carolingian hair politics just to learn, finally, that Charles the Bald got his nickname… “somehow, dunno, 🤷🏽‍♀️” (paraphrasing) Just in case anyone else asks the big questions after reading @profgabriele.com and @lollardfish.bsky.social new book
A copy of Oathbreakers by Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry with a post-it note that reads “Charles the bald = not bald??? (Nobody knows??)”
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
More post-its = more good. Great book, highly recommend!!
Picture of the Oathbreakers book sitting on a table + the many l post it note flags I made as I was reading
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
Sometimes it’s even nice stuff — and few feelings are better than getting to introduce a friend to some weird part of the world/internet they didn’t know before.
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
I always like this approach instead of their weird flexes
xkcd.com
Ten Thousand
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
The only possible challenger for the top spot would be Nicole Krauss’ utterly sublime “Zusya on the Roof”
newyorker.com
Zusya on the Roof
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
If anyone sees this I’d love to hear lit or pop culture things that were surprise successes in your classes ( or surprise flops that you’re still committed to bringing back!)
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
Joyfully reminded today of probably the least accessible text I’ve ever tried to share with my students (based on their responses). Adore it though “The Last Day of Betty Nkomo” — Young -Hae Chang Heavy Industries
yhchang.com
THE LAST DAY OF BETTY NKOMO
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
Thank you!!
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
New coffee?? 👀
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
Sitting in a cafe overhearing *another* older white dude arguing for making a Great Books curriculum mandatory. Not uncommon but it feels increasingly ominous at this moment.
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Dr. Rebecca J. Epstein-Levi @rjelevi.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
FYI, Indiana University Press is currently offering 40% off through 12/20 with code UGIFT24. Which means it's a perfect opportunity to #BuyMyBook. A perfect gift for any religion nerds, sex nerds, or people who appreciate #LostGirl shoutouts!
iupress.org
When We Collide
When We Collide is a landmark reassessment of the significance of sex in contemporary Jewish ethics. Rebecca Epstein-Levi offers a fresh and vital exploratio...
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
This is a bad decision. The time I’ve spent writing, talking about, and helping others with diversity statements. theirs has done more to improve my teaching, relationship to teaching, and care for students than any formal pedagogy training I ever had.
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Emily L. Hauser (she/her) ❌👑 @emilylhauser.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
holy fuck "Sorry about that complication in your by-pass surgery. That last hour of anesthesia is on you."
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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
writing is reading one book and three articles to achieve one subordinate clause
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Emily L. Hauser (she/her) ❌👑 @emilylhauser.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
🧵I want to engage with Snyder's On Tyranny but first want to express my admiration. It's an extraordinary distillation of a century of lessons that remain largely unlearned about democracy & fascism into a rigorous & actionable primer on recognizing & confronting American tyranny. Please read it.
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
In the summer of 2011, a New Yorker told me off because I called a subway train “a train”. “That’s not a train, it’s the subway,” they said, as if that was an ok thing to say out loud.
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
It IS really good!
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Saul is a scholar and person I have admired for years. His research is engaged and nuanced; it speaks to the biggest questions in literary studies, Yiddish Studies, Jewish Studies, translation studies, Comparative Literature, and many other fields. Harvard absolutely failed him and themselves.
thecrimson.com
Harvard Denied Its Only Yiddish Professor Tenure. Did the Process Fail Him? | News | The Harvard Crimson
When Yiddish studies professor Saul Noam Zaritt was denied tenure in June at the direction of Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76, Zaritt’s own tenure review committee was stunned. They say Harvard m...
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
“take language from the assembly line”… like… “we should unionize”??
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Oh this looks so cool!
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Highly recommend, if only for a few hours a day
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
And it’ll be a good excuse to start thinking properly about the ridiculous essay idea I had last week where I want to argue that Hallmark’s Hanukkah movies are the most accurate representation of the spirit of the holiday that we have
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Fantastic! I’m excited to bring the book into a future class!
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Do you talk about the Hallmark Hanukkah movies at all?
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
You know if I could, it would be yours!
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
It does suck! I’m sorry you’re in that situation and if I can help in any way just let me know :)
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Heard. It’s a hard space to be in, and there’s no real way to prepare unless we want to prepare for every possible combination of some did the readings and some didn’t. I find myself regularly reminding classes that “I’m working based on the assumption that you read,” but it doesn’t feel great…
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
I had a colleague once who, when the class said they hadn’t done the reading, just replied “I’ll wait.”
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David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
"Like all empires, this one rested on a foundation of lies." #Oathbreakers, out from @harpercollins.bsky.social on 12/10. The story of how Charlemagne's grandsons fought a brutal civil war and shattered the Frankish Empire. SIGNED COPY GIVEAWAY. Repost to enter. First drawing 7 pm CST USA. /1
harpercollins.com
Oathbreakers
The authors of The Bright Ages return with a real-life Game of Thrones—the story of the Carolingian Civil War, a bloody, protracted battle pitting brother against brother, father against son, that wou...
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Shaily Patel @vox-magica.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
“about 61% of core tutorial teaching is done by academics on fixed-term contracts or in hourly-paid roles.” yes, come on journalists, more about adjunctification everywhere. tell people about “elite” institutions.
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Brandy Schillace @bschillace.brandyschillace.com · 16/10/2024
COVER REVEAL! It’s been 3 years in the making, but at long last, I can share THE INTERMEDIARIES! A history of hormones, of #LGBTQ+ and #transrights and the fight of science against Nazi propaganda in the shadow of the Third Reich! Please share! 🧪🗃️ www.amazon.com/Intermediari...
A book cover that looks singed at edges, THE INTERMEDIARIES a Weimar Story
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Ea Nasir @ea-nasir-copper.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
This is fucking bullshit i hate you people
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Judith Weisenfeld @jlweisenfeld.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
Exciting news that American Religion is now an open access journal and all issues are available for free. And, they’re open for submissions for future issues. www.american-religion.org
american-religion.org
American Religion
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 11/11/2024
Submissions are (still) open to propose a paper or workshop for the 2025 Farbindungen Yiddish Studies Conference! The deadline is this Friday, November 15, midnight EST. We are so excited to read about all of your ideas and research for our theme of “Bad Yiddish”! farbindungen.com/2025
farbindungen.com
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 20/02/2024
So glad this is up! What a wonderful collection, and such a privilege to be able to read and share my thoughts
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Farbindungen Yiddish Studies Conference @farbindungen.bsky.social · 29/01/2024
Heads up! The deadline for requesting live captioning or sharing other access needs for #Farbindungen24 is February 5. You can let us know via the registration form below, or be in touch with us @ farbindungen at gmail dot com with any questions. bit.ly/registerfarbindungen24
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Sean Sidky @ssidky.bsky.social · 21/10/2023
You can’t blame us for *all* the odd looks 😎
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