Kavkazi “Mountain Jews,” with Valeriya NakshunVirtual

Please register for this free online program. The Jewish community of the Caucasus, the mountainous region between the Black and Caspian Seas, is known by many names. The term “Kavkazi,” derived from the Russian word for Caucasus, and “Mountain Jews” have been used interchangeably. Traditionally, however, this community has called themselves “Juhuro,” meaning “Jews” in […]

Sun, Jan 25

3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Virtual via Zoom

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Reviewing Fagin, 1948-2005, with Charles DrazinVirtual

Click here to register for this free online program. David Lean’s 1948 adaptation of Oliver Twist provoked so many protests against perceived antisemitism in Alec Guinness’s portrayal of Fagin that the film was withheld from release in the United States until cuts had been made. Yet twenty years later, in Carol Reed’s musical version of […]

Sun, Feb 01

11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Virtual via Zoom

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Austrian Again: Reclaiming a Lost Legacy, with Anne HandVirtual

Please register to receive the Zoom link for this free online program, as Anne Hand presents her new book, Austrian Again. In this captivating memoir, Anne Hand embarks on a deeply personal journey to uncover her family’s hidden history during the Holocaust while pursuing Austrian citizenship. As Austria opens the door to reparation citizenship for […]

Wed, Feb 04

6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Virtual via Zoom

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West of the Ghetto: Jewish Women, Old San Francisco, and American Literary Culture, with Lori Harrison-KahanVirtual

Please register to receive the Zoom link for this free online program. Blending history, collective biography, and literary criticism, Lori Harrison-Kahan repositions the American West as a generative space for turn-of-the-twentieth-century Jewish women’s literature. West of the Ghetto portrays how California-based writers Emma Wolf, Bettie Lowenberg, Harriet Lane Levy, Miriam Michelson, and Anna Strunsky played […]

Sun, Feb 22

3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Virtual via Zoom

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Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and Culture, with Samantha EllisVirtual

Please register to receive the Zoom link for this free online program, co-presented by JIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa. Samantha Ellis’s mother tongue is dying out. The daughter of Iraqi Jewish refugees, Ellis grew up surrounded by the noisy, vivid, hot sounds of Judeo-Iraqi Arabic. A language that’s now on […]

Sun, Mar 01

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Virtual via Zoom

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Playmakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America, with Michael KimmelVirtual

Please register to receive the Zoom link for this free online program. In 1902, Morris and Rose Michtom invented the Teddy Bear—bound by clothing scraps, stuffed with sawdust, and given button eyes with a sad, longing expression—in the back room of their Brooklyn candy store. Together they launched the Ideal Toy Corporation, joining a set […]

Sun, Mar 08

5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Virtual via Zoom

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The Politics of Yiddish’s Origins, with Kalman WeiserVirtual

Click here to register for this free online program, co-presented by KlezCalifornia. When, where, why, and how did Yiddish come into being? Since at least the 19th century, linguists and historians have debated where Yiddish comes from and what that tells us about the origins and migrations of Ashkenazic Jews. Their answers often reveal as much […]

Sun, Mar 15

6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Virtual via Zoom

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Sefardi Herbalism, with Naomi SpectorVirtual

Please register to receive the Zoom link for this free online program. Sefardi Herbalism: An Introduction to Earth, Water and Plant-Based Folk Traditions of the Sefardim explores the earth-based folk culture and healing tradition of the Jews of Spain and Portugal. Weaving together diverse sources, such as Judeo-Spanish medical texts, memoirs, interviews, testimony from inquisition […]

Sun, Mar 22

5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Virtual via Zoom

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