Spring 2017 Schedule

Monday April 3, 4:30-6 PM, Harper 130: *Guest Speaker* Dr. Michael Berkowitz (Professor of Modern Jewish History, University College London): “Who Ran the Show? American Jews, Moviemaking during the Second World War, and New Perspectives from the Archives.”

Wednesday April 5, 4:30-6 PM, Wieboldt 206: *Guest Speaker* Dr. Jeffrey Shandler (Professor of Jewish Studies, Rutgers University): “The Holocaust for Beginners: Yankev Glatshteyn’s ‘Emil un Karl’ and Other Wartime Writing for Young Readers.” Co-sponsored by the Department of Germanic Studies, the Chicago Center for Jewish Studies, and the UChicago Yiddish Tish.

Monday May 1, 4:30-6 PM, Harper 148: Annie Greene (PhD Student, NELC): “Reburying a Rabbi in Ottoman Baghdad.” Co-sponsored by the Islamic Studies Workshop. 

Monday May 15, 4:30-6 PM, Harper 148: Anna Band (PhD Student, History): “At Home in the Pension: Jewish Spaces of Longing and Belonging in Weimar Berlin.”

Monday May 22, 4:30-6 PM, Harper 148:  David Cohen (PhD Student, Divinity): “Yitzhak Ibn Latif: A Mystical Philosopher or a Philosophical Mystic? A Commentary on Tzror Ha’Mor Chapter Five.”

Monday June 5, 4:30-6 PM, Harper 148: Mili Leitner (PhD Student, Ethnomusicology): “Musical Discourses of Racialization in Palestine, 1900-1948.” Co-sponsored by the EthNoise Workshop. 

Winter 2017 Schedule

January 23, 4:30-6 PM, Harper 148: Grace Overbeke (PhD Candidate, Theatre and Drama, Northwestern): “Jean Caroll and the Beginning of Jewish Female Standup Comedians.”

February 6, 4:30-6 PM, Harper 148: Erik Dreff (PhD Candidate, Divinity): “Ethics, Religion, and the Intellectual Love of God in Spinoza.” 

February 13, 4:30-6 PM, Harper 148: Matthew Katz (MDiv Student, Divinity): “The Chofetz Chaim and 21st Century Law and Ethics.”

February 27, 5-6:30 PM, Pick 319: Benny Bar-Lavi (PhD Student, History): Title”Joseph López’s ‘El Mantenedor’: Heresy, Enlightenment, and Interreligious Appropriation in eighteenth-century Sephardi AmsterdamCo-sponsored by the Early Modern Workshop.

March 6, 4:30-6 PM, Harper 130: *Guest Speaker* Dr. Rachel Seelig (Institute Fellow, Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Michigan): “Strangers in Berlin: Modern Jewish Literature between East and West, 1919-1933.” Co-sponsored by the History of Judaism Club. 

Fall 2016 Schedule

September 26, 6-7:30 PM: Welcome Dinner at the home of Professor Paul Mendes-Flohr. Please RSVP by September 23rd to Anna Band (aband@uchicago.edu) and David Cohen (davidc1@uchicago.edu) for the address.

October 10, 4:30-6 PM, Harper 148: Erik Dreff (PhD Candidate, Divinity): “The Psychology of the Intellectual Love of God in Spinoza.”

October 31, 4:30-6 PM, Harper 130: *Guest Speaker* Professor Shachar Pinsker (Professor of Hebrew Literature and Culture, University of Michigan): “A Rich Brew: Urban Cafes and Modern Jewish Culture.” Co-sponsored by the Chicago Center for Jewish Studies (CCJS) and the History of Judaism Club. 

November 7, 4:30-6 PM, Harper 148: Matthew Johnson (PhD Student, German): “A tsveyter: Paul Celan in Yiddish.” Respondent: Kirsten Collins (MA Student, Divinity).

November 14, 4:30-6 PM, Harper 148: Visiting Professor Guy Stroumsa (Professor of Comparative Religion, Hebrew University of Jerusalem): “Beyond Utopia: Avatars of the Promised Land — A Comparative Reflection on the History of the Concept of the Holy Land in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.” Co-sponsored by the Philosophy of Religions Workshop. 

November 21, 4:30-6 PM, Harper 148: Yoni Shemesh (PhD Student, Divinity): “Narboni on Maimonides’ Classification of Evil and Job’s Attainment.”

November 28, 4:30-6 PM, Harper 130: Visiting Professor Sarah Stroumsa (Professor of Arabic Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem): “The Literary Genizot: A Window to a Mediterranean Republic of Letters.” Co-sponsored by the Middle East History and Theory (MEHAT) Workshop and the Islamic Studies Workshop.