Contemporary Jewish Life

Judeo-Arabic and the Jews of North Africa, part 2

Rabbi Tsipora Gabai in conversation with Jim Mavrikios, 11/20/23
Since Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia are located on the westernmost part of the Arabic-speaking world, Jews (and non-Jews) from the region are known as Maghrebi, “western.” Interesting, when one considers that Moroccan Jews are generally included under the banner of the eidot hamizrach, “communities of the east”. In this session Rabbi Gabai discusses her experience as a Moroccan Jew and rabbi.

Judeo-Arabic and the Jews of North Africa, part 1

Rabbi Tsipora Gabai & Jim Mavrikios, 11/13/23
Since Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia are located on the westernmost part of the Arabic-speaking world, Jews (and non-Jews) from the region are known as Maghrebi, “western.” Interesting, when one considers that Moroccan Jews are generally included under the banner of the eidot hamizrach, “communities of the east”. This session addresses the Arabic language among Jews, the varieties of Arabic and its “dialects,” Arabic in Israel, etc.

Israel at War

Ken Bob — 11/5/23
Kenneth Bob, President of Ameinu—who has been in Israel since before October 7th—provides a “report from the ground” covering the war, the hostage situation, the state of affairs in Gaza, and life on the home front. Go to www.sfbay4israel.org for information about the Bay Area jewish community’s response and resources.

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, part 2

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.

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