The Land-as-Woman is one of the most deeply rooted metaphorical systems in Jewish as well as Western and Middle-Eastern cultures, used to support the discourses of colonialism and nationalism throughout history. It has its origins in the Hebrew Bible. In modern Hebrew poetry modernist women poets critique a tradition that views women always as metaphors, never as literal subjects, developing a new erotics of the address to the land that calls into question patriarchal models of conquest and subjugation.

In person at the Magnes Museum in Berkeley.

In partnership with the Jewish Studies Program and the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, the Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies at UC Berkeley, the Jewish Film Institute, and the Consulate General of Israel, San Francisco.

Join Rachel Biale for the launch of her historical novel, Lost and Found, based on the true story of a Viennese Jewish family on the refugee boat with Rachel’s parents, all fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. Apprehended at sea by the British Navy, the family, with other refugees, boards the Patria, a large ship in the Haifa harbor, to be deported to the island of Mauritius. Moments after their arrival on the Patria deck there is an explosion; the ship sinks and their four-year-old boy disappears. The novel weaves a fictional narrative from that point forward, anchored in the family’s true story and built on historically authentic portrayals of WWII Haifa, a city shared (as it is today) by Moslems, Jews and Christians. Each community plays a key role as the drama unfolds.

In partnership with Temple Sinai, Oakland

A partnership program of New Lehrhaus

In this course we read and study the Zohar, the masterpiece of Kabbalah. Currently, we are exploring the Zohar on the Book of Genesis. Students can enroll in the current series, held live on Zoom.

We are pleased to announce a partnership with YIVO in New York, the premier Institute for Jewish Research in Yiddish Language and Eastern European Jewish Culture.

We are pleased to announce a partnership with YIVO in New York, the premier Institute for Jewish Research in Yiddish Language and Eastern European Jewish Culture.

A partnership program with YIVO, New York

A partnership program of New Lehrhaus

In this course we read and study the Zohar, the masterpiece of Kabbalah. Currently, we are exploring the Zohar on the Book of Genesis. Students can enroll in the current series, held live on Zoom.