Claire Sufrin

Whether Professor Claire Sufrin is teaching at a university or at a summer camp, she “engages her students in questions of meaning in the modern world,” said Francine Ephraim, who nominated her. “She represents the generation of Jewish scholars who make Jewish philosophy and history relevant.”

This is especially true when Claire teaches adults at synagogues across Chicago. “Her [classes] come off as a conversation about students’ personal concerns, informed by modern Jewish thinkers,” added Francine, who is the Alumni Associate at Solomon Schechter, where Claire attended as a child.

These days, Claire teaches Schechter’s teachers. They said that Claire “inspired them to think about the future and how they could impact the future as educators.”

And what did Claire herself learn there? “The person I am can’t be separated from the Jew I am.”

Name:
Claire Sufrin

Age:
35

Pays the bills:
Lecturer in Jewish Studies and Religious Studies at Northwestern University. I teach courses including American Judaism, Jews and Germans: An Intercultural History, Modern Jewish Thought, Religion and Literature, God after the Holocaust. My current research focuses on the philosopher Martin Buber, but my next project is on literature and religion and will address religious themes in recent works by authors including Nicole Krauss and Cynthia Ozick.

On the side:
I teach as a scholar-in-residence and/or adult educator at various camps, synagogues and other Jewish institutions. I’ve taught at Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative and Orthodox synagogues in the Chicago area, and, as I write this, I am in the middle of a scholar-in-residence gig at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, where I was once a camper. I also teach at least one course a year in the Master of Arts in Jewish Professional Studies (MAJPS) Program at Spertus.

Relationship status:
Taken! I am married to Michael Simon, Executive Director of Fiedler Hillel at Northwestern. Our son Jacob is two years old.

Describe yourself in 10 words or less:
Kind, compassionate, focused, driven, brainy, calm, engaged and engaging.

Celebrity doppelganger:
I would be honored to be played by Hilary Swank.

How do you Jew in Chicago?
I think that my Jewishness is part of everything I do. Fiedler Hillel at Northwestern is my community center. I belong to the Minyan Shirat HaAgam, which meets at Hillel once a month, and you can occasionally find me at the Orthodox minyan that also meets there. I watch movies and read books with Jewish themes and/or by Israeli filmmakers and writers, and when one of my favorite authors is in town, I always try to make it. Jacob is enrolled in the PJ Library, and we are always excited when we find a new book waiting for him in our mailbox.

Passions:
I love to read, write, and teach, which makes my professional obligations a great pleasure. I also love to bake and cook and to host friends and families for meals.

How do you give back?

I consider my work in adult Jewish education to be an important way of giving back. At Northwestern, I teach both Jews and non-Jews, and students’ personal beliefs and experiences are not part of my syllabus; neither are my own. We focus instead on understanding Judaism from an academic, more or less objective perspective. In contrast, I design my adult Jewish education courses to include time for personal reflection, and I often share stories from my own life or that I’ve heard from a friend or relative. All too often, Jews end their formal Jewish education after reaching the age of Bar or Bat Mitzvah, and they are never exposed to an adult way of thinking Jewishly. Adult education offers Jews the chance to do that and to enrich their spiritual, intellectual, and/or religious lives.

Between my teaching and Michael’s work as the Executive Director of Fiedler Hillel at Northwestern, we know a lot of Northwestern students, both Jewish and non-Jewish. Beyond our formal responsibilities, we open our home a few times every year to students by inviting them for holiday gatherings or Shabbat meals.

Michael and I are also trying to be more thoughtful about our charitable giving. We split our giving pretty equally between local and international organizations, and both Jewish and non-Jewish organizations. Every year, support friends participating events to raise money for a particular cause. I’m amazed that every year I seem to know more people running marathons.

Fill in the blank: If time and money were limitless, I would:
Turn my home into a center for adult Jewish education. I’d love to have a chance to work with a variety of post-college students in a non-credit but intensive way. People often think that Jewish philosophy is too hard or there’s nothing in it that would be meaningful to them. But I believe deeply that anyone can engage with Jewish philosophy, and it is the greatest pleasure for me to have students tell me that I’ve introduced them to a way of thinking that they’ve never encountered before. All too often, they ask me where they can get more, and my only answer is “Next year, when I return for another short gig at your synagogue.” Running my own center would allow me to continue working with these students and to really develop curricula for adults of all ages. Students of different ages have different logistical and practical needs, and I would attend to these. For example, I would be sure that the center would provide childcare so parents with young children could attend, and classes for students in their 20s would be comfortable both for singles and couples. Students of all backgrounds would be welcome.

Chicago's Jewish community in 10 years:

I’m a graduate of Solomon Schechter here in the Chicago area, and I’m a big believer in the power of a day school education. I’d like to see our day schools—especially the non-Orthodox schools—thriving with enthusiastic and talented teachers and excited students who are soaking up both Judaic and secular curricula like sponges. Now that I’m a parent, I’m also realizing how important school communities are for parents!

I’d also like to see a more active Jewish arts scene in Chicago. I’m amazed at all the great Jewish music and visual arts coming out of New York, and I’d like our city to become an incubator for this kind of creativity. I’m particularly drawn to artists like Basya Schechter, Galeet Dardashti, and DJ Socalled, all of whom “sample” sacred texts and traditions in their very secular music. It’s provocative and exciting.

Me in 10 years:
I don’t have a very specific “Ten Year Plan,” but I do plan to be in Evanston 10 years from now! I hope that I will still be teaching and researching in an academic position, and I definitely hope that my book on Martin Buber will be done and published and maybe even my book on religion and literature. Jacob will be starting to get ready for his Bar Mitzvah 10 years from now, and I hope that we will be celebrating that as part of a warm and inviting prayer group. It might be one of the groups we already know or something new.