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Memories of Moroccan Jewish Life In Story and Material Culture from the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life

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

Special Guest: Sarah Levin, Doctoral Candidate in Jewish Studies  Jews have lived in Morocco for over two millennia, occupying a unique place in the North African environment for centuries as the only non-Muslim minority. This at times precarious social position fostered the development of a rich narrative tradition. Our guest Sarah Levin will share stories […]

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Modern Food Rituals: From the Communal Table to the Global Tasting Room

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

Inspired by Gourmet Ghettos: Modern Food Rituals, a new exhibition on display at The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, UC Berkeley scholars and Bay Area authors, artists, and food activists animate a roundtable discussion about religious and secular food rituals, the ways they engage with the growing public interest in ecology, food security, and […]

Holocaust Survivors Memoir Reading

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

Please join Jewish Family & Children’s Services of the East Bay for a special reading highlighting the ongoing work of our Holocaust Survivors Memoir Writing Group. Members of the group will share pieces that will reflect upon the theme of 1945 - Now I Am Free. Light refreshments will be served Please contact Rita Clancy at rclancy@jfcs-eastbay.org or […]

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Warsaw: the Jewish Metropolis

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

Before the war, Warsaw was the home of Europe’s largest Jewish community. It was a fascinating mosaic of different Jewish worlds: Hasidism, Bundists, Polish speakers and Yiddish speakers, a colorful underworld, a center of the Yiddish press and theater. Professor Kassow, author of Who Will Write Our History, will discuss how Jewish Warsaw grew and […]

Sarah Benor: “Mensch, Bentsh, and Balagan: Language as a Marker of Jewish Identity”

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

Professor Benor’s upcoming talk describes the range of Jewish American English – from the addition of a few Yiddish words among Jews with weak connections to organized Jewish life to the “Yeshivish” of strictly Orthodox Jews, which is filled with words from Yiddish, Hebrew, and Aramaic and Yiddish influences in grammar and pronunciation. Jews of various stripes use subtle variation in […]

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Daniel Fisher on the Materials of Lived Biblical Interpretation

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

Daniel Fisher (Magnes Graduate Fellow and PhD Candidate, Near Eastern Studies) specializes in the Hebrew Bible and its early reception history. At the Magnes, Daniel is working with Dr. Francesco Spagnolo to curate Biblical Lives, an exhibition to open in fall 2015 highlighting materials from the collection that empowered Jews across history to engage with […]

Jewish Songlines | Judeo-Spanish and Yiddish Music and Dance with Esti Kenan-Ofri (Israel) and Michael Alpert (United States)

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

A unique encounter between two world-class interpreters of Jewish musical traditions from Central and Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Esti Kenan Ofri teaches in the Department of Music at Bar Ilan University. She is a composer and a performer of Sephardic and Arabic music and dance, and a vocalist sought by some of […]

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Jewish Studies in the Digital Age | Jewish Studies Academic Consortium of the Jewish Community Federation

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

An Interactive Panel Discussion and Presentation of Work for Faculty and Graduate Students in Jewish Studies Featuring Rachel Deblinger Postdoctoral Fellow and Digital Humanities Specialist, UC Santa Cruz Ari Y. Kelman Chair in Education and Jewish Studies, Stanford University Francesco Spagnolo  Curator, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life and Lecturer, Department of Music, […]

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2015 Taubman Lecture Series

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

The Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Chair presents The 2015 Taubman Lectures with Professor Elchanan Reiner From Joshua to Jesus:  Three Chapters of the Galilean Jewish Foundational Myth   7pm  Tues, April 21        The Founder: On the Myth of Joshua in the Galilee 5pm  Thurs., April 23:    Sun in Givon, Samson in Galil: Rabbinic Literature Meets Local […]

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Todd Gitlin | Chosen People? Jewish Identity

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

6 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. lecture Today, American Jews are in centrifugal motion, and the center does not hold. Sixty years ago, after the Holocaust, Jews overwhelmingly joined in the American celebration and in a common commitment to Israel. Redemptive spirit, old-country nostalgia, and successful assimilation came together. Today, the sense of commonality frays, perhaps to the breaking […]

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Melting Pots Compared? Italian Jewry and Contemporary Israel | Sergio Della Pergola (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

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

Contemporary Israel's model of large-scale heterogeneous Jewish migration followed by complex processes of absorption and integration is not unique in Jewish history. To some extent the long-term experience of Jewish communities in Italy anticipated it and provided some yardsticks for comparisons. Of course the quantitative scale of migrations and population size was different, and while […]

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Magic Spells: A Research Workshop on Hebrew Amulets

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

Please note: The February 27 event has been canceled. The series will begin on March 20. Join Magnes curators to discover the elaborate texts and imagery, magic formulas, and Kabbalistic sources in Hebrew amulets. Worn on one’s person or placed in homes, Jewish amulets are used at moments of vulnerability and transition, like childbirth, marriage, […]