CJS | The Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies

Childhood is a phase of human life that shapes culture and is shaped by culture. Narratives, representations, social and educational structures, custom and household life are key factors in its formation. Please join us for this conference on childhood as it has been rendered, imagined and shaped in Jewish literature, poetry, ethnography, and history.

Conference Schedule: 

9:30am: Chana Kronfeld (UC Berkeley): “Constructing the Child Reader: Hebrew Poets Writing Children's Literature"

Please join the Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies for a book talk with Naomi Seidman celebrating the publication of her new book Sarah Schenirer and the Bais Yaakov Movement: A Revolution in the Name of Tradition. This book explores the founding of Bais Yaakov, the Orthodox girls' school system and youth movement that transformed Orthodox life in interwar Poland and that continues to thrive today.

Please join the Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies in celebrating and honoring the scholarly and communal contributions of our 2019 graduates.

Hasidism and the Holocaust 

David Biale

Can we speak of a specific Hasidic response to the Holocaust?  Examining both historical behavior, culture and theology, this lecture will consider how Hasidim dealt with the Holocaust during the event and how they have commemorated it afterward.

Sacred Memories: Reflections on Holy Days in Judaism and Islam

Please join the Center for Islamic Studies and the Center for Jewish Studies for this Madrasa-Midrasha event. Featured speakers will be Rabbi Chai Levy of Congregation Netivot Shalom and GTU doctoral student Mahjabeen Dhala, a presidential scholar with the Center for Islamic Studies.

Please join us for a workshop with Dr. Magdalena Gross on teaching the history of the Holocaust through Structured Academic Controversy. This will be followed by an exclusive presentation, Documenting Stories of the Holocaust in Film, in which filmmaker Yoav Potash will screen his newest production.

Dr. Magdalena Gross | 2:00pm - 4:30pm
Yoav Potash | 5:00pm-6:30pm
 

RSVP required: cjs@gtu.edu

Poland at 100: The Continuing Challenges of Nationhood

John Connelly

Join us for a vibrant conversation with one of the most visionary leaders in Israel. Born in 1955, Avraham Burg witnessed firsthand many of the most dramatic and critical moments in Israeli history. He offers a deeply personal and unique reflection on Israel's history, Zionism, and Jewish identity in the modern world.

RSVP to cjs@gtu.edu

Holocaust Memory in Poland: Attitudes, Studies, Politics and More

Dr. Jolanta Ambrosewicz-Jacobs
Scholar of the Kosciuszko Foundation

Dr. Alexis Herr will offer a formal response

JCC of the East Bay hosts this presentation in which Dr. Naomi Seidman and Sarah Rose Leonard will trace the development of conceptions of Jewish identity in the United States from Israel Zangwill’s hugely influential 1908 play “The Melting-Pot” to Tony Kushner’s 1991 “Angels in America.” In particular, we will explore the role of romantic love in the process of Americanization, from the immigrant love story in Zangwill’s play to the queer relationships of Reagan-era responses to the HIV epidemic.