Some Unexpected Stories About Women in the Talmud
Jan 25, 2021 By Judith Hauptman | Public Event video | Video Lecture
Although most Talmudic anecdotes feature men, some feature wives, mothers, and daughters of rabbis. These women learned Jewish law, and even, on occasion, helped formulate it. Join Dr. Judith Hauptman to study several of these short episodes and explore their significance, both historically and through the present day.
Read More
The Challenge of Accepting the 鈥極ther鈥�: Jewish Attitudes Toward Converts
Jan 4, 2021 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture
One of the best ways to understand the identity of a community or people is to consider what happens when someone who is originally an 鈥渙ther鈥濃�攁 鈥渇oreigner鈥濃�攁pproaches to become a member of the community. How does the community respond? Does the community permit the 鈥渇oreigner鈥� to become one of its own? What residual attitudes are expressed toward one who began as 鈥渙ther鈥� and part of the community? In the case of Jews and Judaism, all of these questions pertain to the case of the convert. In this session, we will examine how the convert has been viewed and treated in Judaism, from antiquity and through the ages. By doing so, we will gain a more nuanced understanding of who 鈥渨e鈥� are.
Read More
Traveling to Babylon鈥擣or Good
Aug 23, 2021 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture
The first time Jews traveled to Babylon, it was part of a great exile. But when the rabbis returned to Babylon many centuries later, joining a now 鈥渘ative鈥� Jewish community there, they found themselves very much at home. Some did indeed claim Babylon as home, while others traveled back and forth between Babylon and Palestine as rabbinic messengers to ensure that the teachings of each were available to the other. Two confident centers of Jewish life developed, not unlike modern New York and Jerusalem. In this session, Dr. David Kraemer explores the legacy of those rabbis and how their work continues to impact Jewish life today.
Read More
A Journey Without End鈥�
The Explusion From Spain and the Age of Perpetual Jewish Migration
Aug 16, 2021 By Jonathan Ray | Public Event video | Video Lecture
In the summer of 1492, the Jews of Spain were expelled from their homeland by royal decree. The dispossessed embarked on a series of journeys in search of new homelands 鈥� a process that would last generations and transform Sephardic society and culture.
Read More
Work-Life Balance in Ancient Times:
Why the Rabbis Left Their Homes to Study Torah
Aug 9, 2021 By Rachel Rosenthal | Public Event video | Video Lecture
We often think of questions about how to balance work and family as modern ones. However, a series of stories inKetubotshow that people have been struggling with these issues for hundreds of years. In these stories, the rabbis leave home to learn Torah, and often return to domestic chaos. Dr. Rachel Rosenthalexplores these stories to better understand how the rabbis understood their obligations to Torah, to themselves, and to their families.
Read More
The Early Modern Travel Pass:
Controlling the Plague and Jewish Mobility in 16th Century Tuscany
Aug 2, 2021 By Stefanie B. Siegmund | Public Event video | Video Lecture
In the wake of the Black Death, governments in the Italian states began to enlarge their departments of health and sanitation in an effort to control the plague. Over time they experimented by banning travel to and from suspect regions and quarantining merchants鈥� goods. Italian Jews, heavily invested in local and regional commerce, were among the merchants affected, attracting the attention of the authorities.
Read More
The Spectacular Story Of S. Ansky鈥檚
The Dybbuk and How it Transformed American Jewish Theatre
Jul 26, 2021 By Edna Nahshon | Public Event video | Video Lecture
Since its premiere in 1920The Dybbukhas been revived countless times in both Jewish and non-Jewish languages and inspired a substantial corpus of works in various media: it was famously filmed in Yiddish 1936 in Warsaw, and to this day has fired the imagination of artists and writers around the globe. JoinDr. Edna Nahshontodiscuss this unique play and its various interpretations, focusing on its two foundational productions and the 1936 Polish Yiddish film.
Read More
Finding Hijar: A Scholar鈥檚 Quest to Uncover the History of Her Jewish Community Through the Journey of Its Books
Jul 19, 2021 By Marjorie Lehman | Public Event video | Video Lecture
WithDr. Marjorie LehmanandDr. Lucia Conte AguilarofUniversitatPompeuFabra
Read More