YSU to host fall lecture on ‘Jewish Humor and Christianity’

Youngstown State University’s Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies will host its Fall 2026 Lecture, “Jewish Humor and Christianity,” featuring Jarrod Tanny, professor of History and the Charles and Hannah Block Distinguished Scholar in Jewish History at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

The lecture will take place at 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26, in DeBartolo Hall, Room 132, on YSU’s campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Tanny, an expert on comedy in the Jewish experience, will explore humor in Jewish culture and its relationship with Christianity. He is the author of several books, including “City of Rogues and Schnorrers: Russia’s Jews and the Myth of Old Odessa” and “The Seinfeld Talmud”, and co-editor of “Wit Happens: Global Jewish Humor.”

The lecture is presented by YSU’s Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies as part of its fall programming.