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Reading Yehuda Amichai: Robert Alter and Chana Kronfeld in Conversation

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

Robert Alter is Professor of the Graduate School and Emeritus Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley.  He is the author of twenty-six books and has received numerous awards, including the Robert Kirsch Award of the Los Angeles Times for lifetime contribution to American literature, the Charles Homer Haskins Prize […]

Book Talk | Walter Zev Feldman. Klezmer: Music, History, and Memory

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

Join musicologist and klezmer music pioneer, Walter Zev Feldman, for a fascinating talk based on his new book, Klezmer: Music, History, and Memory. Klezmer: Music, History, and Memory (Oxford University Press 2016) is the first comprehensive study of the musical structure and social history of klezmer music, the music of the Jewish musicians' guild of Eastern Europe. Emerging […]

Book Lecture | David Biale on Hasidism: A New History

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

Free and open to the public Far from a throwback to the Middle Ages, Hasidism is a product of modernity that forged its identity as a radical alternative to the secular world. So argue the eight distinguished authors, led by David Biale, of Hasidism: A New History, the first comprehensive account of the movement’s place in […]

Irvin Ungar on Arthur Szyk: Soldier in Art

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

In 2017, The Magnes acquired from Irvin Ungar, a private collector, the most significant collection of works by Arthur Szyk (Łódź, Poland, 1894 – New Canaan, Connecticut, 1951)  thanks to an unprecedented gift from Taube Philanthropies. Szyk’s works are now available to the world in a public institution for the first time as the Taube […]

Pogrom: Kishinev and the Tilt of History | Steven Zipperstein (Stanford) in conversation with John Efron (UC Berkeley

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

This event is free and open to the public Please RSVP here Pogrom: Kishinev and the Tilt of History (Liveright/WW Norton, 2018) by Steven Zipperstein will be available for purchase through Mrs. Dalloway's bookstore after the event. In April, 1903, 49 Jews were killed, 600 were raped or wounded, and more than 1,000 Jewish-owned houses and stores were […]

Sholem Aleichem on the South Side of Chicago: The Story and Songs of the Rediscovered 1905 Musical Stempenyu

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

This event is free and open to the public Please RSVP here In June of 1905, Sholem Aleichem—author of the Tevye Stories—met in Warsaw with theater producers Spivakovsky and Adler, and agreed to pen adaptations of his fiction works for theatrical production on stages throughout the Russian Empire. Only a few months later, caught in the […]

Around Arthur Szyk: Berkeley Scholars on Art and History

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

Additional Program Date: Tue, Nov 27, 2018 5:30pm The Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection comprises hundreds of artworks, sketches, illustrated books, and archival documents created between two world wars and documenting the rise of totalitarianism in Europe. Szyk’s work touches on motifs drawn from the Bible, history, politics, and culture to pair extraordinary craftsmanship with […]

Around Arthur Szyk: Berkeley Scholars on Art and History

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

Poland Reborn: A State Between Democracy and Fascism John Connelly, History, UC Berkeley RSVP here This talk focuses on the divided Poland that emerged after World War I. On the one hand Poland had to accommodate the demands of generations of freedom fighters, while on the other, it quickly became a dysfunctional democracy that lapsed into […]

Around Arthur Szyk: Berkeley Scholars on Art and History

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

Visual Judaica: Jewish Icons and Judaica Collections in the early 20th century Shir Gal Kochavi, The Magnes, UC Berkeley Please RSVP here The highly decorative works of Arthur Szyk contain key Jewish visual elements such as the Lion of Judah, the dove, and the seven spices mentioned in the bible as typical of the Land of […]

Event Series Special Exhibit | Anatomy of Torture: Testimonies from the Berkeley Archive

Special Exhibit | Anatomy of Torture: Testimonies from the Berkeley Archive

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

The UC Berkeley archives contain a trove of original manuscripts that detail the persecution of Spanish Jews in the 16th and 17th century. Ron Hassner's special exhibit, Anatomy of Torture: Testimonies from the Berkeley Archive accompanies the publication of his latest book Anatomy of Torture (Cornell, 2022) by making several of these documents available for […]

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Life’s Greatest Questions: A Journey into Jewish Mystical Thought through Film and Story with Mira Z Amiras

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

Presented by the Bay Area Book Festival, The Magnes Collection is pleased to host this event to honor the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Magnes co-founder Seymour Fromer. Fromer was Amiras’s father and a major influence on her book and film. Celebrate his legacy at this memorable screening and conversation that honors the tradition of Jewish mystical inquiry.

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Fashion Metropolis Berlin 1836-1939: The Story of the Rise and Destruction of the Jewish Fashion Industry

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

Based on his book "Fashion Metropolis Berlin 1836-1939: The Story of the Rise and Destruction of the Jewish Fashion Industry," Uwe Westphal’s lecture will examine Jewish participation in Berlin’s fashion industry and how Nazi loyalists within the industry contributed to the Holocaust.