Lecture to explore genetics and the origin of the Jews

Steven Weitzman, a professor in the University of Pennsylvania’s department of religious studies, will present a lecture titled “The Double Helix of Jewish History: Genetics and the Search for the Origin of the Jews” on Monday, Feb. 20, at 5 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium at Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana.

Weitzman will explore the scholarly quest to understand the origin of the Jews, focusing on the use of genetics as a new source of evidence. He is the Abraham M. Ellis Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages and Literatures and the Ella Darivoff Director of the Katz Center of Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

The event is hosted by the Program in Jewish Culture and Society at Illinois, in conjunction with the Center for Advanced Study, the department of religion, the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology and Spurlock Museum.

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