Skip to content

Programs Search and Views Navigation

Program Views Navigation

Today

Music & Activism: Israeli superstar Noa (Achinoam Nini) in conversation with Professor Ben Brinner

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

6:30 p.m. reception. 7 p.m. program start time. RSVP here. Center for Jewish Studies Faculty Director and Professor of Music, Ben Brinner, will interview Israel’s international singer, songwriter, and peace activist, Achinoam Nini. This is a Regents’ Lectureship co-sponsored by the Center for Jewish Studies, the Berkeley Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies, and the Magnes […]

PopUp Exhibition | Howard Freedman on 78rpm Records and the Sound of American Jewish Experience

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

The pinnacle of Jewish immigration to the United States at the turn of the twentieth century coincided with the rise of the phonograph disc (which was itself invented by a Jewish immigrant). This presentation will offer a guided tour of sounclips from the first decades of the twentieth century, including rare 78rpm discs from the […]

The Bagel and the Archive: Celebrating Noah’s Bagels Legacy at The Magnes

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

The Magnes is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Noah’s New York Bagels Collection (1989-1996) documenting the early history of Noah’s New York Bagels. Founded in Berkeley by Noah Alper, resident entrepreneur, consultant, and philanthropist, the Noah’s Bagels brand rose to national prominence as the largest kosher retailer in the U.S., until sold to […]

PopUp Exhibition | Ashley Bacchi on Hellenistic Jewish Myths and Oracles

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

l This presentation will discuss the Hellenistic Jewish text of the Sibylline Oracles which combines Greek oracular form and myth with themes from the Hebrew prophets to create a unique oracular voice that weaves together foundational narratives from both cultures. Examining this blend of traditions helps us frame questions on the elusive nature of identity […]

Perspectives on Jewish Art & Islamic Art

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

SPEAKERS 12:45-2:30 pm Francesco Spagnolo Curator at The Magnes and Associate Adjunct Prof, UCB Carol Bier Islamic Art Historian and Visiting Scholar, CIS/GTU 11.22.2016 The Graduate Theological Union would like to acknowledge and thank the Walter & Elise Haas Fund for their generous support of the Center for Islamic Studies and Center for Jewish Studies […]

Israeli Film Series: Late Marriage

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

Late Marriage (Israel, 2001,102 minutes) Zaza (Lior Louie Ashkenazi) is an eligible 31-year-old bachelor who has done his best to remain unattached. His traditional Georgian-Jewish family is growing impatient, however, and they aggressively join forces to choose a young bride for him, with the stipulation that she be a virgin. Reception included. Free and open to […]

PopUp Exhibition | Nick Underwood From Shund to Avant-garde: Yiddish Theatre in the City of Light

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

Known as a center of early 20th-century avant-garde and experimental theatre, Paris does not tend to figure on the map of pre-World War II Yiddish theatrical production specifically. This pop-up talk will realign our understanding of Yiddish theatre in Paris and ask whether or not we can consider Paris as the capital of a Western European […]

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 […]

Opening Reception | From the Photographer’s Archive: Roman Vishniac & The Power of Attention: Magic & Meditation in Hebrew “shiviti” Manuscript Art

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

The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life cordially invites you to an opening reception for its two new exhibitions From the Photographer's Archive: Roman Vishniac  & The Power of Attention: Magic & Meditation in Hebrew "shiviti" Manuscript Art Tuesday, February 7, 2017, at 5 pm 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley Roman Vishniac, , 1941, 2016.6.13 Photo credit: […]

Film Screening & Performance l “On the Banks of the Tigris”

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

The documentary On the Banks of the Tigris (Australia, 2015, 79 mins) follows an Iraqi-Australian, Majid Shokor, as he rediscovers the classic Iraqi songs from his youth. Following the film screening, there will be a discussion and performance by Yair Dalal, an Isreali musician, who is one of the featured musicians in the film. Dalal […]

PopUp Exhibition: Elizabeth Rynecki on Moshe Rynecki’s Lost Art Legacy

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

Elizabeth Rynecki is the great-granddaughter of the late Polish-Jewish artist, Moshe Rynecki (1881-1943), who perished in the Holocaust. Her memoir, Chasing Portraits: A Great-Granddaughter’s Quest for Her Lost Art Legacy, was published in 2016 and immediately reviewed in the New York Times. For many years after his death, Moshe Rynecki’s family believed that most of […]