For millennia, the vine and its products have been an essential part of the Biblical world. In this richly illustrated class, we’ll explore the origins and growth of viticulture in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and of course, the land of Israel. We’ll also delve into the wisdom that comes from the vine: anc... Read more

On July 30, 1902, tens of thousands of mourners lined the streets of New York’s Lower East Side to bid farewell to the city’s chief rabbi, the eminent Talmudist Jacob Joseph. All went well until the procession crossed Sheriff Street, where the six-story R. Hoe and Company printing press factory towered over the intersection. Without warning, scraps of steel, iron bolts, and sca... Read more

The John Muir Trail runs 212 miles along the crest of California's High Sierra, from Yosemite to Mt. Whitney. Did you know that its creator was the direct descendant of the only Jewish clergyman in attendance at George Washington's inauguration in 1789? Michael Hoberman tells the story of Theodore Seixas Solomons' explorations of the Sierra in the 1890s, as well as of his tireless (and largely unrecogn... Read more

The history of San Francisco Jewry tends to be told in terms dominated by the experience of Jews from German-speaking lands who settled in California in the mid-nineteenth century with great success. Less attention is given to the lives of Jews from Eastern Europe who arrived in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This presentation will focus on these immigrants through the prism of Yid... Read more

There has been discussion over the past thirty years about the vision of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, as well as the compatibility of observant Jewish life and American democracy. Can the two—Jewish and democratic—be reconciled? The two presenters, one a Jewish historian, the other a scholar of American law, will explore the consonances and tensions between Jewish and democratic values in Israel and the U.S.