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Blood Libel: On the Trail of An Antisemitic Myth

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Berkeley's Center for Jewish Studies presents Magda Teter's lecture exploring how the medieval anti-Jewish lie about the story of Simon of Trent, a boy whose death during the Easter/Passover season in 1475 led to one of the most notorious persecutions of Jews in Europe and, as cited in 2019 by the shooter of the Poway synagogue, became rooted in Christian imagination to persist into the twenty first century US and lead to his horrific crime in California.

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Soul House: A Book Reading with Mireille Gansel and Joan Seliger Sidney

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Join us for a bilingual reading featuring acclaimed French poet and translator Mireille Gansel and her English translator, poet Joan Seliger Sidney, on the occasion of the publication of Soul House (World Poetry, 2023), Gansel’s first book of poetry in English translation and her second book in English since her important contribution to Translation Studies, Translation as Transhumance (Feminist Press, 2017). The reading will be followed by a discussion with the author and translator.

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The City Without Jews: A Centenary Film Soirée

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Join us for a special screening of the historic silent film "The City Without Jews" accompanied live with original music composed and performed by klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals and silent film pianist Donald Sosin. The screening will be followed by a conversation with UC San Diego Professor Emerita Cynthia Walk and UC Berkeley Professor Philipp Lenhard.

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Atrocities’ Truth Tellers: Armenian and Jewish Victim Testimony in Interwar Europe

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Join the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life and Berkeley Center for Jewish Studies for Atrocities' Truth Tellers: Armenian and Jewish Victim Testimony in Interwar Europe, the Annual Pell Lecture with Williams College Professor Alexandra Garbarini.

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Victoria Hanna at In Plain Sight: Sounds Create Worlds

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Join the Magnes, the Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies, and UC Berkeley's Center for Jewish Studies for a special performance by multi-disciplinary Israeli artist, Victoria Hanna.

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Happy Ottoman Purim! Commemorating Muslim Victories through Jewish Holidays, 1516-1860

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Helen Diller Annual Lecture Presented by Berkeley's Center for Jewish Studies. Co-Sponsored by the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life and Berkeley's Center for Middle Eastern Studies. This talk will explore the history of Jewish communities in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Orit Bashkin looks at the ways in which Jews in […]

Radio, Propaganda, Terror: Austrian-Jewish Refugees and the Media

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

2024 Annual Feldman Lecture by Paul Lerner. Presented by UC Berkeley's Institute of European Studies, Center for Jewish Studies, Department of History, German Historical Institute Washington | Pacific Office Berkeley, and OPEN Austria.

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The Stranniki

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Join UC Berkeley's Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, Berkeley's Center for Jewish Studies, and the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies for "The Stranniki," a Russian and Yiddish musical performance with Polina Shepherd and Psoy Korolendo.

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All Consuming: Germans, Jews, and the Meaning of Meat

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Join UC Berkeley’s Center for Jewish Studies and the Magnes for an author's discussion featuring historian and UC Berkeley Professor John Efron's latest book, "All Consuming: Germans, Jews, and the Meaning of Meat."

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Modern Permutations of an Ancient Antisemitic Myth: The Blood Libel during the Holocaust

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Presented by Berkeley’s Center for Jewish Studies and CJS Antisemitism Education Initiative, the 2025 Annual Pell Lecture features Elissa Bemporad and traces the endurance and permutation of the traditional ritual murder accusation against Jews during World War II, in particular in the German-occupied territories of the Soviet Union.

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Diasporic Kitchens: Jewish-Mexican Recipes and Stories

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Join Berkeley's Center for Jewish Studies and the Magnes for Diasporic Kitchens: Jewish-Mexican Recipes and Stories, a conversation, cooking demo, and tasting with Ilan Stavans and Margaret Boyle, authors of Sabor Judío: The Jewish-Mexican Cookbook, named a 2024 finalist in cookbooks and food writing by the Jewish Book Council.

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A Case Study of Systemic Antisemitism: The Housing Market in Paris during the Holocaust

Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA, United States

Presented by Berkeley’s Center for Jewish Studies and CJS Antisemitism Education Initiative, the 25/26 Annual Pell Lecture features Sarah Gensburger and will consider what the notion of systemic anti-Semitism can contribute to our understanding of the implementation of the Holocaust in Paris and its aftermath.