Ronald Hendel will introduce his forthcoming book, The Book of Genesis: A Biography (Princeton, November 2012) in conversation with Rabbi Stephen Pearce of Temple Emanu-El, San Francisco, and the Very Rev. Jane Shaw, Dean of the Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. The book traces how Genesis has shaped views of reality, and how changing views of reality have […]
Artist Helene Aylon on her memoir- Whatever is Contained Must Be Released: My Jewish Orthodox Girlhood, My Life as a Feminist Artist (The Feminist Press, 2012). Aylon's book reading includes a slideshow and short video. "Never afraif to question sacred texts, ancient rituals, and religious bias- Aylon is a role model for all artists. Whatever is Contained […]
LIFE? OR THEATRE? Dir. Frans Weisz | Netherlands, Germany, USA, France | 2012 | 85min. In this documentary, Dutch filmmaker Frans Weisz traces the life of Charlotte Salomon, a German Jewish painter who defied the Nazi regime as a teenager by staying in Berlin and attending art school until 1938, when she was sent to […]
DRESSING AMERICA: TALES FROM THE GARMENT CENTER Dirs. Stepehen Fischler and Joel Sucher | USA | 2011 | 57min. Dressing America explores the ways in which immigrant Jews transformed a half-square mile of new York City into an urban village, packed with sewing machine operators, cutters, tailors, designers, trim manufacturers, machine and tool suppliers and […]
Fluchkes is an honest, humorous look at growing older and its relationship to creativity and art. The film follows a group of talented, energetic and feisty women, all aged between 72 and 82, as they prepare for a professional dance performance. Intimately observing a year of grueling rehearsals building up to the final show, director […]
British and American intellectual and religious historian Professor Daniel Cohen is an internationally recognized leader in digital humanities, and the director of the Center for History and New Media and Associate Professor of History at George Mason University. He has been active in software development, in pedagogy, and in thinking programmatically about the impact of […]
In conjunction with the opening of the exhibition, Case Study No. 3 | Sound Objects, The Magnes presents a lecture by Shalom Sabar (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem). Though a minor holiday in the Jewish year cycle, the Purim festival and the Book of Esther assumed unusual significance for the Jews living as a religious minority, whether […]
Marina Temkina is considered one of the most important Russian poets of her generation. Born in St. Petersburg, she emigrated from the former Soviet Union in 1978 and now lives in New York. Temkina published five books of poetry. She writes on gender, Russian-Jewish identity, and immigration with a sense of history lived through and […]
“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 […]
A professor of Music and American Studies at Wesleyan University, Mark Slobin is one of the most distinguished ethnomusicologists working today. He is author of the award-winning book Fiddler on the Move: Exploring the Klezmer World (Oxford, 2001) where he uncovers the intimate connection between style and stereotype in the representation of musical practice among Jewish immigrants. […]
Presented in association with the 28th Jewish Music Festival, this performance by Michael Alpert, instrumentalist, singer, dancer, composer, songwriter and ethnographer, will thrill music lovers of all stripes. Alpert is one of the leading figures in the world scene of Jewish music, and in this performance-conversation with musicologist and The Magnes curator Francesco Spagnolo, he will retrace the […]
Sayed Kashua was born in the Arab town of Tira in central Israel. He has become one of the most important contemporary voices on the complexities of identity through his three novels, his column in the Ha’aretz newspaper, and the groundbreaking Israeli sitcom Arab Labor, which he wrote and created. His latest novel, Second Person Singular, was published in […]
