CJS Lectures and Events

Upcoming JIS Events in November and December

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The semester is half-way over, but Jewish and Israel Studies still plans to host a number of events:

November 4, Jewish and Israel Studies Open House, 4:30 pm Allbritton 103.

Please come to meet Jewish and Israel Studies students and faculty, and learn about our Program, our courses, and events.

November 4, Film: STEAL A PENCIL FOR ME (2007) by Oscar nominee Michele Ohayon (P’14). A Q&A session will follow the screening. Michele Ohayon recounts the touching story of Jack and Ina, whose love broke the bounds of matrimony and imprisonment. Jack: “I’m a very special Holocaust survivor. I was in the camps with my wife and my girlfriend; and believe me, it wasn’t easy.” For more about the film, see http://www.stealapencil.com/synopsis.php;
Film Studies 100 (Goldsmith Family Cinema), 8pm.

November 17, Hallie Lecture Series (COL): Professor Berel Lang, “Primo Levi, Writer (and Memoirist).” COL Lounge, Wesleyan University. COL Lounge, Butt C, 4:15 pm.

Berel Lang is the author of Philosophical Witnessing: The Holocaust as Presence (2009), Holocaust Representation: Art Within the Limits of History and Ethics (2000), Heidegger’s Silence (1996), Act and Idea in the Nazi Genocide (1990) and many other works bridging philosophy, aesthetics, ethics and history.  Much honored for outstanding scholarship and teaching, he has held fellowships from the N.E.H., ACLS, American Philosophical Association, and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and is a member of the American Academy for Jewish Research.  This semester, he is Visiting Professor of Letters at Wesleyan; he has taught at Wesleyan, Trinity College, SUNY at Albany, the University of Colorado, and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

December 6, J. J. Goldberg, “The Next American Judaism: Israel, Intermarriage and the Seinfeld Effect”

J. J. Goldberg is a senior columnist at the Forward, where he had served as the editor-in-chief, transforming the paper into one of the leading and most respected voices of contemporary Jewish press.

Upcoming October Events in Jewish and Israel Studies

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October 7, Susan Einbinder: “Seeing the Blind: Medieval Jewish Martyrdom, Poetry, and Hysterical Blindness,” 4:30pm at PAC 004

Susan Einbinder is Professor of Hebrew Literature at Hebrew Union College the author most recently of No Place of Rest: Jewish Expulsion and the Memory of Medieval France, which traces the ways that fourteenth-century texts written by Jews in Spain, Provence, Italy and North Africa recall the trauma of the 1306 expulsion from France.  She is also the author of Beautiful Death: Jewish Poetry and Martyrdom in Medieval France.

October 12, Playwright Joshua Sobol will talk about his new book Cut Throat Dog at Russell House at 8pm.

Joshua Sobol will place his new novel within the context of the “Shylock Syndrome.”  Sobol is an international renowned playwright, writer, and director.  In 2000 he was a visiting scholar at Wesleyan University and directed, with Wesleyan students, the play “Ghetto”, which was translated into more than 20 languages and has been performed by leading theaters in more than 25 countries through the world.  A reception will follow.

October 25, Israeli Author Michal Govrin will talk about her new book Holds on to the Sun at Russell House at 8pm.

“Hold on to the Sun:  Words Facing the Unspeakable”:  Michal Govrin will talk about her new book “Hold on to the Sun:  Stories and Legends”, which addresses through short stories, essay, and poetry the unspeakable through words.  The talk will end with a reading from the book.  Among the pioneers of Jewish experimental theater, Govrin has directed award-winning performances in all major theaters in Israel.  She also has published numerous nonfiction and personal essay, which have appeared in international journals and anthologies in several languages. A reception will follow.

Fall Events in Jewish and Israel Studies

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September 16, screening of Israeli film “Beaufort” (2007) and a talk with Ron Leshem, the author and scriptwriter at the Goldsmith Cinema at 8pm.

The film takes place in 2000 during the Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon after 18 years of conflict. It follows IDF soldiers at the medieval Beaufort Castle preparing to leave.

October 7, Susan Einbinder: “Seeing the Blind: Medieval Jewish Martyrdom, Poetry, and Hysterical Blindness,” 4:30pm at PAC 004

Susan Einbinder is Professor of Hebrew Literature at Hebrew Union College the author most recently of No Place of Rest: Jewish Expulsion and the Memory of Medieval France, which traces the ways that fourteenth-century texts written by Jews in Spain, Provence, Italy and North Africa recall the trauma of the 1306 expulsion from France.  She is also the author of Beautiful Death: Jewish Poetry and Martyrdom in Medieval France.

October 12, Playwright Joshua Sobol will talk about his new book Cut Throat Dog at Russell House at 8pm.

October 25, Israeli Author Michal Govrin will talk about her new book Holds on to the Sun at Russell House at 8pm.

November 4, Jewish and Israel Studies – Open House and Reception, 4:15

November 17, Berel Lang will give the annual Hallie Lecture, 4:15 PM, the COL Lounge.

The Hallie Lecture Series was created by David Rhodes ‘68 to honor the late professor of philosophy, Philip Hallie. The series focuses on key ethical questions of our day.

December 6, J.J. Goldberg will speak on “The Next American Judaism: Israel, Intermarriage and the Seinfeld Effect.”

J. J. Goldberg is a senior columnist at the Forward, where he had served as the editor-in-chief, transforming the paper into one of the leading and most respected voices of contemporary Jewish press.

Jewish and Israel Studies Program Hosting Its First Cultural Event

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Please join us for our first cultural event, starting an exciting and rich program we have prepared for the whole year.

On September 16, this coming Thursday, there will be a screening of an Israeli film “Beaufort” at the Goldsmith Family Cinema, Film Studies, Wesleyan University, 8 pm. The film tells a story of Israeli soldiers preparing for withdrawal from Southern Lebanon in 2000.

The film’s screenwriter, Ron Leshem, will join us for a discussion after screening.  Please join us there.

Jewish and Israel Studies Program has a Facebook page, http://bit.ly/WesleyanJIS. “Like” us to get updates about our exciting program this year.  Or follow us through this blog: https://jis.blogs.wesleyan.edu/

I look forward to seeing you on Thursday.

Samuel & Dorothy Frankel Memorial Lecture

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On April 22, Darcy Buerkle will be the speaker for the Samuel and Dorothy Frankel Memorial Lecture.  Her talk, “Charlotte Salomon’s Intervention,” is on Charlotte Salomon,  a German-Jewish artist who, between 1941-43, produced an extraordinary series of 769 paintings dealing with her tragic, conflicted family life and her obsessive love life.

Professor Darcy Buerkle teaches in the Department of History at Smith College. Her research focuses on modern European women and gender history with an emphasis on German Jewish visual, intellectual and cultural history.

Usdan 108 (Taylor Meeting Room) at 8pm

Upcoming Events: Talks and Presentation of Student Projects in Jewish Studies

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On April 8, 2010, Jewish and Israel Studies program will host two speakers:

Hilit Surowitz: Blood and Identity: Picart’s La Circoncision des Juifs Portugais 4:15 pm, PAC 004

and in conjunction with the Middle Eastern Studies Initiative Speaker Series:

Daniel Monk, THE JEW AND THE TANK: Habit and Habitus in the Historiography of Israel’s Era of Euphoria
8:00 p.m. PAC 001

On Tuesday, May 4, 2010, students will present their research and creative projects in Jewish Studies.
Among presenters will be three COL seniors who will have completed their senior theses, and students currently enrolled in the seminar “Performing Jewish Studies: Methods, Theories, and Models.” 4:15 pm 103 Allbritton Center for Public Life

Please check back in for a full program, but in the meantime mark your calendars:  April 8, 2010 4:15pm and 8pm; and May 4, 2010, 4:15 pm

Elisheva Carlebach to Lecture on Jewish Time/Christian Time

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On Thursday, March 4, Elisheva Carlebach will speak on “Jewish Time/Christian Time: Calendar and Polemic in Early Modern Europe”

Elisheva Carlebach is the Salo Baron Professor of Jewish history at Columbia University.  She is the author of an award-winning book The Pursuit of Heresy: Rabbi Moses Hagiz and the Sabbatian Controversies (Columbia University Press, 1990; 1994) and Divided Souls: Converts from Judaism in Germany, 1500-1750 (Yale University Press, 2001) which was the finalist for the 2001-02 National Jewish Book Award.

The lecture will take place at 4:30 pm in PAC 004.Elisheva-poster

Preview of Upcoming Events in the Spring Semester 2010

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Jewish and Israel Studies Certificate Program will sponsor a series of events in the Spring Semester, lectures, films, and readings.

The Israeli Film Festival will screen new Israeli films on five consecutive Thursdays between  January 28 and February 25. Among films shown will be: A Matter of Sizel; Touch Away (TV series); My Father, My Lord; Eli and Ben.  All films will be screened at 8pm, Goldsmith Family Cinema.
We are delighted to announce several upcoming lectures:

On February 2, Moshe Rosman will speak on “What’s New in the Study of Hasidism”

Moshe Rosman is the author of a number of groundbreaking books, including Lords’ Jews: Magnate-Jewish Relations in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the 18th Century (Harvard, 1990); The Founder of Hasidism (California UP, 1996); and most recently How Jewish is Jewish History? (Littman, 2007).

On March 4, Elisheva Carlebach will speak on “Jewish Time/Christian Time: Calendar and Polemic in Early Modern Europe”

Elisheva-posterElisheva Carlebach is the Salo Baron Professor of Jewish history at Columbia University.  She is the author of an award-winning book The Pursuit of Heresy :Rabbi Moses Hagiz and the Sabbatian Controversies (Columbia University Press, 1990; 1994) and Divided Souls: Converts from Judaism in Germany, 1500-1750 (Yale University Press, 2001) which was the finalist for the 2001-02 National Jewish Book Award; please check for time and place.

On April 12, Hilit Surowitz will speak on “Blood and Identity: Picart’s La Circoncision des Juifs Portugais,” time and place will be announced.

April 22, Frankel Memorial Lecture.

Other speakers will include Israeli writers and film-makers.  Please check back for details.

Upcoming lectures in the fall semester

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We have reached the “midterm” period.  Israel and Jewish Studies Certificate Program has hosted several lectures and events, in September, Professor Lawrence Fine gave a lecture “We are bound to one another as if we were one person: Spiritual Friend”.

In early October, we hosted an event “Rembering Vilna.”  A new documentary, “The World Was Ours,” on pre-war and wartime Vilna by Mira Jedwabnik Van Doren was screened. Following the film, in a musical interlude, vocalist Maria Krupoves sang songs of the Vilna Ghetto. The program also included a panel discussion by Mira Jedwabnik Van Doren, Executive Producer, and the director of The Vilna Project; Professor Samuel Kassow, Trinity College; and Dr. Michael Good, author of “The Search for Major Plagge”. The event was also made possible by a gift from the Denise and Gary Rosenberg Fund.

And just this week, Michael Morgan, Chancellor Professor of Philosophy & Jewish Studies, Emeritus, at Indiana University  spoke on “Messianism, Israel, and Judaism in America”. The event was co-sponsored by College of Letters and Jewish and Israel Studies Certificate Program.

For the remainder of the semester we have several exciting events:
Thursday, October 29, Loren Spielman, our visiting instructor in the Religion Department, will speak on Gladiators and God-fearers: Jewish and Christian Reactions to Sport and Spectacle, at 4:15pm in PAC 421

Thursday, November 4, Professor Sara Lipton will lecture on “Becoming Visual: The Emergence of the Visible Jewess in Later Medieval Art,”  at 4:15 at PAC 001. Professor Lipton is the author of Images of Intolerance: The Representation of Jews and Judaism in the Bible Moralisee, which won the John Nicholas Brown Prize for Best First Book and was a finalist for the Koret Jewish History Book Prize.  The lecture is based on her new book Dark Mirror: Jews, Vision, and Witness in Medieval Art (forthcoming from Metropolitan Books).  The lecture breaks new ground in the study of medieval Jewish and Christian history, visual evidence, and Christian theology. The event is co-sponsored by Jewish & Israel Studies Certificate Program, History Department, & Medieval Studies.

On Thursday, November 11, Dan Bahat, a leading Israeli Archaeologist and a member of the Faculty of the University of St. Michael’s College at the School of Theology, University of Toronto, will discuss his research with us.  4:15, 118 Downey House.

We hope you will join us!