CJH Program ArchiveWelcome to the CJH Program Archive Vault. Here you will find audio and video streams of select events at the Center for Jewish History. To view or hide the details relating to a particular event, click on the plus sign to the left of its title. Audio files will launch in a new browser window. To download audio files to your computer, simply right click the "Audio" link (Ctl + Click for Mac users) and save the file. Search the Archive
Available Programs| + | | Di oystres fun Nukhem Stutshkov: Yidishe radioskriptn in der Nyu-Yorker shtot-bibliotek (April 24, 2009) - presented by YIVO
(The Treasures of Nahum Stutchkoff: Yiddish Radio Scripts in the New York Public Library)
Amanda (Miryem-Khaye) Seigel, Dorot Jewish Division, New York Public Library
This is a Yiddish language event. |
| + | | Educating "Moyshe" or Corrupting Him? Polemics around the Novel Sanin in the American Yiddish Press ca. 1908 (March 30, 2009) - presented by YIVO
Ellen Kellman - Assistant Professor in Yiddish Language and Literature, Brandeis University
The role of serialized fiction in the American Yiddish press was the subject of rancorous debate from its beginnings. Critics lambasted socialist-oriented papers for printing romance novels instead of serious fiction in translation. Yet some works, such as the Russian novel Sanin, proved to be even more controversial than those originally written in Yiddish. |
| + | | Connecting Geography: Yiddish Songs in New York (March 26, 2009) - presented by YIVO
Eléonore Biezunski, University of Paris X, Nanterre
Biezunski presents the process of her innovative research connecting geography with the study of Yiddish songs, exploring New York City as an experienced and represented Jewish place. |
| + | | Mordkhe Schaechter Commemoration (March 22, 2009) - presented by YIVO
The League for Yiddish and YIVO Institute invite you to listen to a program in memory of Dr. Mordkhe Schaechter z"l. David Fishman of the Jewish Theological Seminary speaks on the topic, "The Problem of Religion and Secularism among Secular Yiddishists: A Historical Analysis." Rukhl Schaechter of the Forverts and daughter of Dr. Mordkhe Schaecter speaks on "My Father's Secularism and Tradition." Musical program by Michael Alpert.(Program is in Yiddish.) |
| + | | Poland, Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union? The Jews and the Lesser of Three Evils (March 5, 2009) - presented by YIVO
Dr. Elissa Bemporad, Eugene Lang College/The New School. Explores how Soviet Jewish identity in the late 1930s was shaped by the knowledge of what was happening to Jews in fascist Poland and Nazi Germany, and on the other hand by the absence of official anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union. |
| + | | Shire Gorshman: Lite-Palestine-Krim (February 20, 2009) - presented by YIVO
Boris Sandler with an introduction by Gennady Estraikh.
This is a Yiddish language event. | Files: | | Boris Sandler | | Audio |
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| + | | The Lodz Towers of Babel: Industry and Religious Politics in Lodz Before the First World War (January 28, 2009) - presented by YIVO
Yedida Kanfer, Department of Russian History, Yale University. In the years before WWI, the industrial city of Lodz was a center of Jewish religion in Russian Poland. Kanfer explores the link between Lodz and religious infrastructure, between industry and Orthodox politics. | Files: | | Yedida Kanfer, doctoral candidate, Yale University | | Audio |
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| + | | What is Jewish Humor?: Exploring Wit and Humor in Freud (December 29, 2008) - presented by YIVO
Dr. Max Kohn, psychoanalyst, journalist and author
What is the secret of Jewish humor? Freud thinks that jokes must be distinguished from humor. A joke requires that someone is listening, but humor is a conflict between the ego and the superego. Through humor, the ego can be stronger than the superego. Max Kohn will present examples from his new book, Vitsn: mots d'esprit yiddish et inconscient (Limoges: Lambert-Lucas, 2008). | Files: | | Dr. Max Kohn, psychoanalyst, journalist, and author | | Audio |
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| + | | Psikhoanaliz un yidishkayt (December 19, 2008) - presented by YIVO
Dr. Max Kohn, psychoanalyst, journalist, and author
This is a Yiddish language event. |
| + | | Tsi iz dos take a fremde un griltsndike shprakh: tsu der frage vegn Ben-Gurions batsiung tsu yidish nokhn khurbm (December 12, 2008) - presented by YIVO
Rachel Rojanski
University of Haifa
This is a Yiddish language event. |
| + | | Between Two Worlds: The Literary Works of Kalman Segal (1918-1980) (December 1, 2008) - presented by YIVO
Dr. Magdalena Ruta, Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies, Jagiellonian University of Crakow |
| + | | Yidishe literatur in nokhmilkhomedikn Poyln 1945-1968 (November 21, 2008) - presented by YIVO
Magda Ruta
Jagiellonian University of Cracow
This is a Yiddish language event. |
| + | | A Certain Justice: Jews, Poles, and the Prosecution of Nazi War Criminals (November 10, 2008) - presented by YIVO
Dr. Gabriel Finder, Lecturer in Modern Jewish History, University of Virginia |
| + | | Max Weinreich's History of the Yiddish Language Symposium (September 14, 2008) - presented by YIVO
On the occasion of the publication of the full translation of The History of the Yiddish Language. Panelists include Neil G. Jacobs, Ohio State University; Robert D. King, University of Texas; and Kalman Weiser, York University. | Files: | | The History of the Yiddish Language | | Video | | Audio |
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| + | | The Failed Rehabilitation of Shomer the Novelist: Avrom Vevyorke's Revizye of 1931 and Soviet Yiddish Literary Theory (September 10, 2008) - presented by YIVO
Dr. Roland Gruschka- Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany
In 1931, the Soviet literary critic Avrom Vevyorke (1887–1935) published the book Revision, in which he made an attempt to rehabilitate the most controversial writer of pulp fiction in Yiddish, Shomer (Nokhem Meir Shaykevitsh, 1849–1905), giving rise to a fierce dispute in Soviet Yiddish literary scholarship about the significance of his work for the emerging "proletarian literature." The arguments of both sides in this dispute can only be understood in the context of Soviet literary policy. | Files: | | The Failed Rehabilitation of Shomer the Novelist | | Audio | | | | | Audio |
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| + | | One Hundred Years Since Czernowitz (July 30, 2008) - presented by YIVO
Symposium on the one-hundredth anniversary of the Czernowitz Yiddish Conference
With Cecile Kuznitz (Bard College) and Jess Olson (Yeshiva University). Moderated by Paul Glasser (YIVO). | Files: | | One Hundred Years Since Czernowitz | | Audio |
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| + | | Bernard-Henri Levy: The Strange Experience of Jewish Sovereignty (April 6, 2008) - presented by YIVO
Keynote Address: Bernard-Henri Levy, Philosopher, Journalist, Author
Moderated by Paul Berman, writer in residence, New York University
After the Exile, Jews did not experience sovereignty for thousands of years until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Levy brings his formidable intellect to the questions: Why does the new Jewish sovereignty rattle many Gentiles? Why does it rattle many Jews? | Files: | | Opening Remarks by Martin Peretz and Paul Berman | | Audio | | | Keynote Address by Bernard-Henri Levy | | Audio | | | Discussion and Q&A | | Audio |
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| + | | Jewish Daily Life in Germany, 1618-1945 (April 2, 2008) - presented by LBI
Edited by Professor Marion Kaplan
German (C.H. Beck Verlag, 2003), English (Oxford University Press, 2005), and Hebrew (The Zalman Shazar Center, 2008)
This book portrays the drama of German-Jewish history by examining the everyday lives of ordinary Jews. It traces the gradual ascent of Jews scattered throughout Germany, in rural areas as well as in more urban ghettos, from impoverished outcasts to comfortable bourgeois citizens, and their dramatic descent during the Nazi era. Using a wide variety of original sources, the authors focus on the qualitative aspects of ordinary life – emotions, impressions, and perceptions that provide insights easily overlooked in more traditional studies.
The program presented lectures by the contributing authors:
Steven Lowenstein, University of Judaism, Los Angeles, Changes in the Jewish Family in Germany
1780-1870.
Marion Kaplan, New York University, Friendship on the Margins: Social Relations between Jews and other Germans in Imperial Germany.
Trude Maurer, Universität Göttingen, Germany, Interactions between Jews and non-Jews in Weimar and Nazi Germany. | Files: | | Pt. 1: Steven Lowenstein and Marion Kaplan | | Video | | Audio | | | Pt. 2: Trude Maurer and Marion Kaplan | | Video | | Audio |
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| + | | Close Encounters: Jews and Germans in Occupied Germany (March 31, 2008) - presented by AJHS, CJH, LBI, and YIVO
Dr. Atina Grossmann discussed the story of the "close encounters" in Allied occupied Germany between Jewish survivors of the Nazi Final Solution who found themselves on "cursed German soil" after the German surrender, and the defeated Germans with whom they continually interacted. | Files: | | Jews and Germans in Occupied Germany | | Video | | Audio |
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| + | | Churchill and Zionism: Not By Sufferance (March 27, 2008) - presented by YIVO
Winston Churchill was a pivotal figure in modern Jewish history, particularly in his relation to Zionism. Like the great statesmen of the 19th century - Disraeli and Palmerston, for example - Churchill was immensely stirred by the idea of the Jewish return to Palestine. Still, he contrived the excision of Trans-Jordan from Palestine and did very little to curtail the British ban on Jewish migration to Palestine after the White Paper of 1939. Nonetheless, the Jews were one of Churchill's great romances in a very romantic life.
This evening featured a presentation by Michael Makovsky (Foreign Policy Director, Bipartisan Policy Center, Washington, DC, Harvard University, Ph.D., Diplomatic History) about the clarity and ambiguity of Churchill's relationship to Jews and Zionism. This was followed by a discussion of the topic with Sir Harold Evans (Editor, The Times (London, 1981-1982); The Sunday Times (London, 1967-1981)), and the audience. | Files: | | Churchill and Zionism: Not By Sufferance | | Video | | Audio |
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| + | | The Rise and Fall of the Yiddish Empire (March 13, 2008) - presented by YIVO
Benjamin Harshav, J & H Blaustein Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature, Yale University, author of Language in the Time of Revolution and The Moscow Yiddish Theatre: Art on Stage in the Time of Revolution, explored the complex relation of Yiddish and Hebrew in the 19th century Russian Empire. Jewish majorities were found in towns and shtetlakh of the vast territories, where 98% of Jewry declard Yiddish as their language. This was the time that entailed the total transformation of the Jews their languages, professions, education, and their place in general history. It was also the time when the base was laid for the emergence of a new Hebrew society which founded the state of Israel 60 years ago. | Files: | | The Rise and Fall of the Yiddish Empire | | Video | | Audio |
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| + | | The YIVO Encyclopedia: A First Look (March 11, 2008) - presented by YIVO
A celebration of the publication of the YIVO Encyclopedia. Chaired by editor-in-chief Gershon Hundert, with novelist Allegra Goodman, historians Marsha Rozenblit (University of Maryland) and Leo Spitzer (Dartmouth), and librarian Edward Kasinec (New York Public Library), who presented their initial impressions of the work. | Files: | | The YIVO Encyclopedia: A First Look | | Video | | Audio |
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| + | | Rabbis and Rebbes, Artists and Intellectuals: Roundtable Conversations on the Culture of Eastern European Jewry 19th–20th Centuries (March 9, 2008) - presented by YIVO
While certain topics such as Hasidism and Jewish Haskalah have been dealt with extensively by scholars, there has been relatively little discussion of the varieties of rabbinic, intellectual and artistic activity. We examined these activities in three panels, in which the invited scholars engaged in animated discussion.
Co-sponsored by the Touro College Graduate School of Jewish Studies. | Files: | | Introduction and Session 1: Rabbinic Cultures | | Video | | Audio | | | Session 2: Artistic Cultures | | Video | | Audio | | | Session 3: The Cultures of Academic Scholarship and Closing Address | | Video | | Audio |
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| + | | Jews and Basketball: Alan Dershowitz in Conversation with Jeffrey Gurock (January 31, 2008) - presented by YIVO and AJHS
An evening with two distinguished intellectuals as they discuss their passion for and the American Jewish experience with basketball.
Alan Dershowitz, a member of the Brooklyn Talmudic Academy basketball team, developed a deep love for the sport. An ardent fan of the Boston Celtics, he was a friend of the late Red Auberbach, the team’s legendary head coach, son of immigrants from Minsk and a Brooklyn high school player. Over the many years of their friendship, Dershowitz and Auberbach shared reflections and nostalgic stories. Jeffrey Gurock, American Jewish historian and athlete, is the author of Judaism’s Encounter with American Sports (2005) and for over 25 years, has been Yeshiva University’s assistant men's basketball coach.
These two well-known scholars shared their common passion, the popularity of basketball among Jewish men and women, and why basketball is a metaphor for larger issues relating to the Jewish experience in America. |
| + | | 2007 Grammy Award Winner The Klezmatics : Up Close (November 27, 2007) - presented by YIVO
Prior to their first concert at YIVO, The Klezmatics engaged in a lively and in-depth discussion with the audience about their creative process. Later in the evening, The Klezmatics performed their irresistible, eclectic, and provocative music embracing klezmer and blending multi-cultural sounds drawn from YIVO's Max and Frieda Weinstein Sound Archives.
Seen in this video are (l-r): Lorin Sklamberg, Richie Barshay (special guest), Lisa Grant, Matt Darriau, Frank London. | Files: | | Pre-Concert Discussion: The Klezmatics Up Close | | Video | | Audio |
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| + | | The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy - A Critical Response (November 5, 2007) - presented by YIVO
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt’s new book, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, has understandably generated an enormous response in the Jewish community. This evening’s response provides a rigorous focus on two issues - the long history of the debate over Jewish power and the role of AIPAC and other members of the Israel lobby in American foreign policy and military policy. The program featured a panel discussion moderated by Nicholas Lemann, Dean and Henry R. Luce Professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. | Files: | | The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy | | Video | | Audio |
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| + | | Who Will Write Our History? (October 23, 2007) - presented by YIVO
Who Will Write Our History? (Indiana University Press : 2007) - the new monograph by Samuel D. Kassow, the Charles H. Northam Professor of History at Trinity College, which tells the gripping story of Emanuel Ringelblum and his determination to use historical scholarship and the surreptitious preservation of Jewish documents to resist Nazi oppression.
A panel discussion with Professor Kassow and Robert Shapiro, Assistant Professor at Brooklyn College and author of Lodz Ghetto: A History (Indiana University Press with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum : 2006) explored the historical significance of ghetto archives in occupied Poland and the relationship between Emanuel Ringelblum, Isaiah Trunk and the YIVO. Joanna Michlic, Associate Professor and The Helene and Allen Apter Chair in Holocaust and Ethical Values at Lehigh University, discussed the recent turn of historians toward Jewish testimonies, in particular the publications of the testimonies from the Ringelblum Archives. |
| + | | Jewish Lawyers in the Civil Rights Movement (September 19, 2007) - presented by AJHS and CJH
Jewish Lawyers in the Civil Rights Movement – part of Jews and Justice, the longest running program series at the Center for Jewish History – featured a blue ribbon panel that explored the Jewish community's involvement in this important historical movement in the United States.
Panelists included:
Jack Greenberg, Alphonse Fletcher Jr., Professor of Law at Columbia University
Mr. Greenberg has been at the forefront of many of the landmark civil-rights cases of the 20th century, including serving as co-counsel with Thurgood Marshall in the Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954. He succeeded Mr. Marshall as director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, a position he held until in 1984.
Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
During his 30-year tenure as Director of the RAC, Rabbi Saperstein has advocated on a broad range of social justice issues emphasizing civil rights concerns. For over two decades, he has served on the executive committee of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and has been the only Jewish member of the National Board of the NAACP
Anne Roiphe, an American Jewish journalist and author
Ms. Roiphe writes about many issues – including civil rights and Jewish relations with other communities, their collaborations and their struggles.
Jews and Justice is made possible by the David Berg foundation. | Files: | | Jewish Lawyers in the Civil Rights Movement | | Video | | Audio |
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| + | | A Special Performance from Marta Eggerth (June 3, 2007) - presented by LBI
Marta Eggerth was a child prodigy and remains a wonder of the 21st century. She was already one of the most popular stars of operetta movies in Germany and Austria when she made a film with the dashing singer and actor, Jan Kiepura. They fell in love, were married, and were welcomed through out Europe as a dazzling pair. After the Nazis came to power Marta’s Jewish extraction became an issue, leading them to emigrate to the United States. All these years later, Ms. Eggerth has not lost her voice, her glamour, or her popularity. Still singing to sold-out audiences. Leo Baeck Institute is delighted to host this concert for Ms. Eggerth. |
| + | | Are We a People: The Anomalies of Jewish Identity (February 20, 2007) - presented by YIVO
A People and Community of Faith; a Unique Coincidence of Nation and Religion
Considered one of America's pre-eminent political thinkers, Michael Walzer will offer new insights into age-old, provocative questions. How does being both affect how Jews describe and define themselves to themselves and others? In the diaspora and Israel, are the descriptions different? Given the new realities of the 21st century, what difficulties arise from these differences? | Files: | | Are We a People: The Anomalies of Jewish Identity | | Video | | Audio |
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| + | | Galicia Mon Amour: Leon Wieseltier in conversation with Daniel Mendelsohn (January 16, 2007) - presented by YIVO
Leon Wieseltier, author of Kaddish, and Literary Editor, The New Republic; Daniel Mendelsohn, author of THE LOST: A Search for Six Of Six Million, and Charles Ranlett Flint Professor of Humanities, Bard College.
For the first time last fall, Leon Wieseltier travelled to the remains of his parents' towns in Galicia. As it happens, Daniel Mendelsohn's family, also largely destroyed in the Holocaust, came from a town only a short distance away. These two distinguished Galicianers will discuss the torments and the exhilarations of their pilgrimages to the past, and compare notes on the ruins of their common origins.
Please Note: Only Simulcast Seats are available for this event. All Auditorium Seating is completely SOLD OUT. The Simulcast Seats will be set up outside of the auditorium and you will be able to view the lecture live via video feed in its entirety on a large screen. These tickets will be discounted at $10 for adults/seniors and $5 for students.
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| + | | Of War, Labor and Youth: The Talmud in Paris, 1968
One Hundred Years with Emmanuel Levinas (December 7, 2006) - presented by YUM and ASF
Placing Jewish ethics above all debates between the ‘religious’ and the ‘secular’, he drew wider global attention to classic rabbinic text, restoring it to its rightful place among the greatest achievements of human thought. Speakers: Richard Bernstein (The New School), Richard A. Cohen (University of North Carolina), Judith Friedlander (CUNY Grad Center), Warren Zeev Harvey (Hebrew University), Solomon Malka, (CUNY Graduate Center), Michael Smith (Berry College.)
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This centennial program was made possible through the support of the Gisella Levi Cahnman Seminar Fund and was co-presented by The Levinas Ethical Legacy Foundation in collaboration with the Association pour la Célébration du Centenaire d’Emmanuel Levinas (France) and the Centre Raïssa et Emmanuel Levinas, the American Sephardi Federation and the Yeshiva University Museum. | Files: | | Richard J. Bernstein, Vera List Professor of Philosophy at the New School For Social Research. | | Video | | | Warren Zeev Harvey, Hebrew University | | Video |
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| + | | Freud's Jewish World Conference (December 2, 2006) - presented by LBI and YIVO
YIVO, LBI and The Freud Archives invited an outstanding group of academics and psychoanalysts to consider Freud in the context of his upbringing, including the bourgeouis culture of Vienna in the early 20th century, the anti-Semitism of central Europe, and the overall anxiety of his time. | Files: | | Jill Salberg PhD: Hidden in plain Sight: Freud's Jewish Identity Revisited | | Video | | Audio | | | Respondent 1: Lewis Aron | | Video | | Audio | | | Respondent 2: Daniel Boyarin | | Video | | Audio | | | Opening Session Q & A | | Video | | Audio | | | Marsha Rozenblit: Assimilation and Affirmation: The Jews in Freud's Vienna | | Video | | Audio | | | Liliana Weissberg: Ariadne's Thread | | Video | | Audio | | | Q & A with Rozenblit and Weissberg | | Video | | Audio | | | Harold Blum: Antisemitism in Freud's Case Histories | | Video | | Audio | | | Joel Whitebook: Jacob's Ambivalent Legacy | | Video | | Audio | | | Eliza Slavet: Freud's Theory of Jewishness: For Better and For Worse | | | Ethan Kleinberg: Levinas and Freud: Talmud and Psychoanalysis Before the Letter | | Video | | Audio | | | Q & A with Whitebook, Slavet, and Kleinberg | | Video | | Audio | | | Mark Edmundson: Freud the Final Decade: Freud, Fundamentalism, and the Future | | Video | | Audio | | | Benigna Gerish: Leaving this World with Dignity: Psychoanalytic Considerations on Suicide in the Life and Work of Sigmund Freud | | Video | | Audio | | | Q & A with Edmundson and Gerish | | Video | | Audio | | | Mary Bergstein: Freud's Michelangelo: The Sculptural Meditations of a Hellenized Jew | | Video | | Audio | | | Abigail Gillman: Moses and Viennese Jewish Modernism | | Video | | Audio | | | Florence Friedman: Akhenaten, His Fathers and Freud | | Video | | Audio | | | Q & A with Bergstein, Gilman, and Friedman | | Video | | Audio | | | Sander Gilman: Freud's Nose Job: Jewish Bodies and the Turn-of-the Century Anxiety about Visibility | | Video | | Audio | | | Inge Sholz Strasser: Freud's Women, Patients, Colleagues and Confidants | | Video | | Audio | | | Leo Lensing: "Prayer Book of Cultured People Everywhere". Freud, Karl Kraus and The Neue Freie Presse | | Video | | Audio | | | Richard Armstrong: Marooned Mandarins: Freud, Classical Education and the Jews of Vienna | | Video | | Audio | | | Sharon Gillerman: A Talking Cure for Assimilation? Siegfried Bernfeld and the Politics of Jewish Orphan Care in Vienna | | Video | | Audio | | | Q & A with Strasser, Lensing, Armstrong, and Gillerman | | Video | | Audio | | | Conference Closing Remarks | | Video | | Audio |
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| + | | Between Klezmer and Sepharad: Meditations in Cartoon by Joann Sfar (November 8, 2006) - presented by ASF
After the success of "The Rabbi's Cat", Joann Sfar's new book, "Klezmer", explores the odds and ends of the Eastern European side of his family. "Klezmer" is profane, messy, and wildly enthusiastic, much like the music itself. It’s the story of Noah, who narrowly escapes the massacre of his bandmates by rival musicians, and goes on to put together a new band with some yeshiva students exiled for theft. Also in the tale is his voluptuous love interest, Chava and Tshokola, a less than truthful gypsy on the run from Cossacks. Mr. Sfar is interviewed by David Shasha, Director of the Center for Jewish Heritage. | Files: | | Part 1 (running time: 1 hour and 9 minutes) | | Audio | | | Part 2 (running time: 32 minutes) | | Audio |
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| + | | From Heretic to Hero: A Symposium on the Impact of Baruch Spinoza on the 350th Anniversary of his Excommunciation, 1656-2006 (October 29, 2006) - presented by YIVO
A one-day symposium presented by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research dedicated to exploring the historical reasons, and current implications, of what many scholars consider the most notorious and repercussive excommunication in all of Jewish history: the banishment of Baruch (Benedictus) Spinoza from the Jewish Community of Amsterdam in 1656.
This program was made possible in part by the New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. | Files: | | Dr. Carl Rheins: Symposium Opening Remarks | | Video | | Audio | | | Professor Allan Nadler: First Panel Chair | | Video | | Audio | | | Professor Steven Nadler: Why was Baruch Spinoza Excommunicated? | | Video | | Audio | | | Professor Steven Smith: How bad a Jew was Spinoza? | | Video | | Audio | | | Dr. Paul Glasser: Second Panel Chair | | Video | | Audio | | | Professor Allan Nadler: The Jewish Reincarnation of Spinoza in the Yiddish Imagination | | Video | | Audio | | | Professor Daniel Schwartz: Spinoza the 'First Modern Jew': Metamorphosis of an Image | | Video | | Audio | | | Brad Hill: Keynote Introduction | | Video | | Audio | | | Professor Jonathan Israel: Keynote Lecture: The Impact of Spinoza: A Retrospective View 350 Years Since the Cherem | | Video | | Audio |
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| + | | Jews and Money (October 24, 2006) - presented by YIVO
For centuries, Jews have been associated with capitalism and particularly with finance. The association has been both positive - a story of over-achievement in the face of discrimination - and negative - a source of fuel for anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Jewish power. Niall Ferguson, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History, Harvard University, Professor, Harvard Business School, is the author of The House of Rothschild and the forthcoming Warburg, as well as The Cash Nexus and, most recently, The War of the World which have dealt more generally with questions of money and power. Professor Ferguson is well placed to offer some new thoughts on an old and often vexed question. |
| + | | Morality and Strategy in the War on Terror: The Israeli Experience (October 10, 2006) - presented by YIVO
What are the moral limitations and challenges to fighting a war on terror? What are consequences of the enemy attacking one set of civilians and, by disguising itself within its own civilian population, completely obliterating the distinction between combatants and non-combatants? What can be learned, both morally and strategically, from ordinary war that is applicable to this very different condition? Moshe Halbertal, Professor of Philosophy, Hebrew University and Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute, will examine the approach adopted by the Israeli defense forces in facing these challenges, and the lessons that can be drawn -- perhaps, for the United States -- from this approach. |
| + | | Jewish Journalists, American Journalism (September 26, 2006) - presented by YIVO
With Franklin Foer, Editor, The New Republic; J.J. Goldberg, Editor in Chief, The Forward; Clyde Haberman, Columnist, "NYC", The New York Times; William Kristol, Editor, The Weekly Standard; and others. Moderated by David Margolick, Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair.
In the wake of events in the Middle East, explore with some of the most influential American Jewish journalists provocative questions. How do Jewish journalists respond to news with a Jewish interest? What are the pulls and tugs on them? Are Jewish journalists afraid/comfortable with stories with a Jewish angle? At one time "all" Jewish journalists were considered liberal. Is this so today? How does this impact their perspective on "Jewish" news? |
| + | | Jews, Genes, and Intelligence: Stephen Pinker (December 1, 2005) - presented by YIVO
This was a lecture prepared especially for the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research by the renowned psychologist and cognitive scientist, Steven Pinker, author of six books including The Blank Slate, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in non-fiction. A recently publicized study claims that Ashkenazi Jews have been biologically selected for high intelligence and tend to suffer genetic diseases as a by-product. Steven Pinker discussed this claim in the context of current debates on nature, nurture, intelligence and race. |
| + | | Jews and Medicine: In the Footsteps of Maimonides: the Jewish Doctor as Healer, Scientist and Intellectual (November 6, 2005) - presented by YIVO
This historic and groundbreaking multi-disciplinary national conference, presented by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, explored the distinctive history of Jews in medicine and their roles and responsibilities today. Some of the nation's most outstanding experts in medicine and related fields examined these issues. | Files: | | Jerome E. Groopman: Opening Remarks | | Video | | Audio | | | Sherwin B. Nuland: The Tradition of the Jewish Doctor | | Video | | Audio | | | Evelyn Gruss Lipper introduces Sidney Altman | | Video | | Audio | | | Sidney Altman: Jews as Scientists | | | Evelyn Gruss Lipper introduces Jerome E. Groopman | | Video | | Audio | | | Jerome E. Groopman: The Jewish Healer | | Video | | Audio | | | Q&A with Jerome E. Groopman, Sidney Altman, and Sherwin B. Nuland | | Video | | Audio | | | Milton Kramer introduces Regina Morantz-Sanchez | | Video | | Audio | | | Regina Morantz-Sanchez: What's Gender Got to do With It? | | Video | | Audio | | | Milton Kramer introduces Barbara E. Bierer | | Video | | Audio | | | Barbara E. Bierer: Medicine and a Jewish Woman | | Video | | Audio | | | Q&A with Regina Morantz-Sanchez and Barbara E. Bierer | | Video | | Audio | | | Richard C. Pasternak introduces Ezekiel Emanuel | | Video | | Audio | | | Ezekiel Emanuel: Medical Ethics from a Jewish Perspective | | Video | | Audio | | | Richard C. Pasternak introduces Jonathan David Lear | | Video | | Audio | | | Jonathan David Lear: The Jewish Relationship to Psychoanalysis | | Video | | Audio | | | Q&A with Ezekiel Emanuel and Jonathan David Lear | | Video | | Audio | | | Martin Peretz introduces Andrew R. Marks | | Video | | Audio | | | Andrew R. Marks: Counteracting the Boycott of Israeli Academics | | Video | | Audio | | | Andrew R. Marks: Counteracting the Boycott of Israeli Academics | | Video | | Audio |
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| + | | Luminous Manuscript (August 12, 2005) - presented by CJH
Diane Samuels, a Pittsburgh-based artist, believes that her mosaic Luminous Manuscript serves as a metaphoric table of contents and preface to the Center as a whole. Her artwork contains 80,500 pieces of glass and 440 underlying stone tiles. The tiles include 112,640 individual alphabet characters from 57 writing systems, collected from the handwriting samples of over 500 members of the Center for Jewish History's community. Samuels chose the distinctive graphic layout of a page from the Talmud on which alphabetic characters signify the infinite possibilities of language available through the combination and recombination of signs and symbols. The artist's work of enormous complexity and astonishing beauty puts Jewish history into a true artistic form, a sort of metaphor for the myriad possibilities of interpreting the signs and symbols of human communication to honor history and memory, and create many new meanings. |
| + | | Jewish Costumes in the Ottoman Empire (March 31, 2004) - presented by ASF
On March 31st the Consul General of Turkey in New York and the American Sephardi Federation in collaboration with the Jewish Community of Turkey and The Assembly of Turkish American Associations presented an evening of Sephardi history in the Ottoman Empire. Aron Rodrigue, Stanford University, and Eva Chernov Lokey Professor in Jewish Studies spoke about the history and culture of the Sephardi Jews of the Ottoman Empire, the arrival of sephardim in Ottoman lands, their place in Ottoman society, the evolution of their communities, and their socio-cultural transformation in the modern period. Vivian B. Mann, Morris & Eva Field Chair in Judaica at the Jewish Museum in New York spoke about clothing worn on ceremonial occasions and its afterlife. | Files: | | Jewish Costumes in the Ottoman Empire | | Video |
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| + | | International Justice After Nuremburg: Should the U.S. Participate in the International Criminal Court? (March 11, 2004) - presented by LBI
Mr. Rostow is General Counsel and Senior Policy Adviser to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. In that capacity he is constantly being asked why, in the aftermath of Nuremberg, has the United States refused to participate in the International Criminal Court which, unlike the International Court of Justice at the Hague, can bring individuals, and not just nations, to justice. What makes the United States so reluctant to join a court that is supported by so many other nations? | Files: | | Nicholas Rostow | | Video |
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| + | | Just and Unjust Wars: Catholic and Jewish Perspectives (March 9, 2004) - presented by AJHS
A symposium discussion of the religious perspectives of Catholic and Jewish standards by which 'Just and Unjust Wars are Distinguished' took place at the Center for Jewish History. This event was moderated by Joseph Becker, Vice Chair of the CJH Board of Directors, and featured an exchange of ideas between Father Drew Christiansen, S.J. the associate editor of America Magazine; Darrell Cole, professor of religion at Drew University; and Suzanne Last Stone, professor of law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. | Files: | | Just and Unjust Wars | | Video |
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| + | | Jews & Justice: Mel Gibson's The Passion (February 26, 2004) - presented by AJHS
Religion, Responsibilities and Relations: Responses to Mel Gibson's The Passion, has raised serious issues in the Jewish, Christian, academic and artistic communities. Speakers include, Professor Paula Fredriksen, the William Goodwin Aurelio Professor of the Appreciation of Scripture at Boston University and author of the article, Mad Mel: The Gospel According to Gibson featured in The New Republic; Rabbi Dr. Eugene Korn, convener of the scholars' commission to study the screenplay of The Passion and consultant on Jewish-Christian relations; Sister Mary Boys, the Skinner and McAlpin Professor of Practical Theology at the Union Theological Seminary and Dr. Deal W. Hudson, Publisher, Crisis Magazine, Washington, D.C. | Files: | | Religion, Responsibilities and Relations: Responses to Mel Gibson's, The Passion | | Video |
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| + | | Writing as Roots: The Jewish Writer in the 21st Century: What's Left To Say? (January 26, 2004) - presented by AJHS
A panel discussion featuring Tony Kushner, Samuel G. Freedman and Helen Freedman. Joseph Berger moderated this discussion.
Joseph Berger, New York Times reporter, and author of Displaced Persons: Growing Up American After the Holocaust.
Tony Kushner is the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright of Angels in America. In addition to his work in the theater, he is author of numerous essays on topics ranging from bigotry, to war, to faith, and to love, as well as tackling such contemporary topics as AIDS and gay rights.
Samuel G. Freedman, A former reporter for the New York Times, and author of four acclaimed books, his most recent Jew vs. Jew: The Struggle for the Soul of American Jewry. He is a tenured professor at the Columbia University School of Journalism.
Helen Epstein is a former journalist, and author of five books of literary non-fiction, the most recent being Where She Came From: A DaughterÂ’s Search for Her Mother's History. She is on the faculty at of the Prague Summer Seminars and affiliated with Harvard University and Brandeis University. | Files: | | Writing as Roots | | Video |
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| + | | Parallel Lives: Commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 13, 2004) - presented by AJHS
A conversation, "Parallel Lives: Growing Up Black and Jewish in the Mississippi Delta in the 1950s," a commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Taking part in the celebration are two authors from the Delta region of Mississippi Clifton Taulbert and Eugene Dattel. | Files: | | Growing Up Black & Jewish in the Mississippi Delta in the 1950s | | Video |
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| + | | More Than A Life (October 15, 2003) - presented by LBI
Richard Sonnenfeldt, chief interpreter and youngest member of the American prosecution team at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial, has just completed an extraordinary memoir. Beginning with his escape from Nazi Germany at age 15 to his schooling in England, his deportation to Australia, and his arrival in New York via Bombay, South Africa, and Cuba, this is an amazing story. Mr. Sonnenfeldt spoke to all defendants and most key witnesses in the Nuremburg Trials. As chief of the interpretation section, he had conversations with everyone from Hermann Goering to Hitler's secretary. Returning to America after the war, Mr. Sonnenfeldt studied electric engineering at John Hopkins University. He became a principal developer of color television, computer and space electronics, and received 35 U.S. patents. | Files: | | Richard Sonnenfeldt | | Video |
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| + | | Old Demons New Debates: Anti-Semitism in the West (May 11, 2003) - presented by YIVO
A series of panel discussions in response to the swift and chilling rise of anti-Semitism in the West, particularly in Europe. This conference sought to elucidate the causes of the recent hatred shown towards Jewish people. Moderators: Martin Peretz, The New Republic, Leon Wieseltier, The New Republic and Leon Botstein. Over 30 leading scholars, authors and journalists from North America, Israel and Europe participated in panel discussions. | Files: | | The Plenary Session: Leon Wieseltier | | Audio | | | The Plenary Session: Alain Finkielkraut | | Audio | | | The Plenary Session: Simon Schama | | Audio | | | The Plenary Session: Q & A | | Audio | | | What's Old, What's New: Hillel Halkin | | Audio | | | What's Old, What's New: Pierre Birnbaum | | Audio | | | What's Old, What's New: Prof. Carlebach | | Audio | | | What's Old, What's New: Q & A | | Audio | | | Anti-Semitism in the Americas: Henry Louis Gates, Jr. | | Audio | | | Anti-Semitism in the Americas: Nathan Glazer | | Audio | | | Anti-Semitism in the Americas: Enrique Krauze | | Audio | | | Anti-Semitism in the Americas: Q & A | | Audio | | | Anti-Semitism & Anti-Democracy: Paul Berman | | Audio | | | Anti-Semitism & Anti-Democracy: Christopher Caldwell | | Audio | | | Anti-Semitism & Anti-Democracy: Josef Joffe | | Audio | | | Anti-Semitism & Anti-Democracy: Q & A | | Audio | | | The Problem of Otherness: Ian Buruma | | Audio | | | The Problem of Otherness: Jane Kramer | | Audio | | | The Problem of Otherness: Azar Nafisi | | Audio | | | The Problem of Otherness: Q & A | | Audio | | | European Intellectuals: Anthony Julius | | Audio | | | European Intellectuals: Jaroslaw Anders | | Audio | | | European Intellectuals: Mark Lilla | | Audio | | | European Intellectuals: Q & A | | Audio | | | Jewish Responses: Mortimer Zuckerman | | Audio | | | Jewish Responses: David Harris | | Audio | | | Jewish Responses: Konstanty Gebert | | Audio | | | Jewish Responses: Abraham Foxman | | Audio | | | Jewish Responses: Q & A | | Audio | | | Anti-Semitism After the Holocaust: Deborah Lipstadt | | Audio | | | Anti-Semitism After the Holocaust: David Kertzer | | Audio | | | Anti-Semitism After the Holocaust: Daniel Jonah Goldhagen | | Audio | | | Anti-Semitism After the Holocaust: Q & A | | | Anti-Semitism, Anti-Zionism, & Israel: Martin Peretz | | Audio | | | Anti-Semitism, Anti-Zionism, & Israel: David Pryce-Jones | | Audio | | | Anti-Semitism, Anti-Zionism, & Israel: Fiamma Nirenstein | | Audio | | | Anti-Semitism, Anti-Zionism, & Israel: Irwin Cotler | | Audio | | | Anti-Semitism, Anti-Zionism, & Israel: Robert Wistrich | | Audio | | | Anti-Semitism, Anti-Zionism, & Israel: Q & A | | Audio |
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| + | | A Little More Than 60 Minutes with Mike Wallace (April 30, 2003) - presented by AJHS
A dialogue between Rabbi William Berkowitz and co-Editor of CBS News 60 Minutes, Mike Wallace at the Center for Jewish History. | Files: | | Mike Wallace | | Video |
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| + | | Elie Wiesel (March 19, 2003) - presented by AJHS
A dialogue between Rabbi William Berkowitz and renowned author Elie Wiesel. In freewheeling interviews, Rabbi Berkowitz poses questions that have not been seen or reviewed by his guests before the event. He probed Elie Wiesel's views on recent topics such as Anti-Semitic attacks, the latest headlines on Israel and the Palestinians and life in the 21st-Century post-Holocaust period. |
| + | | Jewish Lawyers and Justice with Alan Dershowitz (March 10, 2003) - presented by AJHS
This program explored distinctive concerns for justice arising from Judaism and its history and traditions, and considered whether those concerns have special implications for the work of Jewish lawyers. | Files: | | Jewish Lawyers and Justice | | Video |
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| + | | Oh, Fortuna (December 9, 2002) - presented by CJH
Renowned Brazilian vocalist, Fortuna performed a series songs in Ladino; or Djudeo Espanyol as it is also often referred. Fortuna’s strong and melodious voice unravels colors and stories from the most genuine Sephardic tradition. The repertoire she selected for this concert will showcase popular Sephardic ballads and liturgical chants. |
| + | | A Night on the Couch with Dr. Ruth Westheimer (December 4, 2002) - presented by AJHS
Dr. Ruth Westheimer, famed sex therapist, was the guest of Rabbi William Berkowitz, as part of the Dialogue Forum Series. | Files: | | A Night on the Couch | | Video |
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| + | | Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg (November 5, 2002) - presented by AJHS
Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg was the guest of Rabbi William Berkowitz, as part of the Dialogue Forum Series. | Files: | | Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg | | Video |
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| + | | Shimon Peres (September 12, 2002) - presented by AJHS
Shimon Peres, Israel's Foreign Minister and a major figure in the Israeli government for half a century, was the guest of Rabbi William Berkowitz, as part of the Dialogue Forum Series, presented in association with the American Jewish Historical Society, at the Center for Jewish History. | Files: | | Hon. Shimon Peres | | Video |
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| + | | Days of Awe: Personal Reflections from Ground Zero by the Jewish Chaplains (September 11, 2002) - presented by CJH
Rabbi Jacob Goldstein, State Staff Chaplain of the New York Army National Guard; Rabbi Alvin Kass, New York City Police Chaplain; and Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, New York City Fire Department Chaplain, gathered at the Center for Jewish History, to reflect on the year that has passed, the tragedy that was, and the future that may be. | Files: | | Reflections from Ground Zero | | Video |
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| + | | Israel as a Democratic State (September 9, 2002) - presented by AJHS
Aharon Barak, President of the Supreme Court of Israel, spoke on Israel as a Jewish and a Democratic State, before a sold-out house at the Center for Jewish History. | Files: | | Israel as a Jewish and Democratic State | | Video |
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| + | | Center for Jewish History Opening (October 29, 2000) - presented by CJH
Dr. Leon Botstein, president of Bard College, was the keynote speaker at the Opening Gala. Dr. Botstein paid tribute to the vision and tenacity that spearheaded the creation of the Center for Jewish History, and then spoke about the Center's importance to the Jewish and wider world. | Files: | | Gala Opening Keynote Address | | Video |
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