Join musicologist and klezmer music pioneer, Walter Zev Feldman, for a fascinating talk based on his new book, Klezmer: Music, History, and Memory
This program was made possible in partnership with the following institutions: The Center for Jewish Studies and the Department of Music at UC Berkeley.
Known as a center of early 20th-century avant-garde and experimental theatre, Paris does not tend to figure on the map of pre-World War II Yiddish theatrical production specifically. This pop-up talk will realign our understanding of Yiddish theatre in Paris and ask whether or not we can consider Paris as the capital of a Western European Yiddish theatre during the first half of the twentieth century.
ART AND FILM: ISRAELI FILM SERIES
Third Screening
“Late Marriage”
Directed by Dover Koshashvili
This presentation will discuss the Hellenistic Jewish text of the Sibylline Oracles which combines Greek oracular form and myth with themes from the Hebrew prophets to create a unique oracular voice that weaves together foundational narratives from both cultures. Examining this blend of traditions helps us frame questions on the elusive nature of identity constructions and what primary sources reveal about boundary formations and the complex spectrum between cultural acceptance, rejection, and adaptation.
Celebrate The Magnes’ acquisition of the Noah’s New York Bagels Collection (1989-1996) documenting the early history of Noah’s New York Bagels. The program will include an intimate display of select items from the collection, Noah Alper’s own reminiscences about the early days of the business, and of course a bagel–based reception (shmear provided). RSVP is required for this event.
The pinnacle of Jewish immigration to the United States at the turn of the twentieth century coincided with the rise of the phonograph disc (which was itself invented by a Jewish immigrant). This presentation will offer a guided tour of sound clips from the first decades of the twentieth century, including rare 78rpm discs from the Magnes collection, focusing on what these records tell us about the encounter of immigrant Jews and American culture.
Howard Freedman is the director of the Jewish Community Library in San Francisco and a longtime student and collector of Jewish music.
Center for Jewish Studies Faculty Director and Professor of Music, Ben Brinner, will interview Israel’s international singer, songwriter, and peace activist, Achinoam Nini.
How do Jewish communities in the global diaspora transform the Passover Haggadah to meet their local needs (visually, symbolically, and textually), and what information do these transformations provide about the common beliefs held by each community?
“The Past Is a Foreign Country: Poland Confronted with Holocaust History” with Dr. Jolanta Ambrosewicz-Jacobs and Dr. Sven Erik-Rose.
ART AND FILM: ISRAELI FILM SERIES
Second Screening
“Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem”
Directed by Ronit and Shlomo Elkabetz
CO-SPONSORED PUBLIC LECTURE: “Why Can’t Alison Sell her Drill? Evidence from eBay”
Tamar Kricheli-Katz, Visiting Professor at the Berkeley Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies (Tel Aviv University, Faculty of Law)
Co-sponsored with The Center for the Study of Law and Society, UC Berkeley
The talk will describe and analyze Professor Karen Barkey’s two seasons of ethnographic study of the sharing in Greek Orthodox Churches in Istanbul, Turkey. The study explores identities, practices and patterns of participation in church rituals and life. The presentation will delineate between different choreographies of sharing, the borrowing of traditions, and the bricolage of practices that occurs as generations of Muslims and Christians accommodate to each other’s religious needs and negotiate in public their otherness.
Dr. Mira Amiras, Professor Emerita of Comparative Religious Studies, San Jose State University, received her PhD in Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley. She is the daughter of the founders of the Judah L. Magnes Museum, Seymour Fromer and Rebecca Camhi Fromer. Her presentation will focus on her experience growing up with one of the premiere Jewish museum collections as part of her life, and include excerpts of her current film project, The Day Before Creation.
Generously funded by The Joseph and Eda Pell Endowed Fund for Jewish Studies
“AND THEN I KILLED HIM: SOVIET JEWISH VETERANS OF WORLD WAR II SPEAK OF ENCOUNTERING PERPETRATORS OF THE HOLOCAUST,” WITH ANNA SHTERNSHIS
Drawing on Dr. Patricia Munro’s research in Bay Area synagogues, Professor Claude Fischer and Dr. Munro will focus on how the Bar and Bat mitzvah developed into a major American Jewish ritual, how it has both responded to changes in the Jewish community (particularly rising egalitarianism and intermarriage), and how it has changed the Jewish community.