At the end of February, the 13th and final lecture of the open course “War in Jewish History,” organized by the International Interdisciplinary Certificate Program in Jewish Studies, took place.

More than 150 participants registered for the two parts of the course. Fifty-three attendees, who did not miss a single lecture and successfully completed the final test, received certificates of participation. Meanwhile, recordings of all lectures were sent to all registered participants.

The International Interdisciplinary Certificate Program in Jewish Studies sincerely thanks the course lecturers: Beni Yonin, Mykhailo Tuval, Artem Fedorchuk, Roman Hardashuk, Yechiel Fishzon, and David Weinstein.

We are also grateful to every participant. Thanks to the active engagement during the lectures and the feedback we received, we have already begun working on ideas for our future courses.

Participants’ Feedback

Serafyma Keis

Thank you very much for the fascinating lectures! The first part of the course made a strong impression thanks to its combination of historical depth, clear structure, and analytical approach. The lectures were filled not only with facts but also with engaging interpretations of historical events. I especially appreciated that the material was presented from different perspectives, religious, political, social, and cultural, which made the course cohesive and thoughtfully designed.

Oksana Andriushchenko

The information was very well structured, and the lecturers were a pleasure to listen to. This is one of the best educational programs I have taken so far. I would also like to thank the organizers for the final test after the course, which provided an opportunity to review the material and gain additional knowledge.

Kateryna Dotsenko

Professional lectures, engaging and thorough material, and a warm atmosphere. I gained immense enjoyment from the course and developed a deeper understanding of Jewish history across different historical periods. The relevance and depth of the lecturers’ approach allowed me to view the history of army formation from a new perspective and to draw parallels with Ukrainian history. The phrase “We understand that if we do not stand up to defend our country, then we, myself and my children, simply will not exist” became a personal motto for me today.

Liliia Vasylenko

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the lecturers for the carefully designed topics and the engaging content of the lectures, as well as to the International Interdisciplinary Certificate Program in Jewish Studies and its partners for organizing the course. I particularly appreciated how the key themes were highlighted in the context of studying this period of Jewish history and the various forms of struggle to preserve Jewish identity. The combination of different approaches made it possible to view the topic from a broader perspective.

Daria Skvortsova

I really enjoyed the first part of the course, where each lecturer presented a unique topic from the history of the people of Israel. The second part was incredibly rich and engaging. I am very glad I had the opportunity to attend it, as such a complex historical period with many important phenomena and events is very difficult to study independently.

Olesia Shakun

The second part of the course impressed me with lecturers deeply immersed in the history of their nation, the parallels they drew between past and present, and the remarkable historical facts they shared, sometimes with pride and sometimes with pain. The preparation was so thorough that some topics (for example, the cantonists) may have been addressed for the first time in courses on Jewish studies of this kind. The lectures were logically connected to the broader context of international history, demonstrating not only profound knowledge but also careful preparation. It is also impossible not to mention the accessibility of the lectures, the lecturers’ sense of humor, and their charisma, which made you want to catch every word.

Olha Honcharova

Dear Beni Yonin, Mykhailo Tuval, Artem Fedorchuk, and Roman Hardashuk,
Thank you sincerely for the extremely interesting and insightful lectures in the course on Jewish military history (Ancient Times and the Middle Ages). Your thorough research, deep analysis, and engaging presentation made this course truly valuable and enlightening. Thanks to you, it became possible not only to better understand the military history of Jewish communities in different historical periods but also to see the broader context of their interaction with the surrounding world. I would also like to thank you for your professionalism, openness to discussion, and encouragement to study the topic more deeply.

Dear Yechiel Fishzon and David Weinstein,
This was an exceptionally deep, well-structured, and engaging course that opened many new perspectives on understanding the role of Jews in military conflicts of the last centuries. I was especially impressed by the way you combined historical analysis with modern approaches to studying Jewish military tradition, paying attention not only to military actions but also to social and political aspects.

Organizers and Partners

The course “War in Jewish History” was organized by the International Interdisciplinary Certificate Program in Jewish Studies under the auspices of the A. Yu. Krymskyi Institute of Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the International Center for Jewish Education and Field Studies, and the Diye-Slovo Studio.

The course was supported by the Department for Israeli Citizens Abroad of the World Zionist Organization, the Zionist Federation of Ukraine (ZFU), and the global movement “Yisrael Beiteinu.”