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SEPTEMBER – OCTOBER 2021 PROGRAMS

Discover Your Rainbow

Wednesday, October 6, 7:30 pm EDT
(online program presented by the Lappin Foundation)

The Walnut Street Synagogue is pleased to be a co-sponsor of the Discover Your Rainbow program with Ariela Ha-Levi, presented by the Lappin Foundation, on Wednesday, October 6 at 7:30 pm.  This will be a virtual event offered at no charge.  In this special Rosh Chodesh (new month) celebration, we will discover the blessings and spiritual messages of the rainbow and the significance of the rainbow in our own lives.
Discover Your Rainbow Flyer     (event flyer)

Second Annual Tribute Event ‘Voices from the Past… Lessons for the Future’

Wednesday, October 6, 7:00 pm EDT
(online program from New England Friends of March of the Licing)

Holocaust survivor Israel ‘Izzy’ Arbeiter,  96, an eyewitness to the horrors of Nazi concentration camps, will be honored during a virtual community event presented by New England Friends of March of the Living on Wednesday, October 6 at 7:00 pm.  The event is free and open to all.  Izzy will receive the Stephan Ross Excellence in Holocaust Education Award, named for New England Holocaust Memorial Founder and lifelong friend Stephan Ross.
March of the Living Virtual Tribute – October 6, 2021   (complete details)

CSP

The Walnut Street Synagogue is pleased to announce our partnership with the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program!

Jewish Genealogy as a Spiritual Pilgrimage

Thursday, October 28, 3:30 pm EDT
(online in partnership with the Orange County Community Scholar Program)

Arthur Kurzweil, the author of From Generation to Generation: How to Trace Your Jewish Genealogy and Personal History will explain how to successfully climb your family tree and why this pursuit can be a life-changing spiritual experience.  Find out why there is no better time than now to begin or to continue your family history research–and how to do it!  Often described as America’s foremost Jewish genealogist, Arthur Kurzweil’s name has become synonymous with Jewish genealogical research. His highly praised book, From Generation to Generation: How to Trace Your Jewish Genealogy and Family History, has become known as the definitive guidebook to the field. Kurzweil has spoken before hundreds of Jewish groups on a variety of topics related to Jewish genealogy. A co-founder of the very first Jewish Genealogical Society in the 1970’s, today there are nearly 70 Jewish Genealogical Societies throughout the world. Kurzweil has also authored two books in the for Dummies series: Kabbalah for Dummies and The Torah for Dummies. His other books are On the Road with Rabbi Steinsaltz, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Genealogy and My Generations: A Course in Jewish Family History, which is commonly used as a textbook at synagogue schools in the United States. Kurzweil was born in New York City, was raised in East Meadow, New York, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from New College at Hofstra University in 1971 and a Master of Library Science from Florida State University in 1972.
Program video

The Rag Race: Jews and the Schmatta Trade

Tuesday, October 26, 3:30 pm EDT
(online in partnership with the Orange County Community Scholar Program)

How and why did Jews come to dominate parts of the clothing trade in the United States in the late 19th century? Providing a lively tour of the clothing markets of antebellum America, this session will explore the unlikely path of Jews from the underside of the clothing trade to its upper reaches. Adam D. Mendelsohn is Director of the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Associate Professor of History at the University of Cape Town. He is the author of The Rag Race: How Jews Sewed Their Way to Success in America and the British Empire and co-editor of Jews and the Civil War (with Jonathan D. Sarna) and of Transnational Traditions: New Perspectives on American Jewish History (with Ava Kahn), as well as curator of exhibitions at the New-York Historical Society, Princeton University Art Museum, and the Center for Jewish History. He has just finished the first book of a two volume history focused on the experience of Jewish soldiers during the Civil War.
Program video

Why Does God Favour Covenant?

Sunday, October 24, 3:00 pm EDT
(online in partnership with the Orange County Community Scholar Program)

There is a theme in the Bible of God setting covenants with mankind at various junctures. It would seem that God uses covenant as a way of securing God’s protection and attention. In this talk we will explore reasons for this and what it might teach us about the Jewish view of God and God’s relationship with us.  Rabbi Joseph Dweck is American born and has lived in Los Angeles, California and Brooklyn, New York. He studied in Jerusalem at Yeshiva Hazon Ovadia under the tutelage of former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef z”l. He also studied psychology and philosophy at Santa Monica College in California and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Studies from Excelsior College. Rabbi Dweck received his Semikha (rabbinic ordination) from Rabbi Ovadia Yosef under the auspices of the Sephardic Rabbinical College of Brooklyn, New York.  He received a Master of Arts Degree in Jewish Education from Middlesex University at The London School of Jewish Studies. Rabbi Dweck served as Rabbi of Congregation Shaare Shalom, a Syrian Sephardi synagogue of over 700 members, in Brooklyn, New York from 1999 to 2014 and also served as Headmaster of Barkai Yeshivah, a large Jewish day school in Brooklyn from 2010 to 2014. He has an eclectic taste in music and has received training as a hazzan in the Oriental Sephardi tradition by Rabbi Rephael Elnadav z”l and Cantor Moshe Habusha. In his capacity as Senior Rabbi, Rabbi Dweck has the honour of being the Deputy President of the LSJS; a President of The Council of Christians and Jews and Ecclesiastical Authority of The Board of Deputies of British Jews. Rabbi Dweck also serves as a member of the Standing Committee of the Conference of European Rabbis. Currently, Rabbi Dweck resides in London with his wife, Margalit, and five children.
Program video

Blue Like Me:   The Art of Siona Benjamin

Tuesday, October 19, 3:30 pm EDT
(online in partnership with the Orange County Community Scholar Program)

Join us for a conversation with Siona Benjamin, an Indian-American Jewish artist, originally from Mumbai but now residing in the United States, about her compelling art, which crosses multiple cultural boundaries, and a film about her art and the Mumbai Jewish community.  Benjamin’s transcultural Indian-Jewish art received praise in The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Financial Times, The Boston Globe, Art in America, Art New England, Art and Antiques, ArtNews, Moment Magazine, The Times of India, Mumbai Mirror, Marg Magazine, and other publications.  Siona Benjamin belongs to the Bene Israel community of India. She grew up in a city that was predominantly Hindu and Muslim, and to a lesser extent, Catholic and Zoroastrian. She has two Masters of Fine Arts, one in painting and one in theater set design. Furthermore, she has exhibited in the US, Canada, Europe, India, and Asia. In 2010 she received a Fulbright Fellowship for an art project entitled ‘Faces: Weaving Indian Jewish Narratives’. She was later awarded a second Fulbright Fellowship in 2016 for a project entitled ‘Motherland to Fatherland: Indian Transcultural Jews in Israel’. The documentary “Blue Like Me” follows her journey as she conducted research for this project. Her unique perspective as a Jewish woman raised in India is a central theme to her artworks.
Program video

Detectives in the Archives: Revealing the Stories of Three Magnificent Jewish Books (3-Part Series)

Part 1 – The Brick and the Book: The Barcelona Haggadah     Thursday, October 7, 1:00 pm EDT
Part 2 – A Mysterious Absence: The Rothschild Pentateuch    Thursday, October 14, 1:00 pm EDT
Part 3 – Reading the World Bilingually: The Duke of Sussex Ashkenazic Pentateuch     Thursday, October 21, 1:00 pm EDT
(online in partnership with the Orange County Community Scholar Program)

Part 1 – The Brick and the Book: The Barcelona Haggadah  (Iberia, Catalonia, c. 1350. London: British Library MS Additional 14761)   In which the famed but bumbling detective Marc Michael Epstein of Vassar College discovers that you can look at something for thirty years and have no idea what you are seeing.
Part 2 – A Mysterious Absence: The Rothschild Pentateuch (Frankfurt am Main, 1296. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum and Research Center, Ms. 116 Acquisition 2018.43)     A never-before-seen manuscript, a mysterious erasure, and the terrible history of an extraordinarily beautiful book.
Part 3 – Reading the World Bilingually: The Duke of Sussex Ashkenazic Pentateuch  (Ashkenaz, Lake Colmar Region, c. 1350-74. London: British Library, MS Additional 15252)  You thought Jews in the Middle Ages were ghettoized and shielded from the wider world in their hermetically sealed universe of faith and observance? Think again.
Marc  Michael Epstein, Professor on the Mattie M. Paschall (1899) & Norman Davis Chair in Religion and Visual Culture at Vassar College, was Vassar’s first Director of Jewish Studies. He is also the Director of Beit Venezia, the home for International Jewish Studies, in Venice Italy. He is a graduate of  Oberlin College, received the PhD at Yale University, and did much of  his  graduate research at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has written on various topics in visual and material culture produced by, for, and about Jews. His 2011 book, The Medieval Haggadah: Art, Narrative, and Religious Imagination (Yale University Press) was selected by the London Times Literary Supplement as one of the best books of the year. His 2015 Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink: Jewish Manuscript Illumination (Princeton University Press)—a magisterial large-format survey of the genre with over 300 illustrations in brilliant digital color—was the winner of the National Jewish Book Award. His most recent book, People of the Image: Jews & Art is due to be published by Penn State University Press in 2022. During  the 80s, Epstein was  Director of the Hebrew Books and Manuscripts division  of Sotheby’s Judaica department, and continues to serve as consultant to various  libraries, auction houses, museums and private collectors throughout the world.

Abraham’s Journey

Tuesday, October 12, 3:30 pm EDT
(online in partnership with the Orange County Community Scholar Program)

Abraham’s journey, mentioned every day in the morning services, takes him through the centers of civilization at the time, leads him to Egypt – and to a promise of an Exodus whose importance cannot be overstated. Why are the departure from Ur and Exodus from Egypt so important to us? Join us for a multi-media virtual adventure to explore these questions through the history and archaeology of ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. Nachliel Selavan, originally from Jerusalem’s Old City, is back in Israel after seven years of teaching full-time in the United States, developing his unique and engaging method of learning Torah through tour, travel and archaeology. During his undergraduate degree studies in Tanach and Mass-Communications at Lifshitz Teachers College, Nachliel hosted a local weekly radio show. Nachliel completed his first MA through the Melton Blended Masters in Jewish Education at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and is studying for his second MA in Ancient Jewish History at Bernard Revel Graduate School, Yeshiva University.

Shakespeare in the Ghetto, the Ghetto in Shakespeare

Sunday, October 10, 3:00 pm EDT
(online in partnership with the Orange County Community Scholar Program)

In his talk Shaul Bassi, professor of English literature at Ca’Foscari University of Venice, compares the historical facts of the Ghetto of Venice, the place where a cosmopolitan Jewish community has lived since 1516, with the fiction created by William Shakespeare in The Merchant in Venice. What are the differences and similarities between Shylock and the real Jewish moneylenders who settled in Venice in the early sixteenth century? What can we learn about this famous play by looking at the Ghetto, and what can literary representations (from Shakespeare to the present day) teach us about the place that has contributed the word ‘Ghetto’ to the global vocabulary?  Shaul Bassi is a professor of English and postcolonial literature at Ca’Foscari University of Venice. His research, teaching and publications are divided between Shakespeare, postcolonial studies (India and Africa), and Jewish studies.  Recent publications include Visions of Venice in Shakespeare (with Laura Tosi, Ashgate, 2011), Experiences of Freedom in Postcolonial Literatures and Cultures (with Annalisa Oboe, Routledge, 2011); Shakespeare’s Italy and Italy’s Shakespeare. Place, ‘Race’, and Politics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).
Program video

Moroccan Jews in Yeroham

Tuesday, October 5, 1:00 pm EDT
(online in partnership with the Orange County Community Scholar Program)

The first immigrants from Morocco arrived in Yeroham in 1954, and then in waves of immigration – the largest of which, in the early 1960s, tripled Yeroham’s population. Their integration into Israeli society was accompanied by pressures to “assimilate” into the secular, Ashkenazi ethos; but they resisted and created synagogues and institutions, and an ambience that promoted and preserved tradition, as well as traditional foods and music, as expressions of their unique Jewish identity. This session will reveal some of the stories of second-generation Moroccan Israelis living in Yeroham who retain or have returned to their roots – and how the promotion of a holistic, traditional (as opposed to ‘religious’) Jewish identity has a message for contemporary Israeli society.  People we will meet include: Dr David Biton, Yeroham-born to parents who immigrated to Yeroham from the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, David is head of the Jewish Studies Department at Ono College, and a pioneering researcher of Moroccan rabbinical thought and writings; Shula Knafo, Yeroham-born to parents from Spanish Morocco, is one of Atid Bamidbar’s Culinary Queens and an indefatigable entrepreneur and volunteer among local welfare-supported families; and  Dr Tehila Meged-Book, Israeli-born to a Moroccan father, who returned to her Moroccan roots in piyyut and Torah reading; she works as a doctor at Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva.
Program video

Zionism and its Critics

Sunday, October 3, 7:00 pm EDT
(online in partnership with the Orange County Community Scholar Program)

Zionism today is a little studied, yet much maligned ideology. For some, it is the truest expression of Jewish sovereignty and a holy enterprise. For others, including member-states of the United Nations, Zionist has been derided as racism. Yet, what is Zionism? (Or more accurately, what are the various streams of Zionisms?). This CSP lecture will briefly examine the proponents and opponents of the ideology of Zionism, or Jewish nationalism, from the late nineteenth century to the present. The central theme of this discussion is the inherent dialectic of contestation — both internal and external to the Jewish community —of Zionist thought over the course of its short, but important history. The session will present an overview of major thinkers and movements, as much as possible, in their own words.  Dr. Sara Yael Hirschhorn is currently the Visiting Assistant Professor in Israel Studies at the Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies at Northwestern University. Her expertise focuses on Diaspora-Israel relations, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and Israeli ultra-nationalist movement. Her first book, City on a Hilltop: American Jews and the Israeli Settler Movement (Harvard, 2017), hailed as a landmark contribution to the field, was the winner of the 2018 Sami Rohr Prize in Jewish Literature Choice Award, a finalist for the 2017 National Jewish Book Award, and a nominee for the 2021 Grawemeyer Award in Religion.   Dr. Hirschhorn teaches courses and mentors both undergraduate and graduate students in Israel Studies and related fields.  She is a graduate of Yale University (B.A.) and the University of Chicago (M.A., Ph.D) and the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships.  Apart from her academic work, Dr. Hirschhorn is also a prominent voice bringing scholarship into the public square as a frequent public speaker, writer, media commentator, and foreign policy consultant on Israel/Jewish Affairs.

 Medieval Jewish Daily Life Meets Israeli Art

Thursday, September 30, 1:00 pm EDT
(online in partnership with the Orange County Community Scholar Program)

Over the past two years, the members of the European Research Council funded research group Beyond the Elite: Jewish Daily Life in Medieval Europe (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) headed by Elisheva Baumgarten met with seven Israeli artists presenting their historical sources and conclusions of their research concerning the lives of medieval Jews who lived among Christians in the urban centers of northern France and Germany. Seeking to communicate the intertwinedness of Jews in medieval life alongside their distinctiveness as a religious minority as well as the constant communication and collaboration between Jews and Christians in myriad ways, the research group created a unique art exhibition that recently opened in a gallery at Hebrew University and that can also be explored virtually. This talk will present some of the premises of the research group and explain the work with artists and the conceptions and artwork that resulted from it. Elisheva Baumgarten is the Yitzchak Becker Professor of Jewish Studies in the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry and the History Department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She studies the social and religious history of the Jews of medieval northern Europe (1000-1400). Her research focuses on the social history of the Jewish communities living in the urban centers of medieval Europe and especially on daily contacts between Jews and Christians.
Program video

In the Green Room: Behind the Scenes with Three Legends of Israeli Music (Part 2)
Featuring Sha’anan Streett, live from Israel in conversation with Robbie Gringras

Sunday, September 26, 3:00 pm EDT
(Online in partnership with the Orange County Community Scholar Program – this program is fully funded by a grant from the Albert and Rhoda Weissman Arts Endowment Fund, a joint program of Jewish Community Foundation Orange County and Jewish Federation)

Join us  for a conversation between Robbie Gringras and Sha’anan Street, one of the most influential and respected cultural voices in Israel today. The lead singer and songwriter of Hadag Nachash, Israel’s most popular band, Sha’anan has released nine albums with the band, as well as three albums of his own. He is a screenplay writer (“The Wonders”), a former columnist (Time Out Israel), a peace and social activist (who founded The One Shekel Festival), and a lifelong Jerusalemite. While Israel’s art and culture scene has largely moved to Tel Aviv, Shaanan remains one of the most recognizable faces in Jerusalem. Far from leaving, he owns a bar in the Shuk, has written about it for National Geographic and other publications, his children attend a joint Jewish-Arab school and, time and again, has chosen to stay in spite of the difficulties it brings. The program is the second of a 3-part series of conversations with three legends of Israeli music. We will explore the background, influences and musical styles of each musician – and through each musician examine social and political challenges of the modern State of Israel.  HaDag Nachash have been recording music albums for twenty years now, and their youthful energy, high quality musicianship, left-leaning politics, chutzpah and tolerance continue to ring through all their work. When an artist continues to resonate with such a large proportion of Israelis for so long, it is clear that their music can tell us much about Israel itself. The songs of HaDag Nachash, whose lyrics are mostly written by Shaanan Streett, make up the anthems of Israel’s key moments of the past two decades. IWe will be visiting a selection of their songs, that reveal the most about the Israel they write about and perform to.  Robbie Gringras is a British-born Israeli living in the Galilee, working in education, performance, and writing. Since emigrating to Israel with a Literature degree from Oxford University, a teaching qualification, and his own theater company, he has trained hundreds of educators in generating honest complex connections to Israel. While Creative Director of Makom, he coined the phrase “Hugging and Wrestling with Israel”, drove the 4HQ System of Israel Education, and wrote for and ran the Makom website.  Robbie has also taught at Israel’s main theater schools, directed several plays, and his solo shows have performed throughout the world in English, Hebrew, and Spanish. He’s married to Dorit, a magical stained-glass artist, and they have two kids.