panel discussion & poetry reading
"Give Me Your Tired...": Poem, 135 Years Old, Makes Waves
Emma Lazarus’s sonnet, “The New Colossus,” is perhaps this country’s most famous poem, and recent immigration policies and controversies have thrust both statue and poem into the headlines, from Stephen Miller’s press conference to recent Independence Day protests. Esther Schor, Princeton Professor of English and author of Emma Lazarus, analyzes the recent wave of media attention. To what extent is the Statue of Liberty under fire, and to what extent is she inspiring poetry and actions that uphold her ideals? A panel of respondents include: Steven Choi, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, Christina Greer, political scientist, commentator and author of Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration and the Pursuit of the American Dream, Amy King, poet and co-curator of the Guardian’s “Huddled Masses…” feature.
AJHS is home to the Emma Lazarus Papers, famously including a handwritten version of Lazarus’ "The New Colossus."
Ticket Info: $10 general; $7 AJHS members, seniors, students at bpt.me/3582661 or 800-838-3006; $12 at the door
Presented by:
panel discussion & poetry reading
not just funny girl: jewish american women in comedy
The Legacy of Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers’ pioneering work as a female comedian left an indelible impression on America’s collective memory. Come watch highlights of her work, and hear from Rivers’ niece, Caroline Waxler, and comedian Judy Gold, on how her work continues to inspire today.
Ticket Info: $15 general; $10 AJHS/CJH members, seniors, students at bpt.me/3582644 or 800-838-3006; $18 at the door
Presented by:
not just funny girl: jewish american women in comedy
book launch
In the Land of Happy Tears: Yiddish Tales for Modern Times
Join us for the release of In the Land of Happy Tears: Yiddish Tales for Modern Times, a new collection of Yiddish tales edited by David Stromberg. Hosted by Debra Caplan, the event features readings from the tales and a discussion of the collection's genesis and translation process.
Ticket Info: Free; reservations required at yivo.org/Yiddish-Tales-for-Modern-Times
Presented by:
book launch
celebration
Celebrating 20 Years of the Straus Historical Society
10:30am Walking Tour including Macy’s on 14th St. (separate ticket required)
12:00pm Pop-up Exhibition in the Steinberg Great Hall
1:30pm Panel discussion
The German-Jewish family that built Macy’s into an iconic retailer also left an indelible legacy in American politics and society. After an optional morning walking tour of Union Square and a pop-up exhibition of artifacts from Macy’s, the Titanic, and more, a panel including Hasia Diner (NYU) and Rabbi Joanna Samuels (Educational Alliance) discusses the Straus family’s journey from peddlers to public servants and philanthropists.
Ticket Info: 10 general; $5 AJHS/LBI members at 800-838-3006
Presented by:
celebration
book launch
Historical Atlas of Hasidism by Marvin Wodziński
Historical Atlas of Hasidism is the first cartographic reference book on one of the modern era's most vibrant and important mystical movements. The event features a presentation by Marcin Wodziński, who will then be joined by David Biale for a conversation.
Ticket Info: Free; reservations required at yivo.org/Historical-Atlas
Presented by:
book launch
conversation
First Person: Margalit Fox
"Why isn't the Oscar Slater case better known? It's about racism, antisemitism, xenophobia. Not relevant to today? Think again."
Margalit Fox wrote more than 1,400 obituaries during her career at The New York Times, gaining a legion of fans with her exquisite prose and eye for quirky details. Now she brings her superb storytelling to a long-forgotten 20th-century murder case—and to Oscar Slater, the Jewish immigrant who was framed for the crime. Margalit joins author Ruth Franklin for a wide ranging First Person conversation about her fascinating career, her favorite obits, and her new book, Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World’s Most Famous Detective Writer.
Ticket Info: $15 general; $10 CJH/Partner members, seniors, students at mfox.bpt.me or 800-838-3006
About the Speakers:
A retired senior writer at The New York Times, Margalit Fox is considered one the foremost explanatory writers and literary stylists in American journalism. As a longtime member of the newspaper’s celebrated Obituary News Department, she has written the front-page public sendoffs of some of the leading cultural figures of our age. (Conan Doyle for the Defense is in many ways a fond belated obituary—for the long-overlooked Oscar Slater, an immigrant Everyman treated inexcusably by history.) Fox’s previous book, The Riddle of the Labyrinth, won the William Saroyan Prize for International Writing. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, the writer and critic George Robinson.
Ruth Franklin is a book critic, a biographer, and a former editor at The New Republic. Her work appears in many publications, including The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, and Harper’s. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in biography, a Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library, a Leon Levy Fellowship in biography, and the Roger Shattuck Prize for Criticism. Her first book, A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction (Oxford University Press, 2011), was a finalist for the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. Her biography Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life (Liveright/W.W. Norton, 2016) won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography and was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2016, a Time magazine top nonfiction book of 2016, and a “best book of 2016” by The Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, and others.
Presented by:
conversation
lecture
Stories of a Lifetime
One of the critical steps in genealogical research might not seem so obvious – to capture known relatives’ memories before they are forgotten or gone. Filmmaker Walter Schlomann shares his expertise recording family video biographies, and the rewards of documenting one’s family history. Learn tips and insights on how to research and record your own video histories, and how these stories impact the interviewee, the families, and future generations. This presentation includes excerpts of evocative biographical videos produced by Walter, which run the gamut of life’s circumstances and emotions and collectively reflect the Jewish-American experience of the last 100 years.
An ASL interpreter may be made available if requested in advance.
Ticket Info: Free; reservations required at bpt.me/3569892 or 800-838-3006
About the Speaker:
Walter Schlomann is an award-winning editor, director, and producer of independent films, television programs, music videos, documentaries, and promotional videos, whose work has aired on PBS, TV Land, History Channel, Biography Channel, and Comedy Central. He is also the founder of Heritage Media Group, a boutique video company whose specialty is producing personal video biographies. Having interviewed people from all walks of life, Walter’s passion is telling stories that inform and entertain.
Presented by:
lecture
multimedia lecture
Nudge, Wink in Whitechapel: Secret Histories from the Lyrics of the Cockney-Yiddish Music Hall at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
From the late 1890s, a vibrant Yiddish music hall developed in the East End of London. Immigrant writers wrote heartfelt and humorous songs about their experiences. This talk analyzes songs uncovering previously untold histories.
Ticket Info: Free; reservations required at yivo.org/Nudge-Wink
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multimedia lecture
lecture
Branching Out from Sepharad: Solving a Converso Mystery, with Sarina Roffe
Sarina Roffé, professional genealogist and founder of the Sephardic Heritage Project and author of Branching Out from Sepharad, outlines the history and expulsion of Jews in Spain, their history in Syria and immigration to the Americas. She discusses the Kassin rabbinic dynasty from the 12th century to the 50-year leadership of Rabbi Jacob S. Kassin in Brooklyn and solves a Converso mystery.
Ticket Info: $5 at the door; free for JGS, ASF, NYG&B members
Presented by:
lecture
lecture
Bill Moyers on History, Memory and Democracy
The Inaugural Diamonstein-Spielvogel Forum on History and the Public Good
In Honor of Rabbi Dr. Ronald B. Sobel, President, Leo Baeck Institute-New York | Berlin
While filming a documentary in Israel, Bill Moyers was struck by the words attributed to the Baal Shem Tov and inscribed at the entrance to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum—“Remembrance is the secret to redemption.” As democratic institutions around the world reel from the eroding forces of inequality and intolerance, prize-winning journalist Moyers will reflect on the role of history and memory in preserving democracy and democratic institutions.
The lecture will be the first of a series of distinguished speakers reflecting on history and the public good initiated and sponsored by Dr. Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel and Ambassador Carl Spielvogel.
Ticket Info: $10 general; $5 LBI/CJH members at moyers.bpt.me or 800-838-3006
Presented by:
lecture
lecture
Synagogues of Iran: Design and Development in Urban Context
Professor Mohammad Gharipour will discuss his research and recently published book, Synagogues of the Islamic World: Architecture, Design, and Identity (Edinburgh University Press, 2017), which explores how the architecture of synagogues in Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain responded to contextual issues and traditions, as well as how these contexts influenced the design and evolution of synagogues. The book considers patterns of the development of synagogues in urban contexts in connection with urban elements and monuments, while revealing how synagogues reflect the culture of the Jewish minority at macro and micro scales.
This presentation is being made possible by the generous support of The Cahnman Foundation.
Ticket Info: $15 at bpt.me/3567682 or 800-838-3006
About the Speaker:
Mohammad Gharipour is Associate Professor at the School of Architecture and Planning at Morgan State University at Baltimore, Maryland. He obtained his Masters in Architecture from the University of Tehran and a Ph.D. in Architecture and Landscape History from Georgia Institute of Technology. He has received several awards, including the Hamad Bin Khalifa Fellowship in Islamic Art, the Spiro Kostof Fellowship Award from the Society of Architectural Historians, the National Endowment in Humanities Faculty Award, and was recognized as "one of the twelve minority scholars in the US who are making their mark in academia" in 2016 by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education Magazine. Professor Gharipour's books include Bazaar in the Islamic City (American University of Cairo Press, 2012), Persian Gardens and Pavilions: Reflections in Poetry, Arts, and History (I.B. Tauris, 2013), Calligraphy and Architecture in the Muslim World (co-edited with Irvin Schick, Edinburgh University Press, 2013), The City in the Muslim Word: Depictions by Western Travelers (co-edited with Nilay Ozlu, Routledge, 2014), and Sacred Precincts: The Religious Architecture of Non-Muslim Communities across the Islamic World (Brill, 2014). He is the director and founding editor of the International Journal of Islamic Architecture (www.intellectbooks.com/ijia).
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lecture
panel discussion
The Man Who Made the Movies
Join us for a panel discussion with author Vanda Kreft and others to celebrate the publication of The Man who Made the Movies: The Meteoric Rise and Tragic Fall of William Fox. A riveting story of ambition, greed, and genius unfolding at the dawn of modern America.
Ticket Info: $10 general; $5 AJHS members, seniors, students at bpt.me/3582684 or 800-838-3006; $12 at the door
Presented by:
panel discussion
lecture
Exhibiting Difficult Histories: The 'Anti-Zionist' Campaign in Poland, 1967–1968, and Its Echoes Today
In March 1968, in reaction to a student rebellion, the communist government of Poland launched a noisy propaganda campaign against the alleged Zionists, who were accused of a conspiracy to undermine socialist Poland. The campaign of slander, harassment, and persecution forced half of Poland’s Jews into exile and deeply affected the life of those who remained.
For the fiftieth anniversary of the events this year, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw prepared an exhibition and a rich program of educational and cultural events. This coincided with a stormy debate on the recent “Holocaust defamation law,” bringing mass attention to the program and opening a controversy on the nature of and responsibility for the campaign of 1968. Despite heavy criticism from the media of the right, the museum’s relevant temporary exhibition, lectures, debates and cultural events have already attracted an audience of 100,000 people.
Dariusz Stola, the director of POLIN, will discuss how this history is presented in their current temporary exhibition and the controversies surrounding it.
Ticket Info: $10 general; $5 YIVO members, students at yivo.org/Exhibiting-Difficult-Histories
Presented by:
lecture
history matters
Jews, Politics, and the 2018 Midterm Elections
As we approach the much anticipated 2018 midterm elections, former New York Times reporter, Clyde Haberman moderates a panel discussion about the shifting political landscape, the Jewish vote, and why history matters. Panelists include Princeton University Professor and CNN Political Analyst Julian Zelizor and Executive Director of T’ruah Rabbi Jill Jacobs.
Ticket Info: $15 general; $10 CJH/partner members, seniors, students at zelizor.bpt.me or 800-838-3006
Presented by:
history matters
book talk
First Person: Jamie Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein’s eldest daughter, Jamie Bernstein, shares a rare and intimate look at her father on the centennial of his birth in her new memoir, Famous Father Girl: A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein. Join Jamie and Broadway performer Alexandra Silber (Fiddler on the Roof) for conversation and a selection of the Maestro's most famous songs. Book signing follows the program.
Co-presented by the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Ticket Info: $15 general; $10 CJH/Partner members, seniors, students at jbernstein.bpt.me or 800-838-3006
About the Speakers:
Jamie Bernstein is a writer, broadcaster, filmmaker and concert narrator. In addition to writing her many articles and concert narrations, Jamie travels extensively, speaking about music as well as about her father, Leonard Bernstein. Jamie’s film documentary, Crescendo: The Power of Music has won numerous prizes and is now available on Netflix. Jamie’s memoir, Famous Father Girl, was published by HarperCollins in June of 2018.
Grammy nominated artist, Alexandra Silber recently completed a run on Broadway as Tzeitel in the Tony-nominated revival of Fiddler on the Roof. She made her professional acting debut in London’s West End at age 21, and her Broadway debut in 2011, playing opposite Tony-Award winner Tyne Daly in Terrence McNally’s Master Class. Alexandra has performed in Carnegie Hall, across the country and around the globe and is the author of the novel, After Anatevka, and her memoir, White Hot Grief Parade.
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book talk
