event-archived

How Antisemitism Shapes White Nationalism – Eric K. Ward

April 19, 2023

Eric K. WardEric K. Ward, a nationally-recognized expert on the relationship between authoritarian movements, hate violence, and preserving inclusive democracy, is the recipient of the 2021 Civil Courage Prize—the first American in the award’s 21-year history. In his 30+ year civil rights career, Eric has worked with community groups, government and business...

Symposium: Jews and Other Groups Who Resisted the Nazis: Means, Motivations, and Limitations

April 28, 2023

 Means, Motivations, and LimitationsThis day-long symposium will probe what remains an under-examined topic in the history of World War II and the Holocaust: the multivarious paths through which ordinary men and women resisted the Nazis. While scholarship on the choices, backgrounds, and motivations of perpetrators and collaborators has become quite robust,...

Transing the Talmud: Androgynes and Eunuchs in Rabbinic Literature

October 18, 2023

Dr. Max StrassfeldWhat happens if we place eunuchs and androgynes at the center of canonical Jewish sources? What can we learn about gender, Jewish law, and the project of transgender history from late ancient texts about these figures? The rabbis constructed intricate taxonomies of sex/gender; rather than anomalies to be justified or explained away, eunuchs and androgynes profoundly...

Minority and Majority as Asymmetrical Concepts: The Perils of Democratic Equality and Fantasies of National Purity

November 13, 2023

Till van RahdenThe conceptual couple of majority/minority is viewed as a harmless way of identifying an arithmetic relationship. The idea of a dichotomy between majority and (Jewish) minority as a short hand to describe relations between ethnic or religious groups, however, is recent. In fact, as it did not exist before 1919 when in the wake of World War I the...

Do They Really Belong? Modern Israeli “Tribes” and the Dilemma of Ex-Soviet Israelis

November 14, 2023

Do They Really Belong? Modern Israeli “Tribes” and the Dilemma of Ex-Soviet IsraelisLarissa Remennick will compare three generations of Russian-speaking Israelis in terms of socio-economic mobility, Hebrew use and acculturation, and political and civic participation. She will discuss whether Russian-speaking...

Transmitting Anne Frank to Gen Z

November 15, 2023

Transmitting Anne Frank to Gen ZAlmost 80 years after her tragic death in concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, Anne Frank still figures prominently in the public domain. Over the years, her diary and her life story have been the subject of an expansive output of adaptations and engagements, giving her an iconic status. While there is an unabated...

God’s Body in Pain: Disability and Divine Solidarity in Jewish Text and Tradition

November 29, 2023

 Disability and Divine Solidarity in Jewish Text and TraditionJewish midrash offers powerful evocations of divine lament, most famously through imagines of God weeping in response to the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. While scholars have often examined God’s emotional distress in the face of human suffering, this talk probes...

Negotiating the “Double-Minded Vocabulaire”: Montreal’s Jewish Communities and Contemporary Quebec

January 30, 2024

 Montreal’s Jewish Communities and Contemporary QuebecMontreal’s 90,000-strong Jewish community presents unique features that differentiate it from the Jewish populations of other North American cities. Even those aspects that it shares – a large Ashkenazic immigration in the early decades of the 20th century, broad and successful...

Is Anti-Zionism Antisemitic? Part 1: Anti-Zionism on Campus: Legitimate Protest or Dangerous Hate Speech?

February 1, 2024

Is Anti-Zionism Antisemitic? Part 1: Anti-Zionism on Campus: Legitimate Protest or Dangerous Hate Speech?There has long been debate and disagreement over whether anti-Zionism is antisemitic. In recent months, this debate has become particularly intense and often acrimonious. In an effort to...

Soul House: A Poetry Reading with Mireille Gansel and Joan Seliger Sidney

February 8, 2024

 A Poetry Reading with Mireille Gansel and Joan Seliger SidneyJoin us for a bilingual reading featuring acclaimed French poet and translator Mireille Gansel and her English translator, poet Joan Seliger Sidney. Soul House (World Poetry, 2023) is Gansel’s first book of poetry in English translation and her second book in English since her...