December 4, 2020 | Julie (Stagis) Bartucca '10 (BUS, CLAS), '19 MBA - UConn Communications

Brave Space: Avinoam Patt

Avinoam Patt, Doris and Simon Konover Chair of Judaic Studies and Director, Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, discusses the urgent relevance of lessons from the Holocaust for the contemporary world.

Avinoam Patt, Doris and Simon Konover Chair of Judaic Studies and director of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, leads a class on Modern Jewish Thought on October 17, 2019.

Avinoam Patt, Doris and Simon Konover Chair of Judaic Studies and director of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, leads a class on Modern Jewish Thought on October 17, 2019. (Bri Diaz/UConn Photo)

For Avinoam Patt, the Doris and Simon Konover Chair of Judaic Studies and the Director of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, 2020 has been a big year in more ways than one.

In the midst of the global pandemic, two books Patt co-edited were published earlier this year: “Laughter After: Humor and the Holocaust” and “Understanding and Teaching the Holocaust.” Patt recently sat down with Julie Bartucca for the third installment of the “Brave Space” interview series to discuss the role of humor in coping with horrific events, the current climate of discrimination and anti-Semitism, and what needs to change to make our University and our society equitable and inclusive for all.