“Better Late Than Never: French Feature Films of the 1970-80s Address the Occupation and the Shoah”, a talk by Maureen Turim on Tuesday, December 6, 2016 at the Harn Museum Auditorium.
Exploring the trope of hiding Jews in three French narrative films that address anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, Francois Truffaut’s Le Denier Metro (1980), Louis Malle’s Lacombe, Lucien (1974), and Au Revoir les Enfants (1987), Dr. Turim discerns a provocative strategy that is biting in its criticism of collaborationist France. This event is part of the FFRI 2016-2017 series Confrontation and Aftermath: Remembering Wars in France, organized by Dr. Gayle Zachmann and Dr. Alioune Sow.
- Sponsored by the France-Florida Research Institute, the Center For Jewish Studies, and the Harn Museum.
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“What Ifs and the Holocaust: Speculation and Memory”, a talk by Gavriel D. Rosenfeld on Monday, November 14, 2016 at 5 pm, Smathers Library Judaica Suite.
Professor of History at Fairfield University. His recent books include The World Hitler Never Made: Alternate History and the Memory of Nazism(2005); Building after Auschwitz: Jewish Architecture and the Memory of the Holocaust (2011); Hi Hitler: How the Nazi Past is Being Normalized in Contemporary Culture (2015); and What Ifs of Jewish History from Abraham to Zionism (2016).
- Made possible by the Norman & Irma Braman Chair in Holocaust Studies.
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“Sociability and Emancipation: Imperial Freemasonry and Jewry in the British West Indies (early 19th century)” a talk by Jan Jansen, Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 5.30 pm, Smathers Library Judaica Suite.
Jan C. Jansen is a research fellow at the German Historical Institute in Washington, DC. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Konstanz in 2011 and was a fellow and lecturer at the University of Konstanz as well as a visiting researcher at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and at the Institut de Recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain in Tunis. His main research interests concern the comparative history of the European colonial empires and decolonization with a particular focus on North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic World. He is the author of Erobern und Erinnern: Symbolpolitik, öffentlicher Raum und französischer Kolonialismus in Algerien 1830-1950 (2013) and recently completed Decolonization: A Short History (co-authored with Jurgen Osterhammel, forthcoming with Princeton University Press in 2017). He is currently engaged in a research project on cross-border sociability in the Atlantic World during the age of revolutions (circa 1770s-1850s).
- Made possible by the Alexander Grass Chair in Jewish History.
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“Kosher USA: How Coke Became Kosher and Other Tales of Modern Food a talk by Roger Horowitz, Wednesday, October 19, 2016 at 5.30 pm, Smathers Library Judaica Suite.
Kosher USA follows the fascinating journey of kosher food through the modern industrial food system. It recounts how iconic products such as Coca-Cola and Jell-O tried to become kosher; the contentious debates among rabbis over the incorporation of modern science into Jewish law; how Manischewitz wine became the first kosher product to win over non-Jewish consumers (principally African Americans); the techniques used by Orthodox rabbinical organizations to embed kosher requirements into food manufacturing; and the difficulties encountered by kosher meat and other kosher foods that fell outside the American culinary consensus. Roger Horowitz is an historian of American business, technology, and labor and an expert on the nation’s food. He is the author of Kosher USA: How Coke Became Kosher and Other Tales of Modern Food (Columbia University Press, 2016), and Putting Meat on the American Table: Taste. Technology, Transformation (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006). He is the Director of the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library, and Professor of History at the University of Delaware.
- Made possible by the Alexander Grass Chair in Jewish History.
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“Yiddish on the Battlefields of Spain” a talk by Jack Kugelmass, Wednesday, September 28th at 11:30, at 3312 Turlington Hall in the Center for European Studies conference room. Lunch will be served,
- Co-sponsored by the Center for European Studies.
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Workshop on Hebrew Culture and Theory, September 24-26, 2016.
“How to Win Enemies”, a film by Gabriel Lichtmann Thursday, September 22, 2016 at 7pm, The Wooly (25 SE 2nd Place). This screening is presented by the 12th Gainesville Latino Film Festival. Introduction and Q&A by Dr. Emily Hind.
When a shy young Jewish lawyer obsessed with crime novels turns a chance encounter with a beautiful woman into a date ending in his bed, it all seems too good to be true. But things aren’t always what they seem, for as soon as he wakes up he finds his financial savings, and the beautiful woman, gone. Inspired by his favorite detective novels, he is convinced he was set up and begins to look for clues like one of his gumshoe heroes in his beloved books. As he pieces together the puzzle of the grand theft, he realizes that his closest allies may be his biggest enemies. What began as a love story becomes the caper to end all capers in this sexy crowd-pleasing comedy set against the background of Buenos Aires.
- Co-sponsored by the Latina Women’s League and the Center for Jewish Studies. Made possible through the Gary Gerson Lecture Series in Jewish Studies.
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“The German Doctor”, a film by Luica Puenzo Thursday, September 15, 2016 at 7 pm, the Thomas Center (302 NE 6th Avenue). This screening is presented by the 12th Gainesville Latino Film Festival. Introduction and Q&A by Dr. Norman J.W. Goda.
Eva (Natalia Oreiro) and Enzo (Diego Peretti) are preparing to open a cozy lakeside hotel in a remote Patagonia town when the family first encounters the charismatic doctor (a chilling performance by Alex Brendemuhl) along a long desert road. With mother Eva pregnant with twins, and her diminutive 12-year-old daughter (captivating newcomer Florencia Bado) mercilessly teased about her stunted size, the family represents more than a passing interest for the nefarious doctor. Unaware of the danger, they accept him into their home, until a local archivist and photographer (Elena Roger) suspects the town of German immigrants is harboring one of the world’s most infamous war criminals.
- Co-sponsored by the Latina Women’s League and the Center for Jewish Studies. Made possible through the Norman & Irma Braman Chair in Holocaust Studies.
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“In Those Nightmarish Days: The Ghetto Reportage of Peretz Opoczynski and Joseph Zelkowicz”, a talk by Samuel Kassow Monday, May 2, 2016 at 5:30pm, Smathers Library Judaica Suite.
Charles H. Northam Professor of History at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and author of the prize-winning book Who Will Write Our History: Emanuel Ringelblum, the Warsaw Ghetto and the Oyneg Shabes Archive and Students, Professors, and the State in Tsarist Russia; and most recently the editor of In Those Nightmarish Days: The Ghetto Reportage of Peretz Opoczynski and Josef Zelkowicz.
In the Warsaw and Lodz ghettos Jewish journalists, like Joseph Zelkowicz and Peretz Opoczynski, wrote reportage that individualized the ghetto experience and conveyed events in real-time, capturing the emotions, rumors and fears that so affected Jewish life. The lecture will explain why this reportage was so important.
- Made possible through the Harry Rich Endowment for Holocaust Studies and cosponsored by the Isser and Rae Price Library of Judaica.
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“Recording Life in the Warsaw Ghetto: Emanuel Ringelblum and the Secret Archives”, a talk by Samuel Kassow Sunday, May 1, 2016 at 7 pm, Congregation B’nai Israel.
Samuel D. Kassow is the Charles H. Northam Professor of History at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. This talk is based on his prize-winning book, Who Will Write Our History: Emanuel Ringelblum, the Warsaw Ghetto and the Oyneg Shabes Archive, which has been translated into eight languages.
- Made possible through the Harry Rich Endowment for Holocaust Studies. This talk is part of the 2016 Yom Hashoah commemoration and is cosponsored by the JCNCF.
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“Son of Saul: a panel discussion” Thursday, April 14, 2016 at 5:30pm in the Smathers Library Judaica Suite.
Set in Auschwitz and focused on the Jewish Sonderkommando who handled the remains of the murdered, Laszlo Nemes’s Son of Saul is one of the most unique Holocaust films to appear in recent years. It has won numerous awards including the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, the Golden Globe for best foreign language film, and the Academy Award for best foreign language film. Join University of Florida faculty from various disciplines in a panel discussion concerning the film’s context, innovative aspects, meanings, and representation of the Holocaust.
- Made possible through the Norman and Irma Braman Chair in Holocaust Studies and the Isser and Rae Price Library of Judaica.
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“Murder of Neighbors: Comparing Genocide of Tutsis in Rwandad and Polish Jews” a talk by Sidi N’diaye, Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at 5pm in the Smathers Library Judaica Suite.
Postdoctoral researcher at the Institut des Sciences sociales du Politique (ISP) at the Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense (France) and a research fellow at the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Center at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where he is studying comparative approaches to genocide through murders by neighbors. He is the author of The Violent Past and the Policy of Repentance in Mauritania, 1989-2012(LGDJ, 2013).
- Made possible through Campus Outreach Lecture Program of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, the Leonard and Sophie Davis Fund, Norman and Irma Braman Chair in Holocaust Studies, and the Isser and Rae Price Library of Judaica.
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“Colonial Memories: Book Celebration” Monday, April 4 at 5:30pm in Smathers Library Judaica Suite.
Tamir Sorek will present Brigitte Weltman-Aron’s Algerian Imprints: Ethical Space in the Work of Assia Djebar and Hélène Cixous (Columbia University Press, 2015). Brigitte Weltman-Aron will present Tamir Sorek’s Palestinian Commemoration in Israel: Calendars, Monuments, and Martyrs (Stanford University Press, 2015).
- Cosponsored by the Center for Global Islamic Studies, Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures Studies, and the Center for Jewish Studies.
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(This event is canceled due to unforeseeable events) “Why Jews Became Christians in the Modern Era”, the annual Alexander Grass Endowed Lecture by Todd M. Endelman, Monday, March 28 at 5:30pm in the Smathers Library Judiaca Suite.
In this talk, Endelman will consider the social settings, national contexts, and historical circumstances that encouraged Jews to abandon Judaism, and factors that worked to the opposite effect. Demonstrating that anti-Jewish prejudice weighed more heavily on the Jews of Germany and Austria than those living in France and other liberal states as early as the first half of the nineteenth century, he reexamines how Germany’s political and social development deviated from other European states. Endelman also reveals that liberal societies such as Great Britain and the United States, which tolerated Jewish integration, promoted radical assimilation and the dissolution of Jewish ties as often as hostile, illiberal societies such as Germany and Poland. Bringing together extensive research across several languages, Leaving the Jewish Fold will be the essential work on conversion and assimilation in modern Jewish history for years to come. Todd M. Endelman is professor emeritus of history and Judaic studies at the University of Michigan. His books include Leaving the Jewish Fold: Conversion and Radical Assimilation in Modern Jewish History, The Jews of Britain and Broadening Jewish History.
- Made possible by the Alexander Grass Chair in Jewish Studies and the Center for the Humanities in the Public Sphere.
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6th Annual Gainesville Jewish Film Festival on March 13-22, 2016 at the Hippodrome State Theatre.
Sunday, March 13 at 7:30 pm: Labyrinth of Lies
Monday, March 14 at 7:00 pm: Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt
Tuesday, March 15 at 7:00 pm: The Last Mentsch
Wednesday, March 16 at 7:00 pm: Manpower
Thursday, March 17 at 7:00 pm: What Our Fathers Did: A Nazi Legacy
Saturday, March 19 at 8:30 pm: Natasha
Sunday, March 20 at 4:00 pm: Kol Nidre
Sunday, March 20 at 7:00 pm: (double feature) Women in Sink and Fluchkes
Monday, March 21 at 7:00 pm: Midnight Orchestra
Tuesday, March 22 at 7:00 pm: (double feature) Happy Purim and Srugim
- Sponsored by the Jewish Council of North Central Florida, Center for Jewish Studies, Center for European Studies, Jewish Student Union, Norman Braman Chair in Holocaust Studies, Alexander Grass Chair in Jewish Studies, UF Initiative on Global Migration, Samuel R. “Bud” Shorstein Professorship, and Hadassah.
“Liminal Jews: The Rehabilitation of Relapsed Converts in Medieval Ashkenaz” a talk by Rachel Furst, Thursday, March 10, 2016 at 4 pm, Smathers Library Judaica Suite.
Post-doctoral fellow at the Hebrew University and Freie University Berlin, having completed her PhD in Medieval Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Rachel has been a Polonsky Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies at Oxford University, a visiting doctoral fellow at the Tikvah Center for Law and Jewish Civilization at New York University (NYU) Law School, and a graduate fellow in Jewish Law and Interdisciplinary Studies at the Yeshiva University Center for Jewish Law / Cordozo Law School. She will examine the legal status of Jewish converts, and returned converts, within the Jewish community in post-Crusade Europe.
- Made possible through the Alexnder Grass Chair in Jewish Studies.
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“Boundaries and Transgressions: A Transnational Conference on Jews and Muslims” begins March 8-10, 2016 in the Smathers Library Judaica Suite at the University of Florida.
“Trouble in The Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict over Israel”, a talk by Dov Waxman, Monday, February 15, 2016, 6pm in Pugh Hall Ocora, University of Floirda. Also Tuesday, Feb 16, 7:30pm, 2016, Jacksonville Jewish Center.
Waxman is Professor of Political Science, International Affairs, and Israel Studies at Northeastern University, and the Stotsky Professor of Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies. He will discuss his new book, Trouble in The Tribe (Princeton University Press), which declares that a major transformation is currently taking place in the American Jewish relationship with Israel. Waxman describes the factors that have replaced solidarity with discord and the consequences of the split within the American Jewish community.
- Made possible through the “Bud” Shorstein Professorship, Bob Graham Center for Public Serfice and the Jewish Federation of Jacksonville.
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“The Harshest Cut: Circumcision in Medieval Christian Art and Thought”, a talk by Sara Lipton, Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at 6pm, the Harn Museum of Art.
Although Christian theology retained respect for the original institution, if not the ongoing observance, of circumcision, Christian treatments of the practice grew increasingly negative, construing it as both brutal and, more surprisingly, hypocritical. I argue that this emphasis on the deceitful nature of circumcision reflects not only intensified anti-Judaism, but also concern about the body, the flesh, and the material world — realms with which Jews were polemically associated, but in which urban Christians too were deeply implicated. In this paper, Sara Lipton will examine representations and rhetorical uses of circumcision in a series of little known late medieval Christian sources — manuscript illuminations, sermons, political satire, and poetry.
“East & West 3: A Concert of Jewish Cantorial Music” featuring Lior Elmaliah, Yaakov Lemmer, Shai Bachar, Yair Dalal, Frank London, Dror Sinaiis. Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at 7 pm, Congregation B�Nai Israel. $18 general admission and free to University of Florida students.
- Made possible by the JCNCF, Kenneth Colen, Howard Rosenblatt and Eve Ackerman, Desmond & Nadine Schatz, Anonymous, Center for Jewish Studies Tree of Life Fund, Gary Gerson Lecture Series, Greenbaum Family Visiting Professor Endowment, and the Morris & Mikki Futernick Visiting Professorship.
“The Jews of Mexico: History, Culture and Libraries”, a talk by Enrique Chmelnik Lubinsky, Thursday, January 14, 2016 at 5:30pm in the Smathers Library Judaica Suite.
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“The Archive Thief: The Man Who Salvaged French Jewish History in the Wake of the Holocaust”, a talk by Lisa Leff, Wednesday, January 13 at 5:30pm in the Smathers Library Judaica Suite.
Lisa Leff is Associate Professor of History at American University, where she is also affiliated with the Jewish Studies program. She received her PhD in 2000 from the University of Chicago and her BA in 1991 from Oberlin College. She is the author of two books, Sacred Bonds of Solidarity: The Rise of Jewish Internationalism in 19th Century France (Stanford 2006) and The Archive Thief: The Man Who Salvaged French Jewish History in the Wake of the Holocaust (Oxford University Press, 2015).
- Made possible through the Alexander Grass Chair in Jewish Studies.
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