Robert Seltzer Lecture Series Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew Presented by: Jeremy Dauber, Atran Professor of Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture at Columbia University and director emeritus of its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies This lecture will be held online via Zoom. Zoom link will be provided upon RSVP Please download the Zoom app before […]
Robert Seltzer Lecture Series The Art of the Niggun: Melody as Devotion In a duo performance, Dr. Samuel Torjman Thomas traverses the world of niggunim, drawing upon the Hasidic devotional practice of wordless melody. In the hands of Dr. Torjman Thomas' Traveling in Pairs configuration (with piano accompaniment), niggunim become a vehicle for improvisatory exultations and exploration, […]
Robert Seltzer Lecture Series The Light of Learning: Hasidism in Poland on the Eve of the Holocaust The Light of Learning, by Glenn Dynner, tells the story of an unexpected Hasidic revival in Poland on the eve of the Holocaust. Hasidic leaders reinvented themselves through an ensuing pedagogical revolution. Hasidic yeshivas soon overshadowed courts and […]
Robert Seltzer Lecture Series For Women and Girls Only: Reshaping Jewish Orthodoxy Through the Arts in the Digital Age Mainstream portrayals of ultra-Orthodox religious women often frame their faith as oppressive: they are empowered only when they leave their community. Jessica Roda's scholarship flips this notion on its head. Drawing on years of fieldwork between […]
Robert Seltzer Series Anna Sokolow and the Jewish Roots of her American Modern Dance American modern dance pioneer and Jewish cultural icon Anna Sokolow (1910-2000) was a dancer and choreographer of uncompromising integrity. A very important part of American Jewish culture whose story is not well known, her choreography closely reflects her intense commitment to […]
Robert Seltzer Series Illiberal Religious Momfluencers: The Political Language of Wellness This talk examines illiberal Jewish and Christian women Instagram influencers who focus on wellness, domesticity, and motherhood. Using digital ethnography and interviews, Fader explores where and how influencers inspire each other and interact, elaborating a political illiberal religious women’s authority that creates change, while […]
Robert Seltzer Series The Intolerance of Monotheism: Towards a Religious History of Antisemitism Because of their minority status in Medieval Islamic and Christian societies, Jews became the persecuted other who justified Christian and Muslim belief in their own supersession or replacement theology. Even in the modern, more secular era, baked-in religious prejudices informed the dynamics […]
Robert Seltzer Lecture Series Reconstructing Identity: Music in Israel Modernity has produced several important chapters in Jewish history, including the advent of the State of Israel. This lunchtime talk explores ways in which music has been used in the development of the State of Israel, with special focus on ‘Ivriut (Hebraics), assimilation of sub-ethnic Jewish […]
Robert Seltzer Lecture Series Zionism and Anti-Zionism Since October 7: The Thunderstorm in the Cloud The Hamas massacres of October 7, 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza were world-altering events. They should have spurred new and creative ways of thinking on the Right and the Left. Instead, the opposite has occurred. Stark Manichean divisions; […]
Robert Seltzer Lecture Series Making the Documentary: A Very British History: Back to Belarus Filmmaker Simon Glass explores his family history and tells the story of the Yorkshire Jews in the early 20th century. Destined for America, thousands of migrants arrived by boat on the east coast of England and settled in a run-down slum […]
