The Center for Jewish History Announces September and October 2016 Programs

The Center for Jewish History has announced its September and October 2016 Programs. Highlights include programs focused on "Blood Libel;"
the 500th anniversary of the Venice ghetto; a Berlin Films series; and a look at Rembrandt and the Jews.

See below for the full fall schedule:

SEPTEMBER

Wednesday, September 7
7:00 p.m.
The Newest Dish on Jewish Fish
Conversation

Presented by the Jewish Book Council, the Met Council, Yeshiva University Museum and the Center for Jewish History

Discover the Jewish culinary renaissance of fishy fare from heimishe herring to lustrous lox with Ina Yalof, author of "Food and the City," in conversation with "Have I Got a Story for You" editor Ezra Glinter, "Modern Jewish Cooking" author and food journalist Leah Koenig, and The Gefilteria founders Jeffrey Yoskowitz and Liz Alpern. The program includes a special curatorial tour of the Center for Jewish History's exhibition, "Nourishing Tradition: Jewish Cookbooks and the Stories They Tell."

Tickets: $15 general; $10 YUM, CJH members, seniors or students

Link: http://cjh.org/event/2911

Thursday, September 8

7:00 p.m.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at Sholem Aleichem: Notes from a Yiddish Writer's Biographer

Presented by YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

Lecture

Jeremy Dauber, professor of Yiddish at Columbia and the author of the first comprehensive biography of the writer, will talk about Sholem Aleichem's life, his work, and his legacy - and the struggle to encapsulate all of that between two hard covers. Sponsored by the Naomi Prawer Kadar Foundation, Inc.

Tickets: $5; free for YIVO members and students

Link: http://cjh.org/event/2912

Sunday, September 11

9:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Rembrandt and the Jews

Presented by Yeshiva University Museum and the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought of Yeshiva University

Symposium

This cross-disciplinary symposium explores the character of Rembrandt's depictions of biblical subjects, his perspective on Jewish sources, and the master's place within the larger context of art history and theological discourse; with Steven Nadler, Shelley Perlove, Simon Schama, Meir Soloveichik, Leon Wieseltier, Jacob Wisse and Michael Zell.

Tickets: Free; reservations required RSVP to strauscenter@yu.edu.

Link: http://cjh.org/event/2913

Tuesday, September 13

6:30 p.m.

Berlin Films: "Menschen am Sonntag"

Presented by Leo Baeck Institute and Deutsches Haus, NYU

Film

Years before they became major players in Hollywood, a group of young Jewish filmmakers made this effervescent, sunlit silent about a handful of city dwellers enjoying a weekend outing, which offers a rare glimpse of Weimar-era Berlin. With film scholarNoah Isenberg (The New School). (Germany, 1930. dir. Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, Billy Wilder, Fred Zinnemann)

Tickets: Free

Link: http://cjh.org/event/2914

Wednesday, September 14

6:30 p.m.

Berlin Films: "Mendelsohn's Incessant Visions"
Presented by Leo Baeck Institute and Deutsches Haus, NYU

Film

He drew sketches on scraps of paper and sent them from the WWI trenches to a young cellist in Berlin. She thought he was a genius and helped him become the busiest architect in Germany. Gav Rosenfeld (Fairfield University) introduces this cinematic meditation on Erich and Louise Mendelsohn. (Israel, 2011. dir. Duki Dror)

Tickets: Free

Link: http://cjh.org/event/2916

Wednesday, September 14

6:30 p.m.

"Odessa / ???????: Babel, Ladyzhensky, and the Soul of a City"

Presented by Yeshiva University Museum

Curator's Tour

A curator's tour of Yeshiva University Museum's exhibition exploring the vital creative character and dramatic social context of pre- and post-revolutionary Odessa, Ukraine (formerly Russia) through the work of two of the city's most important artists - the writer Isaac Babel and the painter Yefim Ladyzhensky.

Tickets: Free; reservations required at SmartTix

Link: http://cjh.org/event/2916

Thursday, September 15

6:30 p.m.

Berlin Films: "Grand Hotel"
Film

Presented by Leo Baeck Institute and Deutsches Haus, NYU

In this lavish adaptation of the Austrian-Jewish writer Vicki Baum's genre-defining 1929 novel, "Menschen im Hotel," plots and intrigue unfold among a cast of colorful Weimar-era characters. With film scholar Noah Isenberg (The New School). (USA, 1932. dir. Edmund Goulding)

Tickets: Free

Link: http://cjh.org/event/2917

Sunday, September 18

10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

The Ghetto and Beyond: The Jews in the Age of the Medici

Presented by Center for Jewish History

Conference

The Center for Jewish History and the Medici Archive Project mark the 500th anniversary of the creation of the Venice ghetto with a conference that sheds light on the revolution in scholars' understanding of Italian Jewish ghettos of the early modern period. The term "ghetto" has traveled widely and taken on a range of associations since originally describing the 1516 confinement of Jews to a walled-off section of Venice. What do we know about the Jewish ghettos of early modern Italy? What is their relationship to subsequent uses of the term to describe areas such as Nazi holding pens or inner-city neighborhoods in the U.S.?

All are welcome to view the corresponding "Venice Ghetto and Beyond" exhibition in The David Berg Rare Book Room. It is a unique assemblage of Italian materials-some of which date from the sixteenth century-from the collections of the Center for Jewish History and two of its Partners, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and Yeshiva University Museum, as well as other institutions and private collectors.

The first day of the conference is open to the public. Students, scholars, and teachers interested in attending Day Two may email programs@cjh.org.

Tickets: $15 general, $10 CJH/partner members, seniors, students

Link: http://cjh.org/event/2918

Tuesday, September 20

12:00 p.m.

"Where the Jews Aren't" - A Book Talk with Masha Gessen

Presented by YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

Book Talk

Author Masha Gessen will discuss the complex, strange, and heart-wrenching story of Birobidzhan, the Soviet "Jewish Autonomous Region," and read an excerpt from her new book. YIVO Executive Director Jonathan Brent will join Ms. Gessen for a conversation, and lead an audience Q&A session.

Tickets: Free

Link: http://cjh.org/event/2919

Tuesday, September 20

7:00 p.m.

Jews and Racial Shifts in Early America

Presented by American Jewish Historical Society

Lecture

Laura Arnold Leibman will discuss her current book project, exploring definitions of race since the colonial era, and sources related to family histories of Jews of mixed African and Jewish descent in the United States and Caribbean prior to 1840.

Tickets: $10 general, $5 AJHS members, seniors, students

Link: http://cjh.org/event/2920

Thursday, September 22

6:30 p.m.

Genizah

Presented by American Jewish Historical Society

Exhibition Opening | Artist Performance

A new interactive installation created by contemporary artist Rachel Libeskind, "Genizah" presents an up-to-date interpretation of the Jewish Genizah - the archive traditionally served to store scraps with the name of God on them. An original performance piece by Libeskind on opening night. The exhibition will be up through December 2016.

Tickets: $10 general, $7 AJHS members, seniors, students

Link: http://cjh.org/event/2921

Sunday, September 25

2:30 p.m.

The Other in the Mirror: Interpretations of Christian and Islamic Origins by Heinrich Graetz and Abraham Geiger

Presented by Leo Baeck Institute

Lecture

In the 59th Leo Baeck Memorial Lecture, Susannah Heschel (Dartmouth College) compares the approaches of two Jewish historians whose work aimed not simply at assimilation into German culture and the German academic community, but something much more radical: a reconfiguration of the map of Western civilization.

Tickets: Free

Link: http://cjh.org/event/2922

Tuesday, September 27

7:30 p.m.

An Intimate Rivalry: The Jews and Classical Islam

Presented by the Center for Jewish History and the Jewish Studies Program in the College of Arts in Sciences at Cornell University

Lecture

Jewish-Muslim relations in the pre-modern era are popularly portrayed as a precursor of conflict in the contemporary Middle East. Drawing on religious texts, historical documents and other materials, cultural historIan Ross Brann(Cornell University) offers a rich and more complex portrait of early Jewish-Muslim relations, one that is characterized by the creative dynamics of minority-majority interaction. This series is made possible by the generous support of Bruce Slovin, Chair Emeritus & Founder of the Center for Jewish History.

Tickets: $10 general; $5 CJH/partner members, seniors, students, Cornell alumni

Link: http://www.cjh.org/event/2923

Thursday, September 29

6:30 p.m.

Jewish Salonica: Between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece

Presented by Center for Jewish History, American Sephardi Federation and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

Book Talk

How did the Jews of Salonica, once known as the Jerusalem of the Balkans, fashion a new identity as Greek Jews after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire? Devin E. Naar's new book explores the history of the world's largest Sephardic Jewish community at the crossroads of Europe and the Middle East on the eve of the Holocaust.

Tickets: $10 general, $5 CJH/partner members, seniors, students

Link: http://www.cjh.org/event/2924

Thursday, September 29

7:00 p.m.

Sacred & Stolen: Confessions of a Museum Director

Presented by the Yeshiva University Museum

Conversation

How did an 11th-century door to the Holy Ark of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo find its way to an American museum? Dr. Gary Vikan, former director of the Walters Art Museum, recounts this and other amazing tales from his remarkable 30-year career as a scholar, curator and museum director.

Tickets: $20; $15 YUM members, seniors, students. Each ticket holder will receive a copy of Dr. Vikan's new memoir, Sacred & Stolen: Confessions of a Museum Director; book signing to follow program.

Link: http://www.cjh.org/event/2925

OCTOBER

Sunday, October 9

9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

The Blood Libel Then and Now: The Enduring Impact of an Imaginary Event

Presented by YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and Center for Jewish History

Conference

The blood libel accusation of Jews committing ritual murder has been the basis for hateful examples of organized anti-Semitism since its fabrication in the Middle Ages. This conference will explore the impact of the blood libel over the centuries in a wide variety of geographic regions with a focus on how cultural memory was created, elaborated, and transmitted.

Tickets: $25, $20 YIVO/CJH members, students

Link: http://www.cjh.org/event/2926

Thursdays - October, 13, 20, 27, November 3

6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Mysticism and Morality: Clarice Lispector in Context

Presented by Center for Jewish History and Brooklyn Institute for Social Research

Course

Join us for this four-week course taught by Dr. Rebecca Ariel Porte of the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research. Central questions will include: In what way is Clarice Lispector's writing moral? How does Lispector's mysticism fit into, advance, or subvert traditions of Jewish mysticism? Where can we find traces of Lispector's response anti-Semitic violence?

Tuition: $315; 10% discount for CJH members

Link: http://www.cjh.org/event/2927

Thursday, October 13

7:30 p.m.

Fathers and Sons: Music by Rimsky-Korsakov, Shostakovich and Weinberg

Presented by Center for Jewish History

Concert

The Phoenix Chamber Ensemble will perform Rimsky-Korsakov's Piano Trio, Shostakovich's Piano Trio No.2, Op.67, and Weinberg's "Toccata" from Piano Trio op.24. This program is made possible by the generous support of the Blavatnik Family Foundation.

Tickets: $15; $10 CJH/partner members, seniors, students

Link: http://www.cjh.org/event/2927

Wednesday, October 26

7:00 p.m.

How Come Boys Get to Keep Their Noses? Women and Jewish American Identity in Contemporary Graphic Memoirs

Presented by American Jewish Historical Society

Book Talk

Tahneer Oksman and New Yorker contributor Liana Finck discuss Oksman's new book "How Come Boys Get to Keep Their Noses: Women and Jewish American Identity in Contemporary Graphic Memoirs," drawing connections between graphic storytelling and the unstable postmodern Jewish self.

Tickets: $10 general, $5 AJHS members, seniors, students

Link: http://cjh.org/event/2932

Thursday, October 27

6:30 p.m.

"Odessa / ???????: Babel, Ladyzhensky, and the Soul of a City"

Presented by Yeshiva University Museum

Gallery Talk

Join scholar Jess Olson for a gallery talk and tour of Yeshiva University Museum's exhibition exploring the vital creative character and dramatic social context of pre- and post-revolutionary Odessa, Ukraine (formerly Russia) through the work of two of the city's most important artists - the writer Isaac Babel and the painter Yefim Ladyzhensky.

Tickets: Free; reservations required

Link: http://cjh.org/event/2933