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 […]

PopUp Exhibition: Jeremiah Lockwood on the Lost and Found Art of Cantorial Music

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

Jeremiah Lockwood’s music career began with over a decade of apprenticeship to the legendary Piedmont Blues musician Carolina Slim, playing in the subways of New York City. He also trained under his grandfather Cantor Jacob Konigsberg and performed in his choir. Jeremiah’s band, The Sway Machinery, seeks inspiration from diverse realms of experience related to […]

Film screening: “East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem” and conversation/performance with musicians David Broza and Ali Paris

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

Reception starts at 6 p.m. Film East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem starts at 6:30 p.m. RSVP here 5th Film Screening of the Israeli Film Series (Spring 2017): East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem Conversation and performance with musicians David Broza and Ali Paris. Moderated by Ramzi Salti, Stanford Lecturer in Arabic. East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem is a film directed by Henrique […]

PopUp Exhibition: Alan Elbaum | Between Magic and Medicine: Karaite Manuscripts at The Magnes

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

Alan Elbaum is a second-year medical student at the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program. While at Berkeley, he is working toward a master's degree in the history of medicine, using manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah. More broadly, Elbaum is interested in the literature and culture of the Jews of Arab lands; historical perspectives on medicine […]