Spring 2010 EventsAll events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. Email for further information. Select Month:
"Between Sacred and Profane: Jews and the Modern City: Three Snapshots" David N. Myers (University of California, Los Angeles) Wednesday, January 13, 2010, 7 p.m., Herbert D. Katz Center (Seating is limited, RSVP required) Sponsored by The Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies and the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. The
2010 Penn Lectures in Judaic studies:
"The Secular and the Sacred in the Modern Jewish World" All lectures are free and open to the public. To RSVP and for more information, please contact Etty Lassman 215-238-1290 ext. 406, lassman@sas.upenn.edu
"The Dead Sea Scrolls and the History of Prophecy in Judaism" Dr. Alex P. Jassen (University of Minnesota) Thursday, January 14, 2010, 3 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Class of 1955 Room, 2nd floor, Van Pelt Library The Dead Sea Scrolls have revolutionized our understanding of the Bible and
early Judaism in many ways. They have allowed us to rethink the long held
assumption that prophecy is a feature closely related with the world of the
Bible and therefore absent in later forms of Judaism. Drawing upon the
evidence provided by the Dead Sea Scrolls, Dr. Alex Jassen explores the rich
world of prophets and prophecy that continued to thrive long after the end Alex P. Jassen is Assistant Professor of Early Judaism in the Department ofClassical and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Minnesota. He is
also a member of the University's Center for Jewish Studies and Program in
Religious Studies. Dr. Jassen completed his Ph.D. in Hebrew and Judaic
Studies at New York University in 2006. His research and teaching
concentrates on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the literature of Second Temple period
Judaism, and general Jewish thought. He is a member of the international Sponsored by the Philadelphia Seminar for Christian Origins (PSCO). "The Golem and the Cyborg: A Jewish View of Human Enhancement" Dr. Paul Root Wolpe,
Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Bioethics, Emory University Thursday, January 14, 2010, 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. (4:00 p.m. Reception), The Center for Bioethics, 3401 Market St., Ste. 331, Philadelphia, PA 19104 Please RSVP to Janice Pringle (jpringle@mail.med.upenn.edu) or call the Center for Bioethics at 215-898-7136, as seating is limited. The Bronstein Lecture is sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania
Center for Bioethics. "Judaism in the Political Sphere" Monday, January 18, 2010, 12:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Steinhardt Hall, Penn Hillel We are kicking off the semester with a "Yom Iyun", or Day of
Learning on Martin Luther King Jr. Day; inspired by Dr. King's
model of a religious leader bringing about massive social and
political change, we will examine the place of Jewish leadership and
values in political change. Sponsored by Penn Hillel. Contact Michael Rubin with any questions at rubinmi@sas "Judeo-Spanish in Greece: The Dying Language of a Survivor Community" Emma Morgenstern (University of Pennsylvania) Tuesday, January 19, 12:00 p.m., Kelly Writers House, 3805 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104 Emma Morganstern is a senior majoring in linguistics, with minors in creative writing and cognitive science. She edits the food magazine Penn Appetit and is a member of Penn's Underground Shakespeare Company. She hopes to pursue a career in writing, education, and/or museum studies. In honor of her mother, Terry B. Heled, Mali Heled Kinberg (C'95) established the Terry B. Heled Travel Grant, an endowed fund at the Kelly Writers House that, each summer, enables a student to travel for the purpose of conducting the research that will lead to a significant writing project. The winner of the Heled Travel Grant receives $2,000 toward the costs of travel for research. Emma received a Brenner Special Opportunity Award from the Jewish Studies Program for this research project. Sponsored by the Kelly Writers House. This is a lunch talk.
Please RSVP to wh@writing.upenn.edu or call 215-746-POEM Reconsidering the Religious/Secular Divide in Israel Today Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin (Ben-Gurion University) Tuesday, January 19, 2010, 7 p.m., Congregation Rodeph Shalom Sponsored by The Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies and the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. The
2010 Penn Lectures in Judaic studies:
"The Secular and the Sacred in the Modern Jewish World" All lectures are free and open to the public. To RSVP and for more information, please contact Etty Lassman 215-238-1290 ext. 406, lassman@sas.upenn.edu Stand Up For Peace Saturday, January 23, 2010, 7:30 p.m., Terrace room, Claudia Cohen Hall, 249 South 36th St., Philadelphia, PA 19104 "Stand up for Peace" is a comedy night hosted by Dean Obeidallah (Arab-American) and Scott Blakeman (Jewish-American) that centers around the Arab-Israeli conflict. The comedians shed light on this conflict through humor and later on facilitate a discussion revolving around the conflict. They have toured many US universities as well as internationally and we are happy to welcome them to Penn's Campus. Tickets will be sold on the walk the week prior to the event for $10. For more information please visit www.standupforpeace.com The Monk's Haggadah Thursday, January 28, 2010, 5 p.m., College Hall 209 There is a fifteenth century codex housed in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich that contains a beautifully illustrated hand-written Passover Haggadah and a lengthy Latin prologue on the meaning of Passover written by a contemporary fifteenth century monk. David Stern's talk will describe the unusual features of the Haggadah, discuss the special status of the prologue as the earliest known Christian ethnography of Jewish culture, and tell of how a group of scholars have reconstructed its history. February
Meira Poliak (Tel Aviv University) Monday, February 1, 2010, 5 p.m., Class of '55 Room, 2nd floor, Van Pelt Library, 3420 Walnut St. This lecture will focus on the role of the Hebrew Bible in 10th-12th century Judaeo-Arabic Culture with a special focus upon the case of the Karaites, their innovative Biblical exegesis, and the influence exerted upon them by the Arabic host culture in which they lived. The Karaite movement was the major sectarian movement in medieval Judaism. Meira Polliack is Associate Professor of Bible in the Department of Hebrew Culture Studies at Tel Aviv University. She is currently the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Visiting Professor of Judaic Studies at Yale University (2009-2010). Her research focuses on the history of Jewish biblical interpretation and biblical rhetoric in the Islamic milieu. She has published on medieval Judaeo-Arabic literature and Bible exegesis, medieval Karaism, and the Cairo Geniza. Please note: photo ID necessary to enter library. Sponsored by The Jewish Studies Program Kutchin Seminar Series with the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Middle East Center, and Religious Studies department.
"Can Science and Religion be Reconciled?: The Age of Our Universe: Six Days, Fifteen Billion Years, or Both?" Gerald Schroeder Monday, February 22, 2010, 7:30 p.m., Shotel Dubin Auditorium. Steinhardt Hall, 215 South 39th Street,
Philadelphia PA 19104 Dr. Schroeder will discuss the harmonization of two seemingly irreconcilable viewpoints- science and religion, specifically regarding the age of the universe and evolutionary theory. His books include: Genesis and the Big Bang: The Discovery of Harmony between Modern Science and The Bible and The Science of God: The Convergence of Scientific and Biblical Wisdom. Dr. Schroeder's formal training in the sciences paired with an acute sensitivity to Jewish texts and philosophy lend him a unique perspective on questions of Bible, religion, and science. Dr. Schroeder received his Ph.D. in Earth sciences and physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and, after immigrating to Israel, served as a researcher at the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Volcani Research Institute, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This event is being co-sponsored by: University of Pennsylvania Hillel, Penn OCP- Scholar in Residence, SPEC, University of Pennsylvania Jewish Studies Program, Conservative Jewish Community at Penn, Newman Center, Muslim Students Association, PRISM, Jewish Renaissance Project, Religious Studies Department, and Office of the Chaplain.
Middle East Film Festival 2010: "Cities in Middle East Cinema" PLACES IN MIDDLE EAST CINEMA is a Film Festival sponsored by University of Pennsylvania Cinema Studies Program, International Relations Department, Jewish Studies Program, Middle East Center, and Near Eastern Languages and Civilization Department, in conjunction with the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival. All screenings will take place @ 6:30pm at the University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School, Room 110, 3620 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19014. ************************************* Tuesday, February 23, 2010... Turkey and Lebanon COFFEE FUTURES (Zeynep Devrim Gursel, 2009, Turkey, 22 min) with director Zeynep Devrim Gursel in person Coffee Futures weaves individual fortunes with the story of Turkey's decades-long attempts to become a member of the European Union. Promises and predictions made by politicians, both foreign and domestic, are juxtaposed with the rhetoric and practices of coffee fortune telling. CARAMEL (Nadine Labaki, 2007, Lebanon, 95 min) Nadine Labaki's directorial debut, which premiered during the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, Caramel tells the stories of five Lebanese women from different generations and religious backgrounds who meet in a Beirut beauty salon. http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/events/february10/mefffeb23 ************************************* Thursday, February 25, 2010... Palestine THE TIME THAT REMAINS (Elia Suleiman, 2009, Palestine, 109 min) A semi-autobiographical film about the director's family, from 1948 until the present, inspired by her parents' diaries and letters as well as her own memories, The Time That Remains attempts to portray the daily life of Palestinians who remained in Israel after 1948. http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/events/february10/mefffeb25 ************************************* Tuesday, March 2, 2010... Israel THE LITTLE TRAITOR (Lynn Roth, 2007, Israel, 88 min) Based on the novel The Panther in the Basement by Amos Oz, The Little Traitor follows the unlikely friendship between a young Jewish boy and a British officer, against the backdrop of the British occupation of Palestine in 1947 in the months before Israel becomes a state. http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/events/march10/meffmar02 ************************************* Tuesday, March 16, 2010... Iran TEHRAN HAS NO MORE POMEGRANATES (Massoud Bakhshi, 2007, Iran, 68 min) Filmed over the span of five years, the award-winning Tehran has No More Pomegranates is a comic and sarcastic documentary about Tehran's transformation from a small village into a huge modern megalopolis. http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/events/march10/meffmar16 ************************************* Thursday, March 18, 2010... Egypt GARBAGE DREAMS (Mai Iskander, 2009, Egypt, 79 min) The award-winning documentary Garbage Dreams follows three teenage boys born into the trash trade and growing up in the world's largest garbage village (home to 60,000 "garbage people"), on the outskirts of Cairo. They survive by recycling 80% of the garbage they collect, but when the community is faced with the globalization of its trade, each of the boys is forced to make choices that will impact his future and the survival of his community. http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/events/march10/meffmar18 There will be a reception before this last film of the festival at Annenberg School (Room 110) from 5:00 to 6:30pm. ************************************* Very special thanks for curating the "Places in Middle East Cinema" 2010 Film Festival goes to Nili Gold (Penn, NELC), who organized the festival in collaboration with Iris Drechsler (PJFF), Nicola M. Gentili (Penn, CINE), Pardis Minuchehr (Penn, NELC), and Heather J. Sharkey (Penn, NELC).
Workshop: "Fragmented Encounters: Religion, Race, and the Secular in Jewish-Muslim Relations" Wednesday, March 17, 2010, Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies,
420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106 This workshop is co-sponsored by the Herbert D. Katz Center and the Middle East Center at Penn. Seating is limited. Please RSVP to allenshe@sas.upenn.edu
Conference: "Gender in Judaism and Islam"
Monday, March 22, 2010, Ben Franklin Room, Houston Hall, 3417 Spruce Street, Philadelphia PA 19104 8:30 a.m. - Continental Breakfast 9:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. Welcoming Remarks by Ann Matter (Department of Religious Studies; Associate Dean for Arts and Letters of the School of Arts and Sciences), Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet (Department of History; Director, Middle East Center), and Beth S. Wenger (Department of History; Director, Jewish Studies Program) 9:15 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Opening Address 10:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. Break 10:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Crimes of Passion: Women, Religious Law, and Human Rights 12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. Lunch break 1:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. The Limits of Biology: Texts, Sex, and Women's Bodies 3:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Break 5:30 p.m. Reception in Claudia Cohen Schniderman Lobby,249 South 36th Street 6:15 p.m. Keynote Address in Claudia Cohen G17, 249 South 36th Street Joan Wallach Scott, Institute for Advanced Study, Feminism's Difference Problem Chair: Kathy Peiss, Department of History, University of Pennsylvania This conference is sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania Jewish Studies Program and the Middle East Center, with support from a Mellon Cultural Diversity Grant from the School of Arts and Sciences, and with the generous cosponorship of the Law School, School of Nursing, Alice Paul Center for Research on Women, Gender, & Sexuality, Women's Studies Program, and Departments of History, Religious Studies, and Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations. Free and open to the public. No RSVP necessary. For more information, call 215-898-6335 or 215-898-6654, or email mec-info@sas.upenn.edu or jsp-info@sas.upenn.edu If you would like to listen to a podcast of this conference click here Yiddish Songs and Poetry performed by
students from the University of Pennsylvania Thursday, March 25, 2010, 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Berkowitz Living Room (1st Floor), Steinhardt Hall, 215 South 39th Street,
Philadelphia PA 19104 Come sing with us! Kumt ale zingen mit undz! Refreshments, too! Sponsored by the Kutchin Seminar Series of the Jewish Studies Program, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, and Penn Hillel.
Israeli Author, Savyon Liebrecht Thursday, April 8, 2010, 2 p.m., Golkin Room, Houston Hall, 3417 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 Savyon Liebrecht is a highly-acclaimed Israeli author. Liebrecht was born in 1948 in Munich to Holocaust survivors who left Germany for Israel when she was a child. She studied literature and philosophy at Tel-Aviv University. Her stories depict the Israeli reality: the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, between religious and non-religious Jews, and the effect of the Holocaust on the children and grandchildren of survivors. She has written eight books, three movies and five plays, which have been performed throughout Europe. Her works have been translated into English, Italian, French, German and Chinese (among others). She is a two-time winner of the highly prestigious Prime Minister's award for literature, in 1992 and 1999. Savyon is a gifted author and a wonderful speaker. Please join us for this opportunity to meet Savyon and get a signed copy of her book. Sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program, Middle East Center, and the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. Performance: Zolotoi Plyos Thursday, April 8, 2010, 7 p.m., Ben Franklin Room, Houston Hall, 3417 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 This colorful and popular Russian ensemble presents a concert-demonstration of Russian, Jewish, and Gypsy folk music, both a capella and with instrumental accompaniment on over 20 authentic folk instruments (dutki, treshchetki, lozhki, balalaiki, garmoshki, etc.). The winners of a number of prestigious music competitions throughout Europe, members of the ensemble - Sergei Gratchev, Elena Sadina, and Aleksandr Solovov - are all graduates of the Saratov Music Conservatory in Russia. The trio has directed the Middlebury College Russian Summer School choir for the past several years. During their spring 2010 U.S. tour, they perform at the University of Chicago, Brandeis University, Middlebury College, William and Mary College, Swarthmore College, and the University of Pennsylvania. See a video sample here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FmiGSzehQM Sponsored by the Department of Slavic Languages, the Jewish Studies Program Kutichin Seminar Series, Folklore Graduate Studies Group, and University of Pennsylvania's College of Liberal & Professional Studies. For more information please contact Ilya Vinitsky at ivinitsk@gmail.com. Angelology and Monotheism: How did Christianity differ from Judaism in ascribing power to divinities other than God? Dr. David Stern (Near Eastern Langauges and Civilizations dept., University of Pennsylvania) and Dr. Annette Reed (Religious Studies dept., University of Pennsylvania) Monday, April 12, 2010, 6:15 p.m., Steinhardt Hall Auditorium, 215 South 39th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 Maoz vegetarian will be served. Presentation begins at 6:30 p.m. This event is run by the Jewish Studies Program Bassini Interns Program (organized by JSP Interns Michael Rubin, Dina Bleckman, and
Nancy Wang). No-One Ever Died Illegally in Auschwitz: The Nazis' Obsession with Legalizing the Holocaust Prof. Harry Reicher (Law School, University of Pennsylvania) Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 12:00 p.m., Steinhardt Hall 2nd floor auditorium, 215 South 39th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 The Holocaust represented the ultimate in sheer, brutal lawlessness.Yet the Nazi regime in Germany went to extraordinary lengths to legalize what they were doing, thereby creating the ultimate oxymoron, pseudo-legal terror. This presentation will examine the perversion of the country's legal system, in both its legislative as well as judicial aspects, and the conversion of both into savage instruments designed to discriminate against, ostracize, dehumanize, and ultimately eliminate, certain classes of people, first and foremost Jews. It is a little-known dimension to the Holocaust, which added another weapon to the armory trained by the Nazis against their victims, and which prompted the court in the trial of the lawyers at Nuremberg to summarize, very powerfully: "The dagger of the assassin was concealed beneath the robe of the jurist." Professor Harry Reicher, one of the great experts on law and the Holocaust, will lead the discussion. Here is his biography: http://www.law.upenn.edu/cf/faculty/hreicher/. This event is run by the Jewish Studies Program Bassini Interns Program (organized by JSP Interns Pranav Merchant and Vikram Vish).
Silvers Visting Scholar Lecture: "An American Shtetl: Politics and Piety in Kiryas Joel, New York" David Myers (UCLA) and Nomi Stolzenberg (USC) Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 5 p.m., Silverman 240B, Law School, 3400 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104 Professors David N. Myers and Nomi Stolzenberg will explore the fascinating community of Kiryas Joel, New York, a legally recognized municipality comprised almost entirely of Satmar Hasidic Jews. Mixing historical description with legal analysis, the talk will examine the stunning and surprising rise of Kiryas Joel on American soil. With a political culture rooted in 19th-century Hungary, Kiryas Joel is at the same time a decidedly American creation, enabled by the skillful application of American interest-group politics to the goal of creating an insular and homogeneous enclave. Respondent: Sarah Barringer Gordon, Arlin M. Adams Professor of Constitutional Law and Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania. The Silvers Visiting Scholar Program is sponsored by David, C'71,and Patricia, CW'72, Silvers. This year the event is also co-sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
"Jewish Culture in Maira Kalman's Work" Marion Kant (University of Pennsylvania), Liliane Weissberg (University of Pennsylvania), and writer Denise Grollmus Wednesday, April 14, 2010, 6:30 p.m., Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 South 36th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 Moderated by Christine Poggi, Professor of the History of Art, University of Pennsylvania Join Penn professors Marion Kant and Liliane Weissberg, and writer Denise Grollmus, for a conversation on the expressions of Jewish culture that abound in Maira Kalman's work. As an illustrator, author, and designer, Kalman (b. 1949 Tel Aviv, lives New York) illuminates contemporary life through her personal narrative. Her work is filled with fond family anecdotes, nostalgia for foods (such as pickles, herring, and honeycake), reverence for historical figures from early twentieth century Europe and America (such as Walter Benjamin and George Gershwin), and celebrations of her communities in Israel and New York. This program is co-sponsored by Institute of Contemporary Art and Penn's Jewish Studies Program. For more information, please contact Lucy Gallun, Whitney Lauder Curatorial Fellow, Institute of Contemporary Art at 215.898.7934 or lucyg@exchange.upenn.edu. "Ex-Jews, Early Christians: Biographical 'Others' Then and Now" Andrew S. Jacobs (Scripps College) Thursday, April 15, 2010, 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., 1955 Room, Van Pelt Library (2nd floor), University of Pennsylvania Why were some early Christian figures posthumously posited to be converts from Judaism? What has motivated both ancients and moderns to see "ex-Jewishness" in certain famous early Christians? Tracing the putative ex-Jewishness of three early Christians (Epiphanius of Salamis; Romanos Melodos; and Ambrosiaster), this paper suggests that certain impulses toward knowledge, power, and the desire to internalize difference lie behind the biographical transformations of ancient Jews and Christians. A conversation about David Ruderman's New Book - Early Modern Jewry: A New Cultural History Yaacob Dweck (Princeton University) Thursday, April 15, 2010, 4:30 p.m., College Hall 209 This program is co-sponsored by the Kutchin Seminar Series of the Jewish Studies Program and the Department of History. For more information, 215.898.6654 or jsp-info@sas.upenn.edu. "The First Ladino Memoir: Saadi Halevi and 19th Century Ottoman Jewish Salonica" Aron Rodrigue (Stanford University) Monday, April 19, 2010, 5 p.m., Cohen Hall 402 Aron Rodrigue is Director of the Stanford Humanities Center at Stanford University, holding the Anthony P. Meier Family Professorship and, concurrently, the Eva Chernov Lokay Professorship in Jewish Studies in the Department of History. Aron Rodrigue's research interests include the history and culture of Sephardic Jews, the Ottoman Empire and the Jews of modern France. His publications include Jews and Muslims: Images of Sephardi and Eastern Jewries in Modern Times (2003), Sephardi Jewry: A History of the Judeo-Spanish Community, 14th-20th Centuries (2000), and French Jews, Turkish Jews: The Alliance Israelite Universelle and the Politics of Jewish Schooling in Turkey, 1860-1925 (1990) Sponsored by the Middle East Center and the Kutchin Seminar Series in the Jewish Studies Program, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Department of Romance Languages and Literature, Department of Religious Studies and the Penn Language Center.
Meyerhoff Lecture: A Conversation with Moshe Idel about his new book - Old Worlds, New Mirrors: On Jewish Mysticism and Twentieth-Century Thought (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010) Wednesday, April 21, 5:00 p.m.,
Van Pelt Library, Class of 1955 (Second Floor),
3420 Walnut Street Panelists: Vivian Liska, University of Antwerp
For a full schedule: http://www.cajs.upenn.edu/colloquium/2010/inside-01.html 16th Annual Gruss Colloquium of the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania.
|
|
|
Jewish Studies Program Copyright ©2005-2007 University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences |
|