In partnership with KlezCalifornia

We will examine how Israeli men are portrayed in such popular Israeli TV series as Fauda, Shtisel, and When Heroes Fly, and explore how these portrayals could serve as a lens through which we explore Israeli society and the Zionist endeavor more broadly. 

Since our beginnings, the ache of exile and longing to come home have run through Jewish life and writings: our poetry is rich with them. We will read Biblical, Golden Age Spain, Modernist and contemporary texts, and write our own pieces in response. For writers of any experience level—come prepared to generate some material!

While synagogues and sacred books were rarely illustrated, Medieval Jews commissioned and created marvelously illustrated Haggadot (Haggadahs). The pictures in these 14th - 16th century books can tell us a lot about both how their illustrators and viewers imagined the Biblical story and the clothing, buildings, food, celebrations and humor of their own day. We will examine several of the most beautiful and interesting examples of the illustrated medieval Haggadah, comparing the variety of styles, images and artistry among them.

Many of the creators of early German cinema (1918 - 1933) were Jewish immigrants to Berlin from Eastern Europe.  German Expressionist cinema, a revolutionary innovation, found Jews both in front of or behind the camera. The class features cinematic masterpieces that foreshadow the coming political storms. Femmes fatales and monsters abound in: THE BLUE ANGEL, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, THE GOLEM, and M.

East Bay Jewish Film Festival presents (in partnership with New Lehrhaus) presents:

David Grossman: Documentary Film and Discussion

Learn about the aesthetic-theology of kabbalistic diagrams—full of trees, circles, spirals, lines, and letters—and use these as models to map your own relation to that which is essential but intangible (what might be called spirit, soul, or the divine). Our first two classes will focus on the history of these diagrams, and the final sessions on how to create your own kabbalistic diagram. 

Eleanor Shapiro: Jewish Music Matters

Jody Hirsh: Bible, Midrash, Art: The Richness of Bible Narratives (Virtual on Zoom)

Jody Hirsh: Bible, Midrash, Art: The Richness of Bible Narratives (Virtual on Zoom)