Public Lecture Announcements

Eddy Portnoy to Speak on Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press | June 16, 2020

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Bad Rabbi by Eddy Portnoy

Bad Rabbi: And Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press with Eddy Portnoy
 
Please join us online on June 16, at 4pm (EST), when Eddy Portnoy launches our new Yiddish Culture Series with a discussion on strange but true stories from the Yiddish Press.

The series Di Yidishe Velt: A Virtual Festival of Yiddish Culture is a project of the UConn Center for Judaic Studies in partnership with the Jewish Hartford European Roots Project.

An underground history of downwardly mobile Jews, Bad Rabbi and Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press exposes the seamy underbelly of pre-WWII New York and Warsaw, the two major centers of Yiddish culture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. With true stories plucked from the pages of the Yiddish papers, Eddy Portnoy introduces us to the drunks, thieves, murderers, wrestlers, poets, and beauty queens whose misadventures were immortalized in print.

Eddy Portnoy is Academic Advisor and Director of Exhibitions at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. He received his Ph.D. from the Jewish Theological Seminary. A specialist in Jewish popular culture, he has published in numerous academic journals and also in The Forward and in Tablet Magazine. 

Please register to attend. Registration will close on 6/15/2020.

Questions? Please contact Avinoam Patt at avinoam.patt@uconn.edu. 

Save the date for the following upcoming programs in this series!

Di Yidishe Velt: A Virtual Festival of Yiddish Culture
Jewish Hartford European Roots 

June 30 at 7pm (EST) | Sam Kassow, Charles H. Northam Professor of History at Trinity College | “Yiddish Culture in Wartime 1939-1945.” Cosponsored by Voices of Hope [Register]

 

July 13 at 7pm  (EST) | Nick Underwood, Assistant Professor of History and Berger-Neilsen Chair of Judaic Studies, The College of Idaho | "The World of Yiddish Theatre in History and Digital" [Register]

 

July 27 at 7pm (EST) I Mark Slobin, Winslow-Kaplan Professor of Music Emeritus, Wesleyan University | “The Yiddish Song Today.” Cosponsored by the University of Hartford Greenberg Center [Register]

 

September (Date and Time TBD) | Anna Shternshis and Psoy Korolenko, Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II 

Sam Kassow to Speak on Yiddish Culture in Wartime 1939-1945 | June 30, 2020

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Yiddish Culture in Wartime 1939-1945

 

Sam KassowPlease join us online on June 30, at 7 pm (EST), when Sam Kassow presents "Yiddish Culture in Wartime 1939-1945." The talk is part of our new Yiddish Culture Series and cosponsored by Voices of Hope.

The series Di Yidishe Velt: A Virtual Festival of Yiddish Culture is a project of the UConn Center for Judaic Studies in partnership with the Jewish Hartford European Roots Project.

Sam Kassow is the Charles H. Northam Professor of History at Trinity College.

Please email Pamela Weathers at pamela.weathers@uconn.edu to receive login details. 

Save the date for additional programs in this series!

Di Yidishe Velt: A Virtual Festival of Yiddish Culture
Jewish Hartford European Roots 

June 16 at 4 pm (EST) | Eddy Portnoy, Academic Advisor and Director of Exhibitions at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research | Bad Rabbi: And Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press [Register]

 

July 13 at 7pm  (EST) | Nick Underwood, Assistant Professor of History and Berger-Neilsen Chair of Judaic Studies, The College of Idaho | "The World of Yiddish Theatre in History and Digital" [Register]

 

July 27 at 7pm (EST) I Mark Slobin, Winslow-Kaplan Professor of Music Emeritus, Wesleyan University | “The Yiddish Song Today.” Cosponsored by the University of Hartford Greenberg Center [Register]

 

September (Date and Time TBD) | Anna Shternshis and Psoy Korolenko, Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II 

Nick Underwood to Speak on the World of Yiddish Theater | July 13, 2020

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Nick Underwood; Yiddish Theater Posters

The World of Yiddish Theatre in History and Digital

Please join us online on July 13, at 7 pm (EST), when Nick Underwood presents "The World of Yiddish Theatre in History and Digital." The talk is part of our new Yiddish Culture Series.

The series Di Yidishe Velt: A Virtual Festival of Yiddish Culture is a project of the UConn Center for Judaic Studies in partnership with the Jewish Hartford European Roots Project.

The world of Yiddish theatre traverses the globe. Over roughly the past century and a half, Yiddish theatre, which has its roots in Purim, has engaged millions of people and has embraced several artistic and theatrical forms. Its story is not only in the past, however, it is still going strong, and has even found a home on the internet. Through an exploration of Yiddish theatre from its origins to today, participants will discover the world of Yiddish theatre and learn about the ways that the medium has come into contact with the digital age. 

Nick Underwood is Assistant Professor of History and Berger-Neilsen Chair of Judaic Studies at The College of Idaho.

Please register to attend. Registration will close on 7/12/2020.

Questions? Please contact Avinoam Patt at avinoam.patt@uconn.edu. 

Save the date for additional programs in this series!

Di Yidishe Velt: A Virtual Festival of Yiddish Culture
Jewish Hartford European Roots 

June 16 at 4 pm (EST) | Eddy Portnoy, Academic Advisor and Director of Exhibitions at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research | Bad Rabbi: And Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press [Register]

 

June 30 at 7 pm (EST) | Sam Kassow, Charles H. Northam Professor of History at Trinity College | “Yiddish Culture in Wartime 1939-1945.” Cosponsored by Voices of Hope [Register]

 

July 27 at 7pm (EST) I Mark Slobin, Winslow-Kaplan Professor of Music Emeritus, Wesleyan University | “The Yiddish Song Today.” Cosponsored by the University of Hartford Greenberg Center [Register]

 

September (Date and Time TBD) | Anna Shternshis and Psoy Korolenko, Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II 

Mark Slobin to Speak on the Yiddish Song Today | July 27, 2020

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The Yiddish Song Today

Mark SlobinPlease join us online on July 27, at 7 pm (EST), when Mark Slobin presents "The Yiddish Song Today." The talk is part of our new Yiddish Culture Series and is co-sponsored by the University of Hartford Greenberg Center.

The Yiddish song has long been a deep expression of personal and communal feelings for the Ashkenazic Jews of eastern Europe. It flourished among immigrants to America in the early twentieth century, was nearly wiped out by assimilation, the Holocaust, and a turn towards Zionism, but has recently come back among younger musicians looking for identity and personal creativity in both the US and Europe. The talk will quickly reference the history and then present current activists’ thoughts and songs.

Mark Slobin is Winslow-Kaplan Professor of Music Emeritus at Wesleyan University.
The series Di Yidishe Velt: A Virtual Festival of Yiddish Culture is a project of the UConn Center for Judaic Studies in partnership with the Jewish Hartford European Roots Project.

Please register to attend. Registration will close on 7/26/2020.

Questions? Please contact Avinoam Patt at avinoam.patt@uconn.edu. 

Save the date for additional programs in this series!

Di Yidishe Velt: A Virtual Festival of Yiddish Culture
Jewish Hartford European Roots 

June 16 at 4 pm (EST) | Eddy Portnoy, Academic Advisor and Director of Exhibitions at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research | Bad Rabbi: And Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press [Register]

 

June 30 at 7 pm (EST) | Sam Kassow, Charles H. Northam Professor of History at Trinity College | “Yiddish Culture in Wartime 1939-1945.” Cosponsored by Voices of Hope [Register]

 

July 13 at 7pm  (EST) | Nick Underwood, Assistant Professor of History and Berger-Neilsen Chair of Judaic Studies, The College of Idaho | "The World of Yiddish Theatre in History and Digital" [Register]

 

September (Date and Time TBD) | Anna Shternshis and Psoy Korolenko, Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II 

Local Synagogues Provide Online Programming

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Several UConn Judaic Studies affiliated faculty members will be providing classes for local synagogues organizing online programs. You can find their full schedule below!

Beth David Synagogue, Beth El Temple, Temple Beth Hillel, Congregation Beth Israel, Temple Beth Torah, Congregation B'nai Tikvoh Sholom, The Emanuel Synagogue, Congregation Kol Haverim, Temple Sinai and Young Israel of West Hartford invite the entire community to a:

VIRTUAL ADULT EDUCATION ACADEMY
Beginning the week of April 20th, and running for 9 consecutive weeks, we are pleased to present each week a class by a member of our local academic community. We thank them for their participation in this program and hope that you will take advantage of the opportunity to study with them.

All classes will be accessible on Zoom by clicking on the following link or using the call-in number below.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/934142286?pwd=T1pGbjdNa0xhM3FxWWYxdkRWbFViUT09

Meeting ID: 934 142 286

Password: lectures

One tap mobile
+19292056099,,934142286# US (New York)

Dial by your location
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 934 142 286

Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/abehp2Kc8M

Questions? - E-mail Rabbi Howard Rosenbaum at hrosenbaum@cbict.org or leave a phone message at (860) 920-5686.

All classes will begin at 7:30 PM

Wednesday, April 22nd
Dr. Avinoam Patt, Doris and Simon Konover Chair of Judaic Studies and Director, Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, University of Connecticut
"Yom Ha-Shoah Veha-Gevurah: On Jewish Heroism, Martyrdom, and Sacrifice"

Wednesday, April 29th
Dr. Jeremy Pressman, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of Middle East Studies, University of Connecticut
"Camp David, 40+ Years Later: Strategy, Peace, Autonomy"

Monday, May 4th
Dr. Joshua Lambert, Academic Director, Yiddish Book Center and Visiting Assistant Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts
"Sholem Aleichem's Motl the Cantor's Son and How We Think about Immigrants"

Thursday, May 14th
Dr. Ron Kiener, Professor of Religious Studies, Trinity College
"Jewish Imagination in a Time of Pandemic: Apocalypse, Messianism, and Lament"

Wednesday, May 20th
Dr. Deena Grant, Associate Professor of Jewish Studies, 
Hartford Seminary
"Divine Love and Punishment in Deuteronomy and Beyond"

Tuesday, May 26th
Dr. Sarah Willen, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Connecticut
""Love the stranger": Migrant Workers, Asylum Seekers, and Israeli
Activists in Tel Aviv"

Tuesday, June 2nd
Dr. Sara Johnson, Associate Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, University of Connecticut
"Not Lost in Translation: The Greek Bible from Aristeas to the Rabbis"

Monday, June 8th
Dr. Sam Kassow, Charles H. Northam Professor of History, 
Trinity College
"David Ben Gurion and the Making of the Jewish State"

Thursday, June 18th
Dr. Stuart Miller, Professor of Hebrew, History, and Judaic Studies and Academic Director, Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, University of Connecticut
"Separating out the Facts: The Origins of Christianity and the History of Judaism"

“At Home in America? Part 2: A Three-Rabbi Panel” | January 15, 2020

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Rabbis Andi Fliegel, Tuvia Brander, and James Rosen

At Home in America? Part 2: A Three-Rabbi Panel

Wednesday, January 15, 6:30 pm
Mandell JCC Innovation Center
Zachs Campus, 335 Bloomfield Ave. West Hartford, CT 06117

Join Rabbis Tuvia Brander, Andi Fliegel, and James Rosen for a lively discussion about the past, present and future of Jewish life in America. How have the different denominations engaged with America and changed as a result of the encounter with the Golden Land?

Join us for an evening of dialogue, personal reflections, and lively conversation. Moderated by Professor Avinoam Patt

FREE AND OPEN TO ALL
For more information contact Danielle Moghadam,
dmoghadam@mandelljcc.org, 860-231-6366 or visit the Mandell JCC website.

Sponsored by ALEPH: The Institute of Jewish Ideas, Mandell JCC, Jewish Community Foundation, UConn Center for Judaic Studies, Beth El Temple, Congregation Beth Israel, and Young Israel West Hartford

Dr. Marion Kaplan to lecture on Jewish Refugees in Portugal | Jan. 29, 2020 (Storrs)

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Kaplan Book Cover

Please join us for a talk with NYU historian Dr. Marion Kaplan who will present the UConn Center for Judaic Studies Gene and Georgia Mittelman Lecture in Judaic Studies on Hitler's Jewish Refugees: Hope and Anxiety in Portugal. 

The event is free and open to the public. Attendance counts toward honors credit.

Date: Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Time: 1:45 pm
Place: Class of '47 Room, Babbidge Library, UConn Storrs

Exhibition opening “Beyond Duty” and reception will follow the lecture at 3:00 pm in the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center (across the courtyard from Class of 1947 Room, Babbidge Library).

The exhibition, curated by the Consulate General of Israel to New England and timed for the United Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, is co-sponsored by UConn Global Affairs and the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. It will run through March 1. Center Director Avinoam Patt will provide introductory remarks.

About the Talk: Hitler's Jewish Refugees: Hope and Anxiety in Portugal depicts the travails of refugees escaping Nazi Europe and awaiting their fate in Portugal. Drawing attention not only to the social and physical upheavals of refugee existence, it also highlights their feelings as they fled their homes and histories while begging strangers for kindness. Portugal’s dictator, António de Oliveira Salazar, admitted tens of thousands of Jews fleeing westward but set his secret police on those who did not move on quickly. Yet Portugal’s people left a lasting impression on refugees as caring and generous.

An emotional history of fleeing, the book probes how specific locations touched refugees’ inner lives, including the borders they nervously crossed, the consulate lines they fretfully waited on, the smoky cafés they uneasily inhabited, or the overcrowded transatlantic ships that signaled their liberation. These sites induced feelings of frustration or relief – often both.

Life in limbo has at its core anxiety and fear, but also courage and resilience. Most refugees in Portugal showed strength and stamina as they faced unimagined challenges. For them, Lisbon emerged as a site of temporality and transition, a “no-man’s-land” between a painful past and a hopeful future. Paying careful attention to the words of refugees in Portugal may help us to understand Jewish heartbreak and perseverance in the 1940s and also to listen compassionately to refugees’ stories in our own times.

About the Speaker: Marion Kaplan is the Skirball Professor of Modern Jewish History at NYU. She is a three-time National Jewish Book Award winner for The Making of the Jewish Middle Class: Women, Family and Identity in Imperial Germany (1991), Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany (1998), and Gender and Jewish History (with Deborah Dash Moore, 2011) as well as a finalist for Dominican Haven: The Jewish Refugee Settlement in Sosua (2008). Her other publications include: The Jewish Feminist Movement in Germany, Jewish Daily Life in Germany, 1618-1945 (ed.), and Jüdische Welten: Juden in Deutschland vom 18. Jahrhundert bis in die Gegenwart (with Beate Meyer, 2005). She has edited several other books on German-Jewish and women’s history and has taught courses on German-Jewish history, European women’s history, German and European history, as well as European Jewish history, and Jewish women’s history. Her newest book, Hitler’s Jewish Refugees: Hope and Anxiety in Portugal, 1940-45 (Yale University Press) will be released in January, 2020. 

If you require an accommodation to participate, please contact Pamela Weathers at pamela.weathers@uconn.edu or 860-486-2271.

Dr. Marion Kaplan to lecture on Jewish Refugees in Portugal | Jan. 28, 2020 (UConn Stamford)

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Kaplan Book CoverPlease join us for a talk with NYU historian Dr. Marion Kaplan who will present the UConn Center for Judaic Studies Maria and Ishier Jacobson Lecture on Hitler's Jewish Refugees: Hope and Anxiety in Portugal. At this lecture, clothing donations will be accepted for UConn Stamford's biannual Professional Clothing Drive, which benefits UConn students in need of attire for interviews, work, and internships.

Date: Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Time: Reception 5:00 pm, Talk 6:00 pm
Place: Main Auditorium (A1), UConn Stamford

Dr. Kaplan will also present this program at UConn Storrs the following day, Wednesday 1/29

About the Talk: Hitler's Jewish Refugees: Hope and Anxiety in Portugal depicts the travails of refugees escaping Nazi Europe and awaiting their fate in Portugal. Drawing attention not only to the social and physical upheavals of refugee existence, it also highlights their feelings as they fled their homes and histories while begging strangers for kindness. Portugal’s dictator, António de Oliveira Salazar, admitted tens of thousands of Jews fleeing westward but set his secret police on those who did not move on quickly. Yet Portugal’s people left a lasting impression on refugees as caring and generous.

An emotional history of fleeing, the book probes how specific locations touched refugees’ inner lives, including the borders they nervously crossed, the consulate lines they fretfully waited on, the smoky cafés they uneasily inhabited, or the overcrowded transatlantic ships that signaled their liberation. These sites induced feelings of frustration or relief – often both.
Life in limbo has at its core anxiety and fear, but also courage and resilience. Most refugees in Portugal showed strength and stamina as they faced unimagined challenges. For them, Lisbon emerged as a site of temporality and transition, a “no-man’s-land” between a painful past and a hopeful future. Paying careful attention to the words of refugees in Portugal may help us to understand Jewish heartbreak and perseverance in the 1940s and also to listen compassionately to refugees’ stories in our own times.
About the Speaker: Marion Kaplan is the Skirball Professor of Modern Jewish History at NYU. She is a three-time National Jewish Book Award winner for The Making of the Jewish Middle Class: Women, Family and Identity in Imperial Germany (1991), Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany (1998), and Gender and Jewish History (with Deborah Dash Moore, 2011) as well as a finalist for Dominican Haven: The Jewish Refugee Settlement in Sosua (2008). Her other publications include: The Jewish Feminist Movement in Germany, Jewish Daily Life in Germany, 1618-1945 (ed.), and Jüdische Welten: Juden in Deutschland vom 18. Jahrhundert bis in die Gegenwart (with Beate Meyer, 2005). She has edited several other books on German-Jewish and women’s history and has taught courses on German-Jewish history, European women’s history, German and European history, as well as European Jewish history, and Jewish women’s history. Her newest book, Hitler’s Jewish Refugees: Hope and Anxiety in Portugal, 1940-45 (Yale University Press) will be released in January, 2020. 

The lecture is free and open to the public. If you require an accommodation to participate, please contact Stamford Coordinator for Judaic Studies Prof. Fred Roden at frederick.roden@uconn.edu or 203-251-8559.

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Matam high-tech park Haifa By Zvi Roger Haifa Municipality 2010

The Paradox of the Start-Up Nation

A leadership briefing with Suzanne Patt Benvenisti
Director General of the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel

Thursday, December 12 | 8 to 9 a.m.
BlumShapiro | 29 S. Main Street, West Hartford

What's the secret to the high-tech sector’s success... and what’s stopping the rest of the economy from joining in?  Israel’s innovative high-tech sector is seen around the world as the crown jewel of the Israeli economy. Yet, productivity and wages in Israel are low, income inequality is high, and the poverty rate is among the highest in the western world.

Free by invitation | Light kosher breakfast | Validated parking available

RSVP by December 10 to Karen Nichols
knichols@jewishhartford.org | 860.727.6130

Suzanne Patt Benvenisti profile

 

Suzanne Patt Benvenisti is Director General of the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel. She has provided management, strategy and operations consulting to a range of NGOs in the United States, Israel and Rwanda.

JFED of Greater Hartford, Jewish Community Relations Council, UConn Judaic Studies

Photo: Matam high-tech park, Haifa. By Zvi Roger/Haifa Municipality, 2010.

 

Johannes Heil (Heidelberg) on pre-Rabbinic Western Jewish Textual Tradition

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Headshot Heil

Talk by Prof. Johannes Heil: Patrologia Judaica? Exploring the pre-Rabbinic Western Jewish Textual Tradition

Wednesday, November 20, 1:15-2:15 pm
Humanitites Institute Conference Room
4th-Floor Babbidge Library

This event is free and open to the public. Kosher lunch will be provided.

About the talk:
Professor Johannes Heil, President of the Hochschule für jüdische Studien Heidelberg (Academy for Jewish Studies), presents a lecture which challenges the assumption of the widespread decline of Jewish diasporic culture after 70 C.E., which is based on limited archaeological and epigraphic evidence. This lecture focuses instead on the textual culture of Western diasporic Judaism during the centuries before the reception of Rabbinic Judaism, roughly from the 4th to the 9th century, and paints a different picture of a vibrant Jewish culture in Western Europe.

An event of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, co-sponsored by the UConn Humanities Institute, the Department of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages, and the Medieval Studies Program. If you require an accommodation to participate, please contact Pamela Weathers at 860-486-2271 or pamela.weathers@uconn.edu.