2014-15 Events

Leo and Sarah (Bunny) Horvitz Memorial Lectures

• November 20, 2014. Zeruya Shalev, “Ancient Jewish Sources and Modern Love.”
• January 21, 2015. Dara Horn, Gerald Weinstock Visiting Professor in Jewish Studies at Harvard University, “On Being an American Jewish Writer."
• March 2, 2015. Adam Kirsch, senior editor for The New Republic, "Is There Such a Thing as Jewish Literature?”
• April 30, 2015. Assaf Gavron, Israeli author and novelist, "The Hilltop: A Novel."

Joyce Z. Greenberg Visiting Professorship Lectures

• February 17, 2015. Isaiah Gafni, Sol Rosenbloom Professor Emeritus of Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, “From Temple to Text: Rabbinic Judaism as Default or Destiny.”
• May 28, 2015. Dan Diner, Professor of Modern History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and inaugural Greenberg Visiting Professor, “Conspicuous Entanglements: Reappraising World War II in History’s Memory.”

June and Harold Patinkin Visiting Professorship in Modern Israel Studies Lecture 

• April 22, 2015. Raphael Greenberg, Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology and Near Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University, “The Future of Archaeology in Israel/Palestine.”

October 5–6, 2014. “The Cultural Politics of German-Jewish Hermeneutics, 1750–1950.” Co-sponsored by the Chicago Center for Jewish Studies, the Martin Marty Center for the Advanced Study of Religion, the Divinity School, the Franke Institute for the Humanities, and the Norman Wait Harris Memorial Foundation.

April 8–9, 2015. “Levinas Reading.” Organized by Sarah Hammerschlag, Assistant Professor of Religion and Literature in the Divinity School, and Raoul Moati, Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy. Speakers also included Bettina Bergo (Université de Montreal), Rodolph Calin (Université de Paul Valery), Ryan Coyne (University of Chicago), Oona Eisenstadt (Pomona College), Michael Fishbane (University of Chicago), Sean Hand (University of Warwick), Martin Kavka (Florida State University), Jean-Luc Marion (University of Chicago), Françoise Meltzer (University of Chicago), Michael Morgan (Indiana University), and Adriaan Peperzak (Loyola University). Co-sponsored by the Chicago Center for Jewish Studies, the Divinity School, the Martin Marty Center, the Philosophy Department, the Franke Institute for the Humanities, and the Chicago France Center.

May 12–14, 2015. “Characterizing Astrology in the Medieval Islamic World.” Co-sponsored by the Chicago Center for Jewish Studies, the Center for International Studies Norman Wait Harris Fund, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, the Divinity School, the Divinity Students Association, the Division of the Humanities, the Franke Institute for the Humanities, the Graduate Council, the Humanities Visiting Committee, the Islamic Studies Workshop, the Jewish Studies Workshop, the Martin Marty Center, the Middle East History and Theory Workshop, the Morris Fishbein Center for the History of Science and Medicine, and the Uncommon Fund.

May 14–16, 2015. “People and Things on the Move: Migration and Material Culture.” Presented by People and Things on the Move: Migration and Material Culture, a project of the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society. It was co-sponsored by the Center for Jewish Studies, the Nicholson Center for British Studies, the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, the Center for the Study of Race, Culture and Politics, and the Pozen Family Center for Human Rights.

October 5 – December 7, 2014. “Schmaltzywood: The Golden Age of Yiddish Cinema in America (1937–1940). In collaboration with Doc Films and with a grant from the Gemunder Family Fund, a series of nine films on loan from the National Center for Jewish Film was presented on Sunday evenings. Admission was free. The program on October 19 included a reading by Leo Melamed, chairman emeritus of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and a former Yiddish actor and radio performer.

January 21, 2015. Student Workshop: “Writing Between Two Worlds.” American Jewish author and the Gerald Weinstock Visiting Professor in Jewish Studies at Harvard University, Dara Horn, presented a workshop for students. Readings under discussion were made available ahead of time. Approximately 10 students and faculty participated. The workshop was held in conjunction with the Leo and Sarah (Bunny) Horvitz Memorial Lecture and was co-sponsored by the Committee on Creative Writing and the Department of Germanic Studies.

March 2, 2015. Student Workshop: “Jews, Language, and Interpretation.” American poet, literary critic, and senior editor for “The New Republic,” Adam Kirsch, presented a student workshop with readings under discussion circulated ahead of time. Lunch was served. Approximately 10 students and faculty participated. The workshop was held in conjunction with the Leo and Sarah (Bunny) Horvitz Memorial Lecture.

April 1 – May 27, 2015. Series: Lectures on Medieval Cairo. A series of five lectures was presented by the Oriental Institute and the Center for Jewish Studies in conjunction with the special exhibit “A Cosmopolitan City: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Old Cairo.” Lecturers included, Paul Walker of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Amy Landau of Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Tasha Vorderstrasse of the Oriental Institute, Marina Rustow of Johns Hopkins University, and Donald Whitcomb of the Oriental Institute.

October 10, 2014. Informal Graduate Student Meet and Greet. Requested last spring by graduate students, the event was organized by History student Ilana MIller and attended by approximately 12 students. Refreshments were provided by the Center for Jewish Studies.

October 24, 2014. Undergraduate Workshop: “Journalism & Judaism.” A lunch and discussion with author, columnist and professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Samuel G. Freedman was held for undergraduate students. Approximately 15 students attended. The event was co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Careers in Journalism, Arts, and Media.

November 4, 2014. Annual Graduate Student and Faculty Fall Reception and Celebration with MacArthur Fellow Tara Zahra. This annual event, which allows for the interaction of students and faculty members, was attended by approximately 25 people. A buffet dinner was provided.

November 11, 2014. Undergraduate Workshop: “LGBT Rights in Israel: A Success Story?” Alon Harel, the David and Laureine Greenbaum Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago Law School and the Mizock Professor of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem led a discussion with students over lunch. Approximately 15 students attended. Refreshments were provided. The event was co-sponsored by the Law School.

November 21, 2014. Lecture: ” ‘Thank You for Dying for Our Country’: Performing Commemoration at Ammunition Hill (Jerusalem).” Chaim Noy, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, University of South Florida – Tampa, presented a lecture based on his forthcoming book. The lecture was attended by approximately 30 people. A public reception and a dinner with invited students and faculty followed. The lecture was co-sponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

January 29, 2015. Lecture: “Babel in Zion.” Assistant Professor in the Department of History and the Program in Jewish Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Liora Halperin, spoke on her new book, “Babel in Zion: Jews, Nationalism, and Language Diversity in Palestine 1920–1948.” Co-sponsored by the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

February 12, 2015. Lecture: “Revisiting the Villa in the Jungle: Encounters with Africa in Israeli Culture.” Dr. Eitan Bar-Yosef, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics at Ben Gurion University, spoke on his research on the representations of Africans in Israeli culture.

March 12, 2015. Lecture: “The Jews of Bamiyan: A Community of Traders and Scholars in Eleventh-Century Khorasan.” Shaul Shaked, Professor Emeritus in the Institute of Asian and African Studies of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, lectured on the archives of Judeo-Persian documents that have emerged from Afghanistan in recent years, revealing the social life of a medieval Jewish community hitherto almost entirely unknown. Co-sponsored by the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

April 7, 2014. Lecture: “The Jewish Diaspora in China.” Xu Xin, Dean of the Glazer Institute for Jewish and Israel Studies, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Nanjing University, China, spoke on the presence of Jews in China, covering both earlier and more recent periods. The event was co-sponsored by the Jewish Studies Workshop, the Center for East Asian Studies, the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, and the Committee on Chinese Studies.

May 5, 2015. Lecture: “Jewish National Symbols Through a Ukrainian Looking Glass: Dovid Hofshteyn’s Translations of Taras Shevchenko.” Dr. Amelia Glaser, Associate Professor in the Department of Literature at UC San Diego, was the speaker. Lunch was provided. Co-sponsored by the Center for East European and Russian/Eurasian Studies.

May 17, 2015. “Ways of Knowing: The Bible in Jewish Thought.” The 2015 Northwestern University/University of Chicago Jewish Studies Havruta featured keynote speaker Prof. Paul Mendes-Flohr from the University of Chicago Divinity School. Sponsored by the Center for Jewish Studies.

May 20, 2015. Lecture: “Survivors and Exiles: Yiddish Culture after the Holocaust.” Jan Schwarz, Professor of Yiddish Studies at Lund University, Sweden, presented a lecture based on his new book. Approximately 25 people attended the lecture. A public reception and a dinner with invited guests followed. The event was co-sponsored by the Department of Germanic Studies and the Jewish Studies Workshop.