Judaic Studies Lecture Series

March 2016

• Justin Cammy, Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and Comparative Literature at Smith College, spoke in March 2016 on the origins of Modern Jewish Literature by discussing such foundational authors as Shalom Aleichem, Franz Kafka, and S.Y. Agnon.

April 2015

• As part of the College of Arts and Sciences community initiative PASEJ, Dr. Erin Darby invited Professor Jodi Magness to speak in April 2015. Dr. Magness, the Kenan Distinquished Professor for Teaching Excellence in Early Judaism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, gave a riveting visual presentation of her current research on the excavation of an ancient village synagogue in Huqoq in the Galilee.

March 2015

• Carole Basri, a lawyer, film maker, and adjunct professor at Fordham University visited Knoxville in Spring of 2015 to introduce two films she produced about Iraqi Jews and her family's role in the history of the Jewish community of Baghdad.

February 12, 2014

• Professor Emeritus Henry Fribourg, University of Tennessee, hosted a "Nosh and Chat" event on his Holocaust memoir, "Escape to Freedom: A Story of Survival, Dreams, Betrayal and Accomplishments." The event was organized by the Creative Writing Program and co-sponsored by The Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies.

January 23, 2014

• Maestro Lucas Richman, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, gave a lecture on "Ernest Bloch: A Musical Neshuma (A Musical Soul): An Educational Moment in Music with Maestro Lucas Richman."

January 24, 2013

• Dr. Arkady Kovelman, Head of the Department of Jewish Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University, gave a lecture entitled, "The Legacy of Russian Humanities: From the Perspective of a Professor of Jewish Studies." This event was cosponsored by the Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Religious Studies, and the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature.

March 26, 2012

• Professor Elisa Carandina, University of Tennessee, and Professor Zhiqing Zhong, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Beijing, China), hosted an informal discussion on "Chinese and Italian Perspectives on Modern Hebrew Literature."  The event was co-sponsored by the Departments of Religious Studies, Modern Foreign Languages and Literature, History, English, and Asian Studies.

January 23 and 24, 2012

• Professor Matthew Adams, Bucknell University, and the Rodney S. Young Memorial Lecturer of the Archaeological Institute of America, gave two illustrated lectures. On January 23, Dr. Adams spoke on "Armagedon's Earliest Temples: New Discoveries at Early Bronze Age Megiddo, Israel." The event was co-sponsored by the Haines-Morris Distinguished Lecture Fund of the Department of Classics and the Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies. On Januaary 24, Dr. Adams gave a lecture on "Ancient Mendes: Reflections of Early Egypt in the Heart of the Delta."  The lecture was co-sponsored by the East Tennessee Society of the Archaeological Institute of America and the McClung Museum.

November 1, 2011

• Ruth Weisberg, Los Angeles-based Jewish-American artist, visited the University of Tennessee for a week-long printmaking project and two public lectures. On November 1, she presented a lecture on "Historical and Contemporary Jewish Identity in Art," and on November 3 she lectured on her own work. These events were sponsored by the Printmaking Program in the UTK School of Art and the Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies, as well as the Haines-Morris Endowment in the College of Arts and Sciences.

January 24, 2011

• Professor Xu Xin, Director of the Diane and Guilford Glazer Center for Judaic Studies, Nanjing University, gave a lecture entitled, "Why the Chinese are Interested in the Jews."  This event is co-sponsored by the Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies, the Departments of Religious Studies, Asian Studies, and Modern Foreign Languages and Literature, the Abraham and Rebecca Solomon and Ida Schwartz Distinguished Lecture Fund, the Karen and Pace Robinson Judaic Studies Enrichment Fund, and the Knoxville Jewish Alliance.

October 27, 2010

• Professor Changgang Guo, Shanghai University, gave a lecture on "Religion in the Context of the Social Development of Contemporary China." This event was co-sponsored by the Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies, the Graduate School, the Departments of Religious Studies and Modern Foreign Languages and Literature, and the Asian Studies Program, University of Tennessee.

October 18, 2010

• Marge Piercy, poet, novelist, and essayist, read from her work at an event entitled, "Poetry of Jewish Identity, a reading." She also hosted an informal author chat on the same day, and, on the previous day, she visited Temple Beth El of Knoxville to read from her work "The Art of Blessing the Day: Poems of Ritual and Remembrance."  This event was sponsored by the UT Creative Writing Program in association with the John C. Hodges Better English Fund, the Ready for the World International and Intercultural Initiative, the Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies, Writers in the Library, the UT Commission for Women, the Sisterhood of Temple Beth El of Knoxville and Heska Amuna Synagogue.

March 18, 2010

• Laura Levitt, Professor of Religion, Temple University, gave a lecture entitled, "Revisiting My Father's Visual Archive."

March 4, 2010

• Professor Alec Mishory, Open University of Israel, and 2009-2010 Schusterman Visiting Israel Professor at Rice University, presented a lecture on "Zionist Eroticism for 'The New Jew' as Advocated by Boris Schatz and Ze'ev Raban."  The lecture was cosponsored by the Departments of Religious Studies and History, the Rebecca Solomon and Ida Schwartz Distinguished Lecture Fund, School of Art, University of Tennessee; American Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, and the Knoxville Jewish Alliance.

November 22 and 23, 2009

• On November 22 and 23 Professor Alvin Rosenfeld of Indiana University presented two lectures in Knoxville.  His first lecture, on Sunday, November 22, at 4 PM, was entitled, "The Return of Antisemitism," and was held at the Arnstein Jewish Community Center located at 6800 Deane Hill Drive. On Monday, November 23, at 7PM, Professor Rosenfeld spoke on, "What is the "New" Antisemitism; and What Can We do about it?"at the UT College of Law, Room 132.

February 17, 2009

• Dr. Marina Rustow, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Emory University, presented a lecture on the Karaites entitled, "Heresy, History and Power in Medieval Judaism." This event was co-sponsored by The Hodges Better English Fund, the Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, the Abraham and Rebecca Solomon and the Ida Schwartz Distinguished Lecture Fund for Judaic Studies and the Departments of Religious Studies and History, University of Tennessee, as well as the Knoxville Jewish Alliance.

October 30, 2008

• Noted poet Charles Fishman read poems on the Holocaust and Israel at the Writers in the Library event. The event was sponsored by the Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies, Writers in the Library, the Creative Writing Program, Religious Studies, the History department, and the Knoxville Jewish Alliance. Fishman also participated in a conversation about poetry on the same day

February 8, 2008

• Professor Andrea Berlin, the Morse-Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Archaeology University of Minnesota, "New Light on the Period of the Maccabees: Excavations at Tel Kedesh."

October 30, 2007

• On October 30, 2007, Bruce Pearl, Head Coach of the UT Men's Basketball Team, spoke about growing up Jewish and the experience of taking his players to Europe, where they visited a concentration camp. Coach Pearl's lecture was cosponsored by the Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies, the Department of Religious Studies, the Department of History, the Knoxville Jewish Alliance and the Abraham and Rebecca Solomon and the Ida Schwartz Distinguished Lecture Fund for Judaic Studies.

March 8, 2007

• Professor Vivian Mann, Morris and Eva Feld Chair of Judaica at The Jewish Museum; Advisor to the Master's Program in Jewish Art and Visual Culture at the Graduate School of Jewish Theological Seminary, "Jewish Art/Christian Art/Islamic Art: Symbiosis and Otherness."

February 16, 2007

• Professor Marie-France Rouart, Professor of Comparative Literature at the Université de Nancy II, "Jews Gypsies and Aborigines: Comparative Myths and Mythologies about Wanderers."

April 4, 2006

• Maestro Lucas Richman, Director of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, "Classical Music and the Jewish Spirit: The Spiritual Inspiration of the Jewish Musical Legacy."

November 15, 2005

• Professor Daniel Magilow, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN. Lecture on the Whitwell, Tennessee paperclips project, entitled "Counting to Six Million: Collecting Projects and Holocaust Memorialization."

September 25 and 26, 2005

• Dr. Reginetta Haboucha, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and acting Dean of the Graduate School at the Fashion Institute of New York City. A reading from her latest book King Solomon and the Golden Fish given at the Arnstein Jewish Community and lecture on "Oral Narratives in the Sephardic Tradition" given at the University of Tennessee.

April 4, 2005

• Dr. Guy Stern - Distinguished Professor of German at Wayne State University, "In the Service of American Intelligence – An Award Winning Documentary Film and its Story."

October 24 and 25, 2004

• Dr. Marsha Rozenblit, Professor of Modern Jewish History, University of Maryland, "The Jews of Freud's Vienna: Assimilation and Jewish Identity at the Turn of the Century and "Jews and Nationalism: The Dilemmas of Jews in Central Europe in the Nineteenth Century."

March 16, 2004

• Professor Alexander H. Joffe, SUNY, Purchase and Director of Research and Global Policy Exchange, "Israel in the Eyes of Historians: The Legacy of Jewish Historians on Nationalism, Zionism, and Israel.

October 9, 2003

• Dr. J.P. Dessel, Professor of History, University of Tennessee, "From Village People to Chosen People."

September 18, 2003

• Professor Peter Höyng, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, "Discovering their Jewish Roots: Portraits of Eastern Jewish Life through the Eyes of Arnold Zweig, Alfred Doeblin and Joseph Roth."

March 8, 2003

• Poetry reading by Professor Richard Chess, Director, Judaic Studies Program and Creative Writing Program, University of North Carolina, Asheville.    

October 21, 2002

• Dr. Rachel Simon, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J., "How New Were the 'New Jews' of Libya? Girls in the Jewish Youth Movement in Libya."

January 25, 2001

• Professor Eric Mazur, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, "Jews as a Test Case for Religious Minorities and the Constitution."

October 23, 2000

• Dr. Jeanette Lander, author Berlin, Germany, "Jewish Life in Germany After the Holocaust."

April 17, 2000

• Professor Vivian Kleff, Sociology, and Director of the Center for Jewish Studies, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, "Jewish Demographics."

November 15, 1999

• Mr. Arnold Schwarzbart, artist, Knoxville, TN, "Not By Might, Nor By Power, But By My Spirit Alone, Says the Lord of Hosts."

November 19, 1998

• Professor Klaus Berghahn, German Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison, "Hebrews or Jews? On Tolerance and Judaism in the Age of Enlightenment."

November 12, 1998

• Professor Kenneth Seeskin, Philosophy, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL., "Maimonides' Critique of Popular Religion."

October 16, 1998

• Dr. Jennette Lander, author, Berlin, Germany, "Living as a Jew in Germany Today."

May 4, 1998

• Maestro Kirk Trevor, Knoxville Symphony, Knoxville, TN, "Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy."

September 21-23, 1997

• Professor Emeritus Maurice Friedman, "Martin Buber: Israel and the Arab-Jewish Conflict."

November 11, 1996

• Dr. Rami Arav, Bethsaida Excavations Project, "Bethsaida, the Lost City."

October 28, 1996

• Panel discussion on Daniel J. Goldhagen's book, Hitler's Willing Executioners with Professor Vejas Liulevicius, Professor Milton Klein, Father Terry Ryan, Ms. Jenny Richter, Professor Charles Reynolds, Professor Gilya Schmidt, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN.

March 30, 1995

• Professor David Desser, Film Studies, University of Illinois/Urbana-Champaign, "The Changing Image of Jewish Males in T.V. and Film."

March 2, 1995

• Professor Michael Kogan, Montclair State College, Montclair, NJ, "Jewish Christian Relations."

February, 22, 1995

• Professor Ziva Amishai-Maisels, Head, Robert and Clarice Smith Center for Art History, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, "German and Israeli responses to the Holocaust in Art."

November 15, 1994

• Dr. Avraham Biran, Jerusalem, "The House of David and Tel Dan."

October 11, 1994

• Professor Alexander Orbach, Chair, Department of Religious Studies, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa., "Russian Jewish Cultures at the Turn of the Century."

Spring 1994

• Dr. Jo Milgrom, Center for Jewish Studies, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA., "The Binding of Isaac."

February 3, 1994

• Professor Bezalel Narkiss, Director, Center for Jewish Art, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, "Jewish Identity Through Art."

November 9, 1993

• Professor Steven T. Katz, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, "The Holocaust and Comparative History."