Members: Ray Engel, Sara Schwartz, Corey Shdaimah, Amy Werman

The Jewish Identity Research Collective (JIRCs) launched a nationwide study to understand and document the diverse identities, backgrounds, and experiences of Jewish social work academics, with a special emphasis on how their thinking or experiences may have changed after October 7, 2023 in the wake of heightened antisemitism.

The sample of Jewish social work academics includes academics from diverse institutions, ranks, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and lengths of time in academia. This study resulted in a number of presentations and manuscripts in different stages of preparation, including:

• Leitch, J., Schwarz, S., Shdaimah, C.S., Lawental, M., Horwitz, S., & Engel, R. (2025, January).

• Fractured allyship: Disillusionment and re-defining identity among Jewish and Israeli Faculty. Society for Social Work and Research Annual Meetings.

• Shwartz-Ziv, T., Shdaimah, C.S., Chanan, D., & Lawental, M. (under review). Navigating a geographically distant political conflict: Voices of US Jewish social work academics.

For more information on this study, email cshdaimah@ssw.umaryland.edu.