EVENTS 2012 - 2013
 October 10, 2012 - Matthias B. Lehmann (UC Irvine) - audio (mp3)
Sephardic Philanthropy and the Origins of a Modern Jewish Nation
Sephardic Jews have been noticeably absent from one of the central chapters of modern Jewish history, the rise of Jewish nationalism in the late 19th and early 20th century. It is certainly the case that Zionism as a political movement and a secular, nationalist ideology was largely a product of the European, Ashkenazi experience. This paper argues, however, that in the 18th century, the traditional Sephardic elites of the Eastern Mediterranean established a new type of relationship linking the Jewish communities of the Diaspora to the Holy Land that was crucial for the subsequent success of modern Zionism.
 October 30, 2012 - Steven Zipperstein (Stanford) - audio (mp3)
Kishinev's Pogrom in Mythology and History: The Transmutation of the 1903 Riot in Hebrew Poetry, Jewish Politics, and the Protocols of the Elders in Zion
Kishinev’s 1903 pogrom was the first instance when an event in Russian Jewish life received wide hearing. The riot, leaving 49 dead in an obscure border town, dominated headlines of much of the western press for weeks; it intruded upon US-Russian relations, and made an imprint on an astonishing array of institutions: the nascent Jewish army in Palestine, the NAACP and, most likely, the first version of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. How was it that this particular incident – devastating, to be sure – came to define so much, and for so long?
 November 14, 2012 - Lihong Song (Nanjing University)
"Jewish Studies in China: The New Frontier"
Jewish Studies is a small but growing field in China. The Glazer Institute of Jewish Studies at Nanjing University, founded in 1992 and renamed in 2007 for Los Angeles philanthropists Diane and Guilford Glazer, offers regular courses on Judaism, Jewish history and culture, and Holocaust studies. What kinds of issues may Chinese scholars in Judaic Studies encounter in a land which is neither Christian nor Muslim, and where Judaism and the animus against it are not deep-seated? The talk will address the current situation and future prospects of Jewish studies in China.
 November 15, 2012 - Lihong Song (Nanjing University)
"Chinese and Western Perspectives on the Jewish Community of Kaifeng: Towards a Fusion of Horizons"
The Jewish past in Kaifeng, China stretches back more than a thousand years. Most scholars agree that a Jewish community existed in Kaifeng, once an important stop on the Silk Road, since the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127). Some experts date the arrival of Jews to the Tang Dynasty (618-907) or even earlier. Since the discovery of the community by the Jesuits in the 17th century, it has triggered legions of scholarly activity. Working on the same historical evidence, however, Chinese and western scholars usually drew drastically different conclusions. Reflections on the differences will not only lay bare the orientations of Jewish studies in China, but also shed light on the worlds in which we live.
 November 29, 2012 - Saba Soomekh (Loyola Marymount University)
"From the Shahs to Los Angeles: Three Generations of Iranian Jewish Women"
Prof. Saba Soomekh will present an ethnographic portrait of life for three generations of Iranian Jewish women who lived in Iran and now live in America, exploring the political and social changes that have affected these women in regards to their rituals, religious observances, sexuality and their self-concept as Iranian Jewish women in Iran and now in Los Angeles.
 January 31, 2013 - Tammi J. Schneider (Claremont Graduate University) - audio (mp3)
Women in the Bible: Now That We Are Out of the Garden, Where Do We Go?
Tammi J. Schneider teaches ancient history (covering Mesopotamia, Syria-Palestine, Egypt, Anatolia and the Aegean from the third millennium to the end of the first), ancient Near Eastern languages and literature, archaeology (primarily of Israel), and women in the Hebrew Bible (Genesis, Judges, Samuel). Her research draws together the varied fields of archaeology, Assyriology, and biblical studies in an effort to understand the ancient Near East, especially the interactions among various peoples. Additionally, she is interested in the role of women in the Hebrew Bible. Schneider has worked on numerous archaeological excavations including Miqne/Ekron, Tel es-Safi, and Tel Herasim, and currently co-directs excavations at Tell el-Far’ah (South) in Israel as a project director for the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity.
 February 11, 2013 - Dalia Kandiyoti (College of Staten Island)
Conversion and Convergence: Transcontinental Latina/o Sephardic/Muslim Narratives
This comparative talk will examine tropes and themes in cultural discourses and fictions about the legacies of conversion from the Americas to Europe and Turkey. In the contemporary imagination, conversion and “returns” are characterized by both sharply differentiated and convergent identities in highly imbricated Catholic, Sephardic, and Muslim cultural worlds. At the center of these representations are changing contemporary perceptions of Sephardic cultures and histories as well as global ideas about religion and ethnicity.
 February 26, 2013 - Joel Baden (Yale)
Layers and Unities in Biblical Texts
Since the rise of critical biblical scholarship, it has been recognized that few biblical texts are monolithic units, but rather that most are the products of successive layers of editing and revising, often over the course of multiple generations. Not all layers are created equal, however: they may be revisions to some but not all of a given textual unit, they may interact either with only one or with more than one textual unit, and they may either subtly or radically reorient their source text. When considering questions of composition, it is necessary to delineate between these various types of layers, to develop methods for identifying layers, and to understand the distinct roles that these layers play in the formation of the biblical text.
 April 16, 2013 - Xu Xin (Nanjing University)
Chinese Attitudes Towards Jews and Judaism (link to UCLA Department of History)
This talk is an analysis of Chinese knowledge and attitudes toward the Jews in the 20th century. Many Chinese people are fascinated by the Jews and how they survived, were revived, and have achieved so much in modern times despite their persecution throughout the ages. The image of the Jews in the Chinese mind serves as an “other,” which remains a mirror for the Chinese to judge or construct themselves and a model for them to learn about the path to modernization without losing their traditions.
Event sponsored by the UCLA Department of History, cosponsored by the UCLA Center for Jewish Studies with the generous support of Stephen O. Lesser
EVENTS 2010 - 2011
EVENTS 2009 - 2010
Seminars and Lectures
October 20, 2009 - Raymond P. Scheindlin (Jewish Theological Seminary) "Judah Halevi, Pilgrim and Poet"
October 22, 2009 - Richard Kalmin (Jewish Theological Seminary) and
Jason Mokhtarian (UCLA) "The Talmud in its Iranian Setting"
February 23, 2010 - Aaron Hass (CSU, Dominguez Hills)
"What Do We Really Know about the Holocaust?"
aaron_hass_02_23_2010 8.69 Mb
March 2, 2010 - Walid Saleh (University of Toronto)
"Islam and the Bible"
walid_saleh_3_2_2010 5.32 Mb
March 3, 2010 - Frances Malino (Wellesley College)
"Jewish Sisters in Muslim Lands: The Teachers of the Alliance Israélite Universelle "
frances_malino_03_03_2010 7.05 Mb
March 10, 2010 - Sergio DellaPergola (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
"The Jews of Italy's Response to Challenge: Past, Present and Future"
sergio_dellapergola_3_10_2010 10.95 Mb
March 16, 2010 - Ted Merwin (Dickinson College)
"Homeland for the Jewish Soul: The Jewish Deli in America"
ted_merwin_3_16_2010 8.54 Mb
April 29, 2010 - James Kugel (Bar Ilan University)
"How to Read the Bible: Fact, Fiction, History?"
james_kugel_4_29_2010 9.91 Mb
Jewish Studies Podcasts 2009
History/Jewish Studies M182G (Prof. David N. Myers)
January 6, 2009 (1 of 3)
Seminars
CONFERENCES 2007 - 2008
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Day 2, session 1
Day 2, session 2
LECTURES AND SEMINARS 2007 - 2008
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