A. Endowed Lectures
1. The Gossett Lecture, April 24, 2014
The lecture by Marianne Hirsch, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University, and Leo Spitzer, Professor of History, Dartmouth College, was entitled “Small Acts of Repair: The Unclaimed Legacy of Transnistria.” It was attended by approximately 35 people. A public reception and dinner of invited guests followed.
This lecture was funded by an endowment established by Jean and Harold Gossett in memory of Holocaust victims Martha and Paul Feivel Korngold. The lecture and related workshop, “Crafting the Memory of Violence: Reflections on the Work of Literature and Visuality,” was co-sponsored by the Franke Institute for the Humanities, the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture, the Center for Latin-American Studies, Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Studies, the Program in Human Rights, the Department of Art History, and the Department of English Language and Literature.
2. The Joyce Z. Greenberg Visiting Professorship Lecture, May 8, 2014
The inaugural Greenberg lecture by Dan Diner, Professor of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Director of the Simon Dubnow Institute for Jewish History and Culture at the University of Leipzig, was entitled, “Language and Restitution: The German-Israeli Encounter in Luxembourg, 1952.” The lecture was attended by approximately 60 people. A public reception and dinner of invited guests followed. Mrs. Greenberg herself was in attendance.
Funded by an endowment established by Mrs. Joyce Zeger Greenberg.
B. Conferences
1. “Pines Maimonides: The History of the Translation and Interpretation of The Guide of the Perplexed,” January 19–21, 2014.
Organized by Profs. Josef Stern and James Robinson; co-sponsored by the Division of Humanities, the Norm Wait Harris Fund of the Center for International Studies, the Martin Marty Center for the Advanced Study of Religion, the Franke Institute for the Humanities, the France Chicago Center, the Chicago Center in Beijing, the Pines Society, the University of Chicago Press, the John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought, the Department of Philosophy, the Leo Strauss Center, and the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. The conference celebrated the 50th anniversary of the publication of Pines’ translation by the University of Chicago Press.
2. “Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik as Philosopher,” February 16, 2014.
Organized by Profs. Josef Stern and Arnold Davidson. Co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Divinity School and Spertus Institute. This conference was held at Spertus Institute.
3. “Arab Jewish Texts,” March 4–6, 2014, in conjunction with the Neubauer Collegium project, “What are Arab Jewish Texts? Texts and Questions of Context.”
Organized by Prof. Orit Bashkin. Co-sponsored by the Neubauer Collegium, the Franke Institute for the Humanities, and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.
C. Series, Workshops, and Symposia
1. Workshop: “Crafting the Memory of Violence: Reflections on the Work of Literature and Visuality,” April 25, 2014.
Organized by Profs. Josef Stern, Agnes Lugo-Ortiz, and Mario Santana. Co-sponsored by the Franke Institute for the Humanities, the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture, the Center for Latin-American Studies, Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Studies, the Program in Human Rights, the Department of Art History, and the Department of English Language and Literature. This all-day workshop invited submissions from graduate students. Those selected were circulated ahead of time and provided the basis for the afternoon sessions.
2. Public symposium: “In Remembrance of Me: Feasting with the Dead in the Ancient Middle East,” May 4, 2014.
Organized by Prof. David Schloen and Dr. Jack Green, Chief Curator, Oriental Institute Museum in conjunction with the museum exhibition.
3. Series: “Judaism in the Diaspora.” Lectures by Prof. Glen Weyl, “Simon Kuznets and Jewish Economies” (November 18, 2013), Dean Bell, “Natural Disasters: Jewish Identity in Early Modern Europe”(February 26, 2014), and Bernard Wasserstein, “The Ambiguity of Virtue: Gertrude Van Tijn & the Fate of the Dutch Jews” (May 14, 2014). Organized by the Student Alliance for Jewish Enrichment (SAJE). Co-sponsored by Student Government.
4. Jewish Studies Workshop. Primarily sponsored by the Council for Advanced Studies with matching honoraria for one guest speaker/quarter from CCJS. Organized by graduate students Ori Werdiger and Davi Strauss Bernstein with faculty sponsors James Robinson, Paul Mendes-Flohr, and Julie Cooper. Meets regularly at 1:30 p.m. on alternate Tuesdays. Sponsored guest lecturers this year included David Myers (UCLA) and David Shyovitz (Northwestern University. A joint session with students from Northwestern University, co-sponsored by CCJS, was also very successful and promising for future collaborations.
5. Hebrew Bible Workshop. Primarily sponsored by the Council for Advanced Studies with matching honoraria for one guest speaker/quarter from CCJS. Organized by graduate students Kelli Gardner and Jordan Skornik with faculty sponsors Jeffrey Stackert and Simeon Chavel. Meets regularly twice per month on Mondays at 4:30 p.m. In addition to student papers, sponsored guest lecturers this year included scholars Joel Baden (Yale Divinity School) and Seth Sanders (Trinity College).
6. Hebrew Circle. CCJS provides funding for meetings of the Hebrew Circle. The group is coordinated by graduate student Yaqub Hilal and directed by Ariela Finkelstein. Guest speakers this year included Yigal Shevars (Ben Gurion University) Uri Horesh (Northwestern University), and Israeli artist Assaf Evron,
7. Undergraduate Student Workshop. CCJS provides funding for a weekly workshop for undergraduates that alternates between student presentations and those of invited faculty (Sarah Hammerschlag) and visiting scholars (Aryeh Tepper). Organized by undergraduate students Jon Catlin and Gabriel Shapiro.
8. Yiddish Tish. CCJS provides funding for a quarterly Yiddish conversation breakfast “Tish.” Organized by Yiddish Lecturer, Sunny Yudkoff.
D. Individual Lectures, Workshops, and Events
1. Lectures by Joanna Weinberg and Piet van Boxel on the topic “Integration or Erasure: Christian Censorship of Hebrew Texts.”November 14, 2013. Co-sponsored by the Early Modern and Jewish Studies Workshops.
2. Yigal Shevars, Ben Gurion University, “1986: A Turning Point in Israeli Literature and Culture” (Hebrew Circle). November 20, 2013.
3. Reading and conversation with award-winning author Dror Burstein and English translator Todd Husak-Lowy. Co-sponsored by the Program in Jewish Culture and Society of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. December 2, 2013.
4. Screening of award-winning biopic of influential German-Jewish philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt. February 10, 2014.
5. Lecture by author Smadar Lavie, “Wrapped in the Flag of Israel: Mizrahi Single Mothers, Bureaucratic Torture, and the Divinities of State and Chance.” April 17, 2014.
6. Screening of Yiddish-language film Di Shpilke (The Pin) followed by a question and answer session via Skype with director Naomi Jaye. Co-sponsored by the Department of Germanic Studies and Doc Films. May 28, 2014.
E. Co-sponsored Events
1. Lecture by Ariel Porat, “Israel’s Security and the Law.” Primary sponsor: University of Chicago Law School. October 22, 2013.
2. The Yellow Ticket — A Multimedia Concert featuring the 1918 Pola Negri silent film accompanied by the performance of an original score by Alicia Svigals. Primary sponsor: Film Studies Center. October 26, 2013.
3. Lecture by Rachel Harris, “Witchcraft and Wailing: Female Professions in Israeli Films.” Primary sponsor: Center for Middle Eastern Studies. January 16, 2014
4. Art Spiegelman’s “Wordless” with music by Phillip Johnston. Primary sponsor: UChicago Arts. January 25, 2014.
5. Lecture by David Shyovitz, “Animals in the Garden of Eden: Carnivorousness and Eschatology in Medieval Jewish Thought.” Primary sponsor: Animal Studies Workshop. January 29, 2014.
6. Lecture by Jodi Rudoren, Jerusalem Bureau Chief of the New York Times. Primary sponsor: Center for International Studies. February 18, 2014.
7. Lecture and presentation of films by Natascha Drubek, “Between Resistance and Compliance: The Ambivalent Bequest of the Theresienstadt “Ghetto” Films.” Primary sponsor: Department of Cinema and Media Studies. February 18, 2014.
8. Book talk by John B. Judis, senior editor at The New Republic and author of Genesis: Truman, American Jews, and the Origins of the Arab/Israeli Conflict. Primary sponsor: Center for Middle Eastern Studies. April 2, 2014.
9. Conference, “God: Theological Accounts and Ethical Possibilities.” Primary sponsor: Martin Marty Center for the Advanced Study of Religion. April 9–11, 2014.