Spring 2012

Wednesday, February 22, 4:30 p.m.

"The Other in the Hebrew Bible"

Professor John Collins, Yale University
Seelye 201

Thursday, March 8, 7:30 p.m.

"Sacred Trash:The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Genizah"

Peter Cole and Andina Hoffman
Campus Center 205

"Sacred Trash," poet and translator Peter Cole and essayist Adina Hoffman tell the story of the retrieval from an Egyptian geniza—or repository for worn-out texts—of the most vital cache of Jewish manuscripts ever discovered.
This tale of buried scholarly treasure weaves together unforgettable portraits of Solomon Schechter and the other heroes of this drama with explorations of the medieval documents themselves.
Presenting a panoramic view of 900 years of vibrant Mediterranean Judaism, Hoffman and Cole bring modern readers into the heart of this little-known trove, whose contents have rightly been dubbed “the Living Sea Scrolls.”

Tuesday, March 13, 3:00 p.m.

"Ritual Murder and the Complex Relations between Jews and the Catholic Church in the Early Modern Period"

Professor Magda Teter, Wesleyan University
Seelye Hall 310

 

Wednesday, March 28, 7:00 p.m.

FILM:Grace Paley Collected Shorts

Weinstein Auditorium

 

Thursday, March 29, 7:00 p.m.

FILM: Matchmaker (Israel)

Weinstein Auditorium

Both films sponsored by the Program in Jewish Studies and the Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival

 

Monday, April 2, 4:15 p.m.

"Travel Through the Jewish Dark Continent:Folklore and the Quest for Jewish Ethnography"

Professor Nathaniel Deutsch, UC Santa Cruz
Neilson Browsing Room

NATHANIEL DEUTSCH, Professor of History and Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz will discuss his book, The Jewish Dark Continent: Life and Death in the Russian Pale of Settlement (Harvard University Press), in which he reconstructs aspiring ethnographer An-sky's fact-finding trip through the Pale of Settlement, animating Russian Jewish life in the early 20th century. 
At the turn of the 20th century, more than 40 percent of the world’s Jews lived within the Russian empire, almost all in the Pale of Settlement. The Jews of the Pale created a distinctive way of life little known beyond its borders.

Professor Justin Cammy imagining a visionary cultural translation project  while speaking with the Yiddish Book Center's Wexler Oral History Project on August 25, 2011.

Bible Professor Joel Kaminsky co-authors two new books in 2011.                                                                   The Torah: A Beginner's Guide click here                        The Other in Second Temple Judaism click here            

Professor Lois Dubin talks about growing up Jewish in Montreal at the   Center of Jewish History.  Click here and type in  "Jewish Montreal"

Jewish Studies graduate Anna Allen '11 and Smith students Daniele Goldberg '12 and Lena Sernoff '14 featured in a new documentary.