Fri, Dec 25
11:00AM
Fri, Dec 25
11:00AM

A Special Day of Free Events at YUM

YUM open 11:00 am - 3:00 pm

Drop-in Family Art Workshop:
Make Your Own "Stained Glass" Panel:
11 am-1 pm

Exhibition Tours:
Curator's Tour at 11:30 am
Curator's Tour for Families at 1 pm


Presented by:

Sun, Dec 20
02:00PM
Sun, Dec 20
02:00PM

jewish genealogical society programs at cjh

The Lost Synagogues of Brooklyn; Speaker: Ellen Levitt

Jewish life in areas of Brooklyn through the 1950s was a lively, rich and varied environment. Over the next few decades it dissipated greatly. As Jews moved to other areas, they left behind their synagogues. Ms. Levitt's book is a photographic essay of these ex-shuls; what happened to them, and how they appear today. Each of the 91 featured ex-shuls include a photograph of how it appears today with a narrative that explains the history of the building. A book signing will follow the meeting.

Ellen Levitt is a life-long resident of Brooklyn. In addition to writing two books, she is a NYC public school teacher.

The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute at CJH will be open from 12:30pm to 1:45pm for networking with other researchers and access to research materials and computers.


Presented by:

jewish genealogical society programs at cjh

Thu, Dec 17
12:00PM
Thu, Dec 17
12:00PM

dina abramowicz emerging scholar lecture

Di royte yidlekh: From Heroic Muscle Jews to Little Redheads

Dr. Rebekka Voss traces the Yiddish term and legend of the Red Jews, the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, to its origins in Medieval German lore. It explores what different meanings the Jewish notion of the Red Jews has acquired over the centuries, how the term has been filled and refilled with new content in order to express larger ideas, central to the Jewish experience from the early modern times through modernity.


Presented by:

dina abramowicz emerging scholar lecture

Wed, Dec 16
07:30PM
Wed, Dec 16
07:30PM

concert

Music in the Age of the Wittgensteins, Part 2: Celebrating Beethoven's Birthday with the Music of Beethoven, Strauss and Brahms

Performed by the Phoenix Chamber Ensemble

Program

Pre-concert talk on Beethoven
Vadim Moldovan

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827):
Seven Variations on a Theme 'Bei Mannern' from Mozart's 'Magic Flute' (Wo.046)
Robert LaRue-cello, Vassa Shevel-piano

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827):
Piano Trio No. 7 Op. 97 in B-flat major (the Archduke)
Allegro moderato
Scherzo
Andante cantabile, ma pero con moto
Allegro moderato
Sarah Pratt-violin, Robert LaRue-cello, Vassa Shevel-piano

Intermission

Richard Strauss (1864-1949):
Andante fur Horn and Klavier Op. posthumous
Bill Hoyt-horn, Inessa Zaretsky-piano

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897):
Trio for Piano Violin and Waldhorn , Op.40
Andante
Scherzo
Adagio mesto
Finale
Sarah Pratt-violin, Bill Hoyt-horn, Inessa Zaretsky-piano

This program is made possible through the generous support of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Blavatnik


Presented by:

concert

Tue, Dec 15
06:30PM
Tue, Dec 15
06:30PM

sephardic music festival scholar series

Aviva and Dan and The Nadel/Thomas Duo

The electrifying New York City duo, Aviva and Dan, perform an eclectic mix of Spanish and Mediterranean music. Their repertoire spans generations and genres from medieval to modern, classical to tango, and includes pieces from Spain, Israel, Argentina and France, as well as the melancholic romances of the Sephardim – the exiled Jews of Spain. The Nadel/Thomas Duo performs instrumental renditions of songs of the Moroccan Jews. By bringing in jazz sensibilities, Nadel and Thomas seek to stretch the musical boundaries of the Sephardic musical tradition.

Program curator: Samuel R. Thomas.

Co-sponsors: The Foundation for Iberian Music, the Institute for Sephardic Studies, AsefaMusic and Shemspeed.


Presented by:

sephardic music festival scholar series

Mon, Dec 14
07:00PM
Mon, Dec 14
07:00PM

lecture & performance

Ilyas Malayev: Remembering the Poet Laureate of the Bukharian Jews

Ilyas Malayev (1936-2008) was an immensely popular musician across Uzbekistan, deeply loved by the Bukharian Jewish community. He was a master of the Central Asian classical music cycles known as "Shash maqam," and a major innovator of traditional forms through his musical compositions, poetry and theatrical works.

A reception will follow the program.


Presented by:

lecture & performance

Sun, Dec 13
03:00PM
Sun, Dec 13
03:00PM

concert

A Heymishe Yiddishe Chanuke with Zalmen Mlotek, the New Yiddish Chorale, and guests.
Storyteller Isaiah Sheffer of NPR's Selected Shorts

Let Zalmen Mlotek, Artistic Director of the National Yiddish Theater-Folksbiene, the country's only Yiddish theater, and one of the world’s foremost authorities and champions of Yiddish music, regale you in an afternoon of Yiddish songs, folk, theater, and Chanuke songs. The New Yiddish Chorale, an exclusive vocal group specializing in Yiddish songs, will perform. All songs will be accompanied by English supertitles, as is the custom at the National Yiddish Theater-Folksbiene. Storyteller Isaiah Sheffer, host of NPR's popular show Selected Shorts, will read a short story. Program followed by menorah lighting, singing and reception.


Presented by:

concert

Wed, Dec 09
06:00PM
Wed, Dec 09
06:00PM

exhibition tour and panel discussion

Genesis - Creation and Creativity

Participating artists: Alan Berliner | Matthew Ritchie | Ben Rubin | Shirley Shor | Mierle Laderman Ukeles

Moderator: Robin Cembalest, Executive Editor, ARTnews

Perhaps no biblical text has more resonance than the story of God's creation of the world in six days, as recounted in Genesis. The five artists featured in our new exhibition, In the Beginning, were invited to respond to this seminal text.

Far from illustrating Genesis, Berliner, Ritchie, Rubin, Shor, and Ukeles use it as a jumping-off point to contemplate contemporary themes - among them originality, creation, and what it means to play God. Inspirational, mesmerizing, and provocative, their cutting-edge works lead in many directions, from the Big Bang to Kabbalah to cyberspace.

Please join us for a lively discussion with the artists.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition: In the Beginning: Artists Respond to Genesis On view through February 28, 2010.


Presented by:

exhibition tour and panel discussion

Tue, Dec 08
03:00PM
Tue, Dec 08
03:00PM

racolin memorial lecture

The Imaginary Influence of Sefer Megale Temirin

Jonatan Meir
Doctoral candidate, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

A well-known legend has it that Josef Perl's Sefer Megale Temirin (Revealer of Secrets; Vienna, 1819) can be found on the shelf in Hasidism sections of Orthodox bookstores, where sellers and buyers are unaware that it is an anti-Hasidic satire. People will tell you that they saw Hasidim in a bookstore or beit-midrash leafing through Sefer Megale Temirin and praising its author, who must have been a great tsadik. In the lecture, Jonatan Meir will analyze the sources of this legend and the events that led to its rise.


Presented by:

racolin memorial lecture

Tue, Dec 08
06:00PM
Tue, Dec 08
06:00PM

talk and film screening

Piedmont: Unfolding Borders

When, 150 years ago, Italy became a unified country, the Region of Piemonte was its center and the catalyst of its early development. As the oldest minority in Europe, Italian Jews held a high stake in a process that sanctioned their emancipation, and they actively participated in shaping the new national life. This evening of film, family history, and books will introduce the public to a fascinating landscape of culture, intellectual vision, and social mobility. Presented on the occasion of the publication of the book Ebrei Piemontesi: The Jews of Piedmont (YUM, 2008). For more information, please visit the Primo Levi Center website/


Presented by:

talk and film screening

Mon, Dec 07
09:00AM
Mon, Dec 07
09:00AM

symposium

The Jews of Spain: Past, Present and Future

Scholars and representatives from North America, Spain and Israel will discuss the history and contributions of the Jews in Muslim and in Christian Spain, as well as the contemporary issues in Spain today.

"The Jews of Spain: Past, Present and Future" is a year-long program made possible with the generous support of the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation.


Presented by:

symposium

Sun, Dec 06
09:30AM
Sun, Dec 06
09:30AM

symposium

The Jews of Spain: Past, Present and Future

Scholars and representatives from North America, Spain and Israel will discuss the history and contributions of the Jews in Muslim and in Christian Spain, as well as the contemporary issues in Spain today.

"The Jews of Spain: Past, Present and Future" is a year-long program made possible with the generous support of the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation.


Presented by:

symposium

Sat, Dec 05
08:00PM
Sat, Dec 05
08:00PM

concert

Sueños de Sefarad

Spain's Paco Díez, one of the most important musicians in Judeo-Spanish music, has been celebrated for his work in spreading Sephardic music and culture. He brings his voice, guitar, hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes and percussion, and his scholarship of folk traditions from the varied regions of Spain. A dessert reception follows.

ASF expresses its appreciation to the Consulate General of Spain in New York, and to Casa Sefarad/Israel, Madrid, whose support and assistance has made this concert possible.


Presented by:

concert

Thu, Dec 03
03:00PM
Thu, Dec 03
03:00PM

dora and mayer tendler lecture

PLEASE NOTE: Establishing Beys Ya'akov: Legitimizing Girls' Religious Education has been postponed until the spring, date tba.

Agnieszka Oleszak, University College London

Beys Ya'akov was a network of religious schools for girls in pre-war Poland. The first school was established by Sarah Schenirer in Krakow in 1917. In 1919, Beys Ya'akov was taken over by Agudas Israel, which proved to be a turning point in the school's development. Its rapid growth made it a popular and successful educational institution among Orthodox Jews in Central and Eastern Europe. The tradition of Beys Ya'akov continues until the present day mostly in Israel and the U.S. This presentation aims to reconstruct the history of establishing Beys Ya'akov in 1917 in Krakow as well as to explain the process of its institutionalization. This early stage in the history of Beys Ya'akov seems to be neglected in the existing research, most likely due to the lack of historical sources. This presentation sheds new light on the early years of the school in order to illustrate the process of legitimizing the idea of institutionalized religious education for Jewish girls.


Presented by:

dora and mayer tendler lecture

Wed, Dec 02
06:00PM
Wed, Dec 02
06:00PM

gallery talk and film

Hyman Bloom: The Beauty of All Things

Painter Hyman Bloom is one of the forefathers of abstract art in America. His career flourished in the 1940's and 50's, garnering the highest praise in both art and popular press. His intense beliefs about composition and masterful command of color were breathtaking and are admired by artists to this day. But Hyman's decision to continue exploring figurative work when the art world was moving towards total abstraction and his habitual disdain for the public eye brought him from being one of the infamous "Bad Boys from Boston" to a man little known in the mainstream art scene.

Weaving interviews, archival photos, never before seen sketchbooks from the 1930s to the present, this film chronicles an artist blessed with longevity and creativity who continued to work hard at his craft well into his 90s. Born in Brunaviski, Latvia, Bloom grew up in an orthodox Jewish family in the West End of Boston - a neighborhood since vanished. The film highlights a body of work that is a vibrant manifestation of Bloom's imagination and his dedication to envision what others didn't dare. He painted rabbis and Christmas trees, cadavers and autopsies, séances and the astral plane, the woods of Maine and the shimmer of opalescent pottery. Told with humor and irony, Bloom's story is not a bitter one. It is a triumph of art and of the spirit. Tied to the Tracks Films, Inc., 2008 (56 mins.). Producer, Director, Co-Writer Angélica Allende Brisk


Presented by:

gallery talk and film

Sun, Nov 29
03:00PM
Sun, Nov 29
03:00PM

concert

Lev Aronson Memorial Concert

Performance by internationally renowned cellist Ralph Kirshbaum with The Lost Cellos of Lev Aronson author Frances Brent.


Presented by:

concert

Fri, Nov 20
10:00AM
Fri, Nov 20
10:00AM

professional development workshop series

Careers Outside of Academia for the Jewish Studies Scholar

This event consisted of a structured discussion among four distinguished panelists: Dr. Jonathan Brent, Executive Director of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and Visiting Professor of History and Literature at Bard College; Dr. Nina Goodman, Coordinator of Academic Support at the Abraham Joshua Heschel Lower School; Dr. Felicia Herman, Executive Director of the Natan Fund; and Dr. Jacob Wisse, Director of the Yeshiva University Museum and Associate Professor of Art History at Stern College. Careers outside of Academia was moderated by Dr. Rona Sheramy, Executive Director of the Association for Jewish Studies.

Over the course of the session, the panelists discussed job opportunities in the non-profit world, including foundations, academic publishing, Jewish education, archives, and museums. They also discussed how best to seek and apply for non-academic positions, as well as how to maintain a research agenda.


Presented by:

professional development workshop series

Thu, Nov 19
06:30PM
Thu, Nov 19
06:30PM

books and authors series

Exiles of the Heart: Two Sephardic Women from Egypt Share Their Stories of Loss and Connection

Join authors Jean Naggar (Sipping from the Nile, Stony Creek Press, 2008) and Joyce Zonana (Dream Homes, The Feminist Press, 2008, City University of New York) who will read from their books and discuss their memories of, and search for roots in, Cairo, Egypt.


Presented by:

books and authors series

Sun, Nov 15
09:00AM
Sun, Nov 15
09:00AM

international conference

Genocide and Human Experience: Raphael Lemkin's Thought and Vision

This conference examined the legacy of Raphael Lemkin, lawyer, scholar, teacher, linguist, writer and tireless advocate of international efforts to prevent genocide; bringing together speakers from Ireland, Bosnia, Australia, and North America to assess and review the impact of Lemkin's work in light of new research and world events.

For more information visit the conference website.


Presented by:

international conference

Thu, Nov 12
02:00PM
Thu, Nov 12
02:00PM

cjh graduate seminar program

Jews Playing Indian: Kinship and Identity on the Western Frontier

David Koffman, Dr. Sophie Bookhalter Fellow at CJH and Ph.D. Candidate at NYU, presenting

Prof. Rachel Rubinstein, Hampshire College, responding


Presented by:

cjh graduate seminar program

Thu, Nov 12
03:00PM
Thu, Nov 12
03:00PM

hort memorial lecture

PLEASE NOTE: Remembering (in) the Mother Tongue: The Role of Yiddish in Israeli Autobiographical Expressions HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR MAY 13, 2010 AT 3:00 PM.

Hannah Pressman, New York University

How does Yiddish both enable and complicate the remembrance of things past? Surveying Hebrew autobiographical writing of the mid-to-late 20th century, this talk highlights various authors' contrasting motivations for weaving mame-loshn into their confessional tales. Like the religious discourse dominating these works, Yiddish is a key component to the writers' challenge to the normative model advocated by secular Hebrew culture. The literary self-portraits discussed in this talk, viewed through the critical lenses of language and gender, offer a fascinating alternative vision of modern Israeli selfhood.


Presented by:

hort memorial lecture

Tue, Nov 10
06:30PM
Tue, Nov 10
06:30PM

discussion

The Great Hebrew Poets of Medieval Spain

The Jews of Spain: Past Present and Future series. Poet, author, and MacArthur Foundation Fellow Peter Cole will be joined in conversation by Professor Ross Brann, Cornell University.


Presented by:

discussion

Sun, Nov 08
03:00PM
Sun, Nov 08
03:00PM

jewish music forum

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composer Steve Reich Talks about his Jewish Music: A Unique Interview by Fellow Pulitzer Prize-Winner David Lang

With music examples from the composer's collection. Steve Reich was recently called "our greatest living composer" (The New York Times), "America's greatest living composer." (The Village VOICE), "...the most original musical thinker of our time" (The New Yorker) and "among the great composers of the century" (The New York Times). "There's just a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered the direction of musical history and Steve Reich is one of them," states The Guardian (London). Steve Reich, a traditional Jew, has composed a considerable body of important Jewish works, both on Hebrew texts and music with Jewish themes.


Presented by:

jewish music forum

Wed, Nov 04
06:30PM
Wed, Nov 04
06:30PM

book signing & discussion

Meet the Author: Lia Levi

Writers in residence at Centro Primo Levi series. Lia Levi presents her new novel, The Jewish Husband (Europa Editions, 2009), and talks about her life, journalism, and education.


Presented by:

book signing & discussion

Mon, Nov 02
09:30AM
Mon, Nov 02
09:30AM

conference

Milstein Conference on New York and the American Jewish Experience

Marking the culmination of three years of intensive work on the Milstein Family Jewish Communal Archive Project, this conference celebrated the history of Jewish life in the New York area, emphasized the achievements of Jewish communal organizations, and highlighted the treasures of Jewish archives. The program featured a discussion by New York Jewish community leaders of agencies which collaborated in the Milstein Project and papers by scholars on a wide variety of political, social and cultural issues. A panel of professional archivists discussed the rich resources found in local Jewish archives and the challenges faced in their preservation for the future.

Presented by YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in partnership with the 92nd Street Y, the Educational Alliance, F.E.G.S Health and Human Services System, NYANA and Surprise Lake Camp


Presented by:

conference

Thu, Oct 29
06:00PM
Thu, Oct 29
06:00PM

panel discussion

Everything is God

A one-night "Spiritual Woodstock" of learning, connection and celebration in honor of the new book by Forward and Zeek columnist Jay Michaelson Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism about new forms of Jewish spirituality and community. With Dr. Caryn Aviv (New Jews), Dr. Jonathan Brent (YIVO), Rabbi David Ingber (Romemu), Jay Michaelson, and Rabbi Michael Paley (UJA) at a "county fair" of Jewish innovators including Altshul, AJWS-AVODAH Partnership, Brooklyn Jews, Brooklyn Meditation Center, Eden Village, Hasoferet, Hazon, Institute for Jewish Spirituality, Isabella Freedman, Jewschool, Kehilat Hadar, Kirtan Rabbi, Kohenet, Kol Zimrah, Limmud NY, Mechon Hadar, Mimaamakim, Moishe House, Moving Traditions, Nehirim, Romemu, Shemspeed, Tzeirim@Bnai Jeshurun, and Zeek. With a cavalcade of performers including Darshan, DJ Dreamkote, and Matthue Roth, plus a delicious reception and books and CDs for sale. For more information, visit www.everythingisgod.com.

Presented by the Forward, Zeek, YIVO, and two dozen co-sponsoring organizations


Presented by:

panel discussion

Tue, Oct 27
03:00PM
Tue, Oct 27
03:00PM

panel discussion

Augenspiegel, a Landmark on the Road to Tolerance

An afternoon discourse on one of the earliest controversies in the history of Jewish-Christian relations, a controversy over whether or not to publish Jewish books. The virulence of anti-Semitism in the 16th century, including the Reformation, is well documented. Many contemporary issues are reflected, including freedom of speech and expression. Panelists include Professor Elisheva Carlebach, Chair, Jewish Studies, Columbia University; Professor Erika Rommel, University of Toronto; Professor Moshe Idel, Hebrew University; Martin Garbus, U.S. attorney specializing in First Amendment issues.


Presented by:

panel discussion

Mon, Oct 26
11:00AM
Mon, Oct 26
11:00AM

cjh graduate seminar program

Unclean Lips: 'Dirty Words,' Modernism, and Henry Roth's 'Call it Sleep'

Joshua Lambert, Dr. Sophie Bookhalter Fellow at CJH and Ph.D. Candidate at University of Michigan, presenting

Prof. Amy Hungerford, Yale University, responding


Presented by:

cjh graduate seminar program

Mon, Oct 26
07:00PM
Mon, Oct 26
07:00PM

lecture & performance

Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman: Celebrating a Lifetime in Yiddish Song

A conversation and performance featuring America's leading Yiddish poet and songwriter, who will be joined by her son Itzik Gottesman, Associate Editor of the Yiddish Forward. In 2006, Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman was awarded the prestigious N.E.A. National Heritage Fellowship, our nation's highest honor in the traditional arts.

A reception will follow the event.

Learn about Beyle in advance at http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/schaechter-gottesman-beyle.


Presented by:

lecture & performance

Sun, Oct 25
06:00PM
Sun, Oct 25
06:00PM

concert

From Poetry to Music: Primo Levi and Tzvi Avni

Third International Symposium on Primo Levi, opening night.

Opening concert with music by Tzvi Avni based on Primo Levi's poetry. The symposium, on October 26 and 27, will present a roster of international scholars including long-time editors of Levi's writings at Einaudi: Ernesto Ferrero, Marianne Hirsch, Manuela Cononni (Levi, Agamben, and the Era of Witness); and Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg (Quest and Judgment: Reading Primo Levi in German). A panel of writers, scholars, and experts in the Middle East will discuss the challenges and perspective of the newly published translations of If This Is a Man into Arabic and Farsi. Guests include Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, director of the NYU Center for Dialogues Mustapha Tlili, and anthropologist Talal Asad. Documentary interviews with Primo Levi from the archives of the Italian public television will be presented with English subtitles for the first time.

Please note that October 26 and 27 sessions will be held at New York University Casa Italiana Zerilli Marim and CUNY Graduate Center.

For a complete calendar visit www.primolevicenter.org.


Presented by:

concert

Sat, Oct 24
08:00PM
Sat, Oct 24
08:00PM

performance

If It Wasn't For the Irish and the Jews: A Tribute to Irish and Jewish Influences on Vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley at Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway (95thStreet)

Directed and Hosted by Mick Moloney, featuring an all-star cast of musicians including: Mick Moloney, Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, Kerith Spencer-Shapiro, Liz Hanley, String Quartet featuring Dana Lyn, Billy McComiskey, Susan McKeown, Gabriel O'Donoghue, Niall O'Leary, Jerry O'Sullivan, The Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra and Special Guests. This all-star concert event, produced by Irish Arts Center, celebrates the historic links between the Irish and Jewish people and their contributions to an important chapter in American musical history.

New York City's Tin Pan Alley is known for the music of Berlin, Joplin, Waller, Cohan and others. What is not as commonly known is that Irish favorites such as "Sweet Rosie O'Grady," "My Wild Irish Rose," and "'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream" also emerged from this vibrant musical tradition. In 1912, the famous songwriting duo William Jerome and Jean Schwartz composed "If It Wasn't for the Irish and the Jews," a catchy song that celebrated Irish-Jewish collaboration in many aspects of American social, political and cultural life. What is virtually unknown, however, is that the creation of the song itself involved an Irish-Jewish collaboration. William Jerome was actually the son of Patrick Flannery, a famine immigrant from County Mayo, who changed his name when he saw trends in the song-writing business shifting from Irish to Jewish!


Presented by:

performance

Fri, Oct 23
10:00AM
Fri, Oct 23
10:00AM

professional development workshop series

Preparing for the Job Market: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Academic Hiring Process

Preparing for the Job Market is a structured discussion among three distinguished panelists: Dr. Judith Hauptman from the Talmud and Rabbinics Department at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Dr. Yael Zerubavel from the Jewish Studies and History Departments at Rutgers University, and Dr. Hartley Lachter from the Religion Studies Department at Muhlenberg College. The panel is moderated by Dr. Jeffrey Shandler, professor of Jewish studies at Rutgers University. Over the course of the session, the panelists address the hiring process from both sides of the table: providing tips on how best to present oneself to an academic search panel as well as a "behind-the-scenes" look at how different academic departments approach the hiring process. The panelists also address the vital elements of an academic job application, from cover letters and CVs to in-person interviews, from the perspectives of their varied institutions and departments.


Presented by:

professional development workshop series

Thu, Oct 22
07:00PM
Thu, Oct 22
07:00PM

lecture and book release party

Bundist Counterculture in Interwar Poland

With author, Jack Jacobs.


Presented by:

lecture and book release party

Tue, Oct 20
07:00PM
Tue, Oct 20
07:00PM

film screening and discussion

Rudolf Kasztner: Jewish Wallenberg or Nazi Collaborator?

Killing Kasztner, a documentary on a World War II Zionist operative who remains controversial more than 50 years after his assassination in Israel.


Presented by:

film screening and discussion

Thu, Oct 15
06:30PM
Thu, Oct 15
06:30PM

exhibition opening, program and reception

Jerusalem and the Jews of Spain: Longing and Reality

6:30pm: Exhibition Viewing: Jerusalem and the Jews of Spain: Longing and Reality
7:30pm: Program and Reception

Opening Night of this year-long program features a Keynote Address by Professor Ross Brann, Milton R. Konvitz Professor of Judeo-Islamic Studies, Cornell University, and a Reception for the exhibition, Jerusalem and the Jews of Spain: Longing and Reality.

THE JEWS OF SPAIN: PAST & PRESENT is a year-long program made possible with the generous support of the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation.


Presented by:

exhibition opening, program and reception

Wed, Oct 14
07:30PM
Wed, Oct 14
07:30PM

concert

Music in the Age of the Wittgensteins, Part 1
Performed by Phoenix Chamber Ensemble

The Wittgenstein Century began in the early 19th century and ended after WWI. During this period the dynasty rose from humble origins to become the wealthiest family in Austria-Hungary and produced one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century. Great music accompanied this remarkable family all along its historical trajectory. The Wittgensteins were related to great performers, studied under great composers, hosted the greatest musicians of the time at their Musiksaa, and commissioned masterpieces. This four-concert music series will present music from the gestalt of Wittgenstein family.

Chopin trio, Op. 8
Chopin Scherzo No.1, mazurkas;
Scriabin, left-hand prelude;
Brahms, Hungarian dances for piano-4 hands, violin, cello

This program is made possible through the generous support of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Blavatnik


Presented by:

concert

Tue, Oct 13
06:00PM
Tue, Oct 13
06:00PM

lecture

Hilde Domin-Walter Palm: Love in Exile

On the 100th anniversary of German poet Hilde Domin’s birth, Dr. Frank Druffner of the Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach presents Die Liebe im Exil, a collection of letters he co-edited between Domin and her husband, art historian Erwin Walter Palm. Domin discusses efforts to have her husband’s works published in the U.S. as well as the general situation of German immigrants in New York. Professor Paul North of Yale University and curator of the "Publishing in Exile" exhibit joins Dr. Druffner for a discussion of the poet and her years in exile. This evening offers a final opportunity to view this first-of-a-kind exhibition.


Presented by:

lecture

Mon, Oct 12
03:00PM
Mon, Oct 12
03:00PM

workmen's circle/dr. emanuel patt memorial lecture

Feminist Discourse in Women's Yiddish Press

Dr. Joanna Lisek, University of Wrocław


Presented by:

workmen's circle/dr. emanuel patt memorial lecture

Wed, Sep 30
06:00PM
Wed, Sep 30
06:00PM

dance performance

Nostalgia by Headless Horse Dance

Choreographer, Robin Rapoport


Presented by:

dance performance

Thu, Sep 24
07:00PM
Thu, Sep 24
07:00PM

lecture and book signing

After the Book Burning: Publishing in Hitler's Germany

Jan-Pieter Barbian, Director of the Duisburg Municipal Library and author, will talk on After the Book Burning: Publishing in Hitler's Germany. The lecture will include several of the "Publishers in Exile" featured in the exhibit currently on view in the LBI Gallery. Gottfried Berman Fischer and Fritz Landshoff, for example, came to the U.S., while others stayed behind, including Ernst Rowohlt, Gustav Kiepenheuer, Peter Suhrkamp, Bertelsmann, and Holtzbrinck. Dr. Barbian will be joined by Professor Paul North of Yale University, curator of the "Publishers in Exile" exhibition.


Presented by:

lecture and book signing

Wed, Sep 23
03:00PM
Wed, Sep 23
03:00PM

samuel and flora weiss research fellowship lecture

Lessons and Legacies in Holocaust Survivor Families: Innovations in the Investigation of Intergenerational Responses

Dr. Hannah Kliger, Pennsylvania State University, Abington College spoke on findings from her research showing the contribution of new methodologies for studying communication about trauma within Holocaust survivor families, to provide a more balanced profile of survivors, their children, and grandchildren. This study, based on the research of the Transcending Trauma Project, offers a more integrated view of how the trauma of the Holocaust can be an opportunity for transmitting resilience.


Presented by:

samuel and flora weiss research fellowship lecture

Mon, Sep 21
07:00PM
Mon, Sep 21
07:00PM

lecture

The Multi-Ethnic Music Cultures of Moldova

Walter Zev Feldman discusses the cultural history of this area of ethnic transformation and his recent expedition which discovered musicians of mixed ancestry still performing traditional Jewish music in his father's hometown of Edinets. A reception will follow the event.


Presented by:

lecture

Tue, Sep 15
03:00PM
Tue, Sep 15
03:00PM

cjh graduate seminar program

The Schwarzbard Trial: just another example of assassination and justice in interbellum France?

Kelly Scott Johnson, Lillian Goldman Fellow at CJH and Ph.D. Candidate at Harvard University, presenting

Prof. David Engel, NYU, responding


Presented by:

cjh graduate seminar program

Tue, Sep 15
07:00PM
Tue, Sep 15
07:00PM

panel discussion

Shtetl on the High Seas: The Steamship Companies and Jewish Emigration from Eastern Europe

With Gur Alroey (University of Haifa), Frank Caestecker (University of Ghent) and moderated by Hasia Diner (New York University).

Presented by YIVO and the City of Antwerp


Presented by:

panel discussion

Thu, Sep 10
03:00PM
Thu, Sep 10
03:00PM

immerman and weinstein memorial fellowship lecture

(Re-)Locating Jewishness in Fin-de-sie'cle Riga: Cultural Maps, Local Politics, and the Question of Language

Felix Heinert will shed light on various issues from his research on Riga's Jewish community. He will negotiate Russian-Jewish and German-Jewish historical and historiographic narratives from their "margins," linking cultural maps (in a metaphorical sense) with local Jewish politics (in a more broad sense) and the question of ("imperial" and public) language(s).


Presented by:

immerman and weinstein memorial fellowship lecture

Thu, Sep 10
07:00PM
Thu, Sep 10
07:00PM

book launch and reception

One Foot in America: The Jewish Emigrants of the Red Star Line and Eugeen Van Mieghem

Author Erwin Joos, President of the Eugeen Van Mieghem Foundation

Presented by YIVO, City of Antwerp, Eugeen Van Mieghem Foundation and Antwerp World Diamond Centre


Presented by:

book launch and reception

Sun, Jul 12
03:00PM
Sun, Jul 12
03:00PM

ruth gay seminar in jewish studies

Uncommon Voices, Everyday Lives: Jewish Experiences in Salonika Through the YIVO Archives

Presenter: Devin Naar
Chair: Dr. Isaac Benmayor
Introductory Remarks: Dr. Steven Bowman

Devin Naar, Historian of the Salonika Project at YIVO, is a doctoral candidate at Stanford University and is writing his dissertation on the Jewish Community of Salonika during the 19th and 20th centuries.The Salonika Project under which the Archive of the Jewish Community of Salonika at YIVO was organized, microfilmed and digitized, was supported by the Maurice Amado Foundation and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Isaac Benmayor was born and raised in Thessaloniki and holds a Ph.d. in Modern Greek Linguistics from Oxford University. Benmayor is a past president of the American Friends of the Jewish Museum of Greece and has worked on a number of publications on the Holocaust in Greece.

Steven Bowman is Professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Cincinnati and a historian of Greek Jewry.


Presented by:

ruth gay seminar in jewish studies

Wed, Jun 24
09:30AM
Wed, Jun 24
09:30AM

seminar

EPYC Educators Seminar on East European Jewish Heritage

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research sponsored the third EPYC Educators Seminar on East European Jewish Heritage, June 22-25, at the Center for Jewish History in New York City. Eligible participants in the Educators Seminar included teachers from various settings, such as Jewish high schools, colleges, public schools and private schools, museums and afternoon religious schools, as well as graduate students in education and Jewish studies.

The Seminar's chairman was Dr. Robert Moses Shapiro, Associate Professor of Judaic Studies at Brooklyn College. Co-chairing was Dr. Paul Glasser, Associate Dean of the Max Weinreich Center at the YIVO Institute. Seminar lecturers included professors Robert Seltzer of Hunter College, Samuel D. Kassow of Trinity College, Miriam Hoffman of Columbia University, Nancy Sinkoff of Rutgers University, Chava Lapin of Queens College and YIVO, film director Joshua Waletzky, Folksbiene artistic director Zalmen Mlotek, and others.


Presented by:

seminar

Tue, Jun 23
09:30AM
Tue, Jun 23
09:30AM

seminar

EPYC Educators Seminar on East European Jewish Heritage

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research sponsored the third EPYC Educators Seminar on East European Jewish Heritage, June 22-25, at the Center for Jewish History in New York City. Eligible participants in the Educators Seminar included teachers from various settings, such as Jewish high schools, colleges, public schools and private schools, museums and afternoon religious schools, as well as graduate students in education and Jewish studies.

The Seminar's chairman was Dr. Robert Moses Shapiro, Associate Professor of Judaic Studies at Brooklyn College. Co-chairing was Dr. Paul Glasser, Associate Dean of the Max Weinreich Center at the YIVO Institute. Seminar lecturers included professors Robert Seltzer of Hunter College, Samuel D. Kassow of Trinity College, Miriam Hoffman of Columbia University, Nancy Sinkoff of Rutgers University, Chava Lapin of Queens College and YIVO, film director Joshua Waletzky, Folksbiene artistic director Zalmen Mlotek, and others.


Presented by:

seminar

Mon, Jun 22
09:00AM
Mon, Jun 22
09:00AM

seminar

EPYC Educators Seminar on East European Jewish Heritage

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research sponsored the third EPYC Educators Seminar on East European Jewish Heritage, June 22-25, at the Center for Jewish History in New York City. Eligible participants in the Educators Seminar included teachers from various settings, such as Jewish high schools, colleges, public schools and private schools, museums and afternoon religious schools, as well as graduate students in education and Jewish studies.

The Seminar's chairman was Dr. Robert Moses Shapiro, Associate Professor of Judaic Studies at Brooklyn College. Co-chairing was Dr. Paul Glasser, Associate Dean of the Max Weinreich Center at the YIVO Institute. Seminar lecturers included professors Robert Seltzer of Hunter College, Samuel D. Kassow of Trinity College, Miriam Hoffman of Columbia University, Nancy Sinkoff of Rutgers University, Chava Lapin of Queens College and YIVO, film director Joshua Waletzky, Folksbiene artistic director Zalmen Mlotek, and others.


Presented by:

seminar

Sun, Jun 21
03:00PM
Sun, Jun 21
03:00PM

ruth gay seminar in jewish studies

The Hungarian Jewish Remnant, 1945-1948

Meet the Faculty and Refreshments at 3 pm. Seminar begins at 3:30 pm.

Presenter: Dr. Alice Freifeld, Associate Professor in History, University of Florida

Chair: Dr. Istvan Deak, Seth Low Professor Emeritus at Columbia University

Respondent: Dr. Laszlo Karsai, Professor of History at Jozsef Attila University in Szeged, Hungary.

Dr. Freifeld will focus on her current book project on Hungarian Jewry from 1945-1949. The author of "Nationalism and the Crowd in Liberal Hungary, 1848-1914" and the recipient of the Barbara Jelavich book prize in Slavic studies, Dr. Freifeld is the current president of the Hungarian Studies Association and has held fellowships at the Center for Advanced Studies (USHMM), the Woodrow Wilson Center, IREX, ACLS-SSRC and Carnegie Mellon.

The Ruth Gay Seminar in Jewish Studies is given at YIVO and is named in honor of the historian and scholar Ruth Gay (1922-2006) and was made possible thanks to a major gift from the family of Ruth Gay.


Presented by:

ruth gay seminar in jewish studies

Sun, Jun 14
02:00PM
Sun, Jun 14
02:00PM

jewish genealogical society monthly meeting

Guest Speaker Warren Blatt

Warren Blatt, will talk about latest developments at JewishGen, the leading internet site for Jewish genealogy, including its partnership with Ancestry.com, newly released historical records, online data transcription projects and previews of future developments. JewishGen is a division of Museum of Jewish Heritage ? A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.


Presented by:

jewish genealogical society monthly meeting

Thu, Jun 11
07:00PM
Thu, Jun 11
07:00PM

panel discussion

Loud Fast Jews: A Summit with Four Jewish Fathers of Punk: Tommy Ramone, Lenny Kaye, Chris Stein and Handsome Dick Manitoba

New York City is universally acknowledged and rightly revered as the cradle of punk rock civilization. But it is safe to say that few are aware that many of punk's progenitors were Jewish-kids from the outer boroughs and far beyond who settled in Manhattan's East Village and forged a new world of sound, fury, and humor at CBGB and other downtown bars and clubs. Much like their American and European Jewish forebears, these pioneer punks both reflected and redefined the culture of their day to create a dynamic new art form. In the process, they birthed an aesthetic that continues to influence not only music but also fashion, the visual arts, literature, and language. On Thursday, June 11, 4 Jewish punk rock fathers-Ramones co-founder and original drummer Tommy Ramone (born Tamas Erdelyi), Blondie co-founder and guitarist Chris Stein, Dictators singer and radio personality Handsome Dick Manitoba (Richard Blum), Patti Smith guitarist and journalist Lenny Kaye-will convene at YIVO to discuss the glorious heyday of New York punk, the arc of their individual careers, and the impact their Jewish experience had on their music.


Presented by:

panel discussion

Wed, Jun 10
06:30PM
Wed, Jun 10
06:30PM

cabaret performance

Festival of Jewish Theater: Cities of Light

Blazing lights flash bright, then dark, in the Cabarets of 1930?s Berlin, Paris, Warsaw and Tel Aviv. Jewish artists on the move thrill audiences with their Weimar tangos, Paris Dada shimmies, tribal Yiddish romps, and lullabies of Tel Aviv. Off-Broadway and international chanteuse, actress, and playwright Rebecca Joy Fletcher joins forces with Backstage Bistro award winning director John-Richard Thompson and Broadway veteran Bob Goldstone. Together, they create a theatrical cabaret - a sparkling kaleidoscope - that pays irreverent homage to an era of illumination and darkness. World premiere presented by Open Hart Productions & Untitled Theater Company #61


Presented by:

cabaret performance

Mon, Jun 08
03:00PM
Mon, Jun 08
03:00PM

drench memorial lecture

Mapping Transnational Jewish Philanthropy, 1880-1990

Dr. Jonathan Dekel-Chen, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Explores how Jewish philanthropists and political activists from the United States and Britain influenced official policy and actions toward Jews in Russia and the USSR and how these historical lessons may be helpful for international nongovernmental organizations working today in illiberal societies in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.


Presented by:

drench memorial lecture

Mon, Jun 08
07:00PM
Mon, Jun 08
07:00PM

panel discussion

Refugees and Rescue: American Diplomat James G. McDonald and the Jewish Refugee Crisis, 1935?-1945

The remarkable efforts of James Grover McDonald to call attention to the threat faced by European Jewry and his tireless attempts to relay these concerns to the highest levels of government are explored in the acclaimed new volume Refugees and Rescue: The Diaries and Papers of James G. McDonald, 1935-1945, edited by Richard Breitman, Barbara McDonald Stewart, and Severin Hochberg.

As Chairman of the President's Advisory Commission on Political Refugees, McDonald personally interacted with many of the leading figures who shaped the events of World War II and the Holocaust - President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, Mussolini, Cardinal Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII) - and numerous others.

The evening's discussion will highlight new insights into the Nazi regime and American responses to the Jewish refugee crisis from the insider's perspective of James G. McDonald's remarkable and well-documented experiences.


Presented by:

panel discussion

Sun, Jun 07
03:00PM
Sun, Jun 07
03:00PM

concert

Music in Our Time

Elie Siegmeister's String Quartet No.3 "On Hebrew Themes," will be the featured work. The performance also includes Jewish-themed works by Leonard Bernstein ("Silhouette"), Michael Rose ("Tree of Life"), David Leisner ("Acrobats" and "Cavatina"), Louis Karchin ("Hannah Senesh") and Israeli-American composer Max Stern ("Trio"). These composers have shown a continuing interest in writing music with Jewish themes and references, integrated among their other works.


Presented by:

concert

Thu, Jun 04
01:30PM
Thu, Jun 04
01:30PM

asf membership film series

Common Fate

The film describes the institution and impact of racial laws, property confiscation and the establishment of forced labor concentration camps in German occupied Tunis, and under the Vichy regimes in Algeria and Morocco. It relates the general suffering and death of North African Jews as the result of starvation, disease and the violence directed against them.

Director: Serge Ankri. Israel, 2005. 52 mins. Hebrew w/English subtitles.


Presented by:

asf membership film series

Thu, Jun 04
07:00PM
Thu, Jun 04
07:00PM

dialogue

Chagall: His Art, His Theater, His Fictional Worlds

Marc Chagall is one of the great explorers of modern art, both a revolutionary and a traditionalist--a pathfinder whose visionary narrative art has lost none of its pwerful appeal in our postmodern world. His extraordinary life and art--which took him from the impoverished streets of the Russian shtetl Vitebsk to the glittering boulevards of Paris--are the subject of this freewheeling conversation between Benjamin Harshav and Jed Perl. Using all the gifts of a great visual storyteller, Chagall chronicled his memories and fantasies and dreams, and in the process reflected on many of the dramatic developments of his times: the impact of secular ideas and ideals on pre-war Eastern European Jewry, the avant-gardist optimism of early 20th century France, the shattering experience of the Holocaust, and the birth of the State of Israel. Among the aspects of Chagall's work Harshav and Perl will focus on are his fascination with the theater and theatricality; his unprecedented juxtaposition of Jewish and Christian imagery; and his unique, dreamlike mingling of elements from cubist, surrealist and abstract art.


Presented by:

dialogue

Wed, Jun 03
07:00PM
Wed, Jun 03
07:00PM

film

Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

Preview of a new documentary prior to its U.S. theatrical premiere on July 10 at Lincoln Plaza Cinema in New York City. From Aviva Kempner, award-winning maker of The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, comes this humorous and eye-opening story of television pioneer Gertrude Berg. She was the creator, principal writer, and star of The Goldbergs, a popular radio show about a Jewish family living in New York City which became television's very first character-driven domestic sitcom in 1949. She combined social commentary, family values and lots of humor to win the hearts of America. Discussion with director Aviva Kempner and family members of Gertrude Berg following the film.


Presented by:

film

Wed, May 27
06:30PM
Wed, May 27
06:30PM

theater

Festival of Jewish Theater and Ideas: Golem Stories (SOLD OUT)

A retelling of the legend of a clay man in 16th century Prague. Rabbi Loew creates a Golem to defend the Jews, but this Golem seems more interested in listening to the Rebbetsin's stories and falling in love with the Rabbi's daughter. Is he the reincarnated spirit of her murdered lover? Or does his childlike fa?ade hide the face of a demon? Followed by discussion about Jewish legends and midrash, featuring Stephen Hazan Arnoff, Andy Horwitz, and others. Written and directed by Edward Einhorn.

Presented by Untitled Theater Company #61


Presented by:

theater

Tue, May 26
03:00PM
Tue, May 26
03:00PM

max weinreich center

The Yiddish Press in Israel: A Minority Press in its own Nation State (1948-2008)

Rachel Rojanski, Associate Professor, Department of Jewish History, University of Haifa.


Presented by:

max weinreich center

Thu, May 21
07:30PM
Thu, May 21
07:30PM

blavatnik chamber concert series

Happy Birthday, Felix: Music of Felix Mendelssohn and His Contemporaries

Concert Performed by the Phoenix Chamber Ensemble under the direction of Vassa Shevel and Inessa Zaretsky. Includes rarely-performed works by Mendelssohn and Schumann.

This program is made possible through the generous support of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Blavatnik.


Presented by:

blavatnik chamber concert series

Mon, May 18
02:00PM
Mon, May 18
02:00PM

cjh graduate seminar program

The Politics of Culture and Ethnicity among Jewish Women Nationalists in Interwar Poland

Jolanta Mickute, Morris and Alma Schapiro Fellow at CJH, and Ph.D. Candidate at Indiana University, Bloomington, presenting

Dr. Marci Shore, Assistant Professor of History, Yale University, responding


Presented by:

cjh graduate seminar program

Mon, May 18
07:00PM
Mon, May 18
07:00PM

lillian goldman literary series

The Lifecycles of New York Jews: Refuge and Roots: Searching for Home in a New Land

The third and final staged literary evening in the season's widely praised series will explore the hopes and confusions of immigrant Jews as they struggle to transplant their lives from Europe's Yiddish-speaking cultures to a homeland called New York.

Featuring Carol Kane, Academy Award nominee for Joan Micklin Silver's film Hester Street, reading scenes from Abraham Cahan's novel Yekl, on which the film was based. The presentations also feature an extraordinary supporting cast. Special appearances by National Book Award-winning poet Gerald Stern, New York Times writer and memoirist, Joseph Berger, and award winning novelist Thane Rosenbaum reading from his novel, Golems of Gotham, accompanied by exciting fiddler Sarah Alden. The program will also present scenes from the brilliantly evocative works of Henry Roth, Michael Gold and Anzia Yezierska. Musical interludes will be performed by the widely acclaimed musicians of Metropolitan Klezmer.

This program is made possible by the generous support of Amy P. Goldman and the Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust and the Lowe II Foundation.


Presented by:

lillian goldman literary series

Sun, May 17
02:00PM
Sun, May 17
02:00PM

jewish genealogical society programs at cjh

Crossing the River, a memoir

Presenter: Dr. Shalom Eilati

Against a backdrop of Lithuania's occupation - first by the Red Army, next by the Germans, and then again by the Russians - this a story reflected through the prism of a sharp-eyed young child, Shalom Eilati. His story starts in the occupied Kovno Ghetto and ends with his flight across the Soviet border, through Poland and Germany and finally, his arrival in Palestine. The adult survivor, while recalling the terrorized child that he was and how he then perceived the adult world, also takes stock of his present life. Throughout the memoir, Eilati attempts to reconcile his present life as a husband, father, scientist, and writer, with the images, feelings, and thoughts from the past that have left an indelible mark on his life and that continue to haunt him. A book-signing will follow the meeting.

Shalom Eilati, was born in 1933 in Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania, and in 1941 he and his family were imprisoned in a ghetto created by the occupying Germans. In 1944, at his mother's initiative, he escaped from the ghetto alone. He survived the ghetto (as did his father) and reached Palestine in 1946. After earning a Ph.D. in the cultivation of citrus fruits, he taught at Hebrew University and later was among the founders of Israel's Environmental Protection Service, and coordinating editor of Cathedra, a quarterly on the history and settlement of Israel. He is married with three children and five grandchildren, and lives in Jerusalem.

The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute at CJH will be open 12:30 to 1:45 for networking with other researchers and access to research materials and computers.


Presented by:

jewish genealogical society programs at cjh

Thu, May 14
01:30PM
Thu, May 14
01:30PM

asf membership film series

From Tripoli to Bergen-Belsen

Director: Marco Carmel. Israel, 2005. 52 mins. Tunisian and Hebrew w/English subtitles.

Libyan and North African Jews never revealed their own war-time experiences: Italian-imposed racial laws, property confiscation, and deportation to Bergen-Belsen. For the first time, this little-known part of Holocaust history is told through personal stories and extensive, rare archival footage.


Presented by:

asf membership film series

Thu, May 14
07:00PM
Thu, May 14
07:00PM

discussion

The Birth of Israel: The Truman Factor

On the 61st anniversary of David Ben Gurion's declaration of the State of Israel, Ronald Radosh, noted historian and author of the best-selling The Rosenberg File, and his wife Allis Radosh, will discuss their new book, A Safe Haven: Harry S Truman and the Founding of Israel (Harper/Collins). The Radoshes and New Republic editor-in-chief Marty Peretz will examine the personal and political motivations that influenced Truman's controversial and historically momentous decision to recognize Israel just 11 minutes after Ben Gurion’s announcement.


Presented by:

discussion

Mon, May 11
03:00PM
Mon, May 11
03:00PM

hertz memorial lecture

Jewish Representations of Violence in the First World War

Aleksander and Alicja Hertz Memorial Lecture Amos Bitzan, Department of History, University of California - Berkeley. Examines how eastern European Jewish intellectuals imagined wartime anti-Jewish violence.


Presented by:

hertz memorial lecture

Thu, May 07
06:30PM
Thu, May 07
06:30PM

asf books and authors series

Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce

Dr. Sarah Abrevaya Stein, author, is Professor of History at UCLA. Fashionable women of Europe and America prompted a bustling global trade in ostrich feathers that flourished from the 1880s until WWI, when they fell out of fashion. Drawing on archival material from 3 continents, Dr. Stein brings to light the prominent and varied roles of Jews in the feather trade.


Presented by:

asf books and authors series

Tue, May 05
05:00PM
Tue, May 05
05:00PM

lecture and book signing

Jewish Power in America Myth and Reality

By Henry Feingold. (2008, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ). Professor Feingold offers a thoughtful and reasoned response to the notion that there is such a thing as, or there is too much of, or that there is a misapplication of, Jewish power in America. Yes, he acknowledges, Jews do have political power, but does it differ from the influence of other interest groups? Professor Feingold examines five case studies (including the New Deal and the freeing of Soviet Jewry) to debunk the myth of attributing excessive power to a people that has historically been both powerless and vulnerable. Henry Feingold is a Professor Emeritus of History at the Graduate Center and Baruch College, City University of New York. He is also a trustee of both Leo Baeck Institute and AJHS.


Presented by:

lecture and book signing

Tue, May 05
07:30PM
Tue, May 05
07:30PM

a tribute to giorgio bassani

Il Giardino dei Finzi Contini (The Garden of the Finzi-Continis)

Director: V. De Sica (1970)
Italian w/English subtitles

Rejected by Bassani in his essay "The Betrayed Garden," De Sica's Hollywoodian masterpiece is loosely based on Bassani's novel and made it known worldwide.

Its didactic qualities, the aloofness of the characters, and the sentimentalized depiction of the anti-Jewish persecution in Italy succeeded in carefully avoiding Bassani's concerns and political perspectives. It still remains to be seen, forty years after its release, whether it made the international public aware of Italian Jewry and its 20th-century history, or rather contributed to hiding it away into the realm of mythology.


Presented by:

a tribute to giorgio bassani

Mon, May 04
02:00PM
Mon, May 04
02:00PM

cjh graduate seminar program

Decolonizing French Jews: The Algerian War and the Reconstruction of Jewish Identity

Jessica Hammerman, Dr. Sophie Bookhalter Fellow in Jewish Culture at CJH, and Ph.D. Candidate at the Graduate Center, CUNY, presenting

Dr. Samuel Moyn, Professor of History, Columbia University, responding


Presented by:

cjh graduate seminar program

Mon, May 04
07:30PM
Mon, May 04
07:30PM

a tribute to giorgio bassani

Gli occhiali d'oro (The Gold Rimmed Glasses)

Director: G. Montaldo (1976)
Italian w/English subtitles

Post-screening discussion with Prof. Lucienne Kroha,McGill University.

In the two novels that inspired the films presented for this tribute, Bassani explores different but parallel experiences of isolation and persecution: a distinguished, homosexual physician, Doctor Fadigati, a young Jewish student who feels an affinity with the doctor because of the imposition of the racial laws of 1938, the members of a wealthy Ferrarese Jewish family, and a young Milanese anti-Fascist. Observing the Italian society with great sensitivity to the social and psychological nuances, Bassani portrays the transformation of a country and at the same time demands from the reader a universal and humanistic approach.


Presented by:

a tribute to giorgio bassani

Sun, May 03
01:00PM
Sun, May 03
01:00PM

conference

Jews and Political Power in the Modern World

Modernity has brought Jews political power unknown to previous generations. Both in Diaspora communities and in Israel, Jewish thinkers have conceptualized political power in imaginative and exciting ways. This conference, sponsored by the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Honors Program of Yeshiva College with Yeshiva University's Center for Israel Studies and its Rabbi Arthur Schneier Center for International Affairs, will explore the intellectual life of Jews as they coped with political power and power relationships during the 20th century. The conference brings together leading scholars in the fields of history and culture to explore the concept of power in the Jewish experience.


Presented by:

conference

Fri, May 01
10:30AM
Fri, May 01
10:30AM

jewish music forum

The Participating Observer: Fieldwork in Jewish Settings

Rabbi Jeffrey A. Summit, Tufts University
Respondent: Dr. Henry Goldschmidt, Wesleyan University

co-sponsored by the Working Group on Jews, Media and Religion at NYU


Presented by:

jewish music forum

Thu, Apr 30
07:00PM
Thu, Apr 30
07:00PM

pen world voices festival at cjh

Evolution/Revolution: Meir Shalev in Conversation with Daniel Menaker

"Meir Shalev creates a world that has the richness of invention and the obsessiveness of dreams," wrote The New York Times Book Review about his novel A Pigeon and a Boy. Don't miss this discussion with one of Israel's foremost literary figures in conversation with former Random House Editor-in-Chief, author, and journalist Daniel Menaker.

For more information on the Festival visit the PEN Website.

Cosponsored by CJH; PEN; the Office of Cultural Affairs, Consulate General of Israel in New York; and Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival.


Presented by:

pen world voices festival at cjh

Wed, Apr 29
03:00PM
Wed, Apr 29
03:00PM

tell memorial lecture

Emancipation and Its Discontents: Jewish Women in Interwar Poland

Jolanta Mickute, Indiana University. Addresses the debate surrounding the emancipation of Jewish women in interwar Poland, examining how the limits established by Jewish tradition, ethnicity, class, locale, and gender shaped the Jewish women’s identities in the Polish host culture.


Presented by:

tell memorial lecture

Wed, Apr 29
06:30PM
Wed, Apr 29
06:30PM

asf books and authors series

Baghdad to Bombay: In the Kitchens of My Cousins

Pearl Sofaer was born and grew up in Bombay, India. She is a musician, artist, cantorial soloist, retired mediator and gourmet cook. She will share many of the stories and recipes of her beloved family.


Presented by:

asf books and authors series

Tue, Apr 28
07:00PM
Tue, Apr 28
07:00PM

picturing the shoah film series

Lili Marleen

Director : Werner Fassbinder | 35mm | 120 mins | 1981

In the final months of 2008, moviegoers were confronted with an uncommon number of films dealing with Nazism and the Holocaust-and promptly ignored them all. From the erotic silliness of The Reader to the misbegotten Tom Cruise thriller Valkyrie to the rousing, if routine Hollywood drama of Defiance, the defining horror of the twentieth century was dressed up with hopes of multiplex glory-or at least an Academy Award or two.

Why revisit the subject yet again? Picturing the Shoah, a monthlong film series presented at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, proposes an exploration of how movies have represented the Holocaust from radical, provocative, and unexpected angles.

Programmed by Nathan Lee, film critic for The New York Times and a contributing editor of Film Comment magazine, the series features post-screening discussions with notable critics (Kent Jones, Stuart Klawans, Lisa Schwartzbaum) as well as an extended look at Godard's relationship to the Holocaust featuring Richard Brody, film critic for The New Yorker and author of Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard.


Presented by:

picturing the shoah film series

Mon, Apr 27
07:00PM
Mon, Apr 27
07:00PM

book event and film screening

The Kissinger Saga, Two Brothers from Fürth

Evi Kurz, a journalist from Fürth where the Kissingers were born, has forged a family portrait of a Nobel laureate and a successful CEO. Through years of diligent research and respectful encounters, Ms. Kurz was able to earn the trust of both Walter and Henry, who rewarded her with a personal look into the family life of a German-Jewish family. The result is an award winning documentary film and a book, both of which will be presented and discussed by Ms. Kurz. As we accompany the Kissingers on visits to places of their childhood and youth, it becomes very clear how these formative years provide the context for much that comes later.


Presented by:

book event and film screening

Sun, Apr 26
07:00PM
Sun, Apr 26
07:00PM

picturing the shoah film series

Bent

Director : Sean Mathias | 35mm | 105 mins | 1997

In the final months of 2008, moviegoers were confronted with an uncommon number of films dealing with Nazism and the Holocaust-and promptly ignored them all. From the erotic silliness of The Reader to the misbegotten Tom Cruise thriller Valkyrie to the rousing, if routine Hollywood drama of Defiance, the defining horror of the twentieth century was dressed up with hopes of multiplex glory-or at least an Academy Award or two.

Why revisit the subject yet again? Picturing the Shoah, a monthlong film series presented at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, proposes an exploration of how movies have represented the Holocaust from radical, provocative, and unexpected angles.

Programmed by Nathan Lee, film critic for The New York Times and a contributing editor of Film Comment magazine, the series features post-screening discussions with notable critics (Kent Jones, Stuart Klawans, Lisa Schwartzbaum) as well as an extended look at Godard's relationship to the Holocaust featuring Richard Brody, film critic for The New Yorker and author of Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard.


Presented by:

picturing the shoah film series

Fri, Apr 24
12:30PM
Fri, Apr 24
12:30PM

Di oystres fun Nukhem Stutshkov: Yidishe radioskriptn in der Nyu-Yorker shtot-bibliotek

(The Treasures of Nahum Stutchkoff: Yiddish Radio Scripts in the New York Public Library)

Amanda (Miryem-Khaye) Seigel, Dorot Jewish Division, New York Public Library

This is a Yiddish language event.


Presented by:

Thu, Apr 23
06:00PM
Thu, Apr 23
06:00PM

exhibit opening and lecture

Publishing in Exile: German-Language Literature in the U.S. in the 1940s

6:00 pm: Exhibition Opening:

Many authors who fled Germany following the rise of National Socialism found themselves stranded abroad without publishers, writing in a language foreign to their host countries. German-language publishers in exile allowed these authors to continue to have their work printed and their voices heard, including, for example, Thomas Mann, Franz Werfel, Lion Feuchtwanger, among others. In the United States, a small number of German-language publishers established themselves, mostly on the East and West coasts, including, for example, Pazifische Presse, Pantheon Books, Schocken Books, among others. This exhibit presents books, photos and archival material from publishers in New York and Los Angeles. The exhibition was curated by Professor Paul North, NYU.

7:30 pm: Roundtable Discussion:

The Roundtable Discussion of invited panelists will consider the particular difficulties of dislocation for writers whose language and frame of reference so often relates to cultural context, and what happens when that changes.


Presented by:

exhibit opening and lecture

Tue, Apr 21
07:00PM
Tue, Apr 21
07:00PM

picturing the shoah film series

Sobibor, Oct.14, 1943, 4pm

Director : Claude Lanzmann | 35mm | 95 mins | 2001

In the final months of 2008, moviegoers were confronted with an uncommon number of films dealing with Nazism and the Holocaust-and promptly ignored them all. From the erotic silliness of The Reader to the misbegotten Tom Cruise thriller Valkyrie to the rousing, if routine Hollywood drama of Defiance, the defining horror of the twentieth century was dressed up with hopes of multiplex glory-or at least an Academy Award or two.

Why revisit the subject yet again? Picturing the Shoah, a monthlong film series presented at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, proposes an exploration of how movies have represented the Holocaust from radical, provocative, and unexpected angles.

Programmed by Nathan Lee, film critic for The New York Times and a contributing editor of Film Comment magazine, the series features post-screening discussions with notable critics (Kent Jones, Stuart Klawans, Lisa Schwartzbaum) as well as an extended look at Godard's relationship to the Holocaust featuring Richard Brody, film critic for The New Yorker and author of Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard.


Presented by:

picturing the shoah film series

Sun, Apr 19
02:00PM
Sun, Apr 19
02:00PM

jewish genealogical society monthly meeting

Jewish Genealogical Society, Inc.

Preview the exciting IAJGS international conference on Jewish Genealogy and hear about Philadelphia, the place where American history was made and changed America. For more information contact JGS via email or visit the JGS Website.


Presented by:

jewish genealogical society monthly meeting

Sun, Apr 12
02:00PM
Sun, Apr 12
02:00PM

lecture

Spiritual Liberation: How the Zohar Reimagines God

Daniel Matt, one of the world's leading authorities on the Zohar, will discuss this masterpiece of the Kabbalah and explain how it conceives and reimagines God. Among the topics he will explore are: Ein Sof (God as Infinity), Ayin (mystical nothingness), and Shekhinah (the feminine Divine Presence). The program is presented in conjunction with an exhibition of paintings by Michael Hafftka at the Yeshiva University Museum. Professor Matt will also teach passages from his translation of the Zohar, relating them to Hafftka's work and to Passover?zeman heiruteinu, "the time of our liberation." The artist will be on hand to respond.


Presented by:

lecture

Tue, Apr 07
07:00PM
Tue, Apr 07
07:00PM

picturing the shoah film series

Black Book

Director: Paul Verhoeven | 35mm | 145 mins | 2006

In the final months of 2008, moviegoers were confronted with an uncommon number of films dealing with Nazism and the Holocaust-and promptly ignored them all. From the erotic silliness of The Reader to the misbegotten Tom Cruise thriller Valkyrie to the rousing, if routine Hollywood drama of Defiance, the defining horror of the twentieth century was dressed up with hopes of multiplex glory-or at least an Academy Award or two.

Why revisit the subject yet again? Picturing the Shoah, a monthlong film series presented at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, proposes an exploration of how movies have represented the Holocaust from radical, provocative, and unexpected angles.

Programmed by Nathan Lee, film critic for The New York Times and a contributing editor of Film Comment magazine, the series features post-screening discussions with notable critics (Kent Jones, Stuart Klawans, Lisa Schwartzbaum) as well as an extended look at Godard's relationship to the Holocaust featuring Richard Brody, film critic for The New Yorker and author of Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard.


Presented by:

picturing the shoah film series

Sun, Apr 05
02:00PM
Sun, Apr 05
02:00PM

picturing the shoah film series

In Praise of Love

Director : Jean Luc Godard | 35mm | 90 mins | 2001

In the final months of 2008, moviegoers were confronted with an uncommon number of films dealing with Nazism and the Holocaust-and promptly ignored them all. From the erotic silliness of The Reader to the misbegotten Tom Cruise thriller Valkyrie to the rousing, if routine Hollywood drama of Defiance, the defining horror of the twentieth century was dressed up with hopes of multiplex glory-or at least an Academy Award or two.

Why revisit the subject yet again? Picturing the Shoah, a monthlong film series presented at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, proposes an exploration of how movies have represented the Holocaust from radical, provocative, and unexpected angles.

Programmed by Nathan Lee, film critic for The New York Times and a contributing editor of Film Comment magazine, the series features post-screening discussions with notable critics (Kent Jones, Stuart Klawans, Lisa Schwartzbaum) as well as an extended look at Godard's relationship to the Holocaust featuring Richard Brody, film critic for The New Yorker and author of Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard.


Presented by:

picturing the shoah film series

Sun, Apr 05
04:00PM
Sun, Apr 05
04:00PM

picturing the shoah film series

Histoire(s) du Cinema : Toutes les Histoires

Director : Jean Luc Godard | Video | 52 mins | 1998

In the final months of 2008, moviegoers were confronted with an uncommon number of films dealing with Nazism and the Holocaust-and promptly ignored them all. From the erotic silliness of The Reader to the misbegotten Tom Cruise thriller Valkyrie to the rousing, if routine Hollywood drama of Defiance, the defining horror of the twentieth century was dressed up with hopes of multiplex glory-or at least an Academy Award or two.

Why revisit the subject yet again? Picturing the Shoah, a monthlong film series presented at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, proposes an exploration of how movies have represented the Holocaust from radical, provocative, and unexpected angles.

Programmed by Nathan Lee, film critic for The New York Times and a contributing editor of Film Comment magazine, the series features post-screening discussions with notable critics (Kent Jones, Stuart Klawans, Lisa Schwartzbaum) as well as an extended look at Godard's relationship to the Holocaust featuring Richard Brody, film critic for The New Yorker and author of Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard.


Presented by:

picturing the shoah film series

Sun, Apr 05
06:00PM
Sun, Apr 05
06:00PM

picturing the shoah film series

Our Music

Director: Jean Luc Godard | 35mm | 80 mins | 2004

In the final months of 2008, moviegoers were confronted with an uncommon number of films dealing with Nazism and the Holocaust-and promptly ignored them all. From the erotic silliness of The Reader to the misbegotten Tom Cruise thriller Valkyrie to the rousing, if routine Hollywood drama of Defiance, the defining horror of the twentieth century was dressed up with hopes of multiplex glory-or at least an Academy Award or two.

Why revisit the subject yet again? Picturing the Shoah, a monthlong film series presented at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, proposes an exploration of how movies have represented the Holocaust from radical, provocative, and unexpected angles.

Programmed by Nathan Lee, film critic for The New York Times and a contributing editor of Film Comment magazine, the series features post-screening discussions with notable critics (Kent Jones, Stuart Klawans, Lisa Schwartzbaum) as well as an extended look at Godard's relationship to the Holocaust featuring Richard Brody, film critic for The New Yorker and author of Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard.


Presented by:

picturing the shoah film series

Thu, Apr 02
03:30PM
Thu, Apr 02
03:30PM

cjh graduate seminar program

Jewish Representations of Violence in the First World War

Amos Bitzan, Cahnman Foundation Fellow at CJH, and Ph.D Candidate at the University of CA, Berkeley presenting

Dr. Marsha Rozenblit, Professor of History, University of Maryland, responding


Presented by:

cjh graduate seminar program

Wed, Apr 01
07:00PM
Wed, Apr 01
07:00PM

picturing the shoah film series

Schindler's List

Director : Stephen Spielberg | 35mm | 195 mins | 1994

In the final months of 2008, moviegoers were confronted with an uncommon number of films dealing with Nazism and the Holocaust-and promptly ignored them all. From the erotic silliness of The Reader to the misbegotten Tom Cruise thriller Valkyrie to the rousing, if routine Hollywood drama of Defiance, the defining horror of the twentieth century was dressed up with hopes of multiplex glory-or at least an Academy Award or two.

Why revisit the subject yet again? Picturing the Shoah, a monthlong film series presented at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, proposes an exploration of how movies have represented the Holocaust from radical, provocative, and unexpected angles.

Programmed by Nathan Lee, film critic for The New York Times and a contributing editor of Film Comment magazine, the series features post-screening discussions with notable critics (Kent Jones, Stuart Klawans, Lisa Schwartzbaum) as well as an extended look at Godard's relationship to the Holocaust featuring Richard Brody, film critic for The New Yorker and author of Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard.


Presented by:

picturing the shoah film series

Mon, Mar 30
03:00PM
Mon, Mar 30
03:00PM

workmen's circle/dr. emanuel patt memorial lecture

Educating "Moyshe" or Corrupting Him? Polemics around the Novel Sanin in the American Yiddish Press ca. 1908

Ellen Kellman - Assistant Professor in Yiddish Language and Literature, Brandeis University

The role of serialized fiction in the American Yiddish press was the subject of rancorous debate from its beginnings. Critics lambasted socialist-oriented papers for printing romance novels instead of serious fiction in translation. Yet some works, such as the Russian novel Sanin, proved to be even more controversial than those originally written in Yiddish.


Presented by:

workmen's circle/dr. emanuel patt memorial lecture

Thu, Mar 26
12:00PM
Thu, Mar 26
12:00PM

heifetz memorial lecture

Connecting Geography: Yiddish Songs in New York

Eléonore Biezunski, University of Paris X, Nanterre

Biezunski presents the process of her innovative research connecting geography with the study of Yiddish songs, exploring New York City as an experienced and represented Jewish place.


Presented by:

heifetz memorial lecture

Thu, Mar 26
12:15PM
Thu, Mar 26
12:15PM

2009 emma lazarus statue of liberty award and the global leadership award

Beyond the Pale: a Reunion between President Mikhail Gorbachev and Secretary of State George Shultz at the Rainbow Room

An Extraordinary Luncheon at the Rainbow Room

Moderator: Charlie Rose
Introduction: David Harris

Honorees: Mikhail Gorbachev and Kenneth J. Bialkin


Presented by:

2009 emma lazarus statue of liberty award and the global leadership award

Sun, Mar 22
05:00PM
Sun, Mar 22
05:00PM

memorial event

Mordkhe Schaechter Commemoration

The League for Yiddish and YIVO Institute invite you to listen to a program in memory of Dr. Mordkhe Schaechter z"l. David Fishman of the Jewish Theological Seminary speaks on the topic, "The Problem of Religion and Secularism among Secular Yiddishists: A Historical Analysis." Rukhl Schaechter of the Forverts and daughter of Dr. Mordkhe Schaecter speaks on "My Father's Secularism and Tradition." Musical program by Michael Alpert.(Program is in Yiddish.)


Presented by:

memorial event

Thu, Mar 19
07:30PM
Thu, Mar 19
07:30PM

blavatnik chamber concert series

Women in Song: From Baroque to the Present

Performed by the Phoenix Chamber Ensemble under the direction of Vassa Shevel and Inessa Zaretsky. Features songs by Felix's sister Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel along with other women composers from Germany, France and America. Includes a world premier by Inessa Zaretsky.

This program is made possible through the generous support of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Blavatnik.


Presented by:

blavatnik chamber concert series

Wed, Mar 18
07:00PM
Wed, Mar 18
07:00PM

film

Regina Resnik Presents: Covert or Convert

Narrated and directed by the legendary mezzo-soprano Regina Resnik, conceived and written by Michael Philip Davis, this unique program celebrates the powerful expression of the Jewish spirit from the 12th century through the 20th century. Ms. Resnik and Mr. Davis will give a talk before the film, which pays homage to composers who converted to Christianity but wrote on Jewish themes, and to composers who did not convert but wrote on Jewish themes in secret, often at the risk of their lives. It shares the proud and often difficult history of such composers as Anton Rubinstein, Otto Klemperer and Felix Mendelssohn, whose statue outside the Gewandhaus in Leipzig was destroyed by the Nazis. Also represented are four composers killed during the Holocaust. The works are performed by : Darynn Zimmer, soprano; Michael Philip Davis, tenor; Charles Robert Stephens, baritone; Vlad Iftinca, piano; David Leisner, guitar.


Presented by:

film

Mon, Mar 16
07:00PM
Mon, Mar 16
07:00PM

lillian goldman literary series

The Lifecycles of New York Jews: Love and Loss

The second in an already widely praised series of staged readings will explore the experiences of love, well-being and loss through the eyes of New York Jewish authors. With the assistance of stage and screen star Kathleen Chalfant and a wonderful supporting cast, acclaimed author Nicole Krauss will join in a theatrical reading of her poignant and powerful New Yorker magazine story, "The Last Words on Earth," from the novel The History of Love. Non-fiction story writer and memoirist Dorothy Gallagher, whose work has been described as "intimate, fierce and hilarious," will read from her collections How I Came Into My Inheritance and Strangers in the House. Jonathan Rosen, editorial director of Nextbook, will read from his national bestseller, The Life of the Skies. Alix Kates Shulman will be reading from her memoir, To Love What Is: A Marriage Transformed.


Presented by:

lillian goldman literary series

Sun, Mar 15
02:00PM
Sun, Mar 15
02:00PM

jewish genealogical society programs at cjh

Twentieth Century Probate Research: Confirming Relationships and Finding Family

Presenter: Debra Braverman

Probate is the process by which the assets of a person who has died are distributed. Probate files represent an incredible wealth of little-known and underutilized records. Whether a person has died with a will or intestate, records are created in order to facilitate the distribution of property. While probate laws dealing with the process of inheritance differ from state to state, there are numerous similarities, chief of which is that these records are always public. The paperwork in a twentieth century estate file can offer clues to finding unknown or lost family. Using these documents together with other research tools can break down brick walls in searching for family.

Debra Braverman is a professional genealogist specializing in due diligence for probate and intestacy matters, and nineteenth and twentieth century New York City research. She began doing genealogical research in 1987 and served on the Executive Council of JGS (New York) for nine years.

The Ackerman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute at CJH will be open 12:30 to 1:45 for networking with other researchers and access to research materials and computers.


Presented by:

jewish genealogical society programs at cjh

Thu, Mar 12
06:00PM
Thu, Mar 12
06:00PM

lecture

The Woman's Economic World in Early Modern Poland-Lithuania

Presented by Adam Teller, University of Haifa

This last session of the lecture series that stems from a year-long seminar in Philadelphia, will bring us from Livorno to Poland. Adam Teller, prominent scholar in the history of Polish Jewry, will discuss a fascinating angle of economic history.

Professor Teller teaches at the University of Haifa and received his doctorate in Jewish history from the Hebrew University.

He has written several books on the economic and social history of Eastern European Jews during the early modern period.

Prof. Teller is a member of the academic team designing the new Museum of Polish Jewish History to be opened in Warsaw in 2010. Dr. Teller holds the Ruth Meltzer Fellowship at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at Penn, where he studies the reconstruction of Polish Jewish life in the aftermath of the pogroms of 1648-49.


Presented by:

lecture

Thu, Mar 05
12:00PM
Thu, Mar 05
12:00PM

dina abramowicz emerging scholar lecture

Poland, Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union? The Jews and the Lesser of Three Evils

Dr. Elissa Bemporad, Eugene Lang College/The New School. Explores how Soviet Jewish identity in the late 1930s was shaped by the knowledge of what was happening to Jews in fascist Poland and Nazi Germany, and on the other hand by the absence of official anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union.


Presented by:

dina abramowicz emerging scholar lecture

Tue, Mar 03
07:00PM
Tue, Mar 03
07:00PM

lecture

The Lubavitcher Rebbe as Messiah: Turning Point in Judaism?

Dr. David Berger, author of The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference and The Jewish-Christian Debate in the High Middle Ages.

Lubavitch Hasidism has generated the most successful messianic movement in Jewish history since the seventeenth century. Belief in the Rebbe's Messiahship after his death and even formulations that flirt—or more than flirt—with affirmations of his divinity have raised the specter to some observers of a fundamental transformation of Judaism, while others have argued that this is a passing development of little moment. Dr. David Berger will examine how this movement arose, how powerful or widespread it is, and how likely it is to affect the Jewish religion.


Presented by:

lecture

Wed, Feb 25
06:30PM
Wed, Feb 25
06:30PM

concert

Kavanah

Moni Ovadia in performance with the Arkè String Quartet. Writer, actor, performer, philosopher and public activist, Ovadia is one of Italy's most original theater personalities. As part of a festival dedicated to spirituality organized by the Italian Cultural Institute in NY, Ovadia presents "Kavanah," a reflection on the Hebraic liturgical tradition.


Presented by:

concert

Sun, Feb 22
02:00PM
Sun, Feb 22
02:00PM

storytelling

Storytelling with Peninnah Schram Telling Stories from Her New Book, The Hungry Clothes and Other Jewish Folktales

The stories we hear in childhood, usually from parents and grandparents, teachers and rabbis, teach us Jewish values, faith, culture and traditions. They nourish our sense of wonder and curiosity about the world. Peninnah Schram, internationally known storyteller and author, is a Professor of Speech and Drama at Yeshiva University's Stern College.


Presented by:

storytelling

Fri, Feb 20
12:00PM
Fri, Feb 20
12:00PM

lecture

Shire Gorshman: Lite-Palestine-Krim

Boris Sandler with an introduction by Gennady Estraikh.

This is a Yiddish language event.


Presented by:

lecture

Thu, Feb 19
07:00PM
Thu, Feb 19
07:00PM

leo baeck lectures

Yehuda Amichai: The German-Jewish Roots of Israel's National Poet

Yehuda Amichai is the unofficial national poet of Israel. He is credited with being one of the founders of "Israeli literature", among the first authors to publish in the new State of Israel. Most of the biographical material about him begins in 1936, the year he arrived in Palestine with his family. Indeed, Amichai spent his most productive years in Israel, and, in the words of Nili Scharf Gold, author of a brilliant new biography, tried to "camouflage", "abandon" or "marginalize" his German-Jewish roots. And yet she shows he cannot escape the artistic implication or the profound psychological relevance of his early years.

Was the negation of the past an integral part of the Zionist construction of national identity, or Amichai's way to suppress his personal history? In this insightful book, Professor Gold shows us a poet whose struggles with the traumatic events of his childhood, as well as with the loss of his first love to another man, informed his entire creative output. Notebooks found in the Yale library, and especially a cache of letters to his beloved "Ruth Z", reveal a man whose poetry must now be analyzed within the context of these new revelations. This is fascinating history, biography, and drama that combines 20th century German-Jewish upheaval with the creation of the State of Israel, with a love story, with the very nature of poetry itself.


Presented by:

leo baeck lectures

Tue, Feb 17
07:00PM
Tue, Feb 17
07:00PM

comics and the jewish american dream

An Evening With Harvey Pekar

The famously eccentric Pekar is the creator and writer of the autobiographical comics and graphic novel series "American Splendor," whose subjects include Jewish life in Cleveland from the 1930s to the present. By the 1980s, Pekar had attracted a cult following so large that it led to some memorable appearances by him on Late Show with David Letterman. In 2003 the film based on Pekar's life and work, American Splendor, gained for him a measure of national recognition. Two years later Pekar collaborated with artist Dean Haspiel to produce The Quitter, a graphic novel, and he continues to produce his "American Splendor" series (both DC Comics/Vertigo).

About the Series

Comic books were invented by American Jews in the 1930's and 1940's. Did this come about, as some maintain, because anti-Semitism kept Jewish artists, writers and entrepreneurs out of more "reputable" areas of publishing? And did comics in any way reflect the Jewish background of its original exponents?

In this series three giants in the field, Al Jaffee, Jules Feiffer and Harvey Pekar, will join moderator Danny Fingeroth to discuss their careers and reflect on how their work has been influenced by their Jewish heritage.

Series curator and moderator Danny Fingeroth, a former editor of Spider-Man, has lectured and taught about comics at the Smithsonian Institution and the New School. He is the author of the pop-culture study Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero (Continuum) and The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels (Penguin).


Presented by:

comics and the jewish american dream

Sun, Feb 15
02:00PM
Sun, Feb 15
02:00PM

jewish genealogical society monthly meeting

Google Your Family Tree with Daniel M. Lynch

As the Internet's most popular search engine, Google has firmly established itself as an indispensable tool for billions of people worldwide. During the past decade, genealogy and family history research have experienced unprecedented growth due in large part to the electronic availability of family records via the Internet. Dan Lynch, author of the popular new book, Google Your Family Tree: Unlock the Hidden Power of Google, will explain how to use the many powerful features of Google to jumpstart a family history search. What is there to Google beyond learning how to use keywords? Dan will demonstrate its many other capabilities, including Language Tools, Google Books, Google News Archives, Google Images and Videos, Google Alerts, Google Maps, Blog Search, Google Earth, Google Notebook, and Google Toolbar.

The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute at CJH will be open 12:30 to 1:45 PM for networking with other researchers and access to research materials and computers.


Presented by:

jewish genealogical society monthly meeting

Thu, Feb 12
07:00PM
Thu, Feb 12
07:00PM

ny sephardic jewish film festival

13th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival: Closing Night: Where Are You Going, Moshe? (90 min)

Our "Bar Mitzvah" year (with the generous support of the NY State Council for the Arts). 14 countries, 15 films.

Followed by a reception.


Presented by:

ny sephardic jewish film festival

Wed, Feb 11
02:00PM
Wed, Feb 11
02:00PM

ny sephardic jewish film festival

13th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival: Villa Jasmin (87 min)

Our "Bar Mitzvah" year (with the generous support of the NY State Council for the Arts). 14 countries, 15 films.


Presented by:

ny sephardic jewish film festival

Wed, Feb 11
06:30PM
Wed, Feb 11
06:30PM

ny sephardic jewish film festival

13th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival: Between Revolution & Tradition and About Sugarcane & Homecoming

Our "Bar Mitzvah" year (with the generous support of the NY State Council for the Arts). 14 countries, 15 films.


Presented by:

ny sephardic jewish film festival

Wed, Feb 11
08:30PM
Wed, Feb 11
08:30PM

ny sephardic jewish film festival

13th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival: Tree of Life (76 min)

Our "Bar Mitzvah" year (with the generous support of the NY State Council for the Arts). 14 countries, 15 films.


Presented by:

ny sephardic jewish film festival

Tue, Feb 10
06:30PM
Tue, Feb 10
06:30PM

ny sephardic jewish film festival

13th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival: Baghdad Twist and In Search for Bene Israel

Our "Bar Mitzvah" year (with the generous support of the NY State Council for the Arts). 14 countries, 15 films.


Presented by:

ny sephardic jewish film festival

Tue, Feb 10
08:30PM
Tue, Feb 10
08:30PM

ny sephardic jewish film festival

13th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival: Villa Jasmin (87 min)

Our "Bar Mitzvah" year (with the generous support of the NY State Council for the Arts). 14 countries, 15 films.


Presented by:

ny sephardic jewish film festival

Mon, Feb 09
02:00PM
Mon, Feb 09
02:00PM

ny sephardic jewish film festival

13th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival: Comme Ton Pere (95 min)

Our "Bar Mitzvah" year (with the generous support of the NY State Council for the Arts). 14 countries, 15 films.


Presented by:

ny sephardic jewish film festival

Mon, Feb 09
06:00PM
Mon, Feb 09
06:00PM

lecture

Jews, Commerce and Culture

Derek Penslar, University of Toronto
The Economics of Jewish Life in Modern Europe

Seating in limited. Refreshments will be served.

Presented by the Centro Primo Levi and the Herbert Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania


Presented by:

lecture

Mon, Feb 09
06:30PM
Mon, Feb 09
06:30PM

ny sephardic jewish film festival

13th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival: From Tripoli to Bergen Belsen (52 min)

Our "Bar Mitzvah" year (with the generous support of the NY State Council for the Arts). 14 countries, 15 films.


Presented by:

ny sephardic jewish film festival

Mon, Feb 09
08:30PM
Mon, Feb 09
08:30PM

ny sephardic jewish film festival

13th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival: Zrubavel (70 min)

Our "Bar Mitzvah" year (with the generous support of the NY State Council for the Arts). 14 countries, 15 films.


Presented by:

ny sephardic jewish film festival

Sun, Feb 08
01:00PM
Sun, Feb 08
01:00PM

ny sephardic jewish film festival

13th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival: Toledo (70 min)

Our "Bar Mitzvah" year (with the generous support of the NY State Council for the Arts). 14 countries, 15 films.


Presented by:

ny sephardic jewish film festival

Sun, Feb 08
03:00PM
Sun, Feb 08
03:00PM

ny sephardic jewish film festival

13th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival: The Fire Within (60 min)

Our "Bar Mitzvah" year (with the generous support of the NY State Council for the Arts). 14 countries, 15 films.


Presented by:

ny sephardic jewish film festival

Sun, Feb 08
06:00PM
Sun, Feb 08
06:00PM

ny sephardic jewish film festival

13th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival: Two Legacies (57 min)

Our "Bar Mitzvah" year (with the generous support of the NY State Council for the Arts). 14 countries, 15 films.


Presented by:

ny sephardic jewish film festival

Sat, Feb 07
07:30PM
Sat, Feb 07
07:30PM

ny sephardic jewish film festival

13th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival: Comme Ton Pere (95 min)

Our "Bar Mitzvah" year (with the generous support of the NY State Council for the Arts). 14 countries, 15 films.


Presented by:

ny sephardic jewish film festival

Sat, Feb 07
09:30PM
Sat, Feb 07
09:30PM

ny sephardic jewish film festival

13th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival: The Seven Days (Shiva) (115 min)

Our "Bar Mitzvah" year (with the generous support of the NY State Council for the Arts). 14 countries, 15 films.


Presented by:

ny sephardic jewish film festival

Thu, Feb 05
07:00PM
Thu, Feb 05
07:00PM

ny sephardic jewish film festival

13th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival: Opening Night

Our "Bar Mitzvah" year (with the generous support of the NY State Council for the Arts). 14 countries, 15 films.

Zrubavel (70 min)

Followed by a Q & A with the Director Shmuel Beru, an Ethiopian musical performance, and a reception.


Presented by:

ny sephardic jewish film festival

Tue, Feb 03
07:00PM
Tue, Feb 03
07:00PM

comics and the jewish american dream

An Evening With Jules Feiffer

In 1956 Feiffer, who began his career working as an assistant to Will Eisner, father of the modern graphic novel, created the eponymous, satirical cartoon strip that would run in the Village Voice for 42 years. A multitalented man who’s also enjoyed success as a novelist (Ackroyd), playwright and screenwriter (Little Murders), he has in recent years turned to writing and illustrating children’s books, including The Man in the Ceiling. The first volume of the Jaffee compilation Explainers: The Complete Village Voice Strips was published by Fantagraphics in 2008.

About the Series

Comic books were invented by American Jews in the 1930's and 1940's. Did this come about, as some maintain, because anti-Semitism kept Jewish artists, writers and entrepreneurs out of more "reputable" areas of publishing? And did comics in any way reflect the Jewish background of its original exponents?

In this series three giants in the field, Al Jaffee, Jules Feiffer and Harvey Pekar, will join moderator Danny Fingeroth to discuss their careers and reflect on how their work has been influenced by their Jewish heritage.

Series curator and moderator Danny Fingeroth, a former editor of Spider-Man, has lectured and taught about comics at the Smithsonian Institution and the New School. He is the author of the pop-culture study Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero (Continuum) and The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels (Penguin).


Presented by:

comics and the jewish american dream

Mon, Feb 02
07:00PM
Mon, Feb 02
07:00PM

dramatic reading of a new play by jane wood and tara prem

Stella in the Bois de Boulogne

Dramatic reading of an exciting new play that brings alive the historic conflict between Stella Adler of the influential Jewish-American Adler acting dynasty and the controversial artistic director Lee Strasberg, and her subsequent meetings in Paris with Russian director Constantine Stanislavsky in 1934.

Mira Sorvino and her father, Paul, will play the roles of Stella Adler and Constantine Stanislavsky in the January 26 performance ONLY. On February 2, the roles will be played by Elizabeth Zins and Robert Ian Mackenzie.

Sponsored by the American Jewish Historical Society and the Center for Jewish History

Produced by the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts


Presented by:

dramatic reading of a new play by jane wood and tara prem

Thu, Jan 29
05:00PM
Thu, Jan 29
05:00PM

exhibit opening and lecture

Art Deco Masterpieces by Walter and Marcel Goldscheider

5:00 - 6:30pm: Opening reception with remarks from Peter Goldscheider

7:00pm: Lecture by Filipp Goldscheider

From its founding in Vienna in 1885 until 1938, the Goldscheider Manufactory was the leading international ceramics producer in Europe with subsidiaries in Paris, Leipzig, and Florence. Its high quality decorative objects were sought by collectors around the world. The pieces encompassed a large variety of styles; more than 10,000 models were in production by the time the company was forcibly Aryanized by the Nazis.


Presented by:

exhibit opening and lecture

Wed, Jan 28
06:00PM
Wed, Jan 28
06:00PM

exhibition tour and reading

Writers on View: 3rd Annual Writers Read

6pm Exhibition Viewing
7pm Program

This event will feature stars of the New York literary scene reading new work created in response to the dynamic and evocative exhibition, David Stern: The American Years 1995-2008. The writers will share insights into the creative process and discuss the relationships between the visual and literary arts.


Presented by:

exhibition tour and reading

Wed, Jan 28
07:00PM
Wed, Jan 28
07:00PM

racolin memorial lecture

The Lodz Towers of Babel: Industry and Religious Politics in Lodz Before the First World War

Yedida Kanfer, Department of Russian History, Yale University. In the years before WWI, the industrial city of Lodz was a center of Jewish religion in Russian Poland. Kanfer explores the link between Lodz and religious infrastructure, between industry and Orthodox politics.


Presented by:

racolin memorial lecture

Tue, Jan 27
06:00PM
Tue, Jan 27
06:00PM

lecture

Giorno della Memoria – Holocaust Remembrance Day

A program presented by CPL, the Consulate General of Italy and the Italian academic institutions in NY under the auspices of the United Nations. Full calendar of activities at the Primo Levi Center website.


Presented by:

lecture

Mon, Jan 26
07:00PM
Mon, Jan 26
07:00PM

dramatic reading of a new play by jane wood and tara prem

Stella in the Bois de Boulogne

Dramatic reading of an exciting new play that brings alive the historic conflict between Stella Adler of the influential Jewish-American Adler acting dynasty and the controversial artistic director Lee Strasberg, and her subsequent meetings in Paris with Russian director Constantine Stanislavsky in 1934.

Mira Sorvino and her father, Paul, will play the roles of Stella Adler and Constantine Stanislavsky in the January 26 performance ONLY. On February 2, the roles will be played by Elizabeth Zins and Robert Ian Mackenzie.

Sponsored by the American Jewish Historical Society and the Center for Jewish History

Produced by the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts


Presented by:

dramatic reading of a new play by jane wood and tara prem

Thu, Jan 22
06:00PM
Thu, Jan 22
06:00PM

lecture

István Farkas: An Introduction by Éva Forgács

István Farkas (1887-1944), a modernist of the École de Paris, whose elusive landscapes fascinated writers and painters alike, returned in 1932 to his native Hungary where his mysterious works ultimately presaged his own death at Auschwitz.

Presented by: CPL, YUM, American Friends of István Farkas Foundation


Presented by:

lecture

Wed, Jan 21
07:00PM
Wed, Jan 21
07:00PM

comics and the jewish american dream

An Evening With Al Jaffee

A graduate of New York's High School of Art and Design, Jaffee worked in the 1940s as an editor, writer and artist for Stan Lee at Timely (later Marvel) Comics. In 1955 he became a regular contributor to Mad magazine and has been there ever since, entertaining generations of devoted fans with, among other features, his "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions" and unique "Mad Fold-Ins". He is currently writing his autobiography.

About the Series

Comic books were invented by American Jews in the 1930's and 1940's. Did this come about, as some maintain, because anti-Semitism kept Jewish artists, writers and entrepreneurs out of more "reputable" areas of publishing? And did comics in any way reflect the Jewish background of its original exponents?

In this series three giants in the field, Al Jaffee, Jules Feiffer and Harvey Pekar, will join moderator Danny Fingeroth to discuss their careers and reflect on how their work has been influenced by their Jewish heritage.

Series curator and moderator Danny Fingeroth, a former editor of Spider-Man, has lectured and taught about comics at the Smithsonian Institution and the New School. He is the author of the pop-culture study Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero (Continuum) and The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels (Penguin).


Presented by:

comics and the jewish american dream

Tue, Jan 20
06:00PM
Tue, Jan 20
06:00PM

exhibition tour and panel discussion

From Black Death to AIDS: Epidemics and Their Impact on Culture

6pm Exhibition Tour
6:30pm Program

Examines the impact of disease in shaping culture. Join medical practitioners with backgrounds in the history of science and art history for this enlightening discussion blending arts, literature, science and history.

Speakers: Ruth Oratz, MD FACP, Clinical Associate Professor at NYU School of Medicine; Liise-anne Pirofski, MD, Mitrani Professor of Biomedical Research and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center.


Presented by:

exhibition tour and panel discussion

Sun, Jan 18
02:00PM
Sun, Jan 18
02:00PM

jewish genealogical society monthly meeting

Who Do You Think You Are, Stephen Fry? A Film About a Genealogical Quest

The BBC's wildly successful TV series, Who Do You Think You Are?, follows British personalities as they trace their roots. The subject of this particular episode is Stephen Fry, the English comedian, writer, actor, humorist, novelist, columnist, filmmaker, and television personality -- famous in America for his role in the TV series Jeeves and Wooster. This film realistically portrays the joys and sorrows of a genealogical search, from an initial spark of interest through the process of interviewing family, going to archives, using sites on the Internet, traveling to ancestral lands, visiting significant people and places of the past, and sharing the discoveries with relatives.

The story that pricked Stephen's interest the most was that of his beloved Jewish maternal grandfather, Martin Newman, whose original name was Neumann. By the time of his death, when Stephen was eleven years old, his flamboyance had made an indelible mark on his grandson. Martin had left Surany, a small town in what is now Slovakia, in 1927 with his wife and daughter and settled in Bury St Edmunds, England. Stephen was interested in discovering more about Martin and his family's life prior to their move to East Anglia. And what of the other branches of the Neumann family?

The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute at CJH will be open 12:30 to 1:45 PM for networking with other researchers and access to research materials and computers.


Presented by:

jewish genealogical society monthly meeting

Fri, Jan 16
10:30AM
Fri, Jan 16
10:30AM

jewish music forum

Ethel Raim and the Center for Traditional Music and Dance: Three Decades of Showcasing Jewish Music

With Ethel Raim and Professor Mark Slobin, Wesleyan University

co-sponsored by the Working Group on Jews, Media and Religion at NYU


Presented by:

jewish music forum

Thu, Jan 15
07:00PM
Thu, Jan 15
07:00PM

panel discussion

Madoff: A Jewish Reckoning

The sheer magnitude of Bernard Mad­off's crimes and his apparent preference for fleecing Jews and Jewish institutions have left many of his co-religionists won­dering, "Where did this man come from?"

YIVO's Board of Overseers has con­vened a panel of distinguished scholars, businessmen and philanthropists from the community to answer this and other salient questions.

The Panel

Simon Schama: One of the pre-eminent narrative historians of our time, the Columbia University professor is a prolific author whose works include Rembrandt’s Eyes and Two Rothschilds and the Land of Israel. Among his many areas of expertise is the longstanding and complex relationship between Jews and capitalism.

Michael Walzer: The internationally re­nowned political and moral philosopher, a professor emeritus at the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton, is co-editor of the quarterly Dissent. He has thought deeply about the practical application of Jewish ethics in a modern economy.

William Ackman: A member of the Board of Overseers at YIVO and the former Chairman of the Jerusalem Foundation, the C.E.O. of the hedge fund Pershing Square Management is a businessman/philanthropist par excellence. He has played an active role in calling to account on Wall Street public firms guilty of criminal business practices.

Mort Zuckerman: The publisher of the Daily News, editor-in-chief of U.S. News and World Report and major real estate investor is intimately acquainted with the Madoff case—as a victim. Active in Jew­ish communal life, Zuckerman is a past chairman of the Conference of Presi­dents of Major Jewish Organizations and has advised Israeli prime ministers and American presidents on matters of Middle East policy.


Presented by:

panel discussion

Wed, Jan 14
07:00PM
Wed, Jan 14
07:00PM

film and discussion

What If? The Helena Mayer Story

Helena Mayer was a fencer who represented Germany in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Why would a German Jew agree to bring honor to a country that rejected Jews? Filmmaker Semyon Pinkhasov examines the motives for the decisions on both sides. He will present the film and discuss it with James Traub, a journalist specializing in the responsibility of nations toward their citizens.


Presented by:

film and discussion

Mon, Jan 12
07:00PM
Mon, Jan 12
07:00PM

the first annual lillian goldman literary reading

The Lifecycles of New York Jews: Little Disturbances and Enormous Changes

The first in a series of staged literary evenings will depict the complex and ever-surprising lives of New York Jewish families. Stage and screen star Kathleen Chalfant will be joined by Matt Rauch, Jerry Matz and Robert Zukerman to pay tribute to authors Grace Paley and J. D. Salinger. Gabriel Brownstein will read from his Hemingway/PEN Award-winning fiction. A sample of a work-in-progress documentary film portrait of Grace Paley by Lilly Rivlin will be shown.


Presented by:

the first annual lillian goldman literary reading

Thu, Jan 08
07:00PM
Thu, Jan 08
07:00PM

lecture

PLEASE NOTE: This event will now take place on March 03, 2009

The Lubavitcher Rebbe as Messiah: Turning Point in Judaism?

Dr. David Berger, author of The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference and The Jewish-Christian Debate in the High Middle Ages.

Lubavitch Hasidism has generated the most successful messianic movement in Jewish history since the seventeenth century. Belief in the Rebbe's Messiahship after his death and even formulations that flirt—or more than flirt—with affirmations of his divinity have raised the specter to some observers of a fundamental transformation of Judaism, while others have argued that this is a passing development of little moment. Dr. David Berger will examine how this movement arose, how powerful or widespread it is, and how likely it is to affect the Jewish religion.


Presented by:

lecture