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 […]

The Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Chair in Jewish Studies 2019 Taubman Lectures

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

Additional Program Dates Thu, April 11, 2019 7pm Tue, April 16, 2019 5:30pm Program Schedule Lecture One: Tuesday, April 9, 7pm: Freud, Anna O., and the Linguistic Architecture of the Modern Jewish Self Lecture Two: Thursday, April 11, 7pm: A Different Diaspora: Translation, Dispersion, and the Rewriting of Psychoanalysis in Jewish Languages Lecture Three: Tuesday, April 16, 5:30pm: Weinreich's […]

17th Annual Holocaust Remembrance Day

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

The 17th Annual Holocaust Remembrance Day Program honors survivors, and remembers those who were murdered, those who resisted, and those who rescued victims of the Holocaust.

The Sixteenth Annual Judith Lee Stronach Memorial Lecture on the Teaching of Poetry

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

Almog Behar is a poet, novelist, and critic. Born in 1978, Behar now lives in Jerusalem. He has published three books of poetry: Zim'on Be'erot (Well's Thirst, 2008), Chut Moshekh Min Ha-Lashon (A Thread Drawing from the Tongue, 2009) and Shirim Le-Asirei Batei-Ha-Sohar (Poems for the Prisoners, 2016); a collection of short stories, Ana Min Al-Yahoud (I am on one of the Jews, […]

In Global Transit: Forced Migration of Jews and other Refugees (1940s-1960s)

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

Additional program dates: Tue, May 21, 2019 9am-3pm Wed, May 22, 2019 9am-5pm In Global Transit Forced Migration of Jews and Other Refugees (1940s – 1960s) May 20 – 22, 2019 German Historical Institute | Pacific Regional Office at the University of California, Berkeley Second Conference in the Series “In Global Transit” organized by the […]

David Kertzer | In the Name of the Cross: Christianity and Anti-Semitic Propaganda in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany

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

Heated debate surrounds the question of the role Christianity and Christian churches played in the Nazi and Italian Fascist demonization of the Jews. This talk brings to light similarities and differences in the Nazi and Italian Fascist uses of Christianity in their efforts to turn their populations against the Jews through examination of two of […]

Cold Case in Constantine: Anti-Jewish Violence and the Colonial Situation in French Algeria

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

Cole’s prize-winning book solves the mystery of the Constantine riots of August 1934, an episode of violence between Muslims and Jews in French Algeria that resulted in the deaths of 25 Jews and 3 Muslims. The murders in Constantine were the most lethal episode of anti-Jewish violence in peacetime in modern French history. Cole argues […]

Tapestry of Tongues: The Multilingual Matrix of Modern Hebrew Literature

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

Tapestry of Tongues: The Multilingual Matrix of Modern Hebrew Literature Screening of “Amos Oz:” selected scenes from a work-in-progress for “Ha’Ivrim” created by Israeli filmmaker Yair Qedar followed by Conversation with Professors Robert Alter & Chana Kronfeld. Sunday, February 23, 5:00 pm, at the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, Berkeley Free and open to […]

Postponed: Spring 2020 Celebration

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

Unfortunately, our Spring 2020 Celebration scheduled for Thursday, March 12 is postponed until further notice as UC Berkeley takes measures to minimize coronavirus exposure risks, including the suspension of public events for large groups. We apologize for the inconvenience. Notifications will be posted when the reschedule date is confirmed. In the meantime, our museum is operating during its […]

“Zooming In”: Teaching Online with the Magnes Exhibition “In Real Times”

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

When, at the beginning of the semester, Prof. Francesco Spagnolo, Curator of The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, worked with Prof. Isabel Richter, DAAD Professor of History to plan a class visit to The Magnes for her course on Politics and Culture in 20th-Century Germany: Fascism and Propaganda, social distancing requirements were not a consideration. However, […]

Scent & Sensibility: Researching and Collecting around a Ritual Spice Box

Francesco Spagnolo (Curator, The Magnes) and Molly Robinson (Graduate Student, Folklore) discuss their research about a ritual spice box recently displayed by The Magnes, how exhibitions can serve as “archives,” and the meanings of ritual (including the ritual of “collecting”) in a time of social distancing. Spice boxes are created to hold scented herbs smelled […]

Francesco Spagnolo on Threads of Jewish Life

Take a lunch break & join Francesco Spagnolo, Curator of The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, University of California, Berkeley, for a presentation on a current exhibition of The Magnes, presented at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco: Threads of Jewish Life: Ritual and Other Textiles from the San Francisco Bay Area. In this […]