Mon, Dec 26
Mon, Dec 26

holidays and closures

The Center is closed Monday, December 26th. Happy Holidays!


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holidays and closures

Sun, Dec 25
Sun, Dec 25

holidays and closures

The Center is closed Sunday, December 25th. Happy Holidays!


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holidays and closures

Tue, Dec 20
06:00PM
Tue, Dec 20
06:00PM

hanukkah celebration

First Light of Hanukkah

Come celebrate Hanukkah at the Center for Jewish History with a candle lighting, concert, open galleries and refreshments.

6:00pm    YU Museum and Center Partner Exhibitions' Viewing and Reception

6:30pm    Lighting of the Hanukkiah
Light a beautiful Menorah designed by artist Oded Halahmy in the Great Hall to celebrate the beginning of the holiday.

7:00pm    Hanukkah-Themed Concert
A jazz ensemble, featuring David Freeman, Oren Neiman, Doug Drewes and Ivan Barenboim, perform original compositions inspired by the holiday, as well as new arrangements of music from the YU Museum’s Jews on Vinyl exhibition.

Generous support for this program has been provided by the Pomegranate Gallery.


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hanukkah celebration

Sun, Dec 18
03:00PM
Sun, Dec 18
03:00PM

concert

David's Harp - A Hanukkah Concert

An amazing afternoon of some of the Middle East's most thrilling and scintillating music, featuring the group David's Harp, that holds many surprises for the audience. And, of course, Isaiah Sheffer, host of Public Radio International's Selected Shorts, will open the program reading a wonderful story from the pen of a great Jewish writer - a tradition of the annual Hanukkah program. David's Harp is a unique and exotic five-piece ensemble singing and playing santouri, darbuka, keyboard, zills, flute, guitar, mandolin, electric bass daf and violin. Directed by Joseph Alpar, the group offers an exciting program of Sephardic, Israeli, Turkish, Greek, Egyptian, Ottoman, Bukharian and Yemenite songs that that have audiences literally "dancing in the aisles"!


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concert

Thu, Dec 15
06:30PM
Thu, Dec 15
06:30PM

lbi memorial lecture

Bismarck and the Growth of Modern Anti-Semitism in Germany

Jonathan Steinberg, Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania. Professor Steinberg is the author of the highly acclaimed new book Bismarck: A Life, which Dr. Henry Kissinger called "the best study of Bismarck in the English language." Steinberg describes the political genius of the man who dominated his era. Bismarck's belief in Prussia’s cohesion and authority, and in a nationalism that could be put to good use, ultimately led to Germany's tragic 20th century.


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lbi memorial lecture

Wed, Dec 14
01:00PM
Wed, Dec 14
01:00PM

curator's tour

Highlights from the exhibitions currently on view


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curator's tour

Mon, Dec 12
07:00PM
Mon, Dec 12
07:00PM

lecture & performance

Keeper of the Klezmer Flame - The Life and Legacy of German Goldenshteyn

The arrival of Bessarabian-Jewish clarinetist German Goldenshteyn in Brooklyn in the mid-1990s was one of the most important developments in the international revival of klezmer music. Celebrated by younger musicians here as a living treasure, Goldenshteyn brought with him an unprecedented collection of over 1,000 handwritten transcriptions of Bessarabian klezmer music – a musical repository of an entire culture. Join musicians/researchers Michael Alpert and Alex Kontorovich as they provide a multi-media narration of Goldenstheyn's life, and explore his impact on today's klezmer scene. After the lecture, join us in the Great Hall for a Tantshoyz Yiddish Dance Party featuring Goldenshteyn’s music and a reception.


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lecture & performance

Sun, Dec 11
01:00PM
Sun, Dec 11
01:00PM

lecture

The Hidden Cause of the Great Recession: Realeconomik

Grigory Yavlinsky's Realeconomik: The Hidden Cause of the Great Recession (And How to Avert the Next One) explores the widespread disregard for moral values in global business decisions and calls for restoration of principled behavior in politics and economic practices. Yavlinsky will speak about his book and comment on current conditions in both Russia and the west with regard to the relationship between financial markets and political and social organization.


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lecture

Wed, Dec 07
06:30PM
Wed, Dec 07
06:30PM

ruth gay seminar in jewish studies

Before the Upheaval: Jewish Daily Life in 19th Century Poland Reflected in the Guttmacher Kvitlekh

Presenter: Glenn Dynner, Professor of Judaic Studies, Sarah Lawrence College

Moderator: David Engel, Greenberg Professor of Holocaust Studies, Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, and Professor of History at New York University

This seminar is part of a series highlighting the Polish Jewish collections in the YIVO Archives and celebrating the Gruss Lipper Digital Project on Jewish Life in Poland funded by the Gruss Lipper Family Foundation.

The Ruth Gay Seminar in Jewish Studies is given several times a year at YIVO, thanks to a major gift in 2008 by the family of Ruth Gay in honor of Ruth Gay (1922-2006), the well known American Jewish writer and historian.


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ruth gay seminar in jewish studies

Tue, Dec 06
04:00PM
Tue, Dec 06
04:00PM

graduate seminar

Courting Self-Image in Early Modern Ashkenaz: David Oppenheim and Jewish Law between the Bet Din and Yeshiva

Joshua Z. Teplitsky, Cahnman Foundation Fellow, Ph.D candidate at New York University. Dr. Jay Berkowitz, University of Massachusetts, responding. Dr. Nancy Sinkoff, Professor of History and Jewish Studies, Rutgers University, presiding. Intended for an academic audience; space is limited.


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graduate seminar

Sun, Dec 04
10:00AM
Sun, Dec 04
10:00AM

conference

Weinreich in America

Max Weinreich (1894–1969) was a principal founder of the YIVO Institute and oversaw its move from Vilna to New York in 1940. A renowned linguist, Weinreich devoted his life to promoting and studying Yiddish, applying the latest advances in social science to the problems facing the Jewish people, and encouraging other scholars. This day-long conference will feature leading experts on Weinreich focusing on his career in, and relationship with, America.


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conference

Mon, Nov 28
07:30PM
Mon, Nov 28
07:30PM

mixed media program

New York Music Ensemble Does Mixed Media

With renowned soprano Susan Naruki, the New York New Music Ensemble presents works by two American composers: David Glaser, whose Of Twilight, based on Charles Simic's "Dimestore Alchemy" for ensemble and singer, will receive its world premiere, and Stephen Dembski, represented by The Show, a short story by Donald Barthelme, for ensemble, speaker, and projected images. These extended art pieces explore and integrate sensory experience through projections of antique etchings, conceptual works by Joseph Cornell, recited prose and poetry, and composed sound for chamber ensemble. Also on the program is a work by internationally acclaimed Australian composer Liza Lim.


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mixed media program

Tue, Nov 22
06:30PM
Tue, Nov 22
06:30PM

ruth gay seminar in jewish studies

Two Cities under Siege: The Jews of Vilna and Warsaw during World War I

Presenter: Andrew Koss, Research Fellow, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Judaic Studies, Brooklyn College
Moderator: Gennady Estraikh, Associate Professor of Yiddish Studies, New York University

This seminar is part of a series highlighting the Polish Jewish collections in the YIVO Archives and celebrating the Gruss Lipper Digital Project on Jewish Life in Poland funded by the Gruss Lipper Family Foundation.

Inaugurated in 2008 thanks to a major gift to YIVO from the family of Ruth Gay, the Ruth Gay Seminar in Jewish Studies takes place several times a year. Established in honor of Ruth Gay (1922-2006), the noted American Jewish historian and writer, the seminar series is given by scholars who have used the resources of the YIVO Archives and who wish to share their research with the public.


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ruth gay seminar in jewish studies

Sun, Nov 20
02:00PM
Sun, Nov 20
02:00PM

jewish genealogical society programs at cjh

Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams

Speaker: Charles King

Odessa, the greatest port on the Black Sea was home to one of the most progressive and creative Jewish communities in Europe. Odessa grew as a trading center throughout the nineteenth century and inspired some of Russia's most enduring writers, artists, and musicians. Charles King has uncovered new documents that shed light on an untold story of the Holocaust, and he also reveals how the city recovered after the Second World War but how its Jewish identity was reshaped as well--from a thriving center of Jewish culture into an object of nostalgia and longing. A book-signing will follow the presentation.

Charles King is Professor of International Affairs and Government at Georgetown University. He is the author of five books, including Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams and his work has been translated into more than ten languages. King’s articles and commentary have appeared in magazines and newspapers as well as in leading academic journals.

The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute at CJH will be open before the meeting at 11:00 a.m. for networking with other researchers and access to research materials and computers.


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jewish genealogical society programs at cjh

Thu, Nov 17
07:00PM
Thu, Nov 17
07:00PM

concert

Sidney Krum Young Artists Concert Series: Fall Concert 2011

A program highlighting orchestra and chamber music works by little-known Jewish composers. Featured pieces include Joachim Stutchevsky's "Klezmer Wedding Music," a sextet by Alexander Krein, and a suite for chamber orchestra by Lev Aronson.


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concert

Wed, Nov 16
01:00PM
Wed, Nov 16
01:00PM

curator's tour

Highlights from the exhibitions currently on view


Presented by:

curator's tour

Wed, Nov 16
06:30PM
Wed, Nov 16
06:30PM

film and discussion

Not Idly By – Peter Bergson, America and the Holocaust

On November 24, 1942, Rabbi Stephen Wise held a press conference announcing State Department confirmation that the Jews of Europe were being mass murdered. How did American Jews and their leaders respond to the crisis? Not Idly By--Peter Bergson, America and the Holocaust, an award-winning new documentary by Pierre Sauvage (55 min.), presents the challenging testimony of Peter Bergson, a Palestinian Jew who led a determined and controversial American effort to fight the Holocaust. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Sauvage, historian Richard Breitman and other distinguished speakers.


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film and discussion

Wed, Nov 16
06:30PM
Wed, Nov 16
06:30PM

book presentation

Einstein on the Road by Josef Eisinger

At the height of his fame, Albert Einstein traveled throughout the world, from Japan to South America and many places in between. During these voyages, between 1922 and 1933, he was in the habit of keeping travel diaries, in which he recorded his impressions of people and events, and his musings on everything from music and politics to quantum mechanics and psychoanalysis. These fascinating records, which have never been published in their entirety, are the basis for this engaging personal portrait of Einstein the man.

In Einstein on the Road, author Josef Eisinger has created a vivid and entertaining narrative that brings Einstein’s voice to the fore. During Einstein’s travels far and wide, he meets with royalty, presidents, movie stars, and artists—Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin, Fritz Kreisler, and Sinclair Lewis, as well as the most eminent scientists of the time, including Niels Bohr, Max Planck, Erwin Schrödinger, and Edwin Hubble.

In his travel entries, we read his candid impressions of the Far East during a long sea voyage to Japan (1922), where Einstein is welcomed with enormous enthusiasm, and steals the show at an Imperial reception. He and Elsa visit and explore many Japanese cities, as well as Singapore, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Barcelona, Madrid, and Jerusalem, where Einstein cogitates on Zionism and sees it in action.

In 1931, the couple spends eight weeks in Pasadena, where Einstein enjoys fruitful interactions with scientists at Caltech and the Mount Wilson observatory. This portion of the diaries contains observations about America, science, and the Hollywood celebrities he encounters. He returns to Caltech two more times, and enjoys two extended sojourns in another academic sanctuary, Oxford University.

Back at home in Berlin, his diary shows his deep involvement with the academic, social, and cultural life of the German capital, and with the politics of the Weimar Republic. He discusses books, dinner parties, plays, concerts, and sailing, but his greatest passion, apart from physics, is music; he is never happier than when playing chamber music, preferably, Mozart—and does so at every opportunity.

A lifelong pacifist, he watches the Nazis’ rise with anxiety, and when Hitler gains control in 1933, he renounces pacifism and searches for a place of refuge. He finds it in Princeton, New Jersey, where he joins the newly created Institute for Advanced Study and becomes an American, never more to roam.

Filled with memorable vignettes, this singular book provides a window into the thoughts and opinions of the twentieth century’s most celebrated scientist and allows us to share some of his fascinating experiences.

Josef Eisinger, PhD, a native of Vienna, is a physicist whose research has ranged from nuclear physics to molecular biology and from the history of medicine to music history. He is professor emeritus in the Department of Structural and Chemical Biology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, the author of some two hundred articles in professional journals and books, and the recipient of two Guggenheim fellowships.


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book presentation

Tue, Nov 15
12:30PM
Tue, Nov 15
12:30PM

lecture

Wandering Soul: The Dybbuk's Creator, S. An-sky

The man who would become S. An-sky--ethnographer, war correspondent, author of the best-known Yiddish play, The Dybbuk--was born Shloyme-Zanvl Rapoport in 1863, in Russia’s Pale of Settlement. His journey from the streets of Vitebsk to the center of modern Yiddish and Hebrew theater, by way of St. Petersburg, Paris, and war-torn Austria-Hungry, was both extraordinary and in some ways typical: Marc Chagall, another child of Vitebsk, would make a similar transit a generation later. Like Chagall, An-sky was loyal to multiple, conflicting Jewish, Russian, and European identities. And like Chagall, An-sky made his physical and cultural transience manifest as he drew on Jewish folk culture to create art that defied nationality.

Leaving Vitebsk at 17, An-sky forged a number of apparently contradictory paths. A witness to peasant poverty, pogroms, and war, he tried to rescue the vestiges of disappearing communities even while fighting for reform. A loner addicted to reinventing himself--at times a Russian laborer, a radical orator, a Jewish activist, an ethnographer of Hasidism, a wartime relief worker--An-sky saw himself as a savior of the people’s culture and its artifacts. What united the disparate strands of his life was his eagerness to speak to and for as many people as possible, regardless of their language or national origin.

In this first full-length biography in English, Gabriella Safran, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literature at Stanford University, using Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew, and French sources, recreates this neglected protean figure who, with his passions, struggles, and art, anticipated the complicated identities of the European Jews who would follow him.


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lecture

Mon, Nov 14
12:30PM
Mon, Nov 14
12:30PM

lecture

The Jewish Policy of Russian Military and Civilian Authorities and the Crisis in the Russian Empire, 1914-1917

From the first days of World War I, Russian commanders pointed to the alleged disloyalty of Russia’s Jewish population. The Russian army began to solve the "problem" of Jewish disloyalty using local and mass expulsions from various localities, hostage-taking, and restrictions on the movement of Jews in the frontal zone. This lecture by Dr. Semion Goldin examines the reasons for such an attitude towards the Jews and its consequences for the international and domestic situation of the Russian Empire in 1914 -1917.


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lecture

Thu, Nov 10
07:30PM
Thu, Nov 10
07:30PM

lecture

Digitization and its Discontents for Jewish History

Scholarship and teaching are changing, rapidly and radically, in all fields of the humanities and social sciences. The impetus for this change is coming from a transformation in our ways of storing, finding, reading, citing and making texts and documents. Many of us find the new world uncomfortable but there is an immense amount to be gained. Dr. Anthony Grafton, Princeton historian, will explore with us how historians, archivists, librarians, and other stakeholders need to work together to ensure that the Nile flood of new materials actually makes the land fertile.


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lecture

Wed, Nov 09
02:00PM
Wed, Nov 09
02:00PM

conference

From Access to Integration - Digital Technologies and the Study of Jewish History

From Access to Integration seeks to build a network of communication for professionals at archives, libraries and museums to partner on future projects and expand on one another's existing work within the digital humanities. As the first formal meeting of information professionals to address these specific needs for the discipline of Jewish studies, the conference will highlight collective solutions to the challenges faced by many institutions in employing emerging technologies for the study of Jewish history, and move participating professionals and their institutions toward a framework of collaboration.

The conference enjoyed generous support from the David Berg Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe, the Leon Levy Foundation and The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.


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conference

Mon, Nov 07
07:00PM
Mon, Nov 07
07:00PM

lecture

Jewish Deportees: Displaced Persons in the Soviet Union during World War II

During World War II the Soviet Union put into effect several strategies to get rid of “enemies of the state,” including the forced deportation of thousands of Jews into labor camps in the harsh climate of Siberia. Many were not able to survive; the parents of speaker Louis Beck were among the fortunate ones. This evening, Louis Beck and Ze’ev Levin will seek to inform about a piece of history often neglected when discussing the atrocities of the Holocaust.


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lecture

Sun, Nov 06
10:00AM
Sun, Nov 06
10:00AM

conference

Folktales of Israel: A Festival of Jewish Storytelling Honoring Professor Peninnah Schram

Bringing together internationally renowned storytellers and scholars, Folktales of Israel: A Festival of Jewish Storytelling is a day dedicated to the art of storytelling in and about the Land of Israel. At this moment of political tensions, this festival highlights the beauty of Israel and its peoples, presenting through scholarship and performance some of the ways that storytellers have transmitted their love of Israel through the ages.

Sorytellers Include: Arthur Strimling, Barry Bub, Cherie Karo Schwartz, Ellen Frankel, Goldie Milgram, Jennifer Rudnick Zunikoff, Laura Simms, Noa Baum


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conference

Sun, Nov 06
06:00PM
Sun, Nov 06
06:00PM

lecture

Across a Cultural Divide, by Paul Mendes Flohr: Rabindranath Tagore, Albert Einstein, and Martin Buber

Leo Baeck and The Asia Society present a lecture by Paul Mendes-Flohr about the fascinating relationship between German-Jewish intellectuals Albert Einstein and Martin Buber and the Bengal Poet Rabindranath Tagore.

By the 1930s, European intellectuals had become interested in Eastern art and philosophy, especially in divergent concepts of art, science, music, education and religion. At that time, Rabindranath Tagore was the preeminent representative of Eastern culture – a Nobel laureate, poet, writer, artist and thinker whose world travels brought him into contact with luminaries from all disciplines.

Einstein and Buber represented Western, European intellectuals whose interests and ideas ranged from politics to music. Tagore corresponded and met with each during his visits to Europe, and their discussions covered topics including politics, Zionism, science, art literature, and religion.

Tagore identified the value of culture as a transnational basis for global justice, human rights and peace. Paul Mendes-Flohr, Professor of Modern Jewish thought in the divinity school at the University of Chicago will examine the cultural identities that informed this fascinating dialogue.


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lecture

Thu, Nov 03
04:00PM
Thu, Nov 03
04:00PM

graduate seminar

Possessed by the Other: The Still-Possessing Power of An-sky's Dybbuk

Agnieszka Legutko, Morris and Alma Schapiro Fellow, Ph.D candidate at Columbia University. Dr. Michael Steinlauf, Gratz College, responding. Dr. Nancy Sinkoff, Professor of History and Jewish Studies, Rutgers University, presiding. Intended for an academic audience; space is limited.


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graduate seminar

Thu, Nov 03
06:30PM
Thu, Nov 03
06:30PM

book launch

From Kabul to Queens: The Jews of Afghanistan and Their Move to the United States

From Kabul to Queens details the story of a small Jewish community that lived in relative peace with its Sunni Muslim neighbors. Sara Aharon captures a poignant chapter of contemporary Jewish social history in her portrayal of Afghan Jews in transition, and bridges the experiences of these Jews in Afghanistan to their successes and struggles in rebuilding a new life in the U.S. and among American Jewish society.


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book launch

Wed, Nov 02
06:30PM
Wed, Nov 02
06:30PM

lecture

Glikl's Legacy: Jewish Women in France before the Revolution

Based on the records of the Metz rabbinic court, Professor Jay Berkovitz will examine how the lives of Jewish women prior to the French Revolution both mirrored and expanded on the example set by the famous memoirist, Glikl Hamel. Professor Berkovitz, the recipient of the Center’s inaugural National Endowment for the Humanities Senior Scholar Fellowship, is spending the year 2011-2012 in residence at the Center for Jewish History.


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lecture

Tue, Nov 01
06:30PM
Tue, Nov 01
06:30PM

film screening and discussion

Jewish Soldiers in Blue & Gray

Coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, Jewish Soldiers in Blue & Gray (directed by Jonathan Gruber) is a first-of-its-kind film that reveals the little-known struggles facing American Jews both in battle and on the home front during the nation’s deadliest war. This documentary reveals an unknown chapter in American history when allegiances during the War Between the States deeply split the Jewish community between Union and Confederate sides. Join us for a viewing of this outstanding new film plus expert historical commentary.


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film screening and discussion

Tue, Nov 01
06:30PM
Tue, Nov 01
06:30PM

book presentation

Life and Loss in the Shadow of the Holocaust by Rebecca Boehling and Uta Larkey

The authors of Life and Loss in the Shadow of the Holocaust (Cambridge University Press, 20011) will present their new book.

A family’s recently-discovered correspondence provides the inspiration for this fascinating and deeply-moving account of Jewish family life before, during and after the Holocaust. Rebecca Boehling and Uta Larkey reveal how the Kaufmann-Steinberg family was pulled apart under the Nazi regime and left divided between Germany, the US and Palestine. The family’s unique eight-way correspondence across two generations brings into sharp focus the dilemma of Jews in Nazi Germany facing the painful decision of when and if they should leave Germany. The authors capture the family members’ fluctuating emotions of hope, optimism, resignation and despair as well as the day-to-day concerns, experiences and dynamics of family life despite increasing persecution and impending deportation. Headed by two sisters who were among the first female business owners in Essen, the family was far from conventional, and their story contributes a new dimension to our understanding of life in Germany during these dark years.

Professor Rebecca Boehling is Director of the University of Maryland Baltimore County’s Dresher Center for the Humanities and teaches courses in modern European history, including German history, Judaic Studies, and European women’s history. Her publications focus on the Holocaust, post-World War II Germany and German-American relations. She previously published A Question of Priorities: Democratic Reforms and Economic Recovery in Postwar Germany (Berghahn Books, 1996).

Professor Uta Larkey received her M.A. from the University of Leipzig and her doctorate from Humboldt University Berlin. She is the director of the German program at Goucher College in Maryland, where she teaches courses on German language and culture and in Jewish, Holocaust, and film studies.


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book presentation

Sun, Oct 30
03:00PM
Sun, Oct 30
03:00PM

film screening and discussion

The Rescuers

Award-winning documentary about the heroic diplomats who saved thousands of Jews during World War II. Narrated by Sir Martin Gilbert, with Stephanie Nyombayire. Voted “Best of the Fest,” 2011 Palm Springs International Film Festival. Panel: Michael King, director; Joyce Mandell, producer; Dr. Mordecai Paldiel, former director of the Department of the Righteous at Yad Vashem; Dr. Sylvia Smoller, Professor at Einstein College of Medicine whose family was rescued by one of the diplomats. Reception to follow the program.


Presented by:

film screening and discussion

Wed, Oct 26
03:00PM
Wed, Oct 26
03:00PM

ruth gay seminar in jewish studies

The Knights of History: Polish Jewish Historians in the Second Polish Republic

Presenter: Natalia Aleksiun, Associate Professor of Modern Jewish History at Touro College, Graduate School of Jewish Studies, New York; Assistant Professor, Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw. Moderator: Robert Moses Shapiro, Professor of Judaic Studies at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. Part of a series highlighting the Polish Jewish collections in the YIVO Archives, this lecture celebrates the Gruss Lipper Digital Project on Jewish Life on Poland funded by the Gruss Lipper Family Foundation.

The Ruth Gay Seminar in Jewish Studies is given at YIVO several times a year in honor of Ruth Gay (1922-2006), the well known American Jewish historian and scholar. The seminar series was established at YIVO in 2008 thanks to a major gift from the family of Ruth Gay.


Presented by:

ruth gay seminar in jewish studies

Wed, Oct 26
07:30PM
Wed, Oct 26
07:30PM

concert

Lyricism and Power in the Music of the Great Russian Composers: Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, and Rachmaninoff

Phoenix Chamber Ensemble performing Tchaikovsky's Trio, op. 50; Scriabin's Prelude, op. 16, Etudes 2 and 12 (op. 8) and Etudes 3 and 4 (op. 42); and Rachmaninoff's Etudes-tableaux, op. 33.

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


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concert

Tue, Oct 25
06:30PM
Tue, Oct 25
06:30PM

book discussion

Synagogues in Hungary: A Conversation with Rudolf Klein

Synagogues in Hungary 1792-1918 is a stunning new book by architectural historian Rudolf Klein of Budapest, documenting the remarkably diverse cultural journey of Jews from the Enlightenment to the end of World War I in Hapsburg Hungary. Join Dr. Klein and historian Gavriel Rosenfeld in conversation as they take a penetrating look at the identities and adaptations of these communities through the architecture of their religious spaces.


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book discussion

Mon, Oct 24
06:00PM
Mon, Oct 24
06:00PM

panel discussion

Close and Personal: Jewish Women Artists and Their Graphic Diaries

Exhibition Viewing at 6:00pm
Program begins at 6:30pm
Discussion with artists featured in the exhibition Graphic Details - Confessional Comics by Jewish Women including Ariel Schrag, Miriam Katin, Miss Lasko-Gross, and Lauren Weinstein. Moderated by Robin Cembalest, executive editor of ARTnews and a contributing editor of Tablet.


Presented by:

panel discussion

Fri, Oct 21
Fri, Oct 21

holidays and closures

The Center will be closed on Friday October 21 for Shemini Atzeret.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Thu, Oct 20
Thu, Oct 20

holidays and closures

The Center will be closed on Thursday, October 20 for Shemini Atzeret.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Wed, Oct 19
Wed, Oct 19

holidays and closures

The Center will close at 2:00pm on Wednesday, October 19 for Erev Shemini Atzeret.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Mon, Oct 17
06:30PM
Mon, Oct 17
06:30PM

concert

Hy Wolfe: An Evening of Songs and Stories

New York stage actor and singer Hy Wolfe returns to our stage with a show featuring Yiddish theater and folk songs and stories. With English translations throughout, this event is a pleasure for Yiddish speakers and non-Yiddish speakers alike.


Presented by:

concert

Sun, Oct 16
02:00PM
Sun, Oct 16
02:00PM

jewish genealogical society programs at cjh

Introducing the Jewish Telegraphic Agency News Archive

Speaker: Adam Soclof, media & marketing associate at Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), where he writes for the JTA Archive Blog and coordinates outreach and social media for the JTA Jewish News Archive.

JTA is the definitive source for American Jewish community news and opinion. Throughout its 90-year history, it has been the trusted global source of breaking news, investigating reporting, in-depth analysis, opinion and features on current events and issues of interest to the Jewish people. The new JTA Jewish News Archive is a powerful reference tool about current events and modern Jewish history and holds more than a quarter-million articles covering the period of 1923-2008. Tips will be shared that will help you during your research.

The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute at CJH will be open before the meeting at 11:00 a.m. for networking with other researchers and access to research materials and computers.


Presented by:

jewish genealogical society programs at cjh

Sun, Oct 16
07:00PM
Sun, Oct 16
07:00PM

film and concert

An Evening of Beautiful Music

Film Screening: My Sweet Canary, a documentary on the life and music of Roza Eskenazy. (Director: Roy Sher. 90 mins. )

Followed by a live concert: Mavrothi T. Kontanis and The Maeandros Ensemble.


Presented by:

film and concert

Fri, Oct 14
Fri, Oct 14

holidays and closures

The Center will be closed on Friday, October 14 for Sukkot.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Thu, Oct 13
Thu, Oct 13

holidays and closures

The Center will be closed on Thursday, October 13 for Sukkot.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Wed, Oct 12
Wed, Oct 12

holidays and closures

The Center will close at 2:00pm on Wednesday October 12 for erev Sukkot.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Tue, Oct 11
07:00PM
Tue, Oct 11
07:00PM

film screening and discussion

25th Anniversary Program: The Partisans of Vilna

A riveting and inspirational tale of WWII and the Holocaust, Partisans of Vilna chronicles the amazing endeavours of the Jewish resistance fighters. Highly acclaimed during its theatrical run, the film explores the moral dilemmas facing the Jewish youth who organized an underground resistance in the Vilna Ghetto and fought as partisans in the woods against the Third Reich. The evening will feature a discussion with Josh Waletzky, director and editor, and Aviva Kempner, producer and co-writer, moderated by Dr. Annette Insdorf.


Presented by:

film screening and discussion

Mon, Oct 10
07:00PM
Mon, Oct 10
07:00PM

lecture & performance

The Hidden Musical Treasures of Romania - A Fulbright Scholar's Quest

Join klezmer violinist Jake Shulman-Ment on a multi-media musical travelogue of his year as a Fulbright Scholar exploring the deep roots that connect Romanian music and klezmer music. Based in the city of Botosani, in Romanian Moldavia, Shulman-Ment conducted field research with elderly Roma (Gypsy) musicians, organized and performed in a 10-city musical tour of old Romanian synagogues, and even played for the U.S. Ambassador as a member of the regional folk orchestra. After the lecture, please join us in the Great Hall for a Tantshoyz Yiddish Dance Party featuring rare Romanian-Jewish repertoire and a reception.


Presented by:

lecture & performance

Fri, Oct 07
Fri, Oct 07

holidays and closures

The Center will close at 2:00pm on Friday, October 7 for Erev Yom Kippur.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Thu, Oct 06
07:00PM
Thu, Oct 06
07:00PM

preview/ceremony

Jewish Chaplains’ Memorial Monument: Honoring the memory of 14 Jewish Chaplains who died while on active duty

Rear Admiral Rabbi Harold Robinson will lead the ceremony. The Jewish War Veterans, as well as members of the NYPD Shomrim Society, will be in attendance. Special musical accompaniment will be provided. The memorial plaque listing the fallen will be displayed at the American Jewish Historical Society for a 24-hour period prior to its permanent installation later in the month at Arlington National Cemetery, alongside memorials to fallen Catholic, Protestant and World War I Chaplains.


Presented by:

preview/ceremony

Tue, Oct 04
07:00PM
Tue, Oct 04
07:00PM

panel discussion

Holocaust Era Looting and Restitution: Three Perspectives

Monica Dugot, Senior Vice President and International Director of Restitution, Christie's, New York
Lawrence Kaye, Partner, Co-Chair, Art Law Group at Herrick, Feinstein LLP, NY
Claudia von Selle, Attorney, ZSCHUNKE Avocats/Rechtsanwälte Berlin-Paris.


Presented by:

panel discussion

Sun, Oct 02
03:00PM
Sun, Oct 02
03:00PM

book discussion

Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin

Bloodlands is a new kind of European history, presenting the mass murders committed by the Nazi and Stalinist regimes as two aspects of a single history in the time and place where they occurred: between Germany and Russia, when Hitler and Stalin both held power. Assiduously researched, deeply humane, and utterly definitive, Bloodlands will be required reading for anyone seeking to understand the central tragedy of modern history.


Presented by:

book discussion

Fri, Sep 30
Fri, Sep 30

holidays and closures

The Center will be closed on Friday, September 30 for Rosh Hashana.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Thu, Sep 29
Thu, Sep 29

holidays and closures

The Center will be closed on Thursday, September 29 for Rosh Hashana.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Wed, Sep 28
Wed, Sep 28

holidays and closures

The Center will close at 2:00pm on Wednesday, September 28 for Erev Rosh Hashana.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Sun, Sep 25
02:00PM
Sun, Sep 25
02:00PM

curator's tour

Graphic Details - Confessional Comics by Jewish Women

Join co-curators Michael Kaminer and Sarah Lightman on a tour of the exhibition.


Presented by:

curator's tour

Thu, Sep 22
12:30PM
Thu, Sep 22
12:30PM

book discussion

Shush! Growing Up Jewish Under Stalin

This compelling memoir conveys the reader back to Emil Draitser's childhood and provides a unique account of mid-20th-century life in Russia. Lively, evocative, and rich with humor, through life stories of the author's ancestors, the book presents a sweeping panorama of Jewish history in Russia.


Presented by:

book discussion

Thu, Sep 22
07:00PM
Thu, Sep 22
07:00PM

concert

The Vilna Ghetto Experience

In commemoration of the year of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust in Lithuania, Jerome Barry highlights songs composed in the Jewish Ghetto in Vilnius during World War II and cantorial music. Jerome Barry, baritone, Yuval Waldman, violin and Edvinas Minkstimas, piano.


Presented by:

concert

Tue, Sep 20
03:00PM
Tue, Sep 20
03:00PM

conference

American Jews and Soviet Espionage

For many years, the 1953 execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union was the subject of much speculation and controversy. Recent research, however, has revealed that Julius Rosenberg and several other accused spies - many of whom were Jews - in fact worked for Soviet intelligence. This event will bring together the authors of important books on American Jewish spies for the USSR.


Presented by:

conference

Mon, Sep 19
06:30PM
Mon, Sep 19
06:30PM

lecture

Please Note: Tonight's lecture, Herzl, Freud, and Zweig: Biography or Autobiography?, has been cancelled.

Professor Mark H. Gelber, one of the world’s most eminent authorities on the works of early 20th century Jewish-Austrian author Stefan Zweig, is currently the Director of the Center for German and Austrian Studies at Ben-Gurion University in Israel.


Presented by:

lecture

Sun, Sep 18
12:30PM
Sun, Sep 18
12:30PM

symposium

A Continuing Conversation: Moses Mendelssohn and the Legacy of the Enlightenment

A day of discussion and debate devoted to exploring the thought and legacy of Moses Mendelssohn, the 18th-century founder of modern Jewish thought. A group of international scholars highlighted recent scholarship related to contemporary issues in religion, secularism, politics, culture, language and identity.

For more information, visit the Symposium web page.


Presented by:

symposium

Sun, Sep 18
02:00PM
Sun, Sep 18
02:00PM

artist's tour

Prophecy of Place: Quintan Ana Wikswo

Join artist Quintan Ana Wikswo on a tour of the exhibition.


Presented by:

artist's tour

Thu, Sep 15
06:30PM
Thu, Sep 15
06:30PM

lecture

Genesis: Imagining the Beginning of Time

The approach of the new year heightens our awareness of the cycle of Jewish time and its distinctive nature. Elisheva Carlebach, Salo W. Baron Professor of Jewish History at Columbia University, will give an illustrated lecture in honor of the coming New Year on Jewish conceptions of time and how these are interwoven with the Jewish sense of history and represented in Jewish imagery. Her most recent book is Palaces of Time: Jewish Calendar and Culture in Early Modern Europe.


Presented by:

lecture

Thu, Sep 15
06:30PM
Thu, Sep 15
06:30PM

film clips and discussion

Hollywood Zion

Israel’s creation in 1948 was a story virtually made for Hollywood -- a persecuted people rising heroically from the ashes to found a country of their own against extraordinary odds. But behind the miraculous tale, American Jews remained nervous about the ramifications of the new Jewish state. Join us and a panel of historians and critics to view clips from classic films like Exodus and Cast a Giant Shadow.


Presented by:

film clips and discussion

Wed, Sep 14
01:00PM
Wed, Sep 14
01:00PM

curator's tour

Jews on Vinyl

A tour of the YU Museum exhibit. The Jews in Vinyl exhibit is on view through January 8, 2012.


Presented by:

curator's tour

Tue, Sep 13
07:00PM
Tue, Sep 13
07:00PM

lecture

The Mystery of the Golem: How a Polish Rabbi Singlehandedly Transformed the Golem Legend

The Golem and the Wondrous Deeds of the Maharal of Prague, a collection of interrelated stories about a 16th-century Prague rabbi and the golem he created, became an immediate bestseller upon its publication in 1909. Curt Leviant sets Yudl Rosenberg’s writing in historical context and discusses the golem legend before and after Rosenberg’s contributions. A short film entitled Golem 1941, directed by David Labi, will also be shown.


Presented by:

lecture

Mon, Sep 12
06:30PM
Mon, Sep 12
06:30PM

multi-media performance

Echoes of Experience: Performance Works from Prophecy of Place: Quintan Ana Wikswo

Exhibition viewing at 6:30pm
Program begins at 7:00pm
Featuring Wikswo's photographic, text and video installation works for live performance. With music by composers Veronika Krausas and Isaac Schankler performed by Andrew Tholl, Nadia Francavilla and Andrew Miller, and movement pieces by choreographer Alexandra Shilling and her dancers. Followed by a conversation between the artist and Joanne Jacobson, Professor of English, Yeshiva University.


Presented by:

multi-media performance

Thu, Sep 08
07:00PM
Thu, Sep 08
07:00PM

film and discussion

Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish

Two rival sects of ultra-Orthodox Jews face off in this witty and bittersweet retelling of the Shakespeare classic. Eve Annenberg creates a parallel universe, a.k.a. Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where Romeo and Juliet stem from divergent streams of ultra-Orthodox Judaism and speak their lines in street-smart Yiddish. The film will be followed by a post-screening discussion between Eric Goldman, author of Visions, Images and Dreams: Yiddish Film Past and Present (Holmes & Meier, 2011) and director Eve Annenberg. Actors from the film will join the discussion.


Presented by:

film and discussion

Wed, Aug 10
07:00PM
Wed, Aug 10
07:00PM

ceremony remembering the soviet yiddish writers murdered 59 years ago on august 12, 1952

A celebration of the publication of the Biographical Dictionary of Yiddish Writers in the Soviet Union

Speakers:
Dr. Itzik Gottesman (Yiddish), Associate Editor of the Yiddish Forward
Dr. Jonathan Brent (English),Executive Director of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

Appearing in the artistic program:
Yelena Shmulenson and Hy Wolfe
accompanied by Steve Sterner at the piano with a selection of Soviet Yiddish songs and Shane Baker with recitations.


Presented by:

ceremony remembering the soviet yiddish writers murdered 59 years ago on august 12, 1952

Wed, Jul 27
07:00PM
Wed, Jul 27
07:00PM

concert/lecture

Yiddish Dialects on Wings of Song: Re-ut Ben Ze'ev

Join mezzo-soprano Re'ut Ben-Ze'ev and linguist Paul Glasser for a musical expedition through Yiddish dialects. Learn how to recognize the origins of a folksong from the lyrics.


Presented by:

concert/lecture

Thu, Jul 21
07:00PM
Thu, Jul 21
07:00PM

concert

From Holocaust to Life - Music by David Botwinik

Lisa Willson, soprano, Elena Berman-Gantard, piano, with young singers Dina Malka Botwinik and Emma Gantard. Featuring Songs by Vilna-born Montreal composer David Botwinik.


Presented by:

concert

Wed, Jul 06
06:00PM
Wed, Jul 06
06:00PM

lecture and exhibit opening

Other Zions: From Freeland to Yiddishland

The League for Yiddish/Afn Shvel magazine, in conjunction with the YIVO Institute, is pleased to invite all interested parties to a special opening program and exhibit in honor of several important anniversaries: the 70th year of publication for the all-Yiddish Afn Shvel; the 30th anniversary of Afn Shvel's current publisher, the League for Yiddish; and the 75th anniversary of the founding of Afn Shvel's first publisher, the Freeland League for Jewish Territorial Colonization.

The Yiddish/English program will introduce people to the history and achievements of these three Yiddish entities through several brief talks. For over 30 years, the Freeland League worked to create a mass Jewish settlement outside the Land of Israel in order to rescue Jews and Jewish culture from Europe. Their most notable projects include attempts to establish settlements in Australia, Tasmania, and Suriname. The YIVO exhibit on the Freeland movement is curated by Krysia Fisher. It will be open from June 15 until November 15.

The program will feature the following short talks:

"No Land Without Heaven: Yitskhok Nakhmen Steinberg and the Freeland League," Dr. Adam Rovner
dam Rovner is Assistant Professor of English and Jewish Literature at the University of Denver. He is currently writing an intellectual history of territorial solutions to Jewish homelessness. Since 2007 he has traveled to England, Israel, Kenya, Madagascar, Suriname, and Tasmania to trace the history of the Jewish political ideology of Territorialism. From 2007-2010, he served as the Hebrew translations editor for Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture. His articles, essays, translations, and interviews have appeared in numerous scholarly and general interest publications, including American History, The Forward, The Jewish Quarterly, Moment, and Words Without Borders.

"The Yiddish Imperative: From Freeland League to League for Yiddish," Dr. Rakhmiel Peltz
Rakhmiel Peltz is Professor of Sociolinguistics and Director of the Judaic Studies Program at Drexel University. He is the author of From Immigrant to Ethnic Culture: American Yiddish in South Philadelphia (Stanford University Press: 1988). He has been a member of the League for Yiddish since its inception and is a former editor of Yugntruf - Youth for Yiddish magazine.

"If Pictures Could Talk: The Freeland Banquet of 1952," Dr. Cecile Kuznitz
Cecile Kuznitz is Assistant Professor of History at Bard College. She was a Miles Lerman Center for the Study of Jewish Resistance Fellow during the 2006–2007 academic year, and is currently writing a book on the YIVO Institute entitled YIVO and the Makings of Modern Jewish Scholarship, to be published by Cambridge University Press.

"The Changing Mission of a Yiddish Magazine: The History of Afn Shvel," Dr. Sheva Zucker
Sheva Zucker is current director of the League for Yiddish, and editor-in-chief of Afn Shvel. She is the author of the textbooks Yiddish: An Introduction to the Language, Literature & Culture, Vols. I & II. She has taught and lectured on Yiddish language, literature, and culture on five continents, including 13 years in the Uriel Weinreich Program in Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture in New York City, a program of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

"Yiddish Farm: A Modern-day Territorialist Project," Naftali Ejdelman
Naftali Ejdelman, a grandson of Dr. Mordkhe Schaechter, the founder of the League for Yiddish, is a native Yiddish speaker from New York City. He is one of the founders of Yiddish Farm, a new organization that integrates Yiddishism with environmentalism by establishing a Yiddish-immersion organic farm.

The lectures will be followed by a musical program featuring Yelena Shmulenson and Binyumen Schaechter in a rarely heard repertoire of songs about Jewish settlements, realized and unrealized, including Birobidzhan, Argentinian colonies, Madagascar, and Israel. Yelena Shmulenson (singer) is a Yiddish singer and actress whose film credits include A Serious Man (Yiddish scene), Life on Mars, and The Good Shepherd. Binyumen Schaechter (piano) is a Yiddish composer and performer, as well as conductor of the Jewish People’s Philharmonic Chorus (JPPC) and the Pripetshik Singers, an ensemble of native-Yiddish-speaking children.


Presented by:

lecture and exhibit opening

Mon, Jul 04
Mon, Jul 04

holidays and closures

Happy Fourth of July! The Center is closed.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Thu, Jun 30
07:00PM
Thu, Jun 30
07:00PM

lecture

Yiddish Culture in Montreal: Yesterday and Today

Rebecca Margolis, Associate Professor, Vered Jewish Canadian Studies Program, University of Ottawa

This lecture will examine the origins and development of Yiddish culture in Montreal and discuss the changing place of Yiddish from the era of mass Jewish immigration in the early 1900s through today. The lecture will be followed by a book-signing of Margolis’s new book, Jewish Roots, Canadian Soil: Yiddish Culture in Montreal, 1905-1945.


Presented by:

lecture

Wed, Jun 15
07:30PM
Wed, Jun 15
07:30PM

concert

Mahler & Radical Departures

Included in its vast collections of material on the history and culture of German-speaking Jewry, Leo Baeck Institute houses a rich archive of manuscripts and letters of German and Austrian musicians of Jewish descent who arrived in this country and transformed the American musical landscape. The work of three such composers, Mahler, Korngold and Schoenberg, will be performed along with German-Jewish composer Mauricio Kagel.

The Chelsea Music Festival has partnered with the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation and will showcase one of its rising stars, the brilliant violinist Ye-Eun Choi, as well as the Trio Image piano trio and other outstanding newcomers on the classical music stage. Leo Baeck Institute is proud to participate in this exciting festival.

Reception with the Festival artists will follow the concert.

Program

Gustav Mahler - Piano Quartet in A-minor
Arnold Schönberg - Sechs kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19 arranged for String Quartet
Mauricio Kagel - Piano Trio #2
Intermission
Erich Wolfgang Korngold - Piano Quintet in E major, Op. 15


Presented by:

concert

Sun, Jun 12
02:00PM
Sun, Jun 12
02:00PM

jewish genealogical society monthly meeting

Tree of Life, a film presentation about tracing Jewish roots in Italy

This will be a joint meeting of JGS, Inc. and the Centro Primo Levi. The society's deputy director, Alessandro Cassin, will conduct a post-screening discussion.

A personal family saga that illuminates the fascinating history of the Jewish people in Italy, The Tree Of Life follows the Israeli-born director Hava Volterra, an engineer in Los Angeles, as she struggles to come to terms with her father's death by traveling to Italy, the land of his birth, to trace the roots of his family tree. Beginning in the ancient Adriatic city of Ancona, Volterra and her feisty 82-year old Aunt Viviana travel extensively through Italy, digging up rare historical manuscripts, interviewing an array of quirky historians, and discovering the astonishing and humorous stories of their ancestors, including the da Volterra family of bankers in Florence of the Medici; Ramhal, a Venetian rabbi and mystic involved in the Kabbalah; renowned scientist and mathematician Vito Volterra; New York City's legendary mayor Fiorello LaGuardia; and Luigi Luzzatti, Italy's first Jewish prime minister. The film also includes the poignant reunion of Viviana with the Italian family who sheltered her and Ms. Volterra's father from the Nazis during WWII.

This is a heartfelt personal story that celebrates the passion for life, love, and family that unites both Jews and Italians, The Tree Of Life goes beyond history to address how our families and their roots affect each individual's sense of belonging, identity, and self-worth.

The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute at CJH will be open before the meeting at 11:00am for networking with other researchers and access to research materials and computers.


Presented by:

jewish genealogical society monthly meeting

Thu, Jun 09
Thu, Jun 09

holidays and closures

The Center is closed on Thursday, June 9th for the Festival of Shavuot.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Wed, Jun 08
Wed, Jun 08

holidays and closures

The Center is closed on Wednesday, June 8th for the Festival of Shavuot.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Tue, Jun 07
Tue, Jun 07

holidays and closures

The Center will close at 2:00pm on Tuesday, June 7th for Erev Shavuot.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Sun, Jun 05
03:00PM
Sun, Jun 05
03:00PM

concert

Music for Our Time 2011

Songs by Jack Gottlieb; "Wanderings," a woodwind quintet by Derek Bermel; "Variations for Piano” by A.W. Binder; and the "Clarinet Trio" by Paul Schoenfield.


Presented by:

concert

Mon, May 30
Mon, May 30

holidays and closures

The Center is closed Monday for Memorial Day.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Tue, May 24
03:00PM
Tue, May 24
03:00PM

lecture

A Russian Zion, or a Jewish Nightmare?: Jewish Life in Tsarist Kiev

Natan M. Meir, Lorry I. Lokey Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies, Portland State University. From a small group of merchants in the early 1860s, the Jewish population of Kiev grew by leaps and bounds to become one of the largest Jewish communities in the Russian Empire. This talk charts this fascinating community’s growth, achievements, and challenges (including intra-communal divisions, pogroms, and the Beilis Affair).


Presented by:

lecture

Sun, May 22
02:00PM
Sun, May 22
02:00PM

jewish genealogical society programs at cjh

Methods from the Mavens: Researching Galicia, Hungary, and Lithuania

A panel presentation featuring panelists: Jordan Auslander, Eden Joachim, Mark Halpern and Moderator: Linda Cantor

Presenters will share their expertise and experiences to get the most out of researching your families from these countries. Learn what type of historical documents and vital records are available and how to access them. Learn what you can do from home and how prepare for on-site visits to the ancestral homes.

Jordan Auslander | Hungary: Jordan's history BA degree had seen practical use in title search, real estate and other research contracted for various literary projects, before he got into genealogy. Currently a NY based professional genealogist, lecturer and expert witness, he has pursued case research across the U.S. Europe and Israel. Visit the Hungarian ShtetLink.

Eden Joachim | Lithuania: Eden, who spent more than 30 years in finance and human resources, has been tracing her family roots since 1991. Her research resulted in connections to Lithuania, Belarus, Congress Poland, Galician Poland and Prussia. She helped establish a Genealogy Center at the Holocaust Museum and Study Center in Spring Valley, NY. She is Archive Coordinator of two Polish State Archives for JRI-Poland.

Mark Halpern | Galicia: Mark is a retired chemical company executive who has been researching his Galitzianer and Litvak roots since 1996. He is a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of Jewish Records Indexing - Poland and also serves on the Advisory Board of Gesher Galicia. Mark served as the Program Chair for the 2009 Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Philadelphia and is the immediate past President of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Philadelphia.

Linda Cantor | Moderator: Past President of JGS, Inc (NY), Linda is a retired teacher for the NYC Board of Education. She has been researching her family history for over twenty-five years and has done considerable research on her Lithuanian, Galician and Volhynian roots. She is a former president of JGS of Long Island, a former Board member of IAJGS, and coordinator of several Lithuanian town SIGs. Linda was the registration chair of the 19th Annual Conference on Jewish Genealogy, co-chair of the 26th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, and has been a member of JGS for more than twenty-five years.

Gesher Galicia Regional Meeting: 11:00am-12:30pm
The program will begin with a virtual tour of the new Gesher Galicia website by Pamela Weisberger, review of the Cadastral Map & Landowner Records Project, and an introduction to the new Galician 20th century voter records initiative. Israeli researcher, Hanna Palmon, will discuss her fall 2010 trip to the Lviv and Ternopil Archives and visit to the Busk, Ukraine cemetery, followed by David Semmel's introduction of his new historical novel, "The 11th of Av," set in Przemsyl, which is based on the lives of his Galician grandparents. We'll close with an IAJGS 2011 Conference program preview, which will focus on the "Galicia Jewish Museum" in Krakow and Jewish life there from the earliest settlements, through WWII, and to the present day.

The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute at CJH will be open before the meeting, starting at 11:00 AM for networking with other researchers and access to research materials and computers.


Presented by:

jewish genealogical society programs at cjh

Fri, May 20
12:00PM
Fri, May 20
12:00PM

yiddish language seminar

Tsvishn martirologye un geshikhte: Eliyohu Tsherikover un di akhrayesn fun a natsionaln historiker

Speaker: Joshua Karlip, Assistant Professor of Jewish History, Yeshiva University

This is a Yiddish language event.


Presented by:

yiddish language seminar

Wed, May 18
07:00PM
Wed, May 18
07:00PM

reading and panel discussion

An Evening with Philip Roth

The YIVO Institute is pleased to present a special evening with acclaimed novelist Philip Roth. Roth read excerpts from his new novel, Nemesis (2010), which tells the story of a terrifying polio epidemic raging in Newark, New Jersey in the summer of 1944 and its devastating effect on the closely knit, family-oriented community and its children. Through this story, Roth addresses profound questions of human existence: What types of choices fatally shape a life? How does the individual withstand circumstance?

Following the reading, there will be a panel discussion with YIVO Executive Director Jonathan Brent, Bernard Avishai (Hebrew University), Igor Webb (Adelphi University) and Steven Zipperstein (Stanford University).

Philip Roth is an American novelist and one of the most honored authors of his generation. His books have twice been awarded the National Book Award, twice the National Book Critics Circle award, and three times the PEN/Faulkner Award. He received a Pulitzer Prize for his 1997 novel, American Pastoral, which featured his best-known character, Nathan Zuckerman, the subject of many other of Roth's novels. In 2001, he received the highest award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Gold Medal in Fiction for lifetime achievement. He is the only living American novelist to have his work published in a comprehensive, definitive edition by the Library of America. His fiction, set frequently in Newark, New Jersey, is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophically and formally blurring the distinction between reality and fiction and for its provocative explorations of Jewish and American identity. His most recent novel, Nemesis (2010) is about the devastating effects of a polio epidemic in Newark, New Jersey in 1944.

Bernard Avishai teaches business at Hebrew University. A Guggenheim fellow, Avishai holds a doctorate in political economy from the University of Toronto. Avishai has written dozens of articles and commentaries for The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, Harvard Business Review, Harper's and many other publications. He is the author of three books on Israel, including the widely read The Tragedy of Zionism, and the recently published The Hebrew Republic. His new book, Promiscuous: Portnoy's Complaint and Our Doomed Pursuit of Happiness, will be published next year.

Jonathan Brent is the Executive Director of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Brent also serves as editorial director of Yale University Press and founder of its distinguished Annals of Communism series. He has published numerous interviews and essays on Mr. Roth. Brent is co-author of Stalin's Last Crime: The Plot Against the Jewish Doctors, 1948-1953 (2004) and is currently writing a biography of the Soviet Jewish writer Isaac Babel.

Igor Webb has published poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. His memoir Against Capitulation was published in London by Quartet Books (1984). His poems have appeared in The New Yorker and Poetry (Chicago). His most recent publications include his book, Rereading the Nineteenth Century: Studies in the Old Criticism from Austen to Lawrence, published by Palgrave Macmillan (2010); The Death Paintings published in the spring in the Notre Dame Review (2010); and the stories Later and Reza Says published in The Hudson Review (2011). His review of Philip Roth's The Human Stain, which first appeared in Partisan Review, is collected in Harold Bloom's Critical Views edition of Philip Roth. He is completing a collection of stories, under the working title Buster Brown's America, and is Professor of English at Adelphi University.

Steven J. Zipperstein is Koshland Professor in Jewish Culture and History at Stanford University and his most recent book is Rosenfeld's Lives: Fame, Oblivion, and the Furies of Writing which appeared in paperback with Yale University Press this spring.


Presented by:

reading and panel discussion

Tue, May 17
09:30AM
Tue, May 17
09:30AM

cjh graduate seminar program

The Discovery of Sephardic Childhood: Patriarchy and Community in the Eighteenth-Century British Atlantic

Stanley Mirvis, Dr. Sophie Bookhalter Fellow in Jewish Culture, PhD candidate at Graduate Center, City University of New York
Dr. Eli Faber, Professor Emeritus of History, John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY), responding
Dr. Nancy Sinkoff, Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies, Rutgers University, presiding


Presented by:

cjh graduate seminar program

Tue, May 17
01:00PM
Tue, May 17
01:00PM

abraham and rachela melezin lecture

Creating Yiddishist Youth: Modern Secular Yiddish Education and the Turn to Youth in Interwar Vilna

Jordana de Bloeme, York University. Explores the role of the Vilna Educational Society (Vilbig) in the dissemination of modern secular Yiddish education and culture throughout Vilna and the Vilna region from 1924 until its liquidation in 1940. An umbrella-like educational organization founded at the behest of parents whose children attended Yiddish secular schools and by Yiddishist pedagogues, its goals were to serve as an intermediary between the Yiddishist intelligentsia and Yiddish-speaking masses, as well as to broaden the audience for Yiddish high culture. This talk will shed light on the complexities of modern secular Yiddish education and the attempt to create a Yiddishist identity among an entire generation of Yiddish-speaking youth.


Presented by:

abraham and rachela melezin lecture

Mon, May 16
10:00AM
Mon, May 16
10:00AM

symposium

2,000 Years of Jewish Life in Morocco: An Epic Journey

A major component of this year’s focus on the Jews of Morocco will be a two-day symposium, hosted by the American Sephardi Federation at the Center for Jewish History. It will feature international scholars from Morocco, France, Canada, Israel and the US, who will present the history, contributions and contemporary story of Jewish Morocco. Full details to come at www.sephardi.house.


Presented by:

symposium

Sun, May 15
10:00AM
Sun, May 15
10:00AM

symposium

2,000 Years of Jewish Life in Morocco: An Epic Journey

A major component of this year’s focus on the Jews of Morocco will be a two-day symposium, hosted by the American Sephardi Federation at the Center for Jewish History. It will feature international scholars from Morocco, France, Canada, Israel and the US, who will present the history, contributions and contemporary story of Jewish Morocco. Full details to come at www.sephardi.house.


Presented by:

symposium

Thu, May 12
07:00PM
Thu, May 12
07:00PM

concert

Sidney Krum Young Artists Concert Series: The 2011 Spring Concert

The Spring Concert highlighted the works of two great Jewish composers: Lazar Weiner, the prominent American composer of Jewish art songs, and Joseph Achron, the outstanding Russian-born violinist and composer, student of Arnold Schoenberg and one of the co-founders of Jewish Folk Music Society of St. Petersburg. Musicologist Marsha Dubrow discussed the works of Lazar Weiner and violinist Yuval Waldman introduced the music of Joseph Achron. In addition to Jewish-influenced violin works of Joseph Achron, the concert presented the first American performance of Achron's brilliant arrangements of Paganini's Caprices. The performers included outstanding young artists from the top American conservatories and music schools.


Presented by:

concert

Mon, May 09
07:00PM
Mon, May 09
07:00PM

multi-media lecture

The Weimar Klezmer Republic: Creating a Center for Yiddish Culture in Germany

Center for Traditional Music and Dance’s An-sky Institute for Jewish Culture, the American Society for Jewish Music, and the Center for Jewish History present a multi-media lecture by composer/musician Alan Bern about klezmer and Yiddish music in Germany and his work in creating Yiddish Summer Weimar - now 10 years old and one of the most celebrated institutes for Yiddish culture in the world. In addition to founding and directing Yiddish Summer Weimar, Bern is Musical Director of the internationally renowned Brave Old World ensemble, and leads the Other Europeans, an amazing new international ensemble of 14 leading musicians who explore the deep connections between Jewish and Roma (Gypsy) musical traditions. A reception will follow the program. We are grateful for the support of the Keller-Shatanoff Foundation in making this program possible.


Presented by:

multi-media lecture

Sun, May 08
02:00PM
Sun, May 08
02:00PM

in honor of yom hazikaron (israeli remembrance day) and yom ha'atzmaut (israeli independence day)

Remembering 1948 - In Color

Featuring:
Screening of I Was There in Color (directed by Avishai Kfir, 2010)
Performance by Ramaz Middle School Chorus (Rabbi Haskel Lookstein Middle School of Ramaz)
Reflections by Ira Feinberg, a Machal veteran who volunteered in Israeli’s War of Independence

I Was There in Color tells the story of the birth of Israel, usually recalled through stark black-and-white images, in nuanced color. Historic, recently discovered footage, shot by Fred Monosson, a Jewish-American businessman, reveals all facets of life in the new country, from the pomp of large, public ceremonies, to quiet, light moments of daily events. Based almost entirely on footage from the Monosson archive, Avishai Kfir’s dazzling documentary pays tribute to this unsung hero and to the many American Jews who volunteered in 1948; and reveals a richer - and more colorful - image of life in the young Jewish State.


Presented by:

in honor of yom hazikaron (israeli remembrance day) and yom ha'atzmaut (israeli independence day)

Thu, May 05
10:00AM
Thu, May 05
10:00AM

conference

German-Jewish Immigration to New York

Leo Baeck Institute and the recently founded Jewish Studies Center at Baruch College present a panel on German-Jewish immigration to New York City.


Presented by:

conference

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

lecture

In Her Hands: The Education of Jewish Girls in Tsarist Russia

Eliyana R. Adler, Sosland Foundation Fellow, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. In a New York Times interview in 2000, a European-born rabbi pronounced that, "Before 1925 most [Jewish] girls didn't have an education. They only knew how to peel potatoes." However, the reality was quite different. Between 1831 and 1881, over 100 private schools for Jewish girls opened in the Pale of Jewish Settlement. Dr. Adler's work helps us to understand not only how the schools functioned, but also how they ushered in new developments in Russian Jewish education and history.


Presented by:

lecture

Sun, May 01
02:00PM
Sun, May 01
02:00PM

panel discussion

Growing Up Jewish in Montreal

Distinguished scholars reflect on their formative years in one of North America's most vibrant Jewish communities. Panelists Lois Dubin (Smith College), Jack Kugelmass (University of Florida), Allan Nadler (Drew University) and Ruth Wisse (Harvard University) discuss their distinct and shared educational, religious, communal and cultural experiences of Montreal.


Presented by:

panel discussion

Tue, Apr 26
Tue, Apr 26

holidays and closures

Happy Passover. The Center is closed Tuesday, April 26.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Mon, Apr 25
Mon, Apr 25

holidays and closures

Happy Passover. The Center is closed Monday, April 25.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Wed, Apr 20
Wed, Apr 20

holidays and closures

Happy Passover. The Center is closed Wednesday, April 20.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Tue, Apr 19
Tue, Apr 19

holidays and closures

Happy Passover. The Center is closed Tuesday, April 19.


Presented by:

holidays and closures

Mon, Apr 18
06:00PM
Mon, Apr 18
06:00PM

early closure

Happy Passover.
The Center will close at 2:00pm on Monday, April 18.


Presented by:

early closure

Thu, Apr 14
06:30PM
Thu, Apr 14
06:30PM

conversation

Revisiting Eichmann: The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Trial That Shook the World

THIS EVENT IS COMPLETELY BOOKED--THERE ARE ABSOLUTELY NO MORE SEATS AVAILABLE

Adolph Eichmann, SS Lieutenant Colonel and facilitator of the plan to exterminate the Jews during the Holocaust, was captured by the Israeli Mossad in Argentina in 1960, 15 years after the end of World War II. His 1961 trial in Jerusalem was televised around the world, providing an opportunity for survivor testimonies to be heard by international audiences for the first time.

Deborah Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University and author of the new book, The Eichmann Trial will discuss these extraordinary events in conversation with Gary Rosenblatt, Editor of The Jewish Week. A reception will follow the program.

Special Screening: WITNESS TO THE HOLOCAUST: THE TRIAL OF ADOLPH EICHMANN, a 90-minute film produced by The Jewish Museum from the original trial footage, will be screened at 4:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., immediately before and after the discussion.


Presented by:

conversation

Wed, Apr 13
03:00PM
Wed, Apr 13
03:00PM

dina abramowicz emerging scholar lecture

Ethnography of a Vanishing Courtyard: Moyshe Kulbak's Zelmenyaner

Sasha Senderovich, Tufts University. Focuses on Moshe Kulbak's satirical novel Zelmenyaner, set in Soviet Minsk and published serially between 1929 and 1935, while the author was editing ethnographic studies of Soviet Jews at the Belorussian Academy of Sciences. By presenting this literary masterpiece alongside the newspaper marginalia that frames its content, this study investigates the effects of Soviet modernization and urbanization on traditional family life set within and against official ethnographic discourses about Jews in the Soviet Union.


Presented by:

dina abramowicz emerging scholar lecture

Wed, Apr 13
07:00PM
Wed, Apr 13
07:00PM

multi-media lecture

Sounds of Immigrant New York: Bukharian Jewish Music in New York City

Ethnomusicologist Evan Rapport (Eugene Lang College at the New School) provides a multi-media introduction to the music of New York City’s fascinating Bukharian Jewish Community. A thriving community of over 50,000 transplanted from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan is today centered in Rego Park and Forest Hills, Queens. The community maintains a lively culture, and features some of the best Central Asian musicians in the world, including masters of the courtly Shash maqam tradition, and unique Jewish musical forms such as sazanda wedding music. Center for Traditional Music and Dance’s Sounds of Immigrant New York is a 10-part series of free public lectures by leading scholars on the continuity and development of diverse music and dance traditions in New York City's immigrant communities (for more information go to www.ctmd.org). A reception will follow the program.


Presented by:

multi-media lecture

Tue, Apr 12
07:00PM
Tue, Apr 12
07:00PM

performance

A Celebration of Yiddish Literature in Honor of Boris Sandler, featuring Evgeny Kissin

In honor of Boris Sandler's 30 years as a Yiddish writer and 13 years as editor of the Forward, Evgeny Kissin performed on the piano and recited Yiddish poetry; Vladimir Milshteyn performed on the violin; Rita Koyfman and the Schaechter tekhter sang; Rafael Goldwasser performed a short story; and the guest of honor read from his own works.


Presented by:

performance

Mon, Apr 11
04:45PM
Mon, Apr 11
04:45PM

graduate seminar

The Library that Never Was: The Attempt to Build a Center for Jewish Books and Learning in Post-Holocaust Europe

Miriam Intrator, Lillian Goldman Fellow, PhD candidate at Graduate Center, City University of New York.
Natalia Aleksiun, Assistant Professor of Modern Jewish History, Touro College, responding.
Dr. Nancy Sinkoff, Professor of History and Jewish Studies, Rutgers University, presiding.

Intended for academic audience; space is limited.


Presented by:

graduate seminar

Mon, Apr 11
08:00PM
Mon, Apr 11
08:00PM

concert

The Momenta String Quartet

The Momenta String Quartet, Bernice Diener Ensemble-in-Residence at Stern College for Women, Yeshiva University performing a program of new and recent music. Featured works include Philip Glass' String Quartet No. 5, Arnold Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 2 with Katharine Dain, soprano, and the world premiere of a string quartet by Noyes Bartholomew, professor of music at Yeshiva College, Yeshiva University.


Presented by:

concert

Sun, Apr 10
02:00PM
Sun, Apr 10
02:00PM

jewish genealogical society programs at cjh

Researching Israeli Genealogical Resources in Your Jammies

Speaker: Daniel Horowitz

Learn how to access online resources and databases in Israel to find your relatives. Overcome the language barrier with a lesson in basic Hebrew keywords and translation tools to help you deal with resources. This talk will help researchers of all skill levels deal with a vast array of sites to find information on individuals who were born, lived or died in Israel.

Daniel was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela and has a BS.c. in computer engineering. He was an educator at “Moral y Luces Herzl-Bialik” School where he was the computer instructor & teacher/director of the genealogy project "Searching for My Roots". Daniel’s students received 9 consecutive awards (1997-2005) at the “Beit Hatfutsot / Museum of the Diaspora” international annual competition: "My Family Story". He was a founding member of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Venezuela. In 2005, he made Aliyah and joined the Israel Genealogical Society (IGS). He is the webmaster for IGS and the Horowitz Families Association. Daniel serves as member of the board of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) and has lectured at IAJGS conferences and at local genealogy groups. Since 2006, he has worked at MyHeritage.

The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute at CJH will be open before the meeting at 11:00 a.m. for networking with other researchers and access to research materials and computers.


Presented by:

jewish genealogical society programs at cjh

Sun, Apr 10
04:00PM
Sun, Apr 10
04:00PM

symposium

Conversations on Conversion - A Symposium Moderated by WNYC’s Brian Lehrer

Conversion is an explosive topic in Jewish life. Historically, Jews have alternately welcomed and discouraged converts. Jewishness itself has been variously defined by religion, peoplehood, and ethnicity, with differing implications for converts in each case. In our own day the borderlines of Jewish identity appear less fixed than ever, and the question arises as to what significance conversion still holds in a Jewish world increasingly marked by assimilation, intermarriage and cultural hybridity.

This symposium will address these issues in two panels. In the first, leading historians currently conducting research on the topic at the Katz Center for Advanced Jewish Studies in Philadelphia will address conversion in Jewish history from the biblical period to the mid-20th century. The second, hosted by WNYC radio personality Brian Lehrer, will present a range of important voices on conversion in Judaism today, addressing such related topics as intermarriage, inter-denominational debate, and the status of converts and non-Jews in the state of Israel.


Presented by:

symposium

Thu, Apr 07
05:30PM
Thu, Apr 07
05:30PM

exhibit opening

Radical Departures: The Modernist Experiment

In the years following the cataclysmic events of World War I, the tenets of modernism, developed in the early parts of the century, began to crumble. Amid hyperinflation, staggering unemployment, and political turmoil, many artists questioned the existing political order, joining forces with progressive political movements, although continuing to work in a modernist style. This exhibit will bring together the work of Jewish and non-Jewish German artists whose work was eventually branded as "degenerate" by the Nazis and who were forced to flee Germany. On display will be the works by Georg Stahl, Arthur Segal, Julius Schülein, Samson Schames, and others.


Presented by:

exhibit opening

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

panel discussion

Give us Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses... or Not: A New Model for Civic Dialogue Within and Beyond the Gallery Walls

Panelists will discuss the role of museums and other public forums for navigating our nation’s conflicting narratives on who can be an American and who gets to decide. It also celebrates the opening of Forgotten Gateway: Coming to America through Galveston Island, at Ellis Island. Guest Curator, Dr. Suzanne Seriff, will explore the challenges and rewards of rooting an historical exhibit on immigration in ongoing community collaborations and dialogue between contemporary immigrants and immigrant descendants. Panel: David Gonzalez, The New York Times; Virginia Yans-Mclaughlin, Rutgers University; Jack Tchen, NYU, co-founder, Museum of Chinese in America; and Annie Polland, Lower East Side Tenement Museum.


Presented by:

panel discussion

Mon, Apr 04
07:00PM
Mon, Apr 04
07:00PM

lecture

Rechnitz: Austria’s Dirty Little Secret: A Rare Interview with Nobel Laureate Elfriede Jelinek

A lecture by scholar Gitta Honegger on the 2004 Nobel Laureate Elfriede Jelinek's recent, internationally acclaimed play Rechnitz. The play recounts the murder of 200 Hungarian Jews in the Austrian town of Rechnitz on the eve of the Russian army’s arrival in 1945. The massacre was initially shrouded in secrecy until several witnesses went public with an intriguing web of half-truths and deception transforming this crime against humanity into myth. The events at Rechnitz, while speaking directly to Austrian involvement in the Holocaust, also resonate around the globe today where ethnic violence exists. The talk includes excerpts from a rare and exclusive video interview with Elfriede Jelinek.

Elfriede Jelinek is an Austrian novelist and playwright who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004. Born in 1946, she represents the first post-World War II generation of Austrian writers struggling to come to terms with their country’s involvement in the Holocaust. The examination of Austria’s ambivalence in dealing with its past has been a driving force in her countless plays and novels. Jelinek’s innovative linguistic strategies and uncompromising critical vision have earned her numerous prestigious awards.

Professor Gitta Honegger (Arizona State University) is a Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellow. She has translated plays by Elfriede Jelinek, Thomas Bernhard, Peter Handke and Elias Canetti, among others and is the author of the award winning cultural biography Thomas Bernhard: The Making of an Austrian.


Presented by:

lecture

Sun, Apr 03
01:00PM
Sun, Apr 03
01:00PM

symposium

The Jewish Book: Past, Present, Future

This program was made possible by the generous support of Amy P. Goldman and the Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust and presented by the Lillian Goldman Scholars Working Group on the Jewish Book.

In collaboration with the Jewish Book Council, the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University and the Columbia University Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies

What makes a Jewish book?
Who are the People of the Book?
How have Jewish books changed with changes in technology?

The "history of the book" is a lively field of historical scholarship that looks at authorship, publication, and dissemination of texts of all kinds as windows onto culture and society in different periods and places. Book history also plumbs the relationships between writers, scribes, printers, and readers. Join us as an international group of scholars examine the contours of Jewish identity through the study of texts in Hebrew and other Jewish languages, and of the Jews and non-Jews who produced and consumed them.

Program

1:00pm
Welcome

Judith C. Siegel, Director of Academic and Public Programs, CJH

1:15 pm
What was a Jewish Book? Perspectives from Three Periods in History

Moderator
Adam Shear | University of Pittsburgh

Panelists
Katrin Kogman-Appel | Ben-Gurion University
The Illuminated Hebrew Book in the Middle Ages
Menahem Schmelzer | Jewish Theological Seminary
Glimpses into Some Phases of Jewish Book History
Gennady Estraikh | New York University
The “Vilna Trend” Versus the “Warsaw Trend” in the Pre-World War I Yiddish Publishing

2:30pm
Coffee Break

3:00pm
Texts and Cultures: Three Case Studies

Moderator
Marjorie Lehman | Jewish Theological Seminary

Panelists:
David Stern | University of Pennsylvania
The Mikraot Gedolot in its Sixteenth Century Contexts
Elisheva Carlebach | Columbia University
In Praise of Error: Print and Script in Calendar History
Jeremy Stolow | Concordia University
Prayer Books, Cookbooks, Self-Help Books: Designer Orthodoxy and the ArtScroll Revolution

4:00pm
The Future of the Jewish Book

Moderator
Jonathan Karp | American Jewish Historical Society

Panelists
Jeffrey Shandler | Rutgers University
Looking Beyond the Book—and Back: Lessons from the History of Jews and New Media
Alana Newhouse | Tablet Magazine
Eliyahu Stern | Yale University
The Rise of Print and the Ideological Jew

Conclusions


Presented by:

symposium

Fri, Apr 01
12:00PM
Fri, Apr 01
12:00PM

yiddish language seminar

Fania Lewando's Vegetarish Dietetisher Kokhbukh, Vilne 1938

Speaker: Eve Jochnowitz


Presented by:

yiddish language seminar

Thu, Mar 31
03:00PM
Thu, Mar 31
03:00PM

workmen's circle/dr. emanuel patt memorial lecture

Survival in the Shtetl: Reflections of Polish Jewish Economic Life in the Guttmacher Kvitlekh

Glenn Dynner, Associate Professor, Sarah Lawrence College. During the second half of the 19th century, Eastern Europe underwent a difficult transition from an agrarian, feudal-based economy to a more urban, capitalist one. Jews, who played a key role in the older economy as factors and lessees of noble-owned taverns, were particularly affected. A horde of petitions (kvitlekh) to the mystical leader Eliyahu Guttmacher, "the Tsadik of Gratz" (Grodzisk Wielkopolski, 1796-1874), located in the YIVO archives, provides rare and poignant glimpses of shtetl Jews as they struggled desperately to adjust to a changing world.


Presented by:

workmen's circle/dr. emanuel patt memorial lecture

Thu, Mar 31
06:30PM
Thu, Mar 31
06:30PM

exhibit opening and program

Images of a Lost World: Pictures & Stories of Balkan Sephardic Life

This exhibition, created by Centropa, is based on the family stories and pictures pulled from Centropa's archive of more than 200 interviews conducted in Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Croatia. The pictures and stories take us back into the world of Balkan Sephardic Jewry in its last decades, and through these personal stories of going to school, falling in love and recalling family holidays, Jewish history comes to life. A program follows, moderated by Edward Serotta, Director of Centropa. Additional speakers to be announced.


Presented by:

exhibit opening and program

Tue, Mar 29
07:30PM
Tue, Mar 29
07:30PM

concert

Romantic Piano Trios: Schumann and Rachmaninoff

Phoenix Chamber Ensemble performing Schumann Trio No.3 Op.110 in G Minor and Rachmaninoff Trio Elegiaque, Op.9. Vassa Shevel, piano, Catherine Cho, violin, James Wilson, cello.

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


Presented by:

concert

Mon, Mar 28
10:00AM
Mon, Mar 28
10:00AM

international conference

Talmuda de-Eretz Israel: Archaeology and the Rabbis in Late Antiquity

An international conference organized by YU Center for Israel Studies and co-sponsored by YUM and YU Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies.

10:00am-5:00pm
Yeshiva University Wilf Campus
500 West 185th Street, Furst Hall 501


Presented by:

international conference

Mon, Mar 28
12:00PM
Mon, Mar 28
12:00PM

max weinreich center: yiddish language seminar

An alt-naye pedagogye farn yidishn teater

Speaker: Rafael Goldwaser


Presented by:

max weinreich center: yiddish language seminar

Sun, Mar 27
01:00PM
Sun, Mar 27
01:00PM

international conference

Talmuda de-Eretz Israel: Archaeology and the Rabbis in Late Antiquity

An international conference organized by YU Center for Israel Studies and co-sponsored by YUM and YU Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies.

1:00pm-5:30pm
Yeshiva University Museum
15 West 16th Street, New York
Monday, March 28, 2011: 10:00?5:00 Yeshiva University Wilf Campus 500 West 185th Street, Furst Hall 501


Presented by:

international conference

Thu, Mar 24
07:00PM
Thu, Mar 24
07:00PM

reading and music

The Most Musical Nation: Jews and Culture in the Late Russian Empire

James Loeffler, Assistant Professor at The University of Virginia's Corcoran Department of History, reads excerpts from his new book The Most Musical Nation: Jews and Culture in the Late Russian Empire (Yale University Press, 2010). Loeffler’s talk will be accompanied by live musical examples.


Presented by:

reading and music

Mon, Mar 21
02:00PM
Mon, Mar 21
02:00PM

film screening and lecture

Wilhelm Brasse's Photographs from Auschwitz–Testimony and Photography in Irek Dobrowolski's Portrait Photographer

Dr. Tomasz Lysak

Wilhelm Brasse served as an official photographer in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp recording new arrivals but also portraying camp officials or medical experiments. For a long time the images he took were not credited and the filmmaker Dobrowolski brought his protagonist out of self-imposed anonymity. A screening of the film Portrecista (Portrait Photographer) will be accompanied by a lecture by Dr. Lysak on photography as a medium in the camp and its use in commemoration after the war.


Presented by:

film screening and lecture

Mon, Mar 21
06:30PM
Mon, Mar 21
06:30PM

reception and readings

5th Annual Writers on View

Join artist Sebastian Mendes and writers and poets Terese Svoboda, Willie Perdomo, Ken Chen, Janet Kaplan, Aldina Vazão Kennedy, Matthew Thorburn, Rachel Zucker, Tracy K. Smith and Sima Rabinowitz for original poems and stories in dialogue with the exhibition There is a Mirror in My Heart: An Installation by Sebastian Mendes currently on view.


Presented by:

reception and readings

Wed, Mar 16
07:00PM
Wed, Mar 16
07:00PM

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Closing Night: Vidal Sassoon the Movie

Director: Craig Teper
Filmed over the course of three years with unprecedented access, this fun, fast-paced documentary traces the life of a self-made man whose passion and perseverance took him from a Jewish orphanage in London to the absolute pinnacle of his craft.

USA, 2010. 93 mins.

Post-screening talk with the filmmakers.
Followed by Closing Night Dessert Reception!


Presented by:

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Tue, Mar 15
02:00PM
Tue, Mar 15
02:00PM

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Yolande: An Unsung Heroine shown with Miracle Lady

Yolande: An Unsung Heroine
Director: Dan Wolman
The heroic, riveting story of Yolande Gabai (de Botton), a beautiful, sophisticated Jewess from Alexandria, who became one of the most prominent Israeli spies in Egypt in 1948, risking her son's life and her own collecting intelligence in Egypt, undercover as a reporter for the Palestine Post.

Israel, 2010, 62 mins. English and Hebrew with English subtitles.

Post-screening talk with the filmmaker.


Miracle Lady
Director: Michal Abulafia & Moran Somer
Fortuna is an old lady who waits in her wedding gown for her late husband to return home. Her neighbor, Marcela-Merkada, is the servant of the mean Rabbi Toledano, and she waits for death to come and take her away. When their fates connect they are both miraculously freed.

Israel, 2009, 10 mins. Hebrew with English subtitles.


Presented by:

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Tue, Mar 15
06:30PM
Tue, Mar 15
06:30PM

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

I Had a Dream

Director: Tezeta Germay
The extraordinary life story of Yona Bugale who worked ceaselessly as a teacher and community leader, promoting connections with the State of Israel and with Jewish organizations, in order to prevent the possible destruction of Ethiopian Jewry. Based on rare archival material, the film aims to preserve not only Bugale's story, but also to give expression to the complexity of the Ethiopian immigration to Israel.

Israel, 2009. 52mins. Hebrew, Amharic with English subtitles.

Presented in cooperation with BINA Cultural Foundation, Inc. and Chassida Shmella Ethiopian Jewish Community of North America.


Presented by:

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Tue, Mar 15
08:00PM
Tue, Mar 15
08:00PM

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

To Take a Wife

Writer and Director: Ronit Elkabetz & Shlomi Elkabetz
The directorial debut of Ronit Elkabetz, who gives a breathtaking performance as Vivian, a Moroccan woman in Israel in the late 70's, who is stifled by her marriage to her traditional husband Eliahu. Once again, her brothers persuade her that her place is next to her husband and her children. When an old lover returns, Viviane's desperation reaches new heights.

Israel, 2004, 97 mins. Hebrew, French and Arabic with English subtitles.


Presented by:

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Mon, Mar 14
02:00PM
Mon, Mar 14
02:00PM

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Valley of Strength (Gei Oni)

Director: Dan Wolman
In this historical epic, the love story between Fania, a young Russian immigrant and Yechiel, a native Jew of Iraqi descent, interweaves with the story of the first wave of Jewish European migration to Palestine at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the realization of the Zionist dream.

Israel, 2010. 105 mins. Hebrew with English subtitles.

Post-screening talk with the filmmaker.


Presented by:

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Mon, Mar 14
06:30PM
Mon, Mar 14
06:30PM

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Next Year in Bombay

Writer and Director: Jonas Parienté & Mathias Mangin
Tough questions are raised in this contemporary story of the Bene Israel, a Jewish community settled in India for more than 2000 years, and who only count 4000 people still living in and around Bombay today. This unique Jewish culture is at risk of disappearing from the world within one generation, and many families are afraid they will have to choose between staying in India, their homeland, and realizing their Jewish faith.

India, 2010, 55 mins.

Post-screening talk with Nissim B. Reuben, Program Director, Indian-Jewish American Relations, American Jewish Committee, Washington, DC.
Presented in cooperation with Be'chol Lashon.


Presented by:

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Mon, Mar 14
08:00PM
Mon, Mar 14
08:00PM

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Yolande: An Unsung Heroine shown with Miracle Lady

Yolande: An Unsung Heroine
Director: Dan Wolman
The heroic, riveting story of Yolande Gabai (de Botton), a beautiful, sophisticated Jewess from Alexandria, who became one of the most prominent Israeli spies in Egypt in 1948, risking her son's life and her own collecting intelligence in Egypt, undercover as a reporter for the Palestine Post.

Israel, 2010, 62 mins. English and Hebrew with English subtitles.

Post-screening talk with the filmmaker.


Miracle Lady
Director: Michal Abulafia & Moran Somer
Fortuna is an old lady who waits in her wedding gown for her late husband to return home. Her neighbor, Marcela-Merkada, is the servant of the mean Rabbi Toledano, and she waits for death to come and take her away. When their fates connect they are both miraculously freed.

Israel, 2009, 10 mins. Hebrew with English subtitles.


Presented by:

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Sun, Mar 13
12:00PM
Sun, Mar 13
12:00PM

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Baghdad–Jerusalem–Fez

Director: Haim Shiran
Yair Dalal, singer, violonist and oud player, is a great artist who has dedicated himself to the preservation of the musical heritage of Iraqi Jews. This film documents Dalal's first performance with the group, "Baghdad Jerusalem," at the World Sacred Music Festival in Fez, June 2010.

Israel/Morocco, 2010, 40 mins. Hebrew, French with English subtitles.

Special Free Admission for Festival ticket holders!


Presented by:

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Sun, Mar 13
01:00PM
Sun, Mar 13
01:00PM

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Jubanos: The Jews of Cuba shown with The Fig Tree (La Higuera)

Jubanos: The Jews of Cuba
Director: Milos S. Silber
The humbling story of the 1500 Jews struggling to sustain their community and faith, over the course of nearly three decades after the Cuban Revolution in 1961, when religious affiliation was banned. A journey of rediscovering and reviving Jewish life raises questions about faith, sustenance, strength and the future.

Cuba, 2010, 43 mins. Spanish with English subtitles.

Post-screening talk with the filmmaker.


The Fig Tree (La Higuera)
Director: Alejo Moreno
There is a legend in the neighborhood of Albaicín (Granada), passed on from mothers to children for centuries. A strange old woman appears during the night and hidden in her orchard is a bewitched fig tree whose fruits are golden. Little Ariel learns this legend from her mother just before going to sleep and will live a dangerous adventure in her dreams.

Spain, 2010, 14 mins. Spanish with English subtitles.

Post-screening talk with the filmmaker.


Presented by:

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Sun, Mar 13
03:00PM
Sun, Mar 13
03:00PM

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

In the Beginning was a School...

Director: Rabbi Josy Eisenberg
A remarkable journey tracing 150 years of the Alliance Israelite Universelle, founded by French Jews in the19th century. Also known as Kol Yisrael Haverim, the Alliance Israelite Universelle has educated one million children and today has 25,000 students in 46 schools in Morocco, France and Israel.

France 2010, 90 mins. French with English subtitles.

Post-screening talk with representatives of the Alliance Israélite Universelle: Mr. Marc Eisenberg, new president of the Alliance Israélite Universelle; Mrs. Lucile Astel, Director of Harevim Foundation; Mr. Jean-Claude Kuperminc, Director of the Library and Archives of the Alliance Israélite Universelle.


Presented by:

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Sun, Mar 13
05:30PM
Sun, Mar 13
05:30PM

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Ronit Elkabetz: A Stranger in Paris shown with Zohra Elfassia

Ronit Elkabetz: A Stranger in Paris
Director: Nir Bergman
With charming sincerity, world-renowned actress and filmmaker, Ronit Elkabetz, shares her personal life story of theater, film, family, childhood and future aspirations.

France/Israel, 2010, 50 mins. Hebrew and French with English subtitles.

Zohra Elfassia
Director: Haim Shiran
Zohara Elfassia was born in Fez in 1908 and was one of the greatest singers among the Jewish singers that came out of Morocco. Her presence in every home in Morocco, Jews and Muslims, attests to her popularity. She sang both Jewish and Muslim songs, and her career extended over many years in Fez and other cities in Morocco and Algeria. After she emigrated to Israel in the 1960's, her voice was not heard on public stages and the radio, yet you can still hear her singing on old records and tapes in the homes of Moroccan Jews.

Israel, 2010, 20 mins.


Presented by:

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Sun, Mar 13
07:30PM
Sun, Mar 13
07:30PM

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Valley of Strength (Gei Oni)

Director: Dan Wolman
In this historical epic, the love story between Fania, a young Russian immigrant and Yechiel, a native Jew of Iraqi descent, interweaves with the story of the first wave of Jewish European migration to Palestine at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the realization of the Zionist dream.

Israel, 2010. 105 mins. Hebrew with English subtitles.

Post-screening talk with the filmmaker.


Presented by:

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Sat, Mar 12
07:30PM
Sat, Mar 12
07:30PM

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

There Were Nights

Director: Ron Ninio
In this first cooperation between Israel's acclaimed actor Moshe Ivgy and his daughter Dana Ivgy, a troubled father-daughter relationship is examined in this melancholic drama. The film traverses two time periods in the lives of Yitzhak, a renowned Tel Aviv theater director, and his daughter Goni who idolizes him. An only child, Goni's world crumbles when her father is imprisoned for financial misconduct and her Russian mother succumbs to cancer. The loss and fall from grace are more than Yitzhak can bear. Seven year old Goni was her father's emotional support, and now, at 25, she must overcome the grip of her father's despair in order to begin her own life. Nominated for eight Israeli Ophir Awards, including Best Film.

Israel, 2010, 90 mins. Hebrew, Russian with English subtitles.


Presented by:

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Sat, Mar 12
09:30PM
Sat, Mar 12
09:30PM

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Zion & His Brother

Director: Eran Merav
A sensitive coming-of-age drama set in a gritty working-class neighborhood of Haifa, amidst the circumstances of an absent father and a single mother (Ronit Elkabetz). 14-year-old Zion would have never questioned his 17-year-old brother, Meir, until a tragic accident opens up a rift between them and Zion finally summons the courage to stand up for himself and take responsibility for his own life.

Israel/France, 2009, 84 mins. Hebrew with English subtitles. Some profanity.


Presented by:

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Thu, Mar 10
03:00PM
Thu, Mar 10
03:00PM

hort memorial lecture

The Rise of David Levinsky: Realism, Sex, and Capital

Eitan Kensky, Harvard University.

This paper looks at Abraham Cahan’s 1917 novel within the context of Yiddish and American realism. Cahan’s novel presents a knotty intertwining of clothes, sex, and capitalism that can only be unpacked by understanding the nuances of his literary thought.


Presented by:

hort memorial lecture

Thu, Mar 10
07:30PM
Thu, Mar 10
07:30PM

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Opening Night: Five Brothers (Comme les cinq doigts de la main)

Join us and celebrate The 15th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival as we honor actress and filmmaker, Ronit Elkabetz, and present her with the ASF Pomegranate Award. The evening will continue with the New York premiere of Five Brothers, followed by a dessert reception in the Steinberg Great Hall.

Five Brothers (Comme les cinq doigts de la main)

Director: Alexandre Arcady
Themes of family and honor unfold in this fast-paced thriller, following five Algerian Jewish brothers living in France. Brought up by their widowed mother, one of them has gone his own way, only to reappear several years later, pursued by a gang of ruthless drug traffickers. Taking refuge amongst his siblings, this black sheep of the family reveals a terrible secret. The five brothers must now find the means and the energy to defend themselves and avenge the killing of their father.

France, 2010. 117mins. French w/ English subtitles.


Presented by:

15th annual ny sephardic jewish film festival

Tue, Mar 08
06:30PM
Tue, Mar 08
06:30PM

panel discussion

The Rebbe, Charismatic Leadership and the American Spiritual Landscape

Rabbi Menahem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh grand rabbi of the Chabad-Lubavitch hasidic dynasty, emerged as one of the most charismatic and vibrant leaders in modern Jewish religious history. He not only oversaw the expansion of Chabad into a global phenomenon but promulgated an overt—and controversial—messianic enthusiasm. The Rebbe’s activities took place against the dynamic background of religious, spiritual and mystical activity that filtered across the American landscape in the second half of the 20th century, along with other formidable spiritual figures such as the Dalai Lama and self-renewal movements such as Esalen, the uniquely American New Age center for spiritual healing and growth. For the first time, a distinguished panel of scholars will explore and compare the teachings, actions, and compelling visual representations of Rabbi Schneerson with these remarkable individuals and movements in a broad American intellectual and cultural framework.

The panel will be moderated by Shaul Magid, Indiana University and will include Maya Balakirsky Katz, Touro College; Anne Carolyn Klein, Rice University; Jeffrey Kripal, Rice University; and Elliot Wolfson, NYU.


Presented by:

panel discussion

Tue, Mar 08
07:00PM
Tue, Mar 08
07:00PM

naomi prawer kadar memorial lecture

On the Road, Back in the Old Country: Memories and Maps of a Yiddish Dialectologist

Dovid Katz, Adina Cimet

Thirty-five years ago, Dr. Dovid Katz, then a student in New York, began to look for elderly Yiddish informants from the Lithuanian (Litvak) lands. When the Soviet Union collapsed and it became possible to carry out expeditions "in the old country," Dovid began to conduct one or two expeditions a year. In 1999, he relocated to Lithuania and was able to continue the project on a much more intensive basis.

At his YIVO lecture, Dovid spoke about some of his adventures on the road, particularly in Belarus and Lithuania, over the last two decades, and he showed some maps. He will also discussed everyday life, beliefs and opinions, and hardships of the people he has met on the way.


Presented by:

naomi prawer kadar memorial lecture

Sun, Mar 06
02:00PM
Sun, Mar 06
02:00PM

jewish genealogical society programs at cjh

DC2011 - A Capital Conference

Speaker: Marlene Bishow, President Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington, Inc. (JGSGW)

Be among the first for a sneak preview of the 31st IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy to take place in Washington, DC August 14-19, 2011.

This program will address the exciting plans being organized right now. Hosted by the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington, Inc. Attendees will be able to take advantage of repositories and resources in this vibrant metropolitan area. The conference hotel, the Grand Hyatt Washington, is just five blocks from the National Archives, close to the White House, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, and the restored Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. Orientation sessions given by staff of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, National Archives, and Library of Congress will o help prepare attendees to navigate each of these repositories with maximum efficiency and success.

JewishGen with Karen Franklin and Gary Mokotoff

A short presentation on JewishGen will be followed by a lively discussion about the needs of the Jewish genealogical community, the role of JewishGen, the future of the field and what we can do to attract new users and younger family historians.

Karen Franklin and Gary Mokotoff will be avid listeners on the subject of JewishGen and ways it can be improved to serve the needs of its users. They are eager to bring your ideas back to the JewishGen volunteers, staff and Board of Governors. Recommendations from a similar session last spring in Washington have already been implemented.

Karen S. Franklin is currently a guest curator at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. A co-chair of the Board of Governors of JewishGen, she is a past president of the IAJGS and a past chair of the Council of American Jewish Museums. Mrs. Franklin serves on the board of the ICOM’s (International Council of American Museums) - Memorial Museums Committee. She is also a juror for the Obermayer German Jewish History Award. Karen was the only director of a Jewish museum ever to be elected to the board of the American Association of Museums. A researcher on looted art, she has worked on cases in Europe and the United States. Through more than 150 lectures, the program will feature presentations on the records of the International Tracing Service (ITS) and the release of the 1940 United States Census, as well as a myriad of other topics and geographical areas. The conference will promote the SIGs, BOFs and family societies, with a SIG Fair and special interest meetings at breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

Marlene Katz Bishow is a native of the Bronx, grew up in Flushing, NY, and has been a genealogist for 54 years. She is currently the President of the JGS of Greater Washington (JGSGW). Marlene is the Editor of two of the society's publications: "Capital Collections: Resources for Jewish Genealogical Research in the Washington, DC Area" and "Jump-Start Your Jewish Genealogical Research: A Beginner's Guide." She is also the presently the Co-Chair for Programs for the forthcoming 31st IAJGS Conference on Jewish Genealogy.


Presented by:

jewish genealogical society programs at cjh

Mon, Feb 28
04:30PM
Mon, Feb 28
04:30PM

graduate seminar

The Jewish Emigration from Poland, 1924-1928, as a Transnational Experience

Magdalena Wrobel, Dr. Sophie Bookhalter Fellow in Jewish Culture, PhD candidate at University of Munich.
Dr. Gur Alroey, Department of Land of Israel Studies at the University of Haifa, responding.
Dr. Nancy Sinkoff, Professor of History and Jewish Studies, Rutgers University, presiding.


Presented by:

graduate seminar

Thu, Feb 24
03:00PM
Thu, Feb 24
03:00PM

racolin memorial lecture

"Integrale Yidishkeyt": Modern Yiddish Culture’s Turn Inward in Response to the Holocaust

Joshua Karlip, Assistant Professor, Yeshiva University.

In both the ghettoes of Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe and in the Americas, Yiddishist intellectuals reacted to the unfolding genocide by sanctifying the entirety of the East European Jewish experience, both religious and secular. This lecture analyzed this cultural retrenchment as manifested in both the South-American Yiddish journal Shriftn and in the Vilna ghetto diary of Zelig Hirsh Kalmanovitch.


Presented by:

racolin memorial lecture

Thu, Feb 24
07:00PM
Thu, Feb 24
07:00PM

discussion

Joseph Roth's Job

The YIVO Institute is pleased to present Ross Benjamin and Ruth Franklin, literary critic and Senior Editor at The New Republic, in conversation about Joseph Roth's novella, Job. Job has been praised as "a beautifully written, and in the end uplifting, parable for an era of upheaval" (The Quarterly Conversation), "more than a novel and legend . . . a pure, perfect poetic work" (Stefan Zweig), and "perfect: a novel as lyric poem" (Joan Acocella). Based on the biblical story, it is the tale of Mendel Singer, a pious, destitute Eastern-European Jew and children’s Torah teacher whose faith is tested at every turn. Following the discussion, there will be a question and answer session with the audience.


Presented by:

discussion

Sun, Feb 20
02:00PM
Sun, Feb 20
02:00PM

jewish genealogical society programs at cjh

Two Cents Plain, My Brooklyn Childhood

Speaker: Martin Lemelman

"Memory comes alive in this compelling amalgam of drawing, narrative and archival photography... a book that is both a celebration and an affirmation of life." -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Come join us on February 20, when Martin Lemelman presents an illustrated lecture on his latest book, Two Cents Plain: My Brooklyn Boyhood.

This book is a bittersweet journey from the Neu Freimann Displaced Persons Camp in Germany to the crowded streets of Brooklyn, New York. We'll follow a husband and wife as they struggle to begin a new life in the land "where the streets are paved with gold." Along the way, we'll meet the characters- walk the streets- experience the smells and tastes of a Brooklyn.

The child of Holocaust survivors, Martin Lemelman was raised in the back of a Brooklyn candy store. His recent graphic memoir, Two Cents Plain: My Brooklyn Boyhood is about that experience. His first graphic memoir, Mendel's Daughter is not only the story of his mother's miraculous survival in the World War Two, but also the story of Jewish family life in Poland in the 1930's. The book was an Austin Chronicle pick for Best Books of 2006 and was a New York Public Library Selection- "Books For The Teen Age 2007". Jonathan Cape/Random House has released an edition in the United Kingdom. In addition, there is a French edition, La Fille de Mendel and the Spanish edition, La Hija de Mendel will be published shortly.

Professor Lemelman has been a freelance illustrator since 1976. His client list includes McGraw/Hill, Children's Television Workshop, Scholastic, Parent's Magazine Press, Crayola and the Jewish Publication Society, among others. He has illustrated over 30 children's books and his work has been published in magazines ranging from the New York Times Book Review to Sesame Street Magazine.


Presented by:

jewish genealogical society programs at cjh

Sun, Feb 06
04:00PM
Sun, Feb 06
04:00PM

celebration

Tableau Vivant: The Berberisca Ceremony (A Living Picture)

Among the traditional ceremonies of the Moroccan Jews, the richest, most original and picturesque is the "Noche de Berberisca" or "Noche de Paños" (according to the Northern Moroccan Jews, who used to live in the former Spanish zone of Morocco), or the "Henne" or "Soiree du Henne," as it is called in the Southern Moroccan communities. The ceremony takes place during the week that precedes the wedding, in an atmosphere full of joy and emotion. It is enhanced with Sephardic songs, or Judeo-Arabic music, fashion, delicious dishes and pastries made with almonds and honey. The evening reaches its climax when the bride makes her entrance magnificently made up and dressed with the Berberisca dress called "Traje de Paños", or "Vestido de Berberisca" (Spanish), or "Keswa Elkibra" (Great Dress or Grand Dress in Arabic). Join us for this Tableau Vivant. Moroccan Tea and pastries will be served.

A program of the year-long series, "2,000 Years of Jewish Life in Morocco: An Epic Journey", presented Under the High Patronage of His Majesty Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, and made possible through the generous support of the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation.

Please note: This event will now begin at 4pm (instead of the originally scheduled 2pm).


Presented by:

celebration

Thu, Feb 03
03:00PM
Thu, Feb 03
03:00PM

tell memorial lecture

Polacks or Litvaks - Are There Any Differences Between the Polish and Lithuanian Jews in the Early Modern Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?

Maria Cieśla, Polish Academy of Sciences

What are the differences between "Polish" and "Lithuanian" Jews in the early modern period? In this way, the more general question of the formation of the "Litvaks" was approached.


Presented by:

tell memorial lecture

Thu, Feb 03
07:30PM
Thu, Feb 03
07:30PM

concert

Chamber Music of Schubert, Bach, Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff and Zaretsky

The Phoenix Chamber Ensemble will perform Schubert's Trio in Eb major, Rachmaninoff's Waltz and Romance for 6 hands, Bach Concerto in C minor, Shostakovich Concertion for 2 pianos, and the world premiere of Triptych for cello and piano by Inessa Zaretsky.

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


Presented by:

concert

Tue, Feb 01
07:00PM
Tue, Feb 01
07:00PM

lecture

Joschka Fischer and Norbert Frei: The German Foreign Office and the Nazi Past

As early as 1948, a US Military Tribunal concluded that the German Federal Foreign Office had participated in crimes committed by the Third Reich, while the Foreign Office maintained it was “apolitical” and stood in opposition to the plans of the National Socialist dictatorship. In 2005, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer appointed an independent commission to investigate. The findings stirred widespread public debate about Germany’s ongoing reflections over its Nazi past.

Norbert Frei was one of the four members of the commission. He will present the main results of the commission’s research and discuss it’s relevance for Germany today. Horst Freitag, German Consul General in New York, will introduce the program.

Joschka Fischer will be present to discuss the context for his initiative and the spirited reception of the commission’s findings.


Presented by:

lecture

Mon, Jan 31
06:30PM
Mon, Jan 31
06:30PM

book presentation and signing

The Farhud: Roots of the Arab-Nazi Alliance in the Holocaust

"Edwin Black has produced another profound, insightful work of historic and contemporary significance. In The Farhud, Black presents well-documented truths about Arab-Nazi collaboration during the Holocaust. It will shed new light on the discussion of the Middle East and the Arab-Israeli conflict. This book fills a long-standing gap in our understanding of the terrible events of 70 years ago and their continuing impact on today’s Middle East." --Malcolm Hoenlein. Executive Vice Chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.


Presented by:

book presentation and signing

Sun, Jan 30
01:00PM
Sun, Jan 30
01:00PM

film and interviews

Holocaust Remembrance Day/Giorno della Memoria: The Jews of Italy between Anti-Fascism and Resistance

An afternoon of film and interviews discussing the participation of Italian Jews in anti-Fascist movements and the resistance. A panel of scholars and public intellectuals will shed light on the early opposition to Mussolini's regime and the exodus to France of many political dissenters. The discussion will also focus on the activity of Giustizia e Libertà, whose founders, the Rosselli brothers, were murdered in 1937 by a special branch of the Fascist secret police. The panel will also examine the role of the Italian Jewish relief organization, Delasem, the contribution of the Jewish Brigade in Italy, as well as the Committee of National Liberation of Nothern Italy, a partisan group that rose against the Germans and created the Republic of Ossola, the only independent front in Northern Italy before 1945.

Participants will connect via videoconference from several Italian and Israeli cities. Among the guests: Alberto Rosselli, Paolo Bologna, Luisa Levi D'Ancona, Guri Schwarz, David Bidussa, Gianfranco Moscati. Miriam Mafai and Davide Rodogno. A screening of the documentary film "The Rosselli Case"(2007), directed by Stella Savino will follow. The presentation is in English. All films are in Italian with English subtitles.


Presented by:

film and interviews

Thu, Jan 27
06:30PM
Thu, Jan 27
06:30PM

film clips and discussion

Behind the Scenes: An Intimate Video Visit to Morocco

Peter Geffen, on annual travels to Morocco with college students and teachers, has encountered a growing collection of remarkable stories of Muslim-Jewish co-existence. In small villages across Morocco one encounters a relationship still vibrant, even in the total absence of Jews for the past 50 years. This evening will include video interviews with Berbers who still remember, with warmth and fondness, their Jewish neighbors. We will take you into the villages of Arazane, Telouine and Telouet for a first hand visit to the old mellah, its synagogues and the warm and gracious people who make it all come alive. College student alumni of the KIVUNIM program will join Peter and Raphael David Elmaleh, the only Jewish guide in the Arab world and co-founder of the Museum of Moroccan Jewry in Casablanca, for this very special evening.

A program of the year-long series, "2,000 Years of Jewish Life in Morocco: An Epic Journey", presented Under the High Patronage of His Majesty Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, and made possible through the generous support of the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation.


Presented by:

film clips and discussion

Tue, Jan 25
05:30PM
Tue, Jan 25
05:30PM

panel discussion

WikiLeaks and the Archives and Records Profession

Do WikiLeaks and its complex, attendant issues shift our conceptualization of our roles as information professionals? How might WikiLeaks change the public's views on usage of and access to archives and records? To what extent is the most recent release of diplomatic cables a product of information mismanagement?

Addressing these and many more questions, the speakers include Trudy Peterson, former Acting Archivist of the United States (1993-1995) and current representative for the Society of American Archivists on the Department of State's Historical Advisory Committee; Fred Pulzello, Solutions Architect in the Information Governance practice at MicroLink LLC; James Fortmuller, Manager of Systems Security at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP in Washington, DC; Mark Matienzo, Digital Archivist in Manuscripts and Archives at Yale University Library; and Derek Bambauer, Associate Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School. The panel was moderated by Peter Wosh, Director of the Archives/Public History Program and Clinical Associate Professor of History at New York University.

The recording of this event was made possible with the support of MetLife.


Presented by:

panel discussion

Thu, Jan 20
02:00PM
Thu, Jan 20
02:00PM

choseed memorial lecture

Haynt-The Jewish Voice at Your Home

Joanna Nalewajko-Kulikov, Polish Academy of Sciences. This is a story of how the Yiddish newspaper Haynt (1908-1939) evolved from sensationalist "yellow journalism" to a breeding ground for Jewish intellectuals in interwar Warsaw.


Presented by:

choseed memorial lecture

Wed, Jan 19
06:30PM
Wed, Jan 19
06:30PM

panel discussion and reception

Machal/Aliyah Bet Exhibition Opening

Join us as we pay tribute to the more than 1,300 North American volunteers who served in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. Known by the Hebrew acronym machal (volunteers from abroad), the stories of their sacrifice and heroism form part of the fabric of our own history. The American Jewish Historical Society is proud to be the steward of the Machal/Aliyah Bet Archives.

Moderator: Deborah Dash Moore, Ph.D, University of Michigan.
Panelists: Samuel Klausner, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania; Machalnik; Ralph Lowenstein, Ph.D, University of Florida, Founder of the Machal/Aliyah Bet Archives, Machalnik; Derek Penslar, Ph.D., University of Toronto.


Presented by:

panel discussion and reception

Sun, Jan 16
02:00PM
Sun, Jan 16
02:00PM

jewish genealogical society monthly meeting

Jewish Geography and DNA: A Player's Guide

Speaker: Judy Simon

You receive an e-mail saying your DNA results came in. You open the message with great expectations that this is the answer to all your unsolved genealogical mysteries, and within a few minutes you are drowning in alphabet soup: DYS#, HVR1, Hg, E-M35, Y-DNA, R1b12a1b, mtDNA, K1a1b1a, TMRCA, RAO. Help! If you can relate to the above, or if you haven’t had your DNA tested yet for fear of the above, this presentation is for you. Using questions that have been posed to her by DNA beginners during the six years that she has been administering DNA projects, Dr. Simon will demonstrate how DNA testing can help with your family history research, what you can and cannot expect to learn from it, and how to make sense out of your results. She will draw on examples from the Iberian Ashkenaz Y-DNA and mtDNA projects, the Jewish Ukraine West and Glassmaking Families projects and the Brosgol, Lefkowitz, and Olstein surname projects.

Judy Simon, a member of our JGS, is a social worker in Suffolk County, NY. She also has a background in biostatistics and epidemiology, with a doctorate in epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health. She has been researching her family history for as long as she can remember, and has been doing genetic genealogy for the past seven years. She administers several DNA projects at Family tree DNA. Judy and her husband Gary live in Stony Brook, NY and have four grown children.

The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute at CJH will be open before the meeting at 11:00 a.m. for networking with other researchers and access to research materials and computers.


Presented by:

jewish genealogical society monthly meeting

Thu, Jan 13
07:00PM
Thu, Jan 13
07:00PM

introduction and staged reading

The Merchant of Venice (in Yiddish)

A staged reading presented in Yiddish. Prof. Nahma Sandrow introduced the play in English.


Presented by:

introduction and staged reading

Tue, Jan 11
07:00PM
Tue, Jan 11
07:00PM

concert

The Lee Trio

The Lee Trio has been called one of the freshest and most dynamic musical ensembles playing today. They have performed and won competitions in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Angela Lee plays cello; Lisa Lee, violin, and Melinda Lee Masur, piano. Each sister performs as soloist and chamber musician, and as a trio in this rare New York performance.

In a concert specially prepared for our audience, the internationally acclaimed Lee Trio will present a program that reflects the cultural dialogue between Germany, the US, and Leo Baeck Institute.

Program:

Ernst Bloch: Three Nocturnes for Piano Trio
Leonard Bernstein: Trio for Violin, Violincello and Piano
Robert Schumann: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor


Presented by:

concert

Mon, Jan 10
07:00PM
Mon, Jan 10
07:00PM

lecture & performance

Music of the Malakov Family

PLEASE NOTE: Due to a death in the Malakov family, this event has been postponed until the Spring.

Ezro Malakov is the leading cantor of the Bukharian Jewish community of Queens, and a master of the maqam musical system of Central Asia. But Malakov and his brothers, Menakhem and Khaiko, additionally perform a rare repertoire of traditional Sabbath shiro (songs) learned from their mother, Yeshua Borukhova (1911-1975). Ethnomusicologists Walter Zev Feldman (NYU in Abu Dhabi) and Evan Rapport (The New School) will present the Malakov brothers on a journey inside the musical world of the Jews of Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan. Rapport will additionally speak about his recent trip in which he accompanied Malakov on a tour of Jewish Uzbekistan.

A reception will follow the event. Presented by CTMD's An-sky Institute for Jewish Culture.


Presented by:

lecture & performance

Thu, Jan 06
07:00PM
Thu, Jan 06
07:00PM

lecture and film excerpts

The New Yiddish Film

Eric A. Goldman will speak about the renaissance of Yiddish cinema that began in the 1980s and continues today. This new and emerging film form is taking place in Western Europe, Israel and the United States. The lecture will include excerpts from many of these films. There will be a book signing following the talk, in conjunction with the publication of Goldman’s revised and expanded book, Visions, Images and Dreams: Yiddish Film Past and Present (Holmes and Meier Publishers). Cinema historian and former YIVO film curator Eric A. Goldman teaches film at Yeshiva University.


Presented by:

lecture and film excerpts