Skip to content

cultures

  1. Programs
  2. cultures

Programs Search and Views Navigation

Program Views Navigation

Today

Captives of the Dawn: Remembering Soviet Yiddish Culture

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

This year’s conference is dedicated to Yiddish culture and literature in the former Soviet Union and brings together nationally renowned scholars in the field. Followed by a choral performance and poetry readings in Yiddish, Russian, and English. Participants : Yael Chaver, Department of German, UC Berkeley Marat Grinberg, Assistant Professor of Russian and Humanities, Reed […]

The Jewish Mother

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

“The Jewish Mother” has become an icon in film, fiction and popular culture. On one hand, her image reflects the yearning for lost childhood, family and traditional community. On the other hand, this sense of enchantment and nostalgia is accompanied by a perception of the mother as an intimidating, somewhat demonic figure, who forces her […]

KlezCalifornia’s Yiddish Culture Festival

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

Annual Bay Area celebration of Yiddish culture for all ages. Enjoy and celebrate Yiddish culture! For all ages, musicians and not, Yiddish speakers and not. Saturday night: Klezmer Concert and Dance Party with internationally renowned klezmer groups: Strauss/Warschauer Duo (from New York) and Veretski Pass (Bay Area).   Affordable ticket prices, discounts for teens and […]

From India to Israel: A Multicultural Celebration

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

From India to Israel: A Multicultural Celebration | 2014 by The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life

Botanical Zionism at the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life

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

Special Guest: Dana von Suffrin (LMU-Munich) Currently on view at The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life is the exhibition “The Secret Language of Flowers. Botanical Drawings from Israel, 1949-1950”. This exhibition is curated by Dr. Francesco Spagnolo. The exhibition displays the works of Shmuel (Samuel) Lerner (1890-1981), a Californian artist born in the […]

Curating Culture, Making Memory: On the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews

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

Curating Culture, Making Memory: On the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews 11 a.m.-6 p.m., April 3 A day of film and lectures highlighting the Polin Museum located in Warszawa and Jewish history in Poland. 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. "Raise the Roof," 2015. 85 minutes. Landmark Shattuck Theater, 2230 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley.  A documentary by […]

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 […]

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

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

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 […]

Reclaiming the Self in Jewish American Culture

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

More than any other generation, Post World War II Jewish American authors were continually engaged in challenging their own tradition and defied any attempt to characterize their texts as distinctly “Jewish.” This talk will portray a new style of writing in literature that redefined a new sense of Jewish self in American culture. Even though […]

Magic Spells: A Research Workshop on Hebrew Amulets

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

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, […]

India, Israel, and Berkeley

Registration required for this free online program.

Join Magnes Curator, Francesco Spagnolo and panel guests as they discuss ties between Israel, India, and Berkeley by examining Indian-Jewish artifacts from the Magnes Collection. Deputy Consul General Zamir will talk about his experiences stationed in Mumbai. The history of Jewish culture in India and the present-day Indian-Jewish culture in Israel will also be discussed. […]

Featured Featured

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.