Film Screening: "The Dybbuk"
Film Screening:听The Dybbuk (1937)
Sunday, September 23, 2018
6:00 PM | Atlas 100, CU Boulder Campus
Part of CU's Leonard听Bernstein at 100 Festival.
This event was free and open to the public.
The College of Music and campus partners the Program in Jewish Studies and the Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts hosted a screening of the 1937 film "The Dybbuk." The film inspired Leonard Bernstein's musical compositions for the 1974 ballet of the same title.
The screening was听preceded by short talks about Bernstein and the film by Professor of Piano Andrew Cooperstock, Associate Professor of Music Theory Yonatan Malin, Director of the Program in Jewish Studies Nan Goodman, and Director of the Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts Ernesto Acevedo-Mu帽oz, as well as director of ACE: Arts, Culture and Education at the Boulder Jewish Community Center.
This film screening was听part of CU's Leonard Bernstein at 100 Festival, celebrating the 100th birthday of听Leonard Bernstein, composer, conductor, educator, musician, cultural ambassador, and humanitarian. The festival was听hosted by CU's College of Music. Learn more and find the full event line up here.
Peak to Peak Lecture in Carbondale
Refugees:听Sanctuary, Hospitality and Solidarity
A CU Boulder Peak to Peak Lecture with Professor Beverly Weber in Carbondale, CO
Thursday, October 4, 2018
6:00 PM听| Carbondale Branch听Library Community Room
320 Sopris Avenue,听Carbondale,听CO听81623
This event was free and open to the public.
In the last few years, Germany and the United States have faced dramatically听different situations surrounding refugee migration: while the US issued a ban that interrupted refugee migration, Germany welcomed (not without great controversy) well over a million refugees. Both countries have increased deportation of long-time residents at the same time. In her talk, Professor Beverly Weber discussed these developments and the rise of the notions of sanctuary in the US and hospitality in Germany. She considered how the history of refugees during and immediately听after the Holocaust听raise important questions for听ethical action and solidarity today.
Beverly Weber is Associate Professor of German Studies and Jewish Studies, and Director of Graduate Studies (Program in Jewish Studies) at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is the author of听Violence and Gender in the 鈥淣ew鈥� Europe: Islam in German Culture听(Palgrave, 2013) which examines the intersections of race and gender in public discussions of Islam, as well as Muslim artistic responses to those discussions. She has published widely on race, gender, immigration and refugee migration in contemporary Germany; as well as on听contemporary German literature.
This event was brought to you by听听and the 听in partnership with the CU Boulder听Program in Jewish Studies听and the听. It was part of the CU Boulder Peak to Peak Lecture Series, which brings CU Boulder humanities scholars to communities around Colorado to share innovative perspectives of historical figures, events, and enduring questions.
Community Talks Lecture with Rukhl Schaechter
How the Forverts is Being
Transformed in the Digital Era
Community Talks 濒别肠迟耻谤别听飞颈迟丑听Rukhl Schaechter, editor of the Yiddish Forward
Thursday, October 11, 2018
7:00 PM | Chancellor's Silver & Gold Room, University Club, CU Boulder campus
This event was free and open to the public.
Rukhl Schaechter, editor of the Yiddish Forward (Forverts), explored how the publication, founded in 1897 as a newspaper for Jewish immigrants, has adapted to the changing demographic of its readership. Today, there is a growing interest in the Yiddish language and culture, not only in the Diaspora, but also in Israel.
In addition, many Hasidim, the largest Yiddish-speaking community today, read the Forverts on their smartphones since it brings them material they don't get in their own newspapers.听Through its website and social media, the Forverts听serves all these groups as an international clearinghouse for the latest Yiddish news, analyses cooking shows, and music videos.
Schaechter's听public lecture was part of the Program in Jewish Studies Community Talks Series, Yiddishkvell: An Appreciation of All Things Yiddish.
Photo: Today's Forverts readers viewing it on a tablet, by Yehuda Blum.
The听Powerful Role Women Played in the Yiddish-Speaking Shtetl
颁辞濒濒辞辩耻颈耻尘听飞颈迟丑听Rukhl Schaechter
Thursday, October 11, 2018
11:30 AM - 1:00 PM | Location and pre-ciruclated reading distributed upon RSVP
Open to CU 麻豆淫院, Faculty, and Friends of Community Talks
In this colloquium, Rukhl Schaechter discussed听how women in Ashkenazi Jewish societies played a subordinate role to their husbands in the public sphere, but had a good deal of power within the home. A child's religion followed the religion of the mother; last names often followed the mother's name; women were the dominant voice in the home and were often the major breadwinners. Schaechter highlighted Yiddish phrases and proverbs illustrating women's power in these societies.
Rukhl Schaechter, editor of the听Yiddish Forward听(Forverts), is the first woman to hold that position since its founding in 1897 and the first editor of the听Forverts听to be born in the United States. Since taking the helm, Schaechter and her staff have increased the听Yiddish Forward鈥檚听profile. With active听Facebook听and听YouTube听channels, international podcasts, regularly听translated articles, and subtitled videos, the newspaper has found broad audiences.听
锘緼s editor, Schaechter has brought in a number of new writers, including women from secular and Hasidic backgrounds to mirror the eclectic landscape of Yiddish writing today.听The听Yiddish Forward听has become a clearinghouse for the latest developments in the Yiddish world with almost daily news reports related to Yiddish language and culture. Before Schaechter became a journalist, she was a prize-winning Yiddish short story writer as well as a songwriter.
Rukhl Schaechter's visit was听hosted by the Program in Jewish Studies and听cosponsored by CU鈥檚听,听Department of Journalism,听Department of Media Studies,听Center for Media, Religion听and Culture, and听ATLAS Institute.鈥嬏齋chaechter's visit was听also part of the Community Talks Series,听made possible in part by a grant听from Rose Community Foundation.听Community Talks features nationally and internationally renowned scholars, authors, artists, and performers for themed public events with the goal of enriching community learning and expanding access to academic programming on Jewish culture and history. 听Become a Friend of Community Talks Today!
2018 Jim & Diane Shneer Fellow
From the Frankfurt Lehrhaus to Havurat Shalom: Fellowship, Renewal, Counterculture
Faculty and Student Colloquium with Sam Shonkoff
2018 Jim & Diane Shneer Fellow in Post-Holocaust American Judaism
Thursday, October 25, 2018
The Program in Jewish Studies and the University听Libraries'听Special Collections, Archives, and Preservations annually support a visiting scholar whose research interests take advantage of the unique resources in the Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections through the Jim and Diane Shneer Fellowship in Post-Holocaust American Judaism.
The 2018 Shneer Fellow was听Professor Sam Shonkoff,听Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion and Jewish Studies at Oberlin College. Professor Shonkoff was in residence at CU Boulder October 22 - 25, 2018 conducting research in the Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections.
Professor Shonkoff presented a faculty and student colloquium on Thursday, October 25 on his archival work with the Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi Papers, held at CU Boulder. His research in the Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections supports听his听larger project on the formative years of Havurat Shalom in Somerville, Massachusetts听and the Jewish counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s more broadly.听Schachter-Shalomi was a founding member and teacher of Havurat Shalom in 1968, and he had an especially profound impact on that community's own very influential approaches to prayer and Hasidic sources.
听is the Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion and Jewish Studies at Oberlin College. He holds a PhD in History of Judaism from the University of Chicago Divinity School, an MA in Religion and Jewish Studies from the University of Toronto, and a BA in Religious Studies from Brown University.听Shonkoff's听edited volume听Martin Buber: His Intellectual and Scholarly Legacy听was published this year, and his writings have also appeared recently in听the听Journal of Religion,听The Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, and Brill鈥檚 Library of Contemporary Jewish Philosophers.
Learn more about the Jim and Diane Shneer Fellowship in Post-Holocaust American Judaism.
About the Jim and Diane Shneer Endowed Fellowship Fund
Sam Shonkoff's visit was made possible by the Jim and Diane Shneer Endowed Fellowship Fund, which听supports the听initiative听to make the University of Colorado Boulder听a center for the study of American Judaism after the Holocaust. To accomplish that goal, the Fund supports the active effort of building archival resources for research, hosting scholars conducting that research, and supporting our students to learn the skills of information management, archiving, and digital literacy.
Learn More about the Jim and Diane Shneer Endowed Fellowship Fund.
About the Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections
The Program in Jewish Studies and the听University of Colorado听Libraries' Special Collections, Archives, and Preservation Department听annually support a visiting scholar听whose research interests take advantage of the unique resources in the听. The Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections provide access to materials examining Judaism and the Jewish experience as a religious re-engagement, social movement, and philosophy of spiritual transformation in America from the late 1940s to the present.
Concert Featuring Songs in Yiddish
Concert with
Daniel Kahn & the Painted Bird
Thursday, November 8, 2018
7:00 PM | Old Main Theater, CU Boulder Campus
听is a German-based klezmer听band founded by Kahn in 2005. Described as 鈥渁n absolute must听for lovers of unusual, intelligent, challenging, exciting folk music and a blast at every instant,鈥� the band performed a free concert featuring songs in Yiddish in November 2018 on the CU Boulder campus, as part of the Program in听Jewish Studies听Community Talks Series,听Yiddishkvell: An Appreciation of All Things Yiddish.
A Detroit area native,听Daniel Kahn听attended the University of Michigan where he studied acting, directing, playwriting and poetry. After finishing his studies he lived, played music, recorded, acted, directed plays and composed theater music in New Orleans, Detroit, New York and Ann Arbor. He has received awards for his playwriting, poetry, acting, and composing.
Daniel Kahn & the Painted Bird's听visit was hosted by the Program in Jewish Studies听and cosponsored by听CU鈥檚听College of Music,听Department of Musicology,听, and the听American Music Research Center.听It听was听part of the Community Talks Series,听made possible in part by a grant听from Rose Community Foundation.听Community Talks features nationally and internationally renowned scholars, authors, artists, and performers for themed public events with the goal of enriching community learning and expanding access to academic programming on Jewish culture and history. 听Become a Friend of Community Talks Today!
Photo by Esra Rotthoff.
DU's 16th Annual Fred Marcus Memorial Holocaust Lecture
From Witness to Perpetrator:听The Active Role of Nazi Women in the Holocaust
A conversation with Professor Wendy Lower of Claremont McKenna College &
Professor Adam Rovner of the University of Denver
Sunday, November 11, 2018
4:00 PM |听Elaine Wolf Theatre, MACC at the JCC
350 S. Dahlia St, Denver, CO 80246
For ticketing and more information about this event, please visit .
鈥�500,000 women had front-row seats to the Final Solution . . . and yet their presence, and their atrocities, have been听largely ignored for the last 70 years鈥� [LA Review of Books].听After WWII, many complicit women were excused for their听roles entirely; lawyers argued, and judges agreed, that Nazi women could not be held accountable for the crimes of the听men around them. In her book, Professor听Wendy Lower (John K. Roth Professor of History and George R. Roberts听Fellow and Director of Mgrublian Center for Human Rights; Claremont McKenna College) questions this historical听narrative not only by uncovering historical details that have often been overlooked, but by inviting us to听question the line between individuals and their societies, as well as the line between witnesses, bystanders,听accomplices, and perpetrators: Aren鈥檛 Nazi women culpable for standing by as witnesses, taking lives, and听serving as accomplices? Lower fills an historical gap by answering 鈥測es鈥� to this question.听鈥淕enocide,鈥� Lower argues, 鈥渋s also women鈥檚 business.鈥� This event was an in-depth conversation with Professor听Lower on these and other topics discussed in her book,听Hitler鈥檚 Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields.
Professor Wendy Lower's visit marked the 16th Annual Fred Marcus Memorial Holocaust Lecture hosted by the at the University of Denver. This event was cosponsored by the Program in Jewish Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, , , and .
International Holocaust Remembrance Day Lecture
The Book Smugglers of the Vilna Ghetto: A Chapter in Spiritual Resistance to the Nazis
Public Lecture in Honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day with
Professor David E. Fishman
Thursday, January 24, 2019 | 7:00 PM
Old Main Theater | CU Boulder Campus
In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day,听Professor David E. Fishman听discussed his new book, , which tells the story of ghetto inmates who rescued thousands of rare books and manuscripts 鈥撎齠irst from the Nazis and then from the Soviets 鈥撎齜y hiding them on their bodies, burying them in bunkers, and smuggling them across borders. Based on Jewish, German, and Soviet documents, The Book Smugglers chronicles the daring activities of a group of poets turned partisans and scholars turned smugglers in Vilna, 鈥淭he Jerusalem of Lithuania."
A Community Mourns Its Own Demise: The Holocaust Exhibit at the Jewish Museum in Soviet Vilnius, 1945-1949
Student, Faculty, and Friends of Community Talk Colloquium with Professor David E. Fishman
Thursday, January 24, 2019 | 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM
Location and pre-circulated reading provided upon RSVP
Lunch will be served.
Vilna (today Vilnius, Lithuania) was a pre-eminent center of Jewish religious and secular culture in Eastern Europe, that was dubbed "the Jerusalem of Lithuania". Of the 60,000 Jews in Vilna on the eve of the German invasion (June 1941), only 5% survived the Holocaust. Shortly after the city was liberated by the Red Army, survivors and returnees established a听Jewish museum, as a monument and memorial to the city's glorious pre-War community.听
锘縏his talk听focused on the museum's permanent exhibit on the Holocaust in Lithuania, which was mounted in the territory of the former ghetto and curated by people whose families had been murdered by the Nazis. The exhibit was a rare instance of public Holocaust education in the Soviet Union, a country which paid scant attention to the genocide of the Jews.
David E. Fishman is a Professor of History at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) where he is an authority on the history and culture of Jews in Eastern Europe. Fishman is also the director of Project Judaica, JTS鈥檚 academic program in Jewish Studies in the former Soviet Union, which allows students to pursue a major in Jewish history and culture at universities in Moscow and Kiev. Fishman is a native Yiddish-speaker and frequently travels to Ukraine, Lithuania, and Russia to conduct research and lecture.
David Fishman's听visit was听hosted by the Program in Jewish Studies and cosponsored by the Department of History,听Program for Writing and Rhetoric,听Department of English, and University Libraries.听It is听part of the听Community Talks Series,听made possible in part by a grant听from Rose Community Foundation.听Community Talks features nationally and internationally renowned scholars, authors, artists, and performers for themed public events with the goal of enriching community learning and expanding access to academic programming on Jewish culture and history. 听Become a Friend of Community Talks Today!
2019 Sondra & Howard Bender Visiting Scholar
Yiddish, English, or Maybe Both: The Evolution of an 鈥淵idea鈥�
Featuring poet and professor Irena Klepfisz
2019 Sondra & Howard Bender Visiting Scholar
Thursday, February 21, 2019 | 7:00 PM
University Club, Chancellor's Silver & Gold Room | 972 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80302
In her talk, Irena Klepfisz described some of the issues she faced when she began trying to incorporate Yiddish into her English poetry and prose. What seemed easy enough (just put it in! use it!) turned out to be more difficult and raised questions about appropriateness, intelligibility, and, perhaps most importantly, purpose. Klepfisz illustrated her literary process and evolution through readings of her own work and the writings of other Yiddish women writers.
The Artist Manqu茅: Four Yiddish Stories by Four Women Writers
Student, Faculty, and Friends of Community Talks Colloquium
Thursday, February 21, 2019 | 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM
Location and pre-circulated reading provided upon RSVP
Lunch will be provided
In this colloquium, Irena Klepfisz explored the short stories of four Yiddish women writers: Fradel Schtok, Yente Serdatzky, Rokhl Brokhes, and Celia Dropkin. The writers vary in background and their stories are situated on different continents and in different communities, secular and observant. Yet directly and indirectly all four stories address the aspirations and challenges Jewish women face in expressing their inner artistic longings while fulfilling the traditional social roles assigned to them.
Irena Klepfisz is a poet, essayist, translator, editor, and teacher. She is serving as Jewish Studies鈥� 2019 Sondra and Howard Bender Visiting Scholar and will be in residence at CU Boulder February 20 - 21, 2019. She has taught at Barnard College, in the college program at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, a women's maximum-security prison, and elsewhere. Among her many other literary accomplishments, she was a founder and co-editor of the award-winning Conditions magazine, the Yiddish editor of the Jewish feminist Bridges, a major contributor to Nice Jewish Girls: A Lesbian Anthology, and co-editor of The Tribe of Dina: A Jewish Women's Anthology.
The annual Sondra and Howard听Bender听Visiting Scholar series is generously supported by the听Sondra and Howard听Bender Visiting Scholars Endowed Fund, honoring the lives of Sondra and Howard Bender.
Special thank you to the Bender Foundation and the family of Eileen and Richard Greenberg for their generous support.
Learn More about Sondra and Howard Bender
Irena Klepfisz's听visit was听hosted by the Program in Jewish Studies and cosponsored by the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures,听Department of Religious Studies, and the Department of English.听It is听part of the听Community Talks Series,听made possible in part by a grant听from Rose Community Foundation.听Community Talks features nationally and internationally renowned scholars, authors, artists, and performers for themed public events with the goal of enriching community learning and expanding access to academic programming on Jewish culture and history. 听Become a Friend of Community Talks Today!
Scholar in Residence Weekend with Professor Daniel Matt
From Kabbalah to the Big Bang
Scholar in Residence Weekend
with Kabbalah Scholar听Daniel Matt
March 14-16, 2019
Congregation Har HaShem, Congregation Bonai Shalom, Scientists in Synagogues, and the University of Colorado鈥檚 Program in Jewish Studies and Department of Religious Studies welcomed Professor Daniel Matt, renowned Kabbalah scholar and translator, for a series of talks in Boulder. Professor Matt鈥檚 Scholar in Residence Weekend, 鈥淔rom Kabbalah to the Big Bang: Ancient Wisdom and Contemporary Spirituality,鈥� took place March 14-16, 2019.
Daniel Matt is now teaching Zohar online. Learn more here:
God and the Big Bang: Discovering Harmony between Science and Religion
University of Colorado Boulder听Public Lecture
Free and open to the public
Full Schedule of Events
The Feminine Half of God
Friday, March 15, 2019 | 6:00 PM
, 3950 Baseline Road, Boulder 30075
Professor Matt gave a brief talk during services. Services are free and open to the public. After services, he gave a larger presentation听during dinner.
The Mystical Meaning of Torah
Saturday, March 16, 2019听| 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
, 3950 Baseline Road, Boulder 30075
Free and open to the public.
The Zohar: Masterpiece of Kabbalah
Saturday, March 16, 2019听|听11:30 AM (during services) and 1:00 PM (during lunch)
, 1527 Cherryvale Road, Boulder 80303
Professor Matt gave a 诲鈥檝补谤 Torah during services which are free and open to the public. After services, he gave a larger presentation during the kiddush lunch.
Raising the Sparks: Finding God in the Material World
Saturday, March 16, 2019 | 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
, 3950 Baseline Road, Boulder 30075
Free and open to the public.
听
Daniel Matt is one of the world鈥檚 leading authorities on Kabbalistic texts, especially the Zohar. He taught at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley for twenty years. He has also taught at Stanford University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has published over a dozen books, including The Essential Kabbalah (translated into seven languages) and God and the Big Bang: Discovering Harmony between Science and Spirituality.
Recently Professor Matt completed an 18-year project of translating and annotating the Zohar, the masterpiece of Jewish mysticism. This work, consisting of nine volumes was published by Stanford University Press and is entitled The Zohar: Pritzker Edition. This annotated translation has been hailed as 鈥渁 monumental contribution to the history of Jewish thought.鈥�
Daniel Matt's scholar in residence weekend was hosted by听, , Scientists in Synagogues, and CU Boulder's Program in Jewish Studies and听Department of Religious Studies.
5th Annual CU-DU Week of Jewish Philosophy
Religion & Feminism
Fifth Annual CU-DU Week of Jewish Philosophy听with Professor Mara Benjamin
April 10 & 11, 2019
The Program in Jewish Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Denver are pleased to welcome Professor Mara Benjamin as the 2019 visiting scholar for the annual CU-DU Week of Jewish Philosophy. Benjamin will present two events on the CU Boulder and DU campuses on the theme Religion and Feminism.
Embodiment in Jewish Feminist Theology
University of Colorado Boulder Symposium
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Can human bodies be holy? Can they help us understand the divine, or only separate us from it? In contesting the denigration of both corporeality and women in Western thought, feminist theologians have identified the embrace of embodiment as a central task. In the eyes of Jewish feminist thinkers, rabbinic texts and practices offer a mixed legacy for embarking on the project of reclaiming the role of the body. Professor Mara Benjamin's听talk will examine embodiment as both obstacle and path to God, using Rachel Adler鈥檚 鈥淭umah and Taharah: Ends and Beginnings鈥� (1976) and her later recantation of that essay, 鈥淚n Your Blood, Live: Re-Visions of a Theology of Purity鈥� (1993).
From Embodiment to Intersubjectivity: Rethinking Feminist Views on Maternity
University of Denver Seminar
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Childbearing and childrearing hold a complicated place in feminist thought: motherhood anchors the identification of women with embodiment in Western philosophy; at the same time, maternity offers untapped resources for rethinking bodies, intersubjectivity, ethics, and other fundamental questions. In this seminar, Professor Mara Benjamin听will draw on Judith Plaskow鈥檚 鈥淲oman as Body: Motherhood & Dualism鈥� to assess the risks of and rewards of giving maternity a central role in feminist thought.
Professor Benjamin's visit marks听the fifth annual Week of Jewish Philosophy, a joint initiative presented by听听and听.
Professor Benjamin's visit is cosponsored by the Departments of听Women and Gender Studies听and Religious Studies at CU Boulder,听, and the . It is also supported by听the at the University of Denver.
Mara Benjamin is Irene Kaplan Leiwant Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Mount Holyoke College. She is the author of Rosenzweig鈥檚 Bible: Reinventing Scripture for Jewish Modernity (Cambridge, 2009) and The Obligated Self: Maternal Subjectivity and Jewish Thought (Indiana, 2018). She holds a Ph.D. in modern Jewish thought from Stanford University and has taught at the University of Washington, Yale University, and St. Olaf College.