Past Events 2017-2018

ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ Peak to Peak Lecture in Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Does God Make Mistakes?

and

Does Christianity Matter for Judaism - and Vice Versa?

August 18 and 19, 2017

Spiritual Life Center at the Heart of SteamboatÌýUnited Methodist Church |Ìý736 Oak Street, Steamboat Springs, CO 80487


The University of Colorado Boulder’s Peak to Peak Lecture Series presented two opportunities to learnÌýwith ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ professor, Elias Sacks, August 18 and 19, 2017 in Steamboat Spring, Colorado. Both eventsÌýtook place at the Spiritual Life Center at the Heart of Steamboat-United Methodist Church.

Does God Make Mistakes? Should God Repent?
Friday, August 18, 2017, at 5 p.m.

The High Holidays are a time when Jews gather together to reflect on their lives, engage inÌý³Ù±ð²õ³ó³Ü±¹²¹³óÌý(repentance), and vow to doÌýbetter.ÌýBut are people the only ones called to repent? Does God also make mistakes?ÌýIf so, does God have to repent?ÌýAs we enterÌýthe High Holiday season, we will explore ancient and modern views on these questions, asking whether God, too, has regrets andÌýshould be engaging in repentance alongside us. This event is cosponsored by Har Mishpacha.

Does Christianity Matter for Judaism – and Vice Versa?
Saturday, August 19, 2017, at 3 p.m.

What can Christians learn from Judaism, and what can Jews learnÌýfrom Christianity?ÌýWhat do we have to gain from inter-religiousÌýdialogue,Ìýand what challenges can such conversations pose? We will explore diverseÌýanswers to these questions, wrestling withÌýsources from the New Testament toÌýworks of post-Holocaust theology. This event is cosponsored by Har Mishpacha and the United Methodist Church of Steamboat Springs.


Professor Elias Sacks

Elias Sacks is an assistant professor of Jewish Studies and Religious Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. He works on the Jewish tradition, religious thought, and theories and methods in the study of religion. After receiving his bachelor's degree from Harvard University and studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he earned a master's degreeÌýin Religion from Columbia University and a doctorate in Religion from Princeton University. His research focuses on the modern period, with particular areas of interest including Jewish thought, Jewish-Christian relations, philosophy of religion, religion and politics, hermeneutics, and religious ethics.

These events wereÌýsupported by and the , in partnership with the ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ Program in Jewish Studies and the . They are part of the ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ Peak to Peak Lecture Series, a program that brings ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ humanities scholars to communities around Colorado to share innovative perspectives of historical figures, events and enduring questions.

ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ Peak to Peak Lecture in Alamosa, Colorado

Jewish Pride and Muslim Prejudice in 11th-Century Islamic Spain
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featuringÌýProfessor Brian CatlosÌýinÌýAlamosa, Colorado
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Wednesday, September 13, 2017 |Ìý7:00PM - 8:00PM

Adams State University | Alamosa, CO 81101


The University of Colorado Boulder’s and Adams State University's Ìýpresented a riveting lecture with Professor Brian Catlos onÌýSeptember 13 in Alamosa, Colorado. This event was open to the public and took place on the Adams State University campus.
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Catlos’s talk explored Jewish and Muslim relations in 11th-century Islamic Spain. One night in 1066, it is said, the Muslim inhabitants of the city of Granada rose up and slaughtered their Jewish neighbors in what has been described by some as the first pogrom on European soil. Peeling back the layers of history reveals a much more complex story, one that has been subject to embellishment and misinterpretation. InÌýa society framed by religious hierarchies, the rhetoric of religion often became the language of politics. Ultimately it is a story less about prejudice than politics, about a world in which Muslims and Jews were profoundly and deeply connected, and of a massacre that may never have happened.
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Professor Brian Catlos

Brian CatlosÌýis a professor of religious studies at CUÌýBoulder and is one of the world’s leading figures in the study of Mediterranean history.ÌýHisÌýwork centers on Muslim-Christian-Jewish relations and ethno-religious identity in medieval Europe and the Islamic World. In 2014, he publishedÌý,Ìýas well asÌý,Ìýwhich won theÌý, the most important award in the field of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies.ÌýHis nextÌýbook,ÌýKingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain,Ìýwill be published in the spring of 2018 by Basic Books.


This lecture was hosted by Ìýin partnership with the ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ Program in Jewish Studies and the . It was part of the ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ Peak to Peak Lecture Series, a program that brings ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ humanities scholars to communities around Colorado to share innovative perspectives on historical figures, events, and enduring questions. It was also part of the Adams State Faculty Lecture Series.​

The Yellow Ticket Film Screening

The Yellow Ticket Film Screening
andÌýFilm Score Performance with Alicia Svigals and Marilyn Lerner

Friday, September 15 |Ìý8:00 - 10:30 PM
Dairy Arts Center |Ìý2590 Walnut Street, Boulder, CO 80302



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Yellow Ticket with Alicia Svigals live in Vancouver. Photo Credit: Chris Randle

The University of Colorado Boulder and the Ìýwere pleased to present a screening of a rare 1918 silent film, The Yellow Ticket, accompanied by an original film score composed and performed live by klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals with jazz pianist Marilyn Lerner. The screening, which was part of the CU at the Dairy series, took place on Friday, September 15, at 8:00 PM at the Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder, Colorado. It was followed by a panel discussion with the performers and ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ faculty members.

The Yellow Ticket tells the story of a young Jewish woman from a Polish shtetl whoÌýis forced by anti-Semitic laws and customs toÌýto lead a double life in a brothel while attempting to study medicine in Tsarist, Russia. The film, which was made at the end of World War I on the eve of the Russian revolution, also includes precious footage of the former Jewish quarter of Warsaw and the people who once lived there. Notably, it stars an adolescent Pola Negri, who would later become the legendary femme fatale of the silent era.

The film was accompanied by an original film score composed and performed by Alicia Svigals, the world’s foremost klezmer fiddler, withÌýMarilyn Lerner, Toronto’s virtuoso new-music pianist. Svigals is a violinist and composer who co-founded the Grammy-winning band The Klezmatics and was a 2014 NEA MacDowell Fellow in composition. Lerner, a jazz pianist, has garnered recognition including Best Western Jazz Recording 2004 and the Montreal International Jazz Festival award for Best Composition. Together they perform this multimedia event across college campuses and festivals.Ìý

A panel discussion followed the film, featuring Svigals and Learner alongside ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ faculty membersÌý, Associate Professor of Music Theory and Jewish Studies,Ìý, Assistant Professor of Violin, and , Louis P. Singer Endowed Chair in Jewish History, Chair of the Department of Religious Studies, and Professor of History, Religious Studies, and Jewish Studies.

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Alicia Svigals performing on violin

Alicia Svigals is aÌýviolinist, composer and vocalist from New York. She is the world's leading klezmer fiddler and a founder of the Grammy-winning band The Klezmatics. Svigals is the recipient of the Foundation for Jewish Culture's 2013 New Jewish Culture Network commission for her new score to The Yellow Ticket.ÌýShe is currently working on the score to a feature film based on Gertrude Stein’s novellaÌýBrewsie and Willie,Ìýand is collaborating with author Sarah Schulman on a musical based on Isaac Bashevis Singer’s novelÌýEnemies, A Love Story.ÌýInÌý2014, Svigals was a NEA MacDowell Fellow in composition.
Photo Credit: Tina Chaden

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Marilyn Lerner performing on piano

Marilyn Lerner is a jazz pianist from Montreal. Her work spans the worlds of jazz, creative improvisation, klezmer and 20th century classical music.ÌýLerner's original music received the Montreal International Jazz Festival award for best composition. Other recordings have garnered recognition such as Best Western Jazz RecordingÌýfor her duo with legendary guitarist Sonny Greenwich. Additionally, LernerÌýconducts workshops on improvisation and on Jewish music.
Photo Credit: Boris Iskovitch


The Yellow Ticket film screening was part of the CU @ The Dairy series, a new collaboration between the Dairy Arts Center and the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Music.ÌýThis screening was supported by the the , theÌý, theÌý, and the .

Event Photo Credit: Chris Randle

Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections Symposium

Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections Student Fellow Symposium

Monday, September 18, 2017Ìý| 12:00 - 1:30 PM
OpenÌýto CU Faculty, Staff, and Students

The Program in Jewish Studies and the University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives celebratedÌýthe achievements of three graduate student fellows, Adi Nester, Amber Manning, and Jason Hogstad, who presented their research projects on materials in the Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections. During the summer, these studentsÌýworked with archivists in the PHAJ collections learning archival processing techniques. They also researched, designed, and curated their own projects and exhibits using the materials from the collections. In addition to publishing online, theyÌýpresented their projects and findings at this symposium.ÌýThisÌýevent took place on Monday, September 18 from 12:00 -Ìý1:30 PM.

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Adi Nester

Adi Nester

The Program as Advertisement: Art and Propaganda in Concert and Theater Programs, Exhibition Catalogues, and Brochures in Germany 1913-1961 (The Richard E. Campbell Collection)

The holds materials related to Germany's cultural history from the early 1910s to the beginning of the 1990s. Among these materials is a significant number of programs, catalogues, and brochures from concerts, opera and theater performances, art exhibitions, and book fairs. The majority of these documents is from cultural events that took place between 1933 and 1945 in Germany although some items go back as early as World War I and further into the 1960s. Adi Nester's project offers a curated collection of these programs, brochures, and catalogues from before, during, and shortly after the period of Nazi regime in Germany. It presents these items in an interactive online exhibit that progresses chronologically from 1913 to 1961. The aim of the project is to explore the medium of the program, brochure, or catalogue as an instrument that reflects the social and ideological tendencies of its time. With the inclusion of related, supporting documents such as newspaper clippings, letters, and posters, (which are also part of the Richard Campbell Collection) this curated collection invites us to contemplate the various ways in which these different documents served as carriers of ideology even when they conveyed nothing more than "mere" titles and names.

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Amber Manning

Amber Manning

Women, Empowerment, and Midrash: An Examination of the Institute for Contemporary Midrash Records

In a letter of endorsement for the Institute for Contemporary Midrash (written after participating in a midrash training), Rosalind Glazer claims, simply, "for women–midrash matters" (Box 12, ICMR). In her archive exhibit on the , Amber Manning seeks to examine and uncover why midrash is so important to and for women. Overall, documents from the collection indicate that contemporary midrash, both as a process and a product, creates a community for women, a community that facilitates a deeper relationship with the Torah, with Judaism, and with other women.Ìý

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Jason Hogstad

Jason Hogstad

Practicing Imperfection:ÌýA Zen Rabbi and the Limits of Historical Inquiry

Using materials found in the , Jason Hogstad created anÌýonline exhibit, titled "Practicing Imperfection: A Zen Rabbi and the Limits of Historical Inquiry,"Ìýthat encourages audiences to evaluate how we use history to understand and discuss deeply religious experiences and lives. As a young man, Alan Lew (1943-2009) felt little connection with his Jewish faith, and after decades of searching, found a spiritual home in the meditative practice and mysticism of Zen Buddhism. By the 1980s, however, Lew wanted to reconnect with his Jewish roots and studied as a rabbi so that he could incorporate meditation into Jewish spiritual practice. His life was characterized by his desire to embrace what he described as a "realm beyond language." Here, then, is the problem with which this exhibit wrestles: history relies upon language to make sense of the past. Alan Lew, however, was not a fan of history, suggesting that it reduced people and experiences to intellectual arguments. Lew was right, at least in part. "Practicing Imperfection" asks audiences to think about how we can make sense of the life of Alan Lew, and in doing so, to wrestle with the limits of historical inquiry he identified.

Amber Manning and Adi NesterÌýwere supported byÌý, andÌýJason HogstadÌýwas supported by aÌý.ÌýGraduate students: Interested in applying? Applications for Summer 2018 archive fellowshipsÌýwill openÌýSpring 2018!


Learn more about the Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections

The Program in Jewish Studies and University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives areÌýbuilding a collection of archival holdings focused on Judaism andÌýthe Jewish-American experience fromÌýroughly the late 1940s to the present.Ìý

The Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections exist to document the work of the individuals and groups, who transformed and in many cases are still transforming the American Jewish experience in the post-World War II period, and to make that experience accessible to students, researchers, and interested parties of all kinds.Ìý

SHE: Embodied Judaism Symposium & Exhibit

SHE
SHE: Third Biannual Embodied Judaism Symposium and Exhibit
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Thursday, November 2, 2017 @ 5:00PM - 7:00PM
British and Irish Studies Room, M549,ÌýNorlin Library | ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ campus

Who is She? The Shekhinah, which derives from the Hebrew wordÌýfor "dwell or settle," is a feminine divine presence, guiding and protecting men and women everywhere. She is power, wisdom, and compassion and has influenced Jews from the ancient world through Second and Third Wave feminism and into the transgender and environmental concerns of the present day. Who is She, how has She empowered us, and how doesÌýShe appear to us today?

SHE, the third biannual Embodied Judaism Symposium, explored the concept ofÌýShekhinah, drawing on materials in the Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections held at the University of Colorado Boulder. The symposium featured insight and embodied presentations byÌý,Ìý, andÌýProfessor Samuel BoydÌýas well as an original performance from dancer and choreographerÌý.ÌýThe symposium was accompanied by an exhibit exploring the concept of Shekhinah, which was be on display in ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ's NorlinÌýLibrary.

The 2017 symposium and exhibit were hosted by the Program in Jewish Studies and the University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives andÌýmade possible by support from Rose Community Foundation,Ìýa Research andÌýInnovative Seed Grant, and CU's Departments of Philosophy, History, Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, Theatre and Dance, Religious Studies, English, and Women and Gender Studies.

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SHE
2017 Embodied Judaism Presentations

Professor Samuel Boyd: "Herstory":ÌýA Brief History of the Shekhinah

Boyd explored the historical backgrounds of the Shekhinah, showing how the concept of female divine presence appears in ancient Near Eastern texts, iconography, and religious practice. He traced this cultural background in the biblical texts, particularly Deuteronomy, and showed how conceptions of the Shekhinah evolved into early Judaism.

Samuel BoydÌýis an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Jewish Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder andÌýa scholar of biblical texts and the ancient Near East. He researches the Bible through various critical methods and in light of wider historical contexts to understand both the production of these documents as well as their history of interpretation.Ìý His particular areas of research include the development of the Pentateuch (or first five books of the Hebrew Bible), legal hermeneutics in the ancient Near East, language ideology in the ancient world, and ritual theory applied to biblical texts.


Rabbi Dr. Tirzah Firestone:ÌýShe Who Dwells Below

Firestone spoke on how, for over 2,000 years, feminine wisdom flowed through Jewish history like an underground river. Submerged by a dominant ethic that ignored her riches and refused her power, She spoke to those who were attuned only.ÌýIn our day, this mythic face of divinity refuses to be ignored. She rises to the surface, embodied and unequivocal, breaking up old paradigms of understanding and demanding our attention.

, was ordained by Reb Zalman Shachter Shalomi (of blessed memory) in 1992, and is the founding rabbi of Congregation Nevei Kodesh, Jewish Renewal Community of Boulder. FirestoneÌýis a Jungian psychologist and author, currently at work on a book about the healing of intergenerational trauma. She is widely known for her work on the confluence of Kabbalah and psychology and the re-integration of the feminine wisdom tradition within Judaism.




Robert Sher-Machherndl:ÌýGrasping Aspects of Shekhinah by Generating Movement Phrases

The aim of Sher-Machherndl’s originally choreographed piece was to embody co-existing female and male energies as they relate to the curious mythology of Shekhinah.ÌýSher-MachherndlÌýbelieves these elements have a constant presence in his choreography and performance, therefore key to the creative process.ÌýHe was accompanied by Bailey Harper.

Internationally recognized choreographer was born inÌýVienna, Austria and has been granted the US visa ‘Alien of Extraordinary Ability’.Ìý He’s been principal dancer with Dutch National Ballet, Bavarian State Ballet and Nederlands Dance Theater, co-director of Salzburg Ballet and assistant artistic director at Scapino Ballet Rotterdam. He has choreographed forÌýVienna State Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Bavarian State Ballet, Scapino Ballet, Salzburg Ballet, Lines Ballet BFA, Denver Arts & Venues, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, Santa Fe Dance Festival, Ballet Next and more, and he has taught at numerous dance institutions and universities.Ìý He’s been named ‘Dance Person of the Year’ by the Denver Post, a four-time winner of New York Ballet Builders Award, and was featured on the MTV Emmy Award winning series MADE.ÌýÌýSher-MachherndlÌýis a founder of the acclaimed Lemon Sponge Cake Contemporary Ballet where he’s choreographed many new works and established a variety of educational programs.

Sher-Machherndl was accompanied by professional dancer, Bailey Harper.ÌýHarper, a Louisiana native and graduate of the University of Alabama, has been a professional dancer for almost ten years. She has danced with several different companies including the Montgomery Ballet, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Hannah Khan Dance Company, and many other choreographic projects.Ìý Harper is finding that each company brings the opportunity to explore a new dance style, a deeper understanding of movement, and a more authentic performance experience. Currently, she is collaborating with Lemon Sponge Cake Contemporary Ballet and focusing on self-producing art projects.Ìý






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Professor Joy Ladin: When I Grow Up, I Want to Be the Shekhinah: An Annotated Poetry Reading

Ladin read and discuss poems that dramatize the role of the Shekhinah in her gender transition, her development as a poet, and her growth as human being.

holds the Gottesman Chair in English at Yeshiva University. She is the author of seven books of poetry, including Lambda Literary Award finalists ImpersonationÌýandÌýTransmigration; two new collections, Fireworks in the Graveyard (Headmistress Press) andÌýThe Future is Trying to Tell Us Something: New and Selected PoemsÌý(Sheep Meadow Press) are coming out in 2017. A work of creative non-fiction,ÌýThe Soul of the Stranger, about reading the Torah from a transgender perspective, is due out in 2018 from Brandeis University Press.ÌýHer memoir of gender transition, Through the Door of Life,Ìýwas a 2012 National Jewish Book Award finalist.ÌýHerÌýwork has been recognized with a National Endowment of the Arts fellowship and a Fulbright Scholarship, among other honors. Her poems and essays are available atÌý.

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ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ the Embodied Judaism Series

, held biannually on the University of Colorado Boulder campus,Ìýdraws on materials housed in the to explore the role of the body in Jewish life through public symposiumsÌýfeaturing academic scholars, prominent practitioners, and artistic performers, and multimedia exhibits aimed at academic and non-academic audiences. It is a partnership between the Program in Jewish Studies, University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives, and cosponsors.


SHE: Embodied Judaism SymposiumÌýis part of the Community Talks Series,Ìýmade possible in part by a grantÌýfrom Rose Community Foundation.ÌýA subscription series, Community Talks features nationally and internationally renowned scholars, authors, artists, and performers for themed public events with the goal of enriching community learning and expanding access to academic programming on Jewish culture and history. Ìý

2018 Annual Holocaust Lecture

Inheritance Trouble:ÌýMigrant Archives of Holocaust Remembrance

2018 Annual Holocaust LectureÌýwith Professor Michael Rothberg

In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27

Thursday, January 25, 2018Ìý| 7:00PM - 8:30PM
Old Main Theater | ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ campus


Michael Rothberg

How should we think about the transmission of Holocaust memory more than seventy years after the defeat of Nazi Germany? What lessons do the events of the Shoah bear for a moment in which far-right political movements are once again on the rise? In order to address such questions, ProfessorÌýMichael Rothberg considered immigrants’ engagement with the Holocaust in contemporary Germany. The works of art, literature, and performance that he discussed modeledÌýalternative ways of remembering the Nazi genocide in the twenty-first century and suggested possibilities for an ethically and politically engaged memory work.

Professor Rothberg's lecture was presentedÌýin honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27.

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ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ Professor Michael Rothberg

is the 1939 Society Samuel Goetz Chair in Holocaust Studies and Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles. His latest book is Multidirectional Memory: Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of Decolonization (2009), published by Stanford University Press in their “Cultural Memory in the Present� series. He is also the author of Traumatic Realism: The Demands of Holocaust Representation (2000), and has co-edited The Holocaust: Theoretical Readings (2003) and special issues of the journals Criticism, Interventions, Occasion, and Yale French Studies. He is currently completing The Implicated Subject: Beyond Victims and Perpetrators and Inheritance Trouble: Migrant Archives of Holocaust Remembrance (with Yasemin Yildiz).


The Implicated Subject

Graduate Student & Faculty Colloquium with Professor Michael Rothberg

Thursday, January 25, 2018Ìý| 11:30AM - 1:00PM
Please RSVP for location and pre-circulated reading.
ÌýLunch will be served. RSVP to CUJewishStudies@colorado.edu.
Open to CU Faculty, Staff, and Students.Ìý

Kentridge - Mine

In this colloquium, Professor Michael Rothberg explored issues raised by his forthcoming bookÌýThe Implicated Subject, which addresses questions of historical and political responsibility beyond the categories of victims and perpetrators. The book considers a variety of cases taken from diverse historical and geographical settings: from the legacies of the Holocaust, transatlantic slavery, and South African apartheid to diasporic engagement with Israel/Palestine and internationalist solidarity with Kurdistan and Vietnam.Ìý

Based on a draft excerpt from the book's introduction, we discussed the concepts of "implication" and the "implicated subject," which are attempts to theorize how we are connected to historical and contemporary forms of violence that may appear distant from us. This excerpt takes up responses to the murder of Trayvon Martin as well as theories of responsibility in the work of Primo Levi, Karl Jaspers, and Hannah Arendt.


This event was cosponsored by the Department of Anthropology, Department of Germanic & Slavic Languages & Literatures, and the University Libraries at the University of Colorado Boulder.

2018 Visiting Author

Paradise Lost and Found

How a Jewish Kid from Los Angeles Traveled to Wartime Iraq in Search of Roots, Reconciliation and His Father's Improbable Life Story

An Evening with Award-Winning Author and Journalist, Ariel Sabar

Thursday, February 8, 2018Ìý| 7:00PM - 8:30PM
Old Main Theater | ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ campus

My Father's Paradise Book Cover

Growing up in materialistic 1980s Los Angeles, Ariel Sabar's life seemed a far cry from his father's. Yona Sabar, Ariel's father, was a distinguished professor at UCLA and one of the world’s foremost experts on Aramaic, the 3,000-year-old language of the Jewish Talmud — and of Jesus. But Ariel saw his father as a stone-age relic, a walking fashion tragedy who couldn’t get his clothes to match and refused to see a barber about his out-of-control, Einstein-like hair.ÌýYona had been born in an ancient village of Aramaic-speaking Jews inÌýthe mountains of Kurdish Iraq—the oldest corner of the Jewish diaspora — but for Ariel, his father might as well have been born on the moon.ÌýThen Ariel had his own son, and everything changed.

In his talk, Ariel weaved together the remarkable story of the Kurdish Jews and their Aramaic tongue with the moving tale of how a consummate California kid came to write a book about his family’s Kurdish roots. The book,ÌýMy Father’s Paradise: A Son’s Search for his Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography, one of the highest honors in American letters.Ìý

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ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ Ariel Sabar

won the National Book Critics Circle Award for his debut book, My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for his Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq (2008).ÌýHis second book, Heart of the City (2011), was called a "beguiling romp" (New York Times) and an "engaging, moving and lively read" (Toronto Star).ÌýHis Kindle Single,ÌýThe Outsider: The Life and Times of Roger BarkerÌý(2014), was a best-selling nonfiction short.Ìý

Sabar is also an award-winning journalist whose work hasÌýappeared in theÌýNew York Times, The Atlantic, Harper's,ÌýWashington Post, Boston Globe, Mother Jones,ÌýandÌýThis American Life,Ìýamong many other places. HeÌýgraduatedÌýmagna cum laude fromÌýBrown University. Learn more on his website, .


Q&A with Ariel Sabar

Open to Students, Faculty, and Community Subscribers

Thursday, February 8, 2018Ìý| 11:30AM - 1:00PM

Students, faculty, and community were given a chance to meet award-winning author and journalist Ariel Sabar and ask questions about his books and journalism.Ìý


This event was hosted by the Program in Jewish Studies and cosponsored by the Department of Ethnic Studies, Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations, Department of English, Department of Religious Studies, and Mediterranean Studies Group.Ìý

Ariel Sabar's visit was part of the Community Talks Series,Ìýmade possible in part by a grantÌýfrom Rose Community Foundation.ÌýA subscription series, Community Talks features nationally and internationally renowned scholars, authors, artists, and performers for themed public events with the goal of enriching community learning and expanding access to academic programming on Jewish culture and history. Ìý

Free Concert Open to All

Hebrew Schmooze-A-Palooza

Fourth Annual Student Hebrew Concert

Wednesday, March 7, 2018Ìý| 6:00PM - 8:00PM
Old Main Theater, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ campus
Free and open to the public.


Singing! Dancing! Fun!

Students performing at the 2017 Hebrew Schmooze-A-Palooza

The students of ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ's Hebrew classes and the Program in Jewish Studies presented theÌýfourth annual Hebrew Schmooze-A-Palooza!ÌýThe night was filled withÌýa variety of musical and dance performances to celebrate Hebrew classes and community. Audience members sang along to renditions of well-known songs like "Hallelujah"Ìýand heard new music performed by Hebrew students!

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2018 Sephardic Studies Visiting Scholar

Jewish Autonomy in a Slave Society: The Eurafrican Jews of Suriname, South America

Lecture with Professor Aviva Ben-Ur, Sephardic Studies Visiting Scholar

Wednesday, March 14, 2018Ìý| 7:30PM - 9:00PM
University Club, Chancellor's Sliver & Gold Room |ÌýÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ campus

Suriname, a Dutch colony established on the South American mainland in the 1660s, was among the largest slave societies of the hemisphere. Its Jewish community, founded during the same decade, was granted exceptional liberties, including religious tolerance, unrestricted economic opportunities, and, most remarkably, the privilege to self-govern according to its own religious and secular laws. This political autonomy also empowered Jews to convert their slaves to Judaism, resulting in the rise of a sizeable class of people collectively known in the sources as “mulatto Jewsâ€� or “Jewish mulattoes.â€� In her talk,ÌýProfessor Aviva Ben-Ur addressed the emergence of Eurafrican Jews, their legal status, cultural characteristics, social activism, and their experience of Jewish autonomy in a colony where upwards of 96 percent of the population was unfree.

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Aviva Ben-Ur

ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ Professor Aviva Ben-Ur

is Professor in the Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and holds adjunct appointments in the Department of History and in the Programs of Spanish and Portuguese and Comparative Literature. She specializes in Atlantic Jewish history and slavery studies and is the author of Jewish Autonomy in a Slave Society: Suriname in the Atlantic World, 1651-1825 (forthcoming with University of Pennsylvania Press), Remnant Stones: The Jewish Cemeteries and Synagogues of Suriname: Essays (Hebrew Union College Press, 2012) and Remnant Stones: The Jewish Cemeteries of Suriname: Epitaphs (Hebrew Union College Press, 2009), both co-authored with Rachel Frankel, and Sephardic Jews in America: A Diasporic History (New York University Press, 2009).


Identity Imperative: Ottoman Jews and Christians in Wartime and Interwar Britain

Open to Students, Faculty, and Community Subscribers

Thursday, March 15, 2018Ìý| 11:30AM - 1:00PM

By the onset of World War I, thousands of Ottoman immigrants were living and trading in Britain. During wartime and through much of the interwar period, these multi-ethnic, multi-religious Ottomans were automatically branded as enemy aliens, even after the dissolution of the Empire, subject at times to internment and deportation to concentration camps, stripped of their freedom of movement, and uniformly barred from British citizenship. Drawing on hundreds of recently declassified naturalization applications pertaining to Armenian, Jewish, Syrian, and Greek Ottoman subjects, this colloquium paper discussedÌýthe prosopography of Middle Eastern newcomers, nativism and xenophobia, xenophilism, and the role of the state in shaping national and ethnic identities.


This event is hosted by the Program in Jewish Studies and cosponsored by the Department of History and the School of Law at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Aviva Ben-Ur'sÌývisitÌýis part of the Community Talks Series,Ìýmade possible in part by a grantÌýfrom Rose Community Foundation.ÌýA subscription series, Community Talks features nationally and internationally renownÌýscholars, authors, artists, and performers for themed public events with the goal of enriching community learning and expanding access to academic programming on Jewish culture and history. Ìý

Children in a World of Genocide: From the Holocaust to 21st Century Refugees

Panel Discussion with Patricia Heberer-Rice, PhDÌý

Monday, April 9 | 7:00 PMÌý- 9:00ÌýPM

In honor of Annual Holocaust Remembrance Week,ÌýCU Anschutz's ,ÌýÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ's Program in Jewish Studies, and cosponsors presented a panel discussion featuring United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Senior Historian Patricia Heberer-Rice, PhD. Dr. Heberer-Rice discussed the experience of child victims of the Holocaust,Ìýfollowed by panel discussion about genocide and the experiences of working refugee children in Colorado.

Dr. Patricia Heberer-Rice
Patricia Heberer-Rice is the Senior Historian and director of the Office of the Senior Historian at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. She has served as an historian with the Museum's Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies since 1994. There she serves as a Museum specialist on medical crimes and eugenics policies in Nazi Germany. Dr. Heberer Rice earned her baccalaureate and masters degrees from Southern Illinois University; she pursued doctoral studies at the Free University of Berlin and the University of Maryland, receiving her Ph.D. from the latter institution. In addition to contributions to several USHMM publications, she has recently authored a source edition, Children During the Holocaust, a volume in the Center's series, Documenting Life and Destruction, appearing in 2011. A further publication, Atrocities on Trial: The Politics of Prosecuting War Crimes in Historical Perspective, co-edited with Juergen Matthäus, appeared in 2008 with the University of Nebraska Press.

This program is theÌýsecond annualÌýCU-Anschutz-ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØÌýHolocaust Remembrance Week Lecture. It is hosted byÌýCU Anschutz's ÌýandÌýÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ's Program in Jewish Studies, and isÌýmade possible by the M.B. Glassman Foundation,Ìýthe United State Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Dr. William S. Silvers Endowment.

Sponsors: Program in Jewish Studies at ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ, Center for Bioethics and Humanities at Anschutz Medical Campus, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, The MB Gassman Foundation, and William S. Silvers, MD Endowment


ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ annually honorsÌýHolocaust Remembrance Week, hosting a variety of freeÌýevents around campus.

Find a schedule of events below.

The 2018ÌýHolocaust Remembrance Week isÌýco-sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, CU's Hillel, the Department of History, the Honors Program,Ìýthe Department of Religious Studies, the Program in Jewish Studies, the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, theÌýDepartmentÌýof Women and Gender Studies,Ìýthe Singer Fund in Jewish Studies, and Chabad.

2018 Holocaust Awareness Week Events

How Healers Became Killers: Law & Medicine in the Nazi Era

Monday, April 9 | 12:00 PM - 1:00ÌýPM
Wolf Law BuildingÌý205, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ campus

Presentation and Q&A with Dr. Patricia Heberer-Rice, Dr. Matthew Wynia, and Professor Daniel Goldberg

Children in a World of Genocide: From the Holocaust to 21st Century Refugees

Monday, April 9 | 7:00 PM
Eaton Humanities, Room 135

Hosted by the Program in Jewish Studies and .

Wednesday, April 11Ìý| 7:00 PM
Muenzinger Auditorium

Free special screening of an archival 35mm print as part of the .
PresentedÌýby the Film Studies ProgramÌýandÌýthe Program in Jewish Studies.

Tuesday, April 17 | 6:30 PMÌý
Hillel at ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ

Light dinner at 6:30 PM, film screening at 7:00 PM.

Wednesday April 18 | 6:30 PM
Hale 270 | ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ campus

FeaturingÌýProfessor Wendy Lower,ÌýProfessor David Shneer, Professor Janet Jacobs, and Dr. Robert Ehrenreich.

Keynote Lecture with Wendy Lower:ÌýHitler's Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields

Thursday, April 19 | 5:00 PM
Hale 270, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ campus

After ProfessorÌýLower's talk, please join the Program in Jewish Studies for aÌýpublic lectureÌýwithÌýphotographer Laurence Salzmann, 7:00PM inÌýOld Main Theater.

Friday, April 20 | 7:00 PM
Hillel at ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ

Is Messianic Hope Worthwhile?:
The Case of Jacob Taubes

Colloquium with Professor Martin Kavka

2018 Week of Jewish Philosophy –ÌýReligion and Messianism

Thursday, April 26, 2018 | 11:30AM - 1:00PM
University of Colorado Boulder Campus

Lunch will be served.ÌýPlease RSVP to CUJewishStudies@colorado.edu for pre-circulated reading and location information.


One needs only to go to a news website—any news website—to tap into hope for something better. In the language of the Jewish andÌýChristian traditions, this hope has often been expressed as a hope for redemption, as a specifically messianic hope. The mid-twentiethÌýcentury saw a debate about whether such hope was worthwhile, with the influential historian of Jewish mysticism Gershom ScholemÌý(1897–1982) arguing for a cautious embrace of messianism as a historical force, and his erstwhile friend Jacob Taubes (1923–1987), oneÌýof the post-Holocaust era’s most controversial and notorious rabbis, arguing against this attitude. This seminar assessed Taubes'sÌýresponse to Scholem, and itsÌýimplicit charge that Judaism should be more like Christianity.

Professor Kavka's visit markedÌýthe fourth annual Week of Jewish Philosophy, a joint initiative presented byÌýÌýandÌý.

ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ Martin Kavka

Professo Martin Kavka
Martin KavkaÌýis Professor of Religion at Florida State University, where he teaches courses in Jewish studies and the philosophy of religion. He is the author ofÌýJewish Messianism and the History of PhilosophyÌý(Cambridge University Press), which was awarded the first Jordan Schnitzer Book Award in Philosophy and Jewish Thought by the Association for Jewish Studies (2008), and the co-editor of five books, includingÌýJudaism, Liberalism, and Political TheologyÌý(Indiana University Press), as well as the co-editor of theÌýJournal of Religious Ethics.

These events areÌýhosted by ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ'sÌýProgram in Jewish Studies and Ìýand are generouslyÌýsupported by CU's Department of Germanic & Slavic Languages & Literatures and Department of Religious Studies.


2018 Week of Jewish Philosophy Events

In addition to the colloquium held at ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ, Professor Kavka presented two events at the University of Denver. Please click on each title below for more details.

Wednesday, April 25 | 4:30PM - 6:30PM
University of Denver

RSVP toÌýcjs@du.edu; limited seats (priority to graduate students).
ÌýConfirmed participants will receive readings and room details by email.


We customarily think of the Messiah as someone who brings perfection to the world, whether it be theÌýpolitical sovereignty of the DavidicÌýking, or the redeeming presence of the Messiah to come in the future. One of the twentieth century’s most intriguing thinkers, WalterÌýBenjamin (1892–1940), argued that this usual notion of the Messiah made little senseÌýand that instead, we should think of the messianicÌýas associated with the passing away from the world,Ìýand therefore with a kind of nihilism. This seminar tookÌýup this argument throughÌýa closeÌýreading of Benjamin's short "Theological-Political Fragment" (1921).

Thursday, April 26Ìý| 7:00PM - 9:00PM
University of Denver | DU's Anderson Academic Commons #340 (The Loft)
2150 E. Evans Ave, Denver, CO 80208


"Christians believe that the Messiah has already come, while Jews do not." This is supposedlyÌýtheÌýdifference between Judaism andÌýChristianity. In this lecture, Professor Martin Kavka will argue against this kind ofÌýtreatment of the Jewish and Christian traditions, as ifÌýthey were ready-made things handed down fromÌýminister to congregation, or from parent to child. This does not mean that they are theÌýsame, or thatÌýJewish-Christian dialogue is easy. Rather, he will suggest that the Jewish and Christian traditions areÌýmanifold enough forÌýJews and Christians to appropriate their pasts in various ways, downplaying thoseÌýdifferences or magnifying them as needed.ÌýProfessor Kavka was joined by an interdisciplinaryÌýpanel of CU and DU facultyÌýto reflect on the past, present, and future ofÌýconversations between the Jewish and Christian traditions.

2018 Sondra & Howard Bender Visiting Scholar

In Search of Turkey's Jews

Public Talks with Renown Photographer, Laurence Salzmann
2018 Sondra & Howard Bender Visiting Scholar


Public Lecture
Thursday, April 19, 2018Ìý| 7:00PM - 8:30PM
Chancellor's Silver and Gold Room

Exhibition Walk-Through

Thursday, April 19, 2018 | 11:30AM - 1:00PM
Boulder JCC

Ìý

Photograph of children from Laurence Salzmann's collection
The University of Colorado Boulder’s Program in Jewish Studies, the (JCC), and cosponsorsÌýwelcomed reknown photographer, Laurence Salzmann, as the Program in Jewish Studies’ .

When photographer Laurence Salzmann and anthropologist Ayse Gürsan-Salzmann received an invitation from the Beth Hatfutsot Museum in Tel Aviv and the Quincentennial Foundation of Istanbul to document Jewish monuments in Turkey, a three-month stay became a five-year visit. From 1984-1989, the Salzmanns photographed and chronicled the lives of Turkey’s Sephardic Jewish community, in their first year alone visiting over 25 sites where Jews have lived for over 500 years. Twenty-five years later, on a return trip to Turkey from 2012-2013, the Salzmanns revisited the Jewish communities of Antakaya, Istanbul and Izmir, taking additional photos and videos of Turkish Jewish life.

In his public lecture, In Search of Turkey's Jews,ÌýSalzmann explored the Sephardic communities of Turkey, using his extensive collection of photographs and notes about the people the Salzmanns met, places they visited, and lessons they learned along the way. The lecture took place Thursday, April 19, 7:00PM - 8:30PMÌýin theÌýUniversity Club building, Chancellor's Silver and Gold roomÌýon the ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ's campus.

A selection of Salzmann’s photographs from his exhibit, Turkey’s Jews Revisited (1984-2012), were on display at the Boulder Jewish Community Center from April 9Ìý– May 18, 2018. Salzmann also lead a lunchtimeÌýwalk-through of this exhibition, Thursday, April 19, 11:30AM - 1:00PM at the Boulder JCC. Lunch will be served; spaceÌýis limited. The prints inÌýTurkey's Jews Revisited are pigment prints made by the photographer on archival papers.

ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ Laurence Salzmann

Photographer Laurence Salzmann Headshot, Black & White
Laurence Salzmann is a native of Philadelphia who has worked as a photographer and filmmaker since the early 1960s. His projects document the lives of little known groups in America and abroad. He looks at the lives of people ranging from occupants of single room occupancy hotels in New York City to transhumant shepherds in Transylvania, residents of a Mexican village, and Philadelphia mummers. His photographic study of a nearly extinct Jewish community in Romania was publishedÌýasÌýThe Last Jews of RadautiÌýby Dial/Doubleday in 1983, with text by Ayse Gürsan-Salzmann. Supported by a Fulbright grant, Salzmann is currently working in Peru on a new project titledÌýMisk'l Kachi // Sweet SaltÌý(2016-2018).Ìý

Salzmann's photographic method is deeply informed by his background in anthropology and involves long-term participation in and observation of groups or events. His work illustrates how lives and events are shaped by the environments and conditions in which people live. Salzmann has won multiple awards for his work and has been featured in museums and galleries throughout the world.

Ìý

The annual Sondra and HowardÌýBenderÌýVisiting Scholar series is generously supported by theÌýSondra and HowardÌýBender Visiting Scholars Endowed Fund, honoring the lives of Sondra and Howard Bender.Ìý

Learn More about Sondra and Howard Bender


These events were hosted by ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ÆÆ½â°æÏÂÔØ'sÌýProgram in Jewish Studies and Ìýand are generouslyÌýsupported by a grant from CUÌýBoulder's Graduate Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

Laurence Salzmann'sÌývisitÌýwas part of the Community Talks Series,Ìýmade possible in part by a grantÌýfrom .ÌýA subscription series, Community Talks features nationally and internationally renownÌýscholars, authors, artists, and performers for themed public events with the goal of enriching community learning and expanding access to academic programming on Jewish culture and history. Ìý