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Engaging the minds and hearts of the broader community

At the Center for Jewish Studies, we believe that dialogue and the exchange of ideas are essential to expanding the appreciation and understanding of Jewish history and culture. Through a variety of events—including seminars, lectures, and celebrations—we act as a hub for University and community discourse and learning.

Upcoming Events

2nd annual IZUN/MIZAN fim and dialogue series to begin 2/28/13

Not sure how to talk about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict? Come to learn, listen and share. Join us for dinner, a movie and dialogue.

Presenting three evenings of award-winning films that explore the complexity of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, followed by respectful dialogue and listening among audience members. Izun/Mizan director Miryam Kabakov, along with trained volunteers, will moderate and facilitate the post-film dialogue.

*Izun/Mizan means "balance" in Hebrew and Arabic.

The following films will be screened:

2/28/13: Two Sided Story - with special guests Wajih Tmaiza and Roi Golan, who have each lost relatives in the conflict. Their dialogue group, The Parents Circle, works towards peace, reconciliation, and tolerance in their troubled homeland. Hear how Wajih and Roi show that even for those most deeply hurt by the conflict, it is possible to talk about it in a respectful, humane way.

3/14/13: Arab Labor, Memorial (Season 2, Episode 8). Created by Sayed Kashua, a 32-year-old Israeli-born Palestinian journalist, the Israeli TV series Arab Labor offers a fresh perspective on Israeli-Palestinian cultural friction while presenting an unbelievably entertaining show that has made an international splash.

4/23/13: The Human Turbine. In this beautiful film we follow the attempts to harness wind and solar energy for the benefit of the residents of the Palestinian village of Susia. And in the process we get to know extraordinary individuals from both sides of the conflict.

Sponsored by the Center for Jewish Studies, the Dept. of History and the Dept. of German, Scandinavian and Dutch.

Funding was provided,in part, through a grant from the Howard B. and Ruth F. Brin Jewish Arts Endowment Fund, a designated endowment of the Jewish Community Foundation of the Minneapolis Jewish Federation.

For more information, please contact film series director Miryam Kabakov at izunmizan@gmail.com, or call 612-624-4914.

CJS to host Jewish texts and poetics symposium

The Center for Jewish Studies (CJS) at the University of Minnesota is hosting a symposium, “Semi(o)te Xt: Reading Jewishness Between the Text,” on Sunday, February 17, 2013 at the Regis Center for the Arts on the University of Minnesota West Bank.  This one-day symposium/workshop will explore how poets and media artists think about, produce, and enact Jewishness in their texts.

Seven poets and media-artists will read/perform their work and engage in critical discussion about the permutations and fluidities of Jewish texts.  In addition, they will participate in panel discussions, led by prominent members of the University and greater communities. 

One focus of the symposium will be to explore how this textual presence enables a shifting and changing of Jewishness–different ways of enacting Jewishness in a range of media. 

For the complete program, please click here. For bios of the seven presenters, click here.

The event is being organized by University of Minnesota professors Leslie Morris and Maria Damon.  Morris, a faculty member in the Department of German, Scandinavian and Dutch, says that the symposium “will be the first ever event of this kind west of the Hudson.  It will be a fantastic opportunity to see and hear some truly cutting-edge performers and thinkers.”

Co-sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Study, the Departments of English, Art, Art History, Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature, Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies, and German, Scandinavian and Dutch

 

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