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CULTURE 2006: EVENTS AND NEWS By Maximillien de Lafayette

THE JEWISH WORLD IN 2006

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Marci Dallas

Photo: Marci Regan.

Museum of Modern Art Exhibition Coordinator to Oversee Changing Exhibits at Holocaust Museum Houston

HOUSTON, TX. Holocaust Museum Houston has hired Marci Regan Dallas, formerly with New York’s Museum of Modern Art, as director of changing exhibits for the Houston museum. A Louisiana native, Dallas received her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in art history  from Louisiana State University. Upon graduation in 2000, she moved to New York City, where she obtained an advanced certificate in connoisseurship at Christie’s auction house. She has also done graduate work in arts administration at New York University. She is a graduate of St. Louis High School in Lake Charles Louisiana. She had been an exhibition coordinator at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) for the past 4 years. At MoMA, she was primarily responsible for managing temporary, permanent and touring exhibitions. As director of changing exhibits for Holocaust Museum Houston, she will be responsible for planning and implementing the Museum’s temporary exhibitions in its two main galleries and working closely with the Changing Exhibits Committee to propose appropriate and meaningful new exhibitions. Holocaust Museum Houston promotes awareness and educates the public of the dangers of prejudice, hatred and violence against the backdrop of the Holocaust by fostering remembrance, understanding and education. Holocaust Museum Houston is free and open to the public and is located in Houston's Museum District at 5401 Caroline St., Houston, TX 77004. For more information about Holocaust Museum Houston, call 713-942-800. To contact Holocaust Museum Houston, e-mail info@hmh.org . Contact Ira D. Perry at E-mail: iperry@hmh.org

CULTURE  2006



JEWISH YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULTS WANTED FOR HARD LABOR AND THE SUMMER OF A LIFETIME

Jewish students and young adults from 16 to 25 are invited to apply for the Volunteer Summer program of American Jewish World Service, a seven-week overseas experience that puts young peoples' hands and hearts to work in the developing world. The program promises intense physical labor in a rural site with few amenities, a real-life exercise in tikkun olam ("repairing the world"), the ideal at the core of AJWS' mission of grassroots sustainable development. Volunteers work with AJWS partner organizations to help achieve their goals and improve their communities. They live, work, travel and learn with each other in an intensive group experience designed to challenge their ideas about the developing world as well as each other. Four projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America are being offered this year. Three projects are for young adults 18-25, and one is for high school juniors and seniors. Projects are hosted by AJWS-supported community-based organizations. This year's projects are building a new school for a village in Ghana; constructing new homes in an area hit by Hurricane Stan last fall in Guatemala; working on a sustainable agriculture project in Thailand; and the high school group will dig a potable water system in Honduras. The physical work is also enriched by the spiritual work of the program. Group leaders hold daily educational sessions that draw from the Torah, the Talmud and other Jewish texts, and put them into a social justice context. Jews from the secular to the Orthodox are welcomed and accommodated. Participants do not work on the Sabbath, and participants' "Shabbat committees" are put in charge of designing each week's service to reflect the different traditions among the group, and even the host country. After returning home, volunteers participate in a domestic yearlong program, which connects them as a virtual community online, and brings them together for occasional retreats to discuss their experiences, receive advocacy training, and plan how they can apply the lessons they learned abroad to their lives at home. Many Volunteer Summer alumni have gone on to  spearhead independent activism in their communities, for which AJWS sometimes provides microgrants. "This is a unique  student volunteer program," says Leni Silverstein, director of AJWS' service programs. "Not only does it give young Jews an extensive experience overseas, it also inspires them to serve their own communities when they come back." The application deadline is March 31. For more information, contact Sonia Gordon-Walinsky at 1-800-889-7146 x 651, or sgw@ajws.org. American Jewish World Service 45 West 36th Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY  10018.  Contact: Ronni Strongin, 212-273-1657 or rstrongin@ajws.org   American Jewish World Service (AJWS) helps people in Africa, Asia, and the Americas move beyond poverty, illiteracy, disaster, and war. An international development organization engaged in strategic grant making, volunteer service, and educational and advocacy programs, AJWS supports over 200 development projects in 36 countries and provides emergency assistance  when disasters strike.
 

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YOUNG JUDAEA TO OFFER NEW THREE-WEEK SUMMER PROGRAM IN ISRAEL

Also reinstitutes popular program that begins in Italy and ends in Israel.

 

 

 

Photo: Young Judaea summer program participants board the Exodus for a once-in-a-lifetime experience of arriving in the port of Haifa as thousands of refugees did during World War II. With the strong revival of tourism to Israel, Young Judaea has re-instituted this popular program.

 

 

 In response to the demanding pace of modern life, Young Judaea, the Zionist youth movement of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, will offer a shorter, more intensive summer program beginning in 2006. Nofim, the three-week program designed for young people who have a shorter period of time to spend in Israel, will offer complete immersion in Israeli society and culture. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the Middle East by meeting Israeli youth, delving into the culture and exploring the sights. In addition, they will also be able to enjoy the outdoors by taking scenic hikes or going on kayaking excursions. Also, due to the great popularity of Young Judaea summer programs, a program is being offered for the first time in five years that incorporates a once-in-a-lifetime experience of arriving in Israel by boat, recreating the journey of the ma’apilim, the thousands of immigrants that came to the land of Israel following the Holocaust. The Ma’apilim program begins in Italy, where participants explore the rich history of Italian Jewry through a three-day stay in historic Rome. Participants then sail the Mediterranean on the ship, Exodus, playing games, attending workshops, socializing, relaxing, and even meeting a survivor from the original historic voyage. The program concludes with a dramatic landing in the port of Haifa followed by a comprehensive five-week program in Israel. As further incentive to travel to Israel this summer with Young Judaea, participants can even earn college credits. By special arrangement with the Jewish Community High School, a division of Gratz College of Philadelphia, students entering their junior or senior year in Fall 2006 are eligible to receive three college credits. For more information about Hadassah-sponsored Young Judaea programs in Israel, call 800-725-0612.

 

Founded in 1909, Young Judaea was the first Zionist youth movement in the US, and since 1968 has been exclusively sponsored by Hadassah.  Young Judaea seeks to impart a strong Jewish and Zionist identity to American Jewish youth of all affiliations through its network of social, cultural, and educational programs, camps and conventions.  Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, is the largest Jewish, largest women’s and largest Zionist organization in the US, and supports the Hadassah Medical Organization and education and youth institutions in Israel.  Hadassah’s domestic programs include health education, volunteerism, social action and advocacy, Jewish education and research, and forging partnerships with Israel. For more information, please visit: www.youngjudaea.org

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Diaspora Female Students Unite in Song for Disadvantaged Brides in Israel

Photo: Students singing at the 6th Annual Kol Chatan V'Kol Kallah Choir Competition in Jerusalem.

A sellout crowd of more than 2000 female students attended the sixth annual "Kol Chatan V'kol Kallah" Choir Competition in Jerusalem on Saturday night, January 14th, 2006. Thirteen choirs participated this year, representing Midreshet Moriah, Midreshet Lindenbaum, Darchei Bina, Machon Gold, Michlala, Afikei Torah, Ba’er Miriam, Midreshet Harovah, Midreshet Yeud, Tiferet, Orot Bat Tzion, Michlelet Mevaseret Yerushalayim and Sha’alvim for Women. While officially a competition, there was a spirit of camaraderie as the women united in song in order to raise funds for needy Jerusalem brides, most of whom are orphans. Since the event began seven years ago, over $70,000 has been distributed to appreciative brides through Rabbanit Kapach, an Israel Prize winner recognized for her wonderful work with the underprivileged in Israeli society. The evening was filled with songs of hope for peace in Israel and amongst all people, as well as prayers reflecting the transcendent sense of harmony, both literally and figuratively, evident amongst the overflowing crowd.

Photo: Group of participants singing at Kol Chatan V'kol Kallah" Choir Competition in Jerusalem on Saturday night. It was a most delightful event.

First place was awarded to Michlala which performed the "Jerusalem Medley", second place went to Darchei Bina which dedicated one of their songs to the Gush Katif evacuees and third place to Sha’alvim for Women. The evening included a d’var Torah by Dr. Karen Bacon, Dean of Stern College for Women, and a presentation of various ethnic wedding dresses which were modeled by the college-age students. "The choir competition has developed into the largest, most powerful event for female students studying in Israel for the year. It sends a moving message of unity, encourages the students to express their talents and raises awareness of the importance of chesed and social justice.  In many communities, it is common to spend thousands of dollars on weddings, so helping those brides who can't afford a basic wedding will hopefully inspire our students to take steps to make our society a just and caring one," said Meital Bonchek, KEDMA's Executive Director. "It was truly memorable to hear the unified voices of over 2000 students singing Hatikva with such emotion at the end of the evening," she said. "Such experiences are probably more effective than any lectures on Judaism and Zionism in giving students a sense of the beauty of our religion and our country." The Choir competition was coordinated and sponsored by KEDMA, a student organization which empowers overseas students studying in Israel to run social action programs and campaigns, in conjunction with Yeshiva University and Partnership 2000 - UJA Federation of New York. Contact: Meital Bonchek, kedma2@netvision.net.il

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Release Time Winter Camp Makes A Difference

Photo: Release Time children and their counselors on an ice skating rink.

Just a few short weeks ago Kingston, NY was the site of a life-altering, joyous gathering.  Release Time - a project of NCFJE (National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education) gave 25 public school children the chance to spend a fun-filled week learning about their Jewish Heritage. The NCFJE’s Released Time Program, run by Rabbi Shazak Zirkind, reaches out to lost Jewish youngsters and exposes them to the beauty and truth of their heritage and religion.  Each day of the exciting and energizing week of Release Time winter camp, started with davening and learning, followed by a day-trip to somewhere special.

Photo: Release Time children enjoying learning.

 The trips were the perfect opportunity for the children to bond with their devoted counselors as well as experience some of the exciting things to do all around Kingston.  After spending a full day in Ulster County, the winter camp participants enjoyed an evening program of story and song. The children feasted on three delicious meals each day which were prepared by Rebbetzin Leah Hecht. “It is extremely rewarding knowing that the week of fun a public school child has in Release Time camp can turn out to be an inspiration for a lifetime,” said Rabbi Zirkind, Release Time director.  This project, a joint venture of Cong. Agudas Achim/Chabad of Ulster County, NCFJE, F.R.E.E. (Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe), was a big success. Rabbi Yitzchok Hecht, spiritual leader of Cong. Agudas Achim, and host to the camp said “It was very inspirational to see children so interested and involved in learning about their heritage.” For more information about our program or to help us reach out and bring public school children closer to their heritage, contact Rabbi Shea Hecht 718-735-0200.

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Online Exhibit Connects Jewish Feminism and American History in Landmark Project from Jewish Women’s Archive
 

At the Jewish Women’s Archive (JWA), losing history  means losing ground. That’s the impetus behind a pioneering initiative  called “Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution” that examines the  phenomenon of Jewish women’s significant contributions to a movement  that has changed our world. JWA historians and educators worried that with the passage of time, vital information about Jewish women’s contributions to the movement called Second Wave feminism was being lost. “We needed to stem that tide,” says JWA Executive Director Gail Twersky Reimer, Ph.D. The result is a multi-vocal, inspirational, and egalitarian online  exhibit at www.jwa.org that is consistent with the Web itself as a medium. The exhibit marks a major stage in the evolution of JWA as a  virtual archive. Feminism of the late 1960s and 1970s was one of the most dramatic  social movements in American history, with many Jewish women among those who led the movement and worked to advance its ideals.

“Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution brings the story of Jewish feminism into the story of American feminism for the first time, connecting their histories in a landmark project,” explains curator Judith Rosenbaum, Ph.D. “Our goal has been to create an interactive exhibit that is multi-layered and rich in content–one that vividly exploits the potential of the Internet to educate and inspire young people today.” Visitors to www.jwa.org/feminism will experience the web in a new way. In a single site JWA has preserved for future generations artifacts, documents, video clips, radio news reports, images, art, sounds, and fragments of memories that convey Jewish women’s roles as activists and the impact of feminism on the Jewish community.  “With it we’ve begun to invite women to become their own historians and help build a virtual collection out of privately-owned materials that document an important chapter in Jewish women’s history. This represents the crux of JWA’s identity and growth as an organization,” Reimer notes. Jewish women whose lives were transformed in that era, and who themselves transformed society, are aging – some gloriously so. Sadly, some are also dying. Along with the loss of these vibrant, brave women, material letters, notes, papers and other items that documented their experiences are also disappearing or in danger of disappearing. The artifacts come from 74 Jewish women who have played significant roles in American and Jewish feminism. Curated by Rosenbaum, JWA Director of Education, with exhibit designer Cindy Miller, the exhibit delves into the meanings of feminism and its legacies to contemporary and future generations of Jewish women. They have been working together on the project since May 2004. With funding from Dorot Foundation and the Charles H. Revson Foundation , the exhibit now serves as the foundation upon which additional project components will be built to educate the public, and promote participation and dialogue concerning American feminism and feminism in the Jewish community past, present, and future. The JWA is a national, nonprofit organization with headquarters in Brookline, MA. Its mission is to uncover, chronicle, and transmit the rich legacy of Jewish women and their contributions to the world. Since 1995, JWA has been an innovator in its use of the virtual world for academic, cultural, archival, and educational purposes. Among the women featured in the exhibit are Reform Rabbi Sally Priesand and Conservative Rabbi Amy Eilberg, the first American women to be ordained rabbis in their respective movements. Among others included are:  Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the first Jewish woman to be named a Supreme Court Justice; Gloria Steinem, pioneering feminist activist and founder of Ms. Magazine: Blu Greenberg, pioneer in Orthodox Jewish feminism and a founder of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA); Judy Chicago, feminist artist and creator of feminist art projects including The Dinner Party; and Gerda Lerner, a pioneer in the field of women’s history and founder of the first graduate program in women’s history at Sarah Lawrence College.

The participants are: Judith Rosenbaum, Ph.D, Exhibit Curator JEWISH WOMEN AND THE FEMINIST REVOLUTION. Judith Rosenbaum, Ph.D., is Director of Education at the Jewish Women’s Archive. Rosenbaum earned a B.A. summa cum laude in History from Yale University and a Ph.D. in American Civilization, with a specialty in women's history, from Brown University. The recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, she has taught women's studies and Jewish studies at Brown, Boston University, Hebrew College and the Adult Learning Collaborative of Combined Jewish Philanthropies. Contributors to Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution. Rachel Adler: feminist theologian of Judaism, author of Engendering Judaism: An Inclusive Theology and Ethics (1998), and Professor of Modern Jewish Thought and Judaism and Gender at Hebrew Union College-Los Angeles. Joyce Antler: abortion rights activist in 1970s, Professor of American Jewish History and Culture at Brandeis University, and the author of The Journey Home: How Jewish Women Shaped Modern America (1998) and the editor of America and I: Short Stories by American Jewish Women Writers (1991). A Founding Board member of the Jewish Women's Archive, Antler  also serves as Chair of the Jewish Women's Archive's Academic Advisory Council. Helene Aylon: eco-feminist artist and creator of Jewish-themed installations including “The Liberation of G-d” and “My Bridal Chamber.” Gay Block: feminist photographer, whose projects include an exhibit on girls at summer camps, portraits of women spiritual leaders, and portraits of Holocaust rescuers. Heather Booth: founder of the Jane underground abortion counseling service in Chicago and organizer of Women’s Radical Action Program, the first campus women’s group in the country. Booth was the founding Director and is now President of the Midwest Academy, a national center that trains leaders building citizen-based organizations. Marla Brettschneider: feminist theorist and activist for multicultural Jewish feminism, and Associate Professor of Political Philosophy and Feminist Theory at the University of New Hampshire. She is the author of The Narrow Bridge: Jewish Views on Multiculturalism (1996). Esther Broner: writer, lecturer, and Jewish feminist ceremonialist. Her books include A Weave of Women (1978) and The Telling (1993). Shifra Bronznick: founding president of Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community (AWP), her work focuses on cracking the glass ceiling of Jewish communal and professional life. Susan Brownmiller: journalist and activist on issues of feminism and violence against women, and author of Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape (1975), Femininity (1984), and In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution (1999). Aviva Cantor: early Jewish feminist activist, co-founder of Lilith magazine (1976), and author of Jewish Women/Jewish Men The Legacy of Patriarchy in Jewish Life (1995). Nina Beth Cardin: a Conservative rabbi and Director of Jewish Life at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore; the former editorial committee chairperson and former editor of Sh’ma: a Journal of Jewish Responsibility and author of books including Tears of Sadness, Seeds of Hope: a Jewish spiritual companion to infertility and pregnancy loss (1999). Kim Chernin: feminist writer and psychoanalyst, author of books including In My Mother’s House (1983) and The Flame Bearers (1986). Phyllis Chesler: feminist psychologist, co-founder of the Association for Women in Psychology and the National Women’s Health Network, and author of Women and Madness (1972), among other works.
Judy Chicago: feminist artist and creator of feminist art projects including Womanhouse, The Dinner Party, and the Birth Project. Tamara Cohen: community activist and an innovator of feminist rituals and liturgy. Dianne Cohler-Esses: first female rabbi from the Syrian community. She is currently senior educator of the Bronfman Youth Fellowship, a member of the Skirball Institute faculty, and a member of the think tank Common Judaism. Rachel Cowan: a Reform rabbi, former Director of the Jewish Life program at the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and a founder of the Jewish Healing Network. Barbara Dobkin: founder of Ma'yan, The Jewish Women's Project at the Jewish Community Center of the Upper West Side in New York City, and founding Chair of the Jewish Women’s Archive. Ellen DuBois: feminist scholar of 19th century women’s history and Professor of History at UCLA. Her books include Unequal Sisters: A Reader in Multicultural U.S. Women's History (1990). Ophira Edut: Third-wave feminist activist and co-founder of HUES (Hear Us Emerging Sisters), a national magazine for young women, and author of Body Outlaws: Rewriting the Rules of Beauty and Body Image (2000). Amy Eilberg: first woman ordained as a rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Rabbi Eilberg currently serves as Co-Director of the Yedidya Center for Jewish Spiritual Direction. She offers spiritual direction to individuals and groups in St. Paul, Minnesota. Sue Levi Elwell: a Reform rabbi, Director of the Pennsylvania Council of the UAHC, and the founding director of the American Jewish Congress Feminist Center in Los Angeles. Eve Ensler: playwright and author of The Vagina Monologues, and activist on issues of violence against women. Marcia Falk: Jewish feminist liturgist, poet, and translator. She is the author of The Book of Blessings (1996), a bilingual re-creation of Jewish prayer in poetic forms, written from a nonhierarchical, gender-inclusive perspective. Merle Feld: widely published Jewish feminist poet, award-winning playwright, activist, and educator who has pioneered teaching writing as a spiritual practice. Her memoir, A Spiritual Life: A Jewish Feminist Journey (2000), explores personal religious search, the life of the family, social justice work and heightening awareness in our everyday lives. She is founding director of the Rabbinic Writing Institute. Debbie Friedman: singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose music has deeply influenced Jewish song and liturgy. Sonia Pressman Fuentes: first female attorney in the Office of the General Counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW). Ruth Bader Ginsburg: first Jewish woman to serve as a United States Supreme Court Justice. Maralee Gordon: Rabbi of McHenry County Jewish Congregation in Illinois, founder and editor of Lilith's Rib and a founder of Chicago's radical Jewish collective Chutzpah. Sally Gottesman: founder of Kolot: The Center for Jewish Women’s and Gender Studies, and a management consultant to not-for-profit organizations. She now serves as the Founding Chair of Moving Traditions: The Jewish Gender and Lifecycle Initiative. Lynn Gottlieb: a Jewish Renewal rabbi, storyteller, and Jewish feminist activist. Blu Greenberg: pioneer in Orthodox Jewish feminism and a founder of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA). Her books include On Women and Judaism: A View from Tradition and How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household (1981). Gloria Greenfield: a founder of Persephone Press – a leading feminist publisher of the 1970s-80s – and coordinator of a national conference on women’s spirituality in 1976. Rivka Haut: founder of the International Committee for Women of the Wall, and director of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance’s Agunah Advocacy Project, she a co-edited Daughters of the King: Women and the Synagogue (1992). Nancy Miriam Hawley: a founder of the Boston Women’s Health Collective, the authors of Our Bodies, Ourselves. Diana Mara Henry: feminist photojournalist who served as the unofficial photographer of Bella Abzug and the official photographer of the first National Women’s Conference held in 1977 in Houston. Susannah Heschel: Jewish feminist activist and editor of On Being a  Jewish Feminist: A Reader (1983), and the Chair of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth. Nicole Hollander: cartoonist and creator of Sylvia, an internationally syndicated cartoon strip. Florence Howe: A founder and emerita publisher/director of The Feminist Press at the City University of New York. Paula Hyman: a founding member of the Jewish feminist activist group Ezrat Nashim and pioneer in Jewish women’s studies. She was the first woman to hold an academic chair in Judaic Studies and remains the Lucy  Moses Professor of Jewish History at Yale. Her books include The Jewish Woman in America (1976); Gender and Assimilation in Modern Jewish History (1995); and the two-volume encyclopedia Jewish Women in America (1998). Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz: social justice activist and Jewish poet and writer. She currently teaches in Urban Studies at Queens College. Her books include The Issue Is Power: Essays on Women, Jews, Violence, and Resistance (1992), and (co-edited) The Tribe of Dina: A Jewish Women's Anthology (1986). Evelyn Fox Keller: Professor of Science, Technology, and Society at MIT, and pioneering scholar in issues of gender and science. Her books  include Secrets of Life/Secrets of Death: Essays on Language, Gender and Science (1992) and Reflections on Gender and Science (1985). Loolwa Khazzoom: An advocate for multiculturalism within the Jewish community, and the editor of The Flying Camel: Essays on Identity by Women of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Heritage (2003). Clare Kinberg: A founder and managing editor of Bridges: A Journal for Jewish Feminists and Our Friends. Francine Klagsbrun: author, editor, and columnist, who often writes and lectures on women’s issues. She was editor of the best-selling book Free To Be…You and Me (1974). Sharon Kleinbaum: Rabbi of Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, the largest Lesbian and Gay synagogue in the world. Madeleine Kunin: the first female governor of Vermont, and former U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland. Lori Lefkowitz: founder of Kolot: The Center for Jewish Women’s and Gender Studies and the Sadie Gottesman and Arlene Gottesman Reff Professor of Gender and Judaism at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Gerda Lerner: A pioneer in the field of women’s history and founder of the first graduate program in women’s history, at Sarah Lawrence College. Ann F. Lewis: Director of Communications for Senator Hillary Clinton and former Counselor to President Clinton and Director of Communications at the White House. Belda Lindenbaum: Orthodox feminist activist and influential philanthropist. Ruth Messinger: former Manhattan Borough President and New York City mayoral candidate, and current president of the American Jewish World Service. Deena Metzger: a writer, teacher, and healer, and author of books  including Tree: Essays and Pieces (1997) and What Dinah Thought (1999). Cheryl Moch: a founding board member of the Jewish Feminist Organization, and a writer and playwright. Sheryl Baron Nestel: conference coordinator for the first National  Conference of Jewish Women, held in New York City in February, 1973. She now teaches in the Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. Joan Nestle: writer, lesbian activist, and founder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives. Her books include The Persistent Desire: A Femme-Butch Reader (1992) and A Fragile Union (1998). Marge Piercy: poet, novelist, and activist, and author of books including: Small Changes (1973), Woman on the Edge of Time (1976), He, She, and It (1991), and The Art of Blessing the Day (1999). Judith Plaskow: feminist theologian, a founder of the B’not Esh Jewish feminist spirituality collective, and author of Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective (1990) and The Coming of  Lilith: Essays on Feminism, Judaism, and Sexual Ethics 1972-2003 (2005).Letty Cottin Pogrebin: writer, activist, and a founder of Ms. magazine. Her books include Deborah, Golda, and Me: Being Female and Jewish in America (1991) and Three Daughters (2002). Sally Priesand: first woman to be ordained a rabbi in America. She has been spiritual leader of Monmouth Reform Temple in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, since 1981. Joan Roth: photographer whose images depict a powerful and unique portrait of Jewish women worldwide. Her published books include Jewish Women: A World of Tradition and Change (1995) and The Jews of Ethiopia: Last Days of an Ancient Community – A Photo Journey (2004). Susan Weidman Schneider: a founder and editor of Lilith Magazine, and author of Jewish and Female: Choices and Changes in our Lives Today (1984). Barbara Seaman: women’s health activist and journalist, a founder of the National Women’s Health Network, and author of books including The Doctor’s Case Against the Pill (1969) and The Greatest Experiment Ever Performed on Women: Exploding the Estrogen Myth (2003). Lynn Sherr: news correspondent and investigative reporter, specializing in women’s issues and social change. Her books include Susan B. Anthony Slept Here: A Guide to American Women’s Landmarks (co-author, 1994) and Failure is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words (1996). Alix Kates Shulman: feminist writer and activist, and author of books including Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen (1969) and Burning Questions (1979). Joan Snyder: feminist painter, first known for her series of “Stroke” paintings completed in the 1970s. These were included in the Whitney Museum 1973 Biennial and the Corcoran Gallery 1975 Biennial, and were the basis of her first solo shows in New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Marcia Cohn Spiegel: author and community activist who works to create change in the attitudes of the Jewish Community towards addiction, violence, and sexual abuse. Gloria Steinem: pioneering feminist activist, spokesperson, and writer, and a founder of Ms. magazine. Her books include Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983) and Revolution from Within:A Book of Self-Esteem (1992). Catherine Steiner-Adair: a clinical and consulting psychologist; Director of Education and Prevention at the Klarman Eating Disorders Center at McLean Hospital, and former director of education, prevention, and outreach at the Harvard Eating Disorders Center. Meredith Tax: writer and activist and author of books including Rivington Street (1982), and The Rising of the Women: Feminist Solidarity and Class Conflict, 1880-191I (1980). Savina Teubal: a biblical scholar and founding president of Sarah's Tent: Sheltering Creative Jewish Spirituality; she created Simchat Hochmah, a Jewish eldering ceremony. Her books include Sarah the Priestess: the First Matriarch of Genesis (1984). Nina Totenberg: legal correspondent for National Public Radio. Ruth Weisberg: visual artist and Dean of Fine Arts at the University of Southern California, and the artist for the Central Conference of American Rabbi’s (the Reform Movement) new Haggadah. Naomi Weisstein: a founder of the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union, the  Chicago Women’s Liberation Rock Band, and American Women in Psychology,  and psychology researcher and author of the groundbreaking article “Kinder, Kuche, Kirche as Scientific Law, or Psychology Constructs the Female” (1968).

For more information, please contact: Sue C. Kelman, Director, Marketing/ Communication, Email: skelman@jwa.org
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ELIAS CANETTI: A SPANISH POET OF GERMAN LANGUAGE      A Celebration of the Nobel Laureate On His Centennial Anniversary  presented at the Center for Jewish History

            Elias Caneti (July 25, 1905-August 14, 1954). Click on each photo. It is a treat!

Elias Canetti, Juni 1973Photo: Elias Caneti.

Behind the accessible smoothness of his autobiography, there is a reserve which, twisting and taking on disguise, conceals an unsuspected otherness, an ungraspable and unconceivable identity. (…) Both of them are teaching us, day in and day out, how to unmask the mad delusion of power and of death, and both remind us of a statement in “The Human Province:”

“Everyone is the center of the world. Everyone.”  Claudio Magris, author of the “Danube,” winner of the 2001 Erasmus Prize.

The American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute, and Centro Primo Levi at the Center for Jewish History are  presenting day-long festivities to mark the centennial year of writer, intellectual, and Nobel Laureate, Elias Canetti.  With special events dedicated in several European cities to honor Canetti’s 100th anniversary this past year, the Center for Jewish History represents the only venue in the US to pay homage to one of the great revolutionary thinkers of the 20th century.  The Center for Jewish History is located at 15 West 16 Street, New York City. Elias Canetti’s considerable reputation, and one that is especially revered by his peers, is based largely on his articulation – outside of ephemeral ideologies and short-lived battles – of the way in which totalitarian rulers come to power through the mythical culture of historical heroes. 

Photos from L to R: #1. Caneti in 1904, the child. #3. Caneti the man and the poet.

Through films, readings, and talks by preeminent scholars at the Center, audiences will be given a rare opportunity to participate in a dialogue exploring the link between Canetti’s Sephardic roots and his Mittlel European identity that formed the basis for his ideas.  Of all his contemporaries, Canetti is the one who by the very nature of his persona and his writings, most drastically defies general expectation and eludes specific explanation. The internationally acclaimed Italian author, Claudio Magris, will lead the talks in exploring the man and his work.  Speakers from the academic community will examine Canetti’s life-long reticence to be public, his eclectic; quasi-Renaissance interest for the human experience as a whole; his annoyance at ethnic labels; the almost disorienting absence in his writing of any obvious rhetoric and any ready-made morale; the unemotional way in which he analyzes the ability of humans to commit horrors; all of which contributed to alienating Canetti from the wider readership he so richly deserved.  Yet, writers and intellectuals with an international perspective, e.g. the late Susan Sontag or Salman Rushdie have been able to treasure these traits and have written beautifully of the importance of Canetti’s thought, placing his work into an immediate relation to American culture. This event is presented by the Primo Levi Center, the Leo Baeck Institute, and the American Sephardi Federation and is made possible through the generous contributions of The Cahnman Foundation, the Italian Cultural Institute, and the New York Council for the Humanities, a State affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Photo:  The tomb stele of Caneti in Zurich.

Program schedule: Sunday, October 30, 2005 , Brunch time film screening , 12 noon - ELIAS CANETTI by Thomas Honickel, Germany, 2005. (60 min., German w/English subtitles. U.S. premiere). Talks and debates 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm , Gloria Ascher, Tufts University , Michael Taussig, Columbia University , Dagmar Barnouw, University of Southern California , Robert Elbaz, University of Haifa . Readings, lecture, and public dialogue 7:30 pm - An evening salon on Elias Canetti with Claudio Magris and other guests. Introduced and moderated by Liliane Weissberg, University of Pennsylvania. For reservations, please call the Center for Jewish History Box Office at 917-606-8200. Film & talks: $20 and $10 students /faculty, and members of LBI and ASF.  Evening lecture: $20 and $10 students/faculty, and members of LBI and ASF.  The Date Palm Café will remain open all day.  All-day Pass: $35 (includes 10% discount at the bookstore and café). This event is presented by the Primo Levi Center, the Leo Baeck Institute, and the American Sephardi Federation and is made possible through the generous contributions of The Cahnman Foundation, the Italian Cultural Institute, and the New York Council for the Humanities, a State affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The following organizations have contributed to the outreach for this symposium: Center for the Humanities at CUNY Graduate Center, Institute for the Humanities at New York University, the Goethe Institute New York, the Deutsches Haus at NYU, and the National Book Foundation.The Canetti Centennial Celebration is being presented as part of the Gisella Levi Cahnman Open Seminar Series at the Center for Jewish History, which brings together international scholars and public audiences. It is made possible through the support of the Cahnman Foundation, the Italian Cultural Institute and the New York Council for the Humanities, a State affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.  For further information and a complete press packet, including biographical information on Elias Canetti, Cluadio Magris and speakers, visit www.cjh.org.  You may also contact Natalia Indrimi, Program Curator for the Center for Jewish History at 212-294-8314, nindrimi@cjh.org

Biographical Information on Elias Canetti AND HIS WORK


Novelist, essayist, sociologist, and playwright, Elias Canetti, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1981. Canetti was born in Roustschouk, a small port in Bulgaria on the river Danube, into a well-to-do Jewish family of Sephardic descent. His parents Jacques Canetti and Mathilde Canetti run an amateur theater. One of his brothers became a famed producer who launched among others, Georges Brassens, Jacques Brel, Serge Gainsbourg, and Boris Vian. At age six, his family moved to Manchester, England. After the death of his father, his mother took the family to Vienna. From 1916 to 1921 Canetti studied in Zürich, and produced his first literary work. During a visit to Berlin in 1928 he met Bertolt Brecht, Isaak Babel, and George Grosz, and started to plan a series of novels on the subject of human madness. He graduated in 1929 with a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Vienna, where he became exposed to the salon of Karl Kraus and met his lifelong companion Venethiana Taubner-Calderon. In 1938 he fled to Paris and a year later to England, where he lived for the rest of his life. Canetti has defined himself by defining his languages: “A Spanish poet of German language;” “The only literary person in whom the languages of the two great expulsions are found in close proximity."

 

The dialogue between his Sephardic roots and his Mittel-European identity is essential to his self-perception, and at the same time is what makes his experience completely foreign to many, Jews and non-Jews. His place in the history of ideas is twice removed from the current “center:” The entire historical memory he represents is rooted in the exile from Spain and the successful resettlement all across Europe and the Ottoman Empire of a highly sophisticated, integrated, and multifaceted strand of the people of the book. Canetti’s mental map lies on the European-Ottoman axle, which, by the end of World War I, had been supplanted by the Soviet-American axle.  Secondly, even in the face of what he defines as “Hitler’s most monstrous undertaking,” Canetti chooses to continue his battle against “the culture of the survivor,” which his people, the Jews of Spain, had always, even as conversos, refused to accept as a possible way of life. To understand Canetti, his fierce rejection of death, and the adoring exploration of life in all its forms, colors, inventive as well as destructive manifestations, his non-normative, ever-open approach to the queries of the mind, we must understand the Sephardic perspective on history and the way in which Inquisition changed the face of Europe. Furthermore, from the Sephardic tradition of sages, healers, thinkers, and practitioners of all trades of life, Canetti draws a form of humility that has long been won over by the “culture of the survivor.” It’s a humility that at the same time regards one’ self as a respected given, valuable part of the creation, but not as a primary object of one’s own inquiry.

 

A humility thanks to which one’s ego does not need to be harnessed, because it is simply understood as one of the many points of view co-existing in the universe. It is precisely in this perspective that his three autobiographical works can be better understood, not as a way to conceal his “true” (and possibly mystifying) self, as most critics lament, but as a way to use facts from one’s relatively (un)important life, to disclose a broader human reality. This background is equally relevant to fully appreciate Canetti’s masterpiece, Auto-da-Fé. Auto-da-fé is a puzzling work. It is a modern epic on the folly brought about by the separation of the book from the world. Unlike Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, however, Auto-da-Fé does not entrust to the book per se any saving power. While composing some of the most heartbreaking paragraphs on book burning, Canetti clearly sees that the book is an instrument, a means of expression and communication, but is not the primary source of life. Nor can be called upon as a justification for isolation or death.  For Canetti the ultimate responsibility to communicate and renew life rests with no other but man.

THE SPEAKERS

Gloria Joyce Ascher was born in the Bronx, New York of parents from Izmir, Turkey. Descended from the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492, she grew up in the Sephardic (Judeo-Spanish) tradition. She attended the Bronx High School of Science, Hunter College (B.A., summa cum laude), the University of Bonn, Germany (Fulbright Grant), and Yale University (M.A., Ph.D., Germanic Languages and Literatures). She is the co-director of the Program in Judaic Studies at Tufts University. Her Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) Language and Culture course is the only one offered by a US college. Gloria Ascher also teaches German and Scandinavian literature. She is a writer and composer. Her poems are included in the trilingual (Judeo-Spanish, German, and Turkish) anthology of Sephardic poetry published in Austria in 2002 as part of the series “Lyrik der Wenigerheiten” (poetry of minority peoples).  Ascher’s translation of Matilde Koén-Sarano’s two-volume Ladino grammar text (2002, 2003) is the only Ladino grammar available in English.

Dr. Professor Dagmar Barnouw

Dr. Barnouw is a professor of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California. She has taught at Brown University, University of Texas and as a guest professor at numerous German universities, notably a semester at Rostock University. Her research and teaching has been interdisciplinary, extending into the fields of historiography, anthropology, sociology, political science, the history and theory of documentary photography, and more recently also clinical and cognitive psychology. She is the author of 11 books, including studies of Eduard Moerikes poetry, the cultural politics of Thomas Mann, of Elias Canetti's poetic anthropology and sociology of death (1979 and 1996), on utopian discourse from Thomas More to feminist science fiction (1985); her books published in the US include Weimar Intellectuals and the Threat of Modernity (1988); Visible Spaces: Hannah Arendt and the German-Jewish Experience (1990); Critical Realism: History, Photography, and the Work of Siegfried Kracauer (1994); Germany 1945 Views of War and Violence (1997); Naipaul’s Strangers (2003). Her current book project is The Uses of Remorse: Memory and Politics in Postwar Germany which begins with a critical comparative discussion of fundamentalisms in political Zionism and Islam.

Professor of German and Comparative Literature, (Ph.D. Yale University). Fields of research and teaching: the intellectual history and theory of cultural and political modernity (18th to 21st century), Dagmar Barnouw came to USC's Departments of German and Comparative Literature in 1988 from positions as Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Brown University (1981-1985; Associateprofessor 1979-1981) and the University at Texas at Austin (1985-1988). She has taught as a guest professor at numerous German universities, notably a semester at Rostock University (German Democratic Republic, 1982. Her numerous grants and awards include a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship (1983/84), a Getty Senior Research Fellowship (1993/94), a Humboldt Senior Research Award Fellowship (1997/98); two Phi Kappa Phi USC Faculty Recognition Book Awards (1991 and 1998); a USC Associates Award for Creativity in Research and Scholarship (1998) and a variety of book prizes and nominations including Choice's "Outstanding Academic Book of 1990" and the Maine Photographic Workshops Award, Best Critical Photographic Study (1997) . Her research and teaching has been interdisciplinary, extending into the fields of historiography, anthropology, sociology, political science, the history and theory of documentary photography, and more recently also clinical and cognitive psychology. She is the author of 11 books, including studies of Eduard Moerikes poetry, the cultural politics of Thomas Mann, of Elias Canetti's poetic anthropology and sociology of death (1979 and 1996), on utopian discourse from Thomas More to feminist science fiction (1985); her books published in the US include Weimar Intellectuals and the Threat of Modernity (1988); Visible Spaces: Hannah Arendt and the German-Jewish Experience (1990); Critical Realism: History, Photography, and the Work of Siegfried Kracauer (1994); Germany 1945 Views of War and Violence (1997); Naipaul’s Strangers (2003). In a large number of essays and research articles she has explored contemporary cultural and political issues in the context of their history, including questions of feminism, technocracy and the politics of identity, modernity and documentarism (verbal and photographic), the cultural politics of memory, and most recently the growing power of fundamentalisms in both Western and non-Western political culture. Her current book project is The Uses of Remorse: Memory and Politics in Postwar Germany which begins with a critical comparative discussion of fundamentalisms in political Zionism and Islam.

Born in Morocco under French colonization, Robert Elbaz is professor and chairman of French studies at the University of Haifa. He received his PhD. in comparative literature from McGill University. A literary critic and a fascinating reader of Maghrebian, Mediterranean, and Sephardic literature of the 20th century, Elbaz wrote on extensively on authors such as Tahar Ben-Jelloun, Albert Memmi, Mouloud Feraoun, Rachid Mimouni, Albert Cohen, Elias Canetti. Robart Elbaz’ interests span from semiotics to 19th century political theory and many of his studies wrestle with the notion of marginality in the narrative of the contemporary global world. The shifting of cultural paradigms and power centers from Europe and the former Ottoman Empire to the United States and former Soviet Union provides the backdrop for some of his work on the theory of autobiography and the changing nature of the self. His new book, Literature and Society in Elias Canetti will be published in January.

Photo: Claudio Magris

An internationally acclaimed writer, scholar and public figure, Claudio Magris began his literary career in 1963 when, at the age of 24, he published his first book, Il mito absburgo nella letteratura austriaca moderna (The Hapsburg Myth in Modern Austrian Literature). One of the last commentators of Central European intellectual history. Magris has significantly contributed to contextualize for a broad readership the works of such writers as Arthur Schnitzler, Hugo von Hofmansthal, Karl Kraus, Franz Kafka, Elias Canetti, and Joseph Roth.

Their books, collectively and individually, document the dissolution of the Hapsburg Empire and reveal the existential predicament of individuals faced with the cultural crisis of a once monolithic social order. Magris's most critically acclaimed works are Danube, published in Italy in 1986 and in the United States in 1989, and Microcosms, which was published in Italy in 1997 where it won the Strega Prize, Italy's top literary award; it was published in English by Harvill Press.

Michael Taussig is a professor of anthropology at Columbia University and is considered one of the most eminent cultural anthropologists and public intellectuals working in the United States today. With an international reputation for scholarly work that crosses disciplinary boundaries, addresses contemporary issues and is innovatively engaged with the process of writing and performance, Professor Taussig speaks to and writes for a broad audience within and outside the academy. An Australian by birth and originally trained in medicine at the University of Sydney, Professor Taussig's internationally renowned major works have been stimulated by continuing fieldwork in South America, principally Colombia, over more than thirty years. His writing has addressed areas of theoretical interest in the social sciences and humanities apart from anthropology, including geography, history, political science, cultural studies, post-colonial studies, international studies and creative writing. Taussig has talked about Elias Canetti in relation to ethnological concepts expressed in Crowds and Power.

Since Michael Taussig began fieldwork in 1969 in Colombia his writing has spanned different issues in roughly the following order: two books in Spanish for local people on the history of slavery and its aftermath, and books and articles in academic journals on 1) commercialization of agriculture, 2) slavery, 3) hunger, 4) the popular manifestations of the working of commodity fetishism, 5) the impact of colonialism (historical and contemporary) on "shamanism" and folk healing, 6) the relevance of modernism and post-modernist aesthetics for the understanding of ritual, 7) the making, talking, and writing of terror, 8) mimesis in relation to sympathetic magic, state fetishism, and secrecy, and 9) defacement. Much of his work is an attempt to develop new forms of cultural artifactuality in the writing itself. His two most recent books are Law in a Lawless Land: Diary of a Limpieza (The New Press, 2003), and My Cocaine Museum (Chicago U.P., 2004).

Liliane WeissbergLiliane Weissberg is professor of Germanic languages and literatures at University of Pennsylvania. She is an extensively published scholar and frequent lecturer both in the U.S. and abroad. After completing her M.A. at the Freie Universität Berlin, she earned her A.M. and Ph.D. in comparative literature from Harvard. She arrived at Penn from Johns Hopkins University in 1989 and was named the Joseph B. Glossberg Term Professor in the Humanities (Almanac October 21, 2003). She has had visiting appointments at universities throughout Germany. Before her current term as graduate chair of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Liliane Weissberg served for seven years as chair of the Program in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory. She teaches a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses and is a member of the Center for Folklore and Ethnography, the graduate group in art history, the Jewish Studies Program, and the Women's Studies Program. Her commitment to teaching was recognized in 2003 with a Lindback Award (Almanac April 22, 2003).

Dr. Liliane Weissberg, Professor of German and Comparative Literature, has been reappointed the Joseph B. Glossberg Term Professor in the Humanities, a title she has held since 1998. After completing her M.A. at the Freie Universität Berlin, Dr. Weissberg earned both her A.M. and Ph.D. in comparative literature at Harvard University. Before coming to Penn in 1989, Dr. Weissberg taught at Harvard University, Hochschule der Künste Berlin, and The Johns Hopkins University. In addition to her faculty position in the department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, she is a member of the Center for Folklore and Ethnography, the Jewish Studies Program, the art history graduate group, and the advisory committee in Women's Studies. Since 1986, Dr. Weissberg has held visiting appointments throughout Germany, including a professorship at Hochschule für Jüdische Studien in Heidelberg this past summer. Dr. Weissberg's research interests include German, American, and French literature; literary theory; aesthetics; and cultural studies. To address themes of German-Jewish literary and cultural tradition, her recent work focuses on Jewish women writers of the early 19th century. Distinguished scholarship in these fields has earned her fellowships from the American Philosophical Society, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture as well as recognition from the Netherlands-America Association. In April, Dr. Weissberg received a Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award to honor her commitment to teaching excellence. In addition to publishing close to 100 articles, she has authored or edited ten books and recently completed a monograph entitled Approaching Gentility: Early German-Jewish Autobiography and the Quest for Acculturation. She currently serves as general editor of the book series Kritik: German Literary Theory and Cultural Studies and is on the editorial boards of the Lessing Yearbook, Poe Studies, and Medienkultur. Dr. Weissberg has shared her expert commentary on BBC WorldServices and CBC in Toronto broadcasts.

Contact: Natalia Indrimi, Program Curator, 212-294-8314; nindrimi@cjh.org Eric Katzman, Public Relations,  212-294-8252; ekatzman@cjh.org 

 

EVENTS NOT TO MISS

Sarah Bernhardt: The Art of High Drama
December 02, 2005 - April 02, 2006 at
The Jewish Museum. 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street, New York. Phone: 212.423.3200

Sarah Bernhardt: The Art of High Drama is the first major museum show ever devoted to the great French actress (1844-1923). Over the course of a remarkable sixty-year career, “the Divine Sarah” established herself as the premier tragedienne in the West. Her very name became synonymous with acting and, long after her death, it continues to exercise a powerful spell on performers and audiences around the world. Born five years after the invention of photography, Bernhardt pioneered the use of modern technologies to disseminate her image, and was the first major stage actress to star in films.

Sarah Bernhardt embodied the art of the Belle Époque. The exhibition will illuminate the life and art of this remarkable performer through over 250 spectacular and rarely seen objects in all media—painting, sculpture, photography, costumes, stage designs, Art Nouveau theater posters and jewelry, her furniture and personal effects, as well as a recording of her voice and selected films in which she starred. Drawing on public and private collections in America and Europe, Sarah Bernhardt: The Art of High Drama will explore celebrity, theatrical style, biography, politics, fashion, and taste.

Exhibition highlights include: a selection of rare photographs of Sarah Bernhardt by the pioneering French photographer Félix Nadar taken when the actress was no more than twenty and had no reputation; other vintage photographs of the actress in such famous roles as Hamlet, Camille, Cleopatra, and Joan of Arc; sumptuous posters by the Art Nouveau designers, Alphonse Mucha and Jules Chéret; a splendid crown studded with pearls designed by Alphonse Mucha and executed by René Lalique; an infamous publicity photograph of Bernhardt posing in her coffin (c. 1880); a letter Sarah Bernhardt wrote to Emile Zola in support of his defense of Alfred Dreyfus; a lithograph by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec of Sarah Bernhardt as the tragic heroine in Phèdre; paintings of the actress by prominent contemporaries; costumes including a gold-embroidered cape and a jewel-encrusted crown for Théodora as well as jeweled bracelets for Cleopatra; items from Bernhardt’s personal wardrobe including an elegant ermine capelet, multi-colored embroidered kid gloves and a feathered fan; examples of sculpture by Sarah Bernhardt; a rare audio recording (c. 1900) of the actress performing an Edmond Rostand play, L’Aiglon (The Eaglet), about the son of Napoleon Bonaparte; film excerpts of the actress at home and performing such roles as Camille and Queen Elizabeth, highlighted by her first film - of the duel scene from Hamlet - made in 1900.  Also featured in the exhibition is a handkerchief embroidered with “Sarah,” which has been passed down from Bernhardt to a distinguished line of American actresses, including Helen Hayes, Julie Harris, Susan Strasberg, and Cherry Jones. The daughter and niece of Jewish courtesans, Bernhardt was baptized a Catholic, but was mercilessly attacked by the popular press for her supposedly Jewish features and behavior. She was a staunch defender of Alfred Dreyfus and wrote a letter in support of Emile Zola’s publication of J’Accuse. At the same time she was a revered national figure, patriotically serving France during the Franco-Prussian War and World War I.

Bernhardt had an extraordinary trajectory from her beginnings at the Comédie Française to international stardom. In 1880 she undertook the first of nine American tours, which not only established an enduring relationship with audiences in this country but also with American theatrical pioneers like the Shubert brothers. Her brilliantly orchestrated career included the ownership of theaters and the supervision of each of her productions; it was also the product of her savvy cultivation of her public image. Her prescient deployment of technology extended to the first recording of her famous “golden voice” by Thomas Alva Edison at Menlo Park, New Jersey. Bernhardt was also the first major actress to perform on film, a technological novelty that at the time had little artistic cachet. To spectacular international acclaim, she went on to star in eight movies. Among the most represented personages of her time, this extremely thin, frizzy-haired belle juive fascinated her contemporaries: she sat for many of the most fashionable artists of her time, was perhaps the most photographed woman in the world, and attached her name to products ranging from hair curlers to liqueurs. As if this were not enough, Bernhardt was herself a sculptor and painter, which simultaneously heightened her fame and made people suspicious of her manifold talents. Bernhardt’s larger-than-life persona and her extraordinary success as actor and entrepreneur established the template for Hollywood icons as we know them. She was an inspiration for such figures as Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, John Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Katharine Hepburn, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Nicole Kidman, and the contemporary stand-up comic, Sandra Bernhard, among others.

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THE POPE, THE CHIEF RABBI, AND JEWISH ORPHANS AFTER THE HOLOCAUST” TOPIC OF FEB. 2 NYU LECTURE

Michael Marrus, a professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Toronto, will deliver “The Pope, the Chief Rabbi, and Jewish Orphans after the Holocaust” on Thurs., Feb. 2, 5:30 p.m., at New York University’s Rosenthal Pavilion, 10th Floor, Kimmel Center for University Life (60 Washington Sq. South at LaGuardia Place). The lecture is co-sponsored by NYU’s Taub Center for Israel Studies as well as NYU’s Program in Religious
Studies and the university’s Catholic Center. The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited. The public  should RSVP to fas.taubcenter@nyu.edu  or 212.998.8981. Reporters interested  in attending should contact James Devitt, NYU’s Office of Public Affairs,  at 212.998.6808 or james.devitt@nyu.edu. Marrus’ published works include: The Unwanted: European Refugees in the Twentieth Century; The Holocaust in History; and Vichy France and the Jews (with Robert Paxton).


How to get there: New York University’s Rosenthal Pavilion, 10th Floor, Kimmel Center for University Life (60 Washington Sq. South at LaGuardia Place) [Subway Lines:  A, B, C, D, E, F, V (West 4th Street); N, R, W (8th  Street); 6 (Astor Place)]

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Taub Center for Israel Studies, established in 2003, is one of the few
university-based research centers dedicated to the study of modern Israel  and its recent history, society, and politics. The Taub Center supports lectures, seminars, scholarly colloquia, and other special programs for  students, faculty, and the community. The Center was established with a  gift from the Henry and Marilyn Taub Foundation.
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Henry Roth Centennial Celebration


The New York Public Library 42nd Street & Fifth Avenue, New York City, Tuesday,  Feb. 7, 2006 5:30 p.m. to  9 p.m.

'Celebrating the 100th Birthday of Henry Roth (1906-2006)'.  The life and work of noted American novelist, Henry Roth, recognized for his masterpiece Call it Sleep (1934), and Mercy of a Rude Stream (1993-1997), will be honored during a centennial celebration sponsored by the American Jewish Historical Society, which houses the Henry Roth Archives, the New York Public Library, and City College, Roth's alma mater. Discussions and live readings will be presented by two panels of distinguished professors, writers, critics, and literary notables, including Roth's son and his long-time publisher. Featured speakers: Mark Mirsky, novelist and CCNY professor. Steve Kellman, a professor of English (University of Texas, El Paso) and author of a new Henry Roth biography. Author, Morris Dickstein, a distinguished professor of English at Queens college. New York Times contributor, critic and novelist, Daphne Merkin, among others. New York Public Library, 42nd St. Fifth Ave., NYC. Free. Open to the public. Pre-registration requested. Contact freidus@nypl.org  or call 212-930-0601. For schedule information, visit www.ajhs.org.

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Jewish Author Explores Her Iranian Roots
A Discussion of Historic Issues with Roya Hakakian, Author of JOURNEY FROM THE LAND OF NO: A GIRLHOOD CAUGHT IN REVOLUTIONARY IRAN


 As America's presence in the Middle East continues, attention has started to shift toward Iran. Iranian society is one that has remained a mystery to most Americans. Roya Hakakian provides a rare window into this world in her memoir Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran (Three Rivers Press, 2004). Hakakian, an Iranian Jewish woman, invites her readers to share her experience growing up during the Iranian revolution and her immigration to the United States in 1985. Hakakian will talk about her story as part of the Looking Back, Facing Forward book series at the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust on Wednesday, January 25 at 7 p.m. This program is free with a suggested donation.  "Journey from the Land of No is an immensely moving, extraordinarily eloquent, and passionate memoir. Its author begins what one may prophesy as a major literary career," said literary critic Harold Bloom.

Roya Hakakian is a co-founder of the Iranian Human Rights Detention Center, as well as a documentary filmmaker and journalist. She has collaborated on over a dozen hours of programming for some of the most prestigious journalism units on network television, including 60 Minutes Sunday and 60 Minutes II, A& E's "Travels With Harry" hour, ABC Documentary Specials with Peter Jennings, Discovery, and The Learning Channel. Commissioned by UNICEF, Hakakian's most recent film, Armed and Innocent, on the subject of the involvement of underage children in wars around the world, has been selected among best short documentaries at several festivals, most recently as an official entry of the 2003 Telluride Mountain Film Festival. The Looking Back, Facing Forward series is co-sponsored by the Forward, and is moderated by its features editor Gabriel Sanders. The series will continue on Wednesday, February 22 with author Tony Michels discussing his monograph, A Fire in Their Hearts: Yiddish Socialists in New York (Harvard University Press, 2005). The Museum's three-floor Core Exhibition educates people of all ages and backgrounds about the rich tapestry of Jewish life over the past century--before, during, and after the Holocaust. Current special exhibitions include: Ours To Fight For: American Jews in the Second World War, which explores the lives of Jewish men and women who served during WWII; Bukharan Odyssey, photographs by Zion Ozeri of one of the world's most exotic and colorful communities; and Life in Shadows: Hidden Children and the Holocaust, which tells the remarkable stories of the Nazis' most vulnerable victims-Jewish children. The Museum offers visitors a vibrant public program schedule in its Edmond J. Safra Hall. It is also home to Andy Goldsworthy's Garden of Stones. The Museum receives general operating support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and is a founding member of the Museums of Lower Manhattan.


Contact: Ari D. Geller, Public Relations Manager, Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, 36 Battery Place - New York, NY 10280 P. 646.437.4339 - F. 646.437.4341 - ageller@mjhnyc.org
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Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Man?
A Provocative Lecture and Discussion of Gender and Physiology

Wednesday, February 15 at 7:30 pm, sponsored by The Village Temple Sisterhood at 33 East 12th Street, between Broadway and University Place, Subways: 4,5,6, L, N, R to Union Square.                                By Janet Falk, The Village Temple Sisterhood


It’s not only their genitalia that make men and women different anatomically. Their hearts and brains also have distinctive characteristics. But physicians are not usually aware of these differences. According to Dr. Marianne J. Legato, MD, FACP, Director, Partnership for Gender-Specific Medicine at Columbia University, “Unless they are focusing on the reproductive system, most doctors have a tendency to treat patients as though they were all the same sex: male.” Dr. Legato’s lecture, “Why Can’t a Woman Be More Like a Man?,” is sponsored by the Village Temple Sisterhood on Wednesday, February 15th at 7:30 p.m. at the Village Temple. A suggested donation of $5.00 is requested.

The Village Temple Sisterhood is a multi-generational group of dynamic women. It serves the Village Temple community by offering supportive programs that enhance the warmth of worship services and the connectedness of all Jews. It also presents lectures and organizes other events throughout the year, often in conjunction with holidays. Monthly meetings are designed to inform and inspire members, and all women and men of the Village Temple are welcome to attend. From Mid-Summer Night's Supper to Chanukah Brunch to the annual Street Fair fundraiser, Sisterhood members are actively translating the principles of Judaism into concern and action. For further information on this event or other Village Temple Sisterhood programs, contact Janet Falk, 212-677- 5770.
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March 2006 events occurring at the JCC of Mid-Westchester, 999 Wilmot Road, Scarsdale NY 10583.


ISRAELI FOLK DANCING with Uri Aqua   Instruction, requests  and open session. Learn the latest dances and old favorites. DATE: Ongoing Tuesdays through June. TIME: 7:30-10:00pm . FEE: $8.50 members/$10.50 nonmembers per class. CONTACT: Sheila Sturmer, Director, (914) 472-3300  ext. 351.

ISRAELI ART SHOW AND SALE:  EXPRESSIONS ‘06   Works by Meisler, Ebgi, Shemu, Sakstier, Abukassis, Bloch, Agam, Denis and others.  Opening reception, Sunday, March 5th, 1-4 pm. DATE: March 4 – March 12. FEE: FREE. CONTACT: Sheila Sturmer, Director, (914) 472-3300  ext. 351

JCC HOLIDAY BOUTIQUE.  Gifts for children and adults, including jewelry, toys, pocketbooks, stationery and more, will be available. DATE:  Tuesday, March 28, 2006. TIME: 9:00am-2:00pm. CONTACT:  Julie Dorfman, Director, 472-3300, x 412.

SEDER PLATE WORKSHOP.  Adorn your Passover table with your family’s one-of-a-kind Seder plate. DATE: Sunday, March 5, 2006. TIME: 1:30-3:00pm. FEE:  $40. CONTACT: Tobe Sevush, Director, 472-3300, x 346.


JCC DANCE SCHOOL AND WESTCHESTER THEATRE OF DANCE ANNUAL CONCERT:  “ADVENTURES WITH MADELINE”.  A dance concert for children of all age. DATE: Saturday March 25th.  TIME: 8:00 pm performance.  Sunday March 26th. TIME: 1:00 & 4:00 pm performances. FEE:  Sat March 25th   Members:  $20*/ Non-Members:  $25* (* includes dessert reception immediately following performance)  Sun March 26th  Members: $15/ Non-Members: $20. LOCATION: The Bendheim Performing Arts Center. CONTACT: Jayne Santoro Viltz, Director, 472-3300 ext. 320.
Contact: Cynthia Blustein blusteinc@jcca.org , Director, Marketing and Communications, JCC of Mid-Westchester/Bendheim Performing Arts Center, 999 Wilmot Road, Scarsdale NY. Tel: 914-472-3300 ext. 304

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JNF Connects Students with the Land of Israel on Tu B'Shevat
New nationwide raffle offers a free ticket to Israel

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Photo: Students from The Ramaz School enjoy a Tu B'Shevat Seder.

On February 13, 2006, the holiday of Tu B’Shevat will come alive for students across the country who participate in Jewish National Fund’s annual “Tu B’Shevat in the Schools” educational program. Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish New Year for Trees, falls on the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Shevat and marks the time when trees begin to drink in the rainfall of the new year.  It is a celebration of spring’s rebirth and renewal, and an appreciation of the interconnectedness of man and nature.   "Over the years, this holiday has taken on the theme of planting trees in Israel, making it JNF's holiday," said Bob Levine, JNF's National Vice President for Education.  "Perhaps no other organization is as strongly associated with a holiday as JNF is with Tu B'Shevat.  Over the past 105 years, Jews have come together to plant over 240 million trees through JNF, providing luscious belts of green covering more than 250,000 acres of land in Israel." “Tu B’Shevat in the Schools” gives children the opportunity to reinforce their connection and dedication to the land of Israel by planting trees in honor or in memory of someone special.  JNF will provide tree envelopes for each student in participating schools.  The first planting is $18, and each additional tree is only $10.  Students and honorees will receive specially designed certificates commemorating the plantings.  

New to the program this year are two exciting contests.  Students who order at least one $18 tree will be entered into a nationwide raffle for a free ticket to Israel.  Each school that has either 25% student participation or submits $2,000 worth of tree orders will be entered into a separate raffle for another ticket to Israel.  Last year, 7,091 students from more than 860 schools participated in JNF’s “Tu B’Shevat in the Schools” program. 

Additional materials to be sent to schools include posters and copies of the Tu B’Shevat issue of JNF’s educational newsletters -- A New Leaf for students in grades 1-4 and Growing Up!, a new version for students in grades 5-8. Participating schools may also order JNF’s special Haggada