Welcoming the New Year—and the Stranger: Partnership with JFCS East Bay...
Sarah Gakenia Cleveland (JFCS), Joe Goldman (HIAS) & Nawida Popal (JFCS)
As we welcome the New Year, how are we as a community welcoming the strangers among us? Where does “welcoming the stranger” come from as a Jewish value—and how have we as a people interpreted it over time? How are we currently welcoming Afghans, Ukrainians and others into our community? And how is this landscape changing as the rules for asylum seekers are being challenged?
Key Legal Issues in Israel’s Judicial Reform
Kenneth Mann, JD
The Judicial Reform proposed by Netanyhu’s government encompasses a complex web of proposed legislation with the hallmark one, revoking of the “unreasonableness clause” under review by Israel’s Supreme Court (September 12). One of Israel’s leading civil rights attorneys provides a deep dive into the legal issues in the context of a fuller understanding of Israel’s judicial system.
Crisis in Israel: What Happened? What’s Next?
Our experts explain the Judicial Reform crisis:
– Prof. Fania Oz-Salzberger (Haifa University Emerita, History & Law)
– Bradley Burston (Ha’Aretz Columnist: “A Special Place in Hell”)
– Kenneth Bob (President of Ameinu & Project Rozana USA, Board member J. Street)
– Prof. Eli Salzberger (Haifa University School of Law)
Moderator: David Biale (Emanuel Ringelblum Professor Emeritus of Jewish History, UC Davis)
Breads of the Jews
Aliza Grayevsky Somekh
Wheat pancakes, matzah, challah, bagels, rye and pumpernickel bread and pita are all breads associated with Jewish life and culture. After a bird’s-eye view of Jewish breads, we bake some samples in the Urban Adamah kitchen.
Heritage and Memory: The Jews of Greece
Jim Mavrikios—Greek Jewry and the Little Shul that Could
Neither Ashkenazic nor Sephardic, the Romaniote Jews of Greece were there to welcome the Sephardim who fled Spain in the fifteenth century. Learn about the history and customs of the Romaniote Jews, and discover the only Romaniote synagogue in the western hemisphere, Kehila Kedosha Janina in New York City.
Heritage and Memory: The Jews of Greece, part 1
Jehon Grist—Genesis: Jews in Ancient Greece
Spanning back to at least the 4th century BCE, our ancestors built a distinctive culture that blended Biblical tradition with Greek ideas that helped forge our emergence into Classical Judaism. We’ll explore both text and archaeology to discover the world of the Jews of Greece through the centuries of antiquity.
What REALLY Happened at Sinai?
Dr. Jehon Grist & Rabbi Peretz Wolf-Prusan
Shavuot celebrates Matan Torah – the giving of the Torah at Sinai. But what really happened there? Jewish tradition holds that every Jew throughout all time was present at Sinai. What do we “remember” from it? And what does archeology tell us about it: was there a mass gathering? a golden calf? tablets inscribed with ten commandments? Or did something even more earthshaking happen in the Sinai desert?
Blood Libel: On the Trail of An Antisemitic Myth
Magda Teter
Annual Pell Lecture presented by the UC Berkeley Center for Jewish Studies and The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
The talk explores how a medieval anti-Jewish lie became rooted in Christian imagination to persist into the twenty first century US and lead to a horrific crime in California.
Soil to Soul: People of the Cookbook
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett in conversation with Yoel Raviv of the Jewish Food Society
Read as a genre of literature, each recipe a poem, cookbooks and recipe collections offer a unique perspective on the history and diversity of Jewish life. This conversation will draw on Barbara’s collection and highlights from the Jewish Food Society archive of stories and recipes.
Judaism in a Bottle: The Manischewitz Story
Jhos Singer
How did this Manischewitz wine—which transgresses oenophilic culture, defies epicurean standards of excellence, and is loved by winos and children everywhere‚—come to define Kosher wine and, in some ways, Jewish identity, in the 20th century?
What REALLY Happened on Passover?
Ron Hendel and David Biale
It’s not what you think, it’s not what the Hagaddah tells us, it’s not what you remember from Sunday School or “The Ten Commandments”. Hear an analysis of the Biblical text, both historical and literary, which will turn your Passover seder upside down.
Give Peace a Chance
Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed and Prof. Yael Teff-Seker
This session will focus on how research and activism on environmental challenges, with a special emphasis on water, build bridges between Israeli Jews and Arabs, Palestinians, and Jordanians.
The Fiddler Phenomenon, part 4
Naomi Seidman
Explore the ways Yiddish literature—and in particular Sholem Aleichem’s Tevye stories—expressed Jewish ambivalence toward what Ian Watt calls “the sex religion,” the modern ideology of freedom to choose one’s own mate.
Give Peace a Chance, part 3
Orli Bein with New Israel Fund grantees Sally Abed and Alon-Lee Green of Omdim Beyachad (Standing Together) and Ahlam Kasim Ali and Lev Littman of Tzedek Centers
The Fiddler Phenomenon, part 3
Bonnie Weiss
The essential contributions of composer Jerry Bock, lyricist Sheldon Harnick, director/choreographer Jerome Robbins and book writer Joseph Stein includes recorded interviews, captivating performances, and two fascinating songs cut from the show before opening night.
Give Peace a Chance, part 1
The series features projects that create bridges between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as neighboring Jordan. SESSION 1: Medicine (Project Rozana) and Technology (Tech2Peace) with Kenneth Bob, Uri Rosenberg and Abeer Bandak
The Jews of Morocco, part 4
Dr. Sarah Levin
Jews Among Berbers (Imazighen) in the Atlas Mountains (photographs of Elias Harrus)
Poverty in the Jewish Community
Presenters: Bruce Phillips, Steve Chester, Brittany Couture and Robin Mencher
The Jews of Morocco, Part 3
Dr. Alma Heckman
Jews & Politics in 20th Century Morocco
The Jews of Morocco, Part 2
Dr. Vanessa Paloma Elbaz
Moroccan Jewish Music: Inner Power & Outer Politics
Violence and Non-Violence in Jewish Tradition, part 4
Howard Simon
This inquiry into violence and non-violence in Jewish tradition employs Gandhi’s model of satyagraha as a benchmark for non-violent resistance.
The Fiddler Phenomenon, part 1
Naomi Seidman
Matchmaking and Modernity: The Ambivalent Move from Arranged Marriage to Romantic Love
Violence and Non-Violence in Jewish Tradition, part 3
Howard Simon
This inquiry into violence and non-violence in Jewish tradition employs Gandhi’s model of satyagraha as a benchmark for non-violent resistance.
Jewish Attorneys Against Jim Crow
Prof. Steve Whitfield
Black lawyers were too few to make a difference in the 1960s, and local white lawyers rarely wished to advance civil rights. Mostly Northern Jewish attorneys stepped in to fill this historic vacuum.
The Jews of Morocco, part 1
Rabbi Yoel Kahn
A broad introduction to the arc of Moroccan Jewish history
Violence and Non-Violence in Jewish Tradition, part 1
Howard Simon
This inquiry into violence and non-violence in Jewish tradition employs Gandhi’s model of satyagraha as a benchmark for non-violent resistance.
Hanukkah in Song: From the Heartfelt to the Hilarious
Bonnie Weiss
A musical journey from “I Have a Little Dreidel” and “Rock of Ages” to original songs, hilarious Tom Lehrer satiric numbers, and Hanukkah-themed new lyrics set to music by Leonard Bernstein and other acclaimed composers
Time to Cancel “Cancel Culture”? Part 3
Rabbis Chai Levy and Peretz Wolf-Prusan
The Jewish Community and Clergy
Time to Cancel “Cancel Culture”? Part 2
Moderator: Riva Gambert
Discussion of Stephen Fry’s documentary film “Wagner & Me”
Time to Cancel “Cancel Culture”? Part 1
Profs. Michael Krasny, Robert Alter, Eva Mroczek and Liora Halperin
Cancel culture in literature and scholarship
The Intractable Middle East: Dual Narratives, part 6
Eleanor Shapiro
1988-2008: From Oslo to Stalemate
The Intractable Middle East: Dual Narratives, part 5
Eleanor Shapiro
From the Six-Day War to the First Intifada (1968 – 1988)
What Now? Analysis of Israel’s Elections
Ken Bob
Israel’s fifth election in 3 years speaks volumes on its deeply divided society and the fragmentation of its political parties.
The Intractable Middle East: Dual Narratives, part 4
Eleanor Shapiro
1948 – 1967: Independence / Nakba
The Intractable Middle East: Dual Narratives, part 3
Eleanor Shapiro
Mandate Palestine, part 2 (1936 -1948)
The Intractable Middle East: Dual Narratives, part 2
Eleanor Shapiro
Mandate Palestine (1922-1936)
The Intractable Middle East: Dual Narratives, part 1
Eleanor Shapiro
Setting the Stage: Late Ottoman Empire – end of WWI
Mexico and Its Jews in a Nutshell, part 2
Dr. Jehon Grist
This session explores how Jews made their way to Mexico in the early 16th century, and how they suffered and prospered through the centuries.
Mexico and Its Jews in a Nutshell
Dr. Jehon Grist
An overview of the history of Mexico from the Olmec to Aztec pre-colonial cultures, through the Spanish occupation, and on to the birth and growth of the independent state
Descendants of Light: American Photographers of Jewish Ancestry
Penny Wolin
Over six years, Wolin had in-person encounters with 70 leading American Jewish photographers, including Robert Frank, Annie Leibovitz, and Arnold Newman. With a visual and verbal discussion, we will explore the motivations of Jews in photography.
Abortion through Multiple Lenses, part 4
Attorney Linda Scaparotti
What’s Next: Legal Implication and Looming Battles
Abortion through Multiple Lenses, part 3
Roslyn Banish
Focus on Abortion: Americans Share Their Stories: A Photographic Journey
We Were Here: HIV-AIDS, the Bay Area and the Jewish Community
Rabbi Yoel Kahn, Avi Rose & David Weissman
A panel discussion by key leaders/witnesses reflects on the AIDS crisis in the Bay Area and beyond, and on its impact on the Jewish community.
Abortion through Multiple Lenses, part 2
Prof. Carole Joffe & Dr. Debbie Bamberger
The Abortion Wars: The social-political-cultural divide, impact on public health and Jewish values undergird working as an abortion provider
Abortion through Multiple Lenses, part 1
Panel: Rachel Biale, Shalhevet Sarah Robinson & Rabbanit Michal Kohane
Abortion in Jewish Law (Halakhah) and the Orthodox Jewish Community Today
Torah From the Bedroom, part 1
David and Rachel Biale
Sexuality in the Jewish tradition
Jewish American Fiction, part 4
Prof. Michael Krasny
Philip Roth’s “Defender of the Faith” and Saul Bellow’s “A Silver Dish”
Jewish American Fiction, part 3
Prof. Michael Krasny
Grace Paley’s “Goodbye and Good Luck” and Cynthia Ozick’s “The Shawl”