Come say hello at the New Lehrhaus table, shared with Yale University Press' "Jewish Lives" series. Meet, schmooze with, and get your book/s signed by local series authors Robert Alter and Daniel Matt, and att... Read more

Why have Jewish writers and performers had such an outsized influence on American comedy and musical satire? Screenwriter David Misch (Saturday Night Live, Mork and Mindy, The Muppets Take Manhattan) explores this question through an entertaining multimedia presentation that examines both the cultural roots and contemporary expressions of Jewish humor.

Drawing on his extensive experience in comedy writing, Misch looks at how a particular worldview—shaped by history, tr... Read more

Director Mark Streshinsky and renowned biblical scholar Ron Hendel explore Charpentier's David & Jonathan. From the power of Baroque opera to the theological dimensions of the biblical text, this event brings two perspectives of this relationship into dialog.

Enjoy West Edge Opera's production before it opens! To prepare, watch sessions 1 and 2 of our winter program, "From the Page to the Stage: The Bible in Text and Opera". (Search for "stage" in our video library to call up the videos). Here's West Edge Opera's Trailer.

And Now Can Love Begin is an imagined memoir, ventriloquizing the author's parents, based on 100 love letters exchanged in Palestine from 1945-46. Join us as Rachel Biale describes a fascinating glimpse into an epistolary romance set just after WWII in Palestine by two Jewish refugees from Europe.

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This multimedia program takes audiences on a journey via music, visuals, and storytelling, tracing klezmer's evolution and development from Old World shtetls to New World nightclubs and concert stages. The program includes insights into the sound and shape of klezmer and introduces many of the great heroes who helped transform Eastern European Yiddish wedding music into the vital form of world music it is today.

New Lehrhaus is co-presenting this heartfelt film which brings long-overdue recognition to Henrietta Szold, a Jewish American humanitarian whose legacy includes advocating for binational cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians. In Labors of Love, the filmmaker honors Szold's legacy and brings her story to life as a touching historical portrait as well as a roadmap for confronting the continued challenges of our... Read more

Freedom fighter, double agent, femme fatale—Tamar said she was all three. Decades after her death, a page she wrote in a diary from a Nazi-run women's camp reveals a hidden identity, leading her daughter on a global reckoning with secrets she took to her grave. 

The film uniquely addresses Holocaust sexual trauma and agency, and gives women survivors the platform to tell thei... Read more

KlezCalifornia is rebooting their klezmer and Yiddish culture festival! KlezCalYidFest kicks off Friday Sept 12 with a weekend of concerts, workshops and dancing with local and international artists from the klezmer and contemporary Yiddish culture scene. New Lehrhaus is sponsoring two lectures:

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In partnership with Magnes Museum and the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA)