On March 9 at 7:00 pm, in the Konover Auditorium at the Dodd Research Center, Dov Waxman, professor of political science, international affairs, and Israel studies at Northeastern University will present “Trouble in the Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict over Israel.” Professor Waxman will describe how the conflict over Israel within the American Jewish communities has developed and what it means for the future of American Jewish politics. The event, sponsored by the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, UConn’s Middle East Studies Program, and the Department of Political Science, is free and open to the public. Attendance at the event counts toward sophomore honors credit.

Professor Waxman’s presentation will be followed by a Q&A as well as a book signing of Trouble in the Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict over Israel. Books will be available for purchase through Barnes and Noble at the Dodd Center from 6:30-8:30 pm.

What people are saying:

“A meticulous, precise, well-organized survey that takes into account the many different views and will certainly facilitate the heated conversation.”–Kirkus

“This is an extremely important book that will have profound consequences. When puzzled friends ask me why the American Jewish community is now so divided over Israel, this is the book I will recommend.“–Kenneth D. Wald, coauthor of Religion and Politics in the United States

From the back cover:

Drawing on a wealth of in-depth interviews with American Jewish leaders and activists, Waxman shows why Israel has become such a divisive issue among American Jews. He delves into the American Jewish debate about Israel, examining the impact that the conflict over Israel is having on Jewish communities. Waxman sets this conflict in the context of broader cultural, political, institutional, and demographic changes.

Dov Waxman is the author of The Pursuit of Peace and the Crisis of Israeli Identity and the coauthor of Israel’s Palestinians: The Conflict Within.

Parking:

Parking is available in the North and South garages on campus. Garage rates are $1/hr after 5pm. Did you know that after 5:00 pm, visitors may park in any on-campus space not designated as reserved, restricted or limited? 

On November 9 at 7:00pm, award-winning film The Rescuers will be screened at the Konover Auditorium in the Dodd Research Center followed by a question and answer session with Director Michael King and Executive Producer Joyce Mandell.  The event is being co-hosted by UConn Hillel, the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, and the UNESCO Chair and Institute of Comparative Human Rights and organized by UConn student Nathan Schachter, theater studies and communications major.  This event is free and open to the public and also counts towards Sophomore Honors credit .

 About the Director

Michael King, award-winning producer, writer, and director of music videos and documentaries, is originally from New London, CT.  He graduated from Connecticut College with a BA in Government and holds an MA in Film Studies from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and a postgraduate degree in Feature Film Directing from the Amsterdam School of the Arts (Mauritis Binger Film Institute).  In addition to teaching at both Emerson College and Lynn University, King was awarded Switzerland’s Carl Lutz Medal of Freedom in 2009 and Connecticut College’s Harriet Buescher Lawrence ’34 Prize for his lifework in film and television in 2010.  He is a member of the Directors Guild of America and a former board member of the International Documentary Association.  His newest film When War Comes Home was released last month and follows the lives of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. His other works include feature film and various PBS documentaries, including the Emmy award-winning Bangin’ which explores youth violence in America.

About the Film

The Rescuers follows Stephanie Nyombayire, a young Rwandan anti-genocide activist, and Sir Martin Gilbert, a leading Holocaust historian, as they travel across Europe and elsewhere interviewing survivors and descendants of the diplomats who rescued thousands of Jews from the Nazis. The film also explores the connection between the Holocaust and other genocides, such as in Rwanda, that have taken place in the modern world. The film sheds light on what it truly means to be a “diplomat” and how we all can embrace our inner diplomatic tendencies. The Rescuers teaches a different side of the Holocaust that many people don’t know about.

Winner of “Best Historical Documentary” at the New York International Film Festival (2011), Winner of “Best Documentary” at the Palm Beach International Film Festival (2011), Winner of“Best Documentary” at the Beloit International Film Festival (2011), Winner of “Best Narration Documentary and Feature Film Humanitarian Award” at the Monaco International Film Festival (2011), Nominated for an NAACP Image Award (2012), screened at the United Nations Conference on January 23, 2013.

The final event of our Jewish Humor Series will take place on UConn’s Storrs campus in Laurel Hall, room 102, on November 16 at 7pm when Fulbright scholar and comedian Jesse Appell will present his unique brand of intercultural comedy that mixes Jewish humor with the traditional art of Xiangsheng, a 150-year-old Chinese comedy folk art. The event is made possible by UConn’s Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Hartford, UConn’s Asian and Asian American Studies Institute, and UConn’s Asian American Cultural Center. 

A graduate of Brandeis University, Jesse continued his studies in Beijing in 2012 where his receipt of a Critical Language Enhancement Award made possible intensive language study, and a Fulbright scholarship funded his research on Chinese comedy.  

As well as studying and performing Xiangsheng, Jesse also performs bilingual improv and has been showcased on Chinese television. He writes a comedy blog for China Personified and LaughBeijing and created the LaughBeijing project in an effort to connect Chinese and Western culture through comedy and to develop new ways of combining the comedic styles of both groups.

Comic Jessica Kirson will perform her stand-up routine at the University of Hartford’s Wilde Auditorium on October 19 at 7pm as the second feature in a Jewish Humor Series that the Center for Judaic Studies is participating in this fall as part of a new collaborative project with the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Hartford and in support of a course that is being simultaneously piloted on both campuses, “Funny Jews: On Jewish Humor,” taught at UConn by Center Director Jeffrey Shoulson and at UHart by Professor Avinoam Patt. These events are free and open to the public! 

To reserve your free tickets, please call the Greenberg Center at (860) 768-5018 or e-mail: mgcjs@hartford.edu

Jessica Kirson has appeared on numerous TV shows, including Last Comic Standing, The Tonight Show with Jay Jeno, and Last Call with Carson Daly.  She was awarded “Best Female Comic” by the MAC association in New York City and the Nightlife Award for “Best Stand-up Comedian” in New York City. Her YouTube channel “The Jessy K Show” has over 2.5 million views, and she has performed onstage throughout the United States. Visit her website to learn more!

Don’t miss the Center’s own writer-in-residence, Joan Seliger Sidney, Monday, April 18 at 7pm at the Co-Op Bookstore in Storrs Center where she will participate in the Roar Reading Series, presented by Elephant Rock Books!

Joan Seliger Sidney is the author of Bereft and Blessed, Body of Diminishing Motion: Poems and a Memoir (an Eric Hoffer Finalist, 2015), and The Way the Past Comes Back. She has received individual artist’s poetry fellowships from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, also a Visiting Faculty Fellowship from Yale.  She’s writer-in-residence at the University of Connecticut’s Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life.  In addition, she facilitates “Writing for Your Life,” an adult workshop.

Award-Winning Documentary Film

Kisses to the Children

Original Greek title: Filia eis ta pedia / Φιλιά εις τα παιδιά

written and directed by Vassilis Loules

Dodd Research Center

Konover Auditorium

April 21, 2016

6:30 pm

Our Holocaust Convocation will feature a screening of Kisses to the Children, an award-winning documentary film written and directed by our guest speaker, Vassilis Loules.  We are excited to offer this new format at our Holocaust Convocation, and hope you will save the date and join us!

Kisses to the Children is about five Greek-Jewish children who were saved by Christian families during the German occupation, five hidden children who lived in total silence, tell their stories. Stories of terror, anguish and confusion but also stories of salvation and carefree childhood into the arms of strangers: secret Gardens of Eden, nests of love away from the horror of the Holocaust. Five children were forced to mature abruptly.  Rosina, Iossif, Eftyhia, Shelly and Marios grew old, carrying the memory of thousands of children, those who were never given the time to grow up.

The movie follows these five individuals from childhood to present day, revealing their hidden stories and invaluable personal documents–a diary of a child, photographs and home movies. It also depicts the life of the Greek Jewish communities before the War, complemented with rare images of occupied Greece from archival material, as well as amateur films by German soldiers and illegal footage shot by Greek patriots.

Kisses to the Children is not just another film about the Holocaust; it’s a film about childhood in the shadow of the Holocaust.

The ceremony will be followed by a catered reception for all.

Anyone is welcome to attend this event.

Charter Oak Cultural Center and the Center for Judaic Studies are excited to bring you a performance by the Guy Mendilow Ensemble on April 7, 2016, at 7pm at the Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford!

Tickets are free and the Center will be providing free transportation to and from the Storrs campus.  The shuttle is available for anyone in the UConn community and will pickup at 5:30 pm across from Gampel on Hillside Road at the south side of the student union. Please contact us if you would like more information!

Guy Mendilow Ensemble is an “international tour de force” (Bethlehem Morning Call).  The members of the ensemble are on the faculty of leading music schools like Boston’s Berklee School of Music, New England Conservatory, and the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music in India.  They tour and record with the likes of Bobby McFerrin, Yo Yo Ma, Snarky Puppy, the Assad Brothers, Christian McBride, and Simon Shaheen.  As passionate educators, they are determined to give students of all ages their best.

They will be performing Tales from the Forgotten Kingdom:

“Embark on a musical trek to kingdoms long forgotten and bustling towns now vanished. Follow the stories of vagabond queens, pauper poets and lovers lost to the sea, all set to spellbinding arrangements of old Sephardi songs worthy of symphonic film scores. Wrap these tales up with lush soulful harmonies evoking Flamenco’s gutsiness and the longings of Fado, all combined with heart-pounding percussion and intricate soundscapes.

Journey through the Balkans to the Mid-East beginning in Sarajevo and winding through Salonica and Jerusalem. Tales from the Forgotten Kingdom is a sonic adventure masterfully brought to life by the Guy Mendilow Ensemble, an award-winning sextet of world-class musicians. This ensemble of internationally savvy world musicians delivers a richly textured global experience of haunting beauty.” (guymendilow.com)