Charlotte Salomon: Life? or Theatre?, is currently on view at the Contemporary Jewish Museum through July 31. Salomon, a young Jewish artist from Berlin who escaped to France, worked feverishly to produce a massive body of paintings influenced by personal history, opera, and cinema before she was transported to Auschwitz and killed at the age of 26. Three hundred of these works are on view. Visit the CJM before May 11 and admission is only $5.
April 2011
Monthly Archive
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Workshops Session 1
Prof. Fred Astren: Anti-Semitism in the Muslim and Arab World
The expression of anti-Semitism in contemporary Muslim and Arab societies has a number of historical and religious components. One consists of classical theological claims that Islam superseded both Judaism and Christianity. Another is the importation of well-known European anti-Semitic ideas and images. The combination of these two elements is further complicated by medieval and modern notions of ethnic identity and nationalism. Most importantly, the concurrent rise of Arab nationalism and Zionism laid groundwork for identity politics in the Middle East that shaped the history of Jews in Muslim countries and the clash between Israelis and Arabs. The heat from these 19th and 20th-century developments fueled anti-Semitic thought and action that often is exported beyond the regional confines of the Middle East.
Prof. Erich Gruen: Pagans and Jews: The Roots of Anti-Semitism?
This presentation addresses a fundamental paradox in antiquity. Greeks and Romans generally had a reputation for tolerance toward other cultures, ethnic groups, and religious practices. Yet the experience of the Jews, particularly the pogrom in Alexandria and the massacres in Seleucia and Caesarea, initiated by Greeks and sanctioned by Romans, seem to leave a real blot on the record. The workshop seeks to explore pagan attitudes toward Jews and to question whether they constituted anti-Semitism.
Prof. David Biale: Blood and Anti-Semitism: From the Blood Libel to Blood-Based Racism
Blood has been a central motif in anti-Semitism since the Middle Ages. The accusation that Jews commit “ritual murder” in order to use the blood of their Christian victims emerged at a particular moment in the history of medieval Christianity, but it resurfaced with a vengeance in the late 19th century. Together with this old blood libel, a new kind of blood language — the language of racism – held that Jews are dangerous not because they extract blood from their enemies, but because they inject their blood into the body politic in the form of sexual “pollution.” Both of these forms of anti-Semitism combined in hideous and fatal form in the Nazi genocide of the Jews.
Prof. John Efron: Race Science: The Depiction of Jewish Bodies and Sexuality in Nazi Anti-Semitism
Jews occupied the center of Hitler’s world view. His pathological hatred for them was based on the idea that Jews formed a distinct, inferior, yet dangerous race bent on world domination and even sexual conquest over Germany. It is for that reason that Hitler always spoke of the Jews in biological terms but this was not Hitler’s invention. He borrowed them from the language and ideas of racial science and anti-Semitic demagogues of the late 19th century. We will examine this discourse and the Nazi variant of it as well as Jewish responses to racial anti-Semitism.
Prof. Peter Kenez: The Road to the Holocaust
The workshop will review the preconditions that were necessary for mass murder: modern anti-Semitism, the Nazi conquest of power and the war. In particular, Prof. Kenez will talk about the difference between ancient and modern Anti-Semitism and discuss to what extent we can correlate the depth of anti-Semitism in a particular country and the “success” of extermination in it.
Laura Rosenzweig: Hollywood Spies: Jewish Infiltration of Pro-Nazi Groups in Los Angeles in the 1930s
From 1933-1945, the executives of the motion picture industry funded a covert fact-finding operation to collect evidence of Nazi sedition in Los Angeles. This presentation will present new research on Jewish Hollywood’s fight against Nazism in the United States in the 1930s, and the significance of the information they collected on Congressional and federal actions against Nazi groups in the United States during this time, and conclude with a new perspective on anti-Semitism in the United States in the 1930s.
Prof. Diane Wolf and Louis de Groot: Beyond Anne Frank: The Complex Story of Holland
The workshop will focus on the anomalous case of the Netherlands after World War II, in particular the anti-Semitic undertones in State-level decisions about the futures of orphaned Jewish children who had been hidden during the war. In post-war Holland, the State made little effort to help Dutch Jews who returned from camps, privileging instead those who had been in the Resistance. We will also focus on the different post-war outcomes in the lives of hidden children after the war.
Rabbi Peretz Wolf-Prusan and Morgan Blum: Distinguishing Between Anti-Israel, Anti-Zionist and Anti-Semitic — Interactive Discussion for High School and College Students
- Charlie Sheen, John Galliano, Julian Assange and Mel Gibson: Anti-Semitic or just stupid?
- Ahmadinejad, Hamas, and Hezbullah: Anti-Semitic or Anti-Israel?
- Goldstone, American-Jewish Left: Anti-Semitic or anti-Zionist or Legitimate Critique?
Words matter. You are powerful change agents. We know that. Come and ask questions, get answers, and engage in this discussion to arm yourselves with tools and knowledge to feel stronger about approaching these types of questions in your lives. Raise your voice!
Workshops Session 2
Prof. Fred Astren: Anti-Semitism in the Muslim and Arab World
See session one above.
Julie Bernstein: Distinguishing Between Anti-Israel and Anti-Semitic: A Guide to the Perplexed
This interactive workshop will explore historical and political perspectives on “anti-Israel” and “anti-Semitic” (and how “anti-Zionism” fits in, too). Participants will learn and discuss the challenge of trying to distinguish between these concepts and will also learn practical skills for dealing with these issues in the real world.
Prof. William W. Hagen: Jews in Polish Experience and Imagination: Five Ways of Mis/Understanding
The workshop will set forth five Polish experiences and perceptions of Jews in the Polish lands that figured crucially in 20th-century history and are more or less significant still today. These are, in brief, the relation to Jews (1) in Polish peasant society; (2) among Polish Catholics; (3) among “noble Poles;” (4) among the Polish business classes and nationalist intelligentsia; and (5) among Polish communists and, especially, anti-communists. These perspectives will be introduced briefly, illustrated them with PowerPoint slides and, if feasible, brief film clips. Of the 70 minutes allotted to this workshop, 30 minutes will be reserved for discussion.
Prof. Peter Kenez: Anti-Semitism and the Nazi Propaganda Machine
This workshop will demonstrate that looking at propaganda is the best way to understand Nazi thinking.
Fred Rosenbaum: The Great Exception: Why Anti-Semitism Has Been Relatively Mild in the Bay Area
From the beginning of modern California in 1849, San Francisco Jews have reached the highest levels in business, the professions, the arts, and politics. Although anti-Semitic attitudes and actions have not been entirely absent, the local Jewish community has enjoyed 160 years of well being equalled virtually nowhere else in the Diaspora. What accounts for this envied condition? In this workshop, we will consider such factors as the early arrival, the high degree of acculturation, the remarkable prosperity and growth of the area as a whole, and the presence of other minority groups in the Bay Area, most notably the Chinese and Japanese, who were cast in the role of scapegoats, which Jews played elsewhere.
Daniel Sandman: Anti-Semitism in Western Europe: Current Trends
Polls show that anti-Semitic attitudes remain strong in Western Europe and have not shown signs of abating. The question is, why? We will explore the current anti-Semitic trends seen throughout Western Europe and discuss whether world events such as conflict in the Middle East, changing demographics, and global economic conditions are to blame.
Leon Wieseltier: Follow-up Discussion from Keynote Address
This workshop will provide an opportunity to delve into key ideas raised in the keynote address in greater depth through an interactive discussion.
Panel
Anti-Semitism Today and Jewish Community Responses
Prof. Marc Dollinger, Rabbi Douglas Kahn and Nina Grotch
Panelists will discuss current trends in anti-Semitism, with a focus on the Bay Area, California and the United States, but with a broad perspective of world-wide trends. They will also discuss the variety of responses of the organized Jewish community in the areas of advocacy, legislation, education, and community organizing. Audience members will have an opportunity to ask questions and comment.
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Fred Astren, professor and chair of the Department of Jewish Studies at San Francisco State University and member of the faculty in Middle East and Islamic Studies, received his Ph.D. in Near Eastern studies at UC Berkeley, where he also earned a master’s degree in Arabic. Among Professor Astren’s publications are: (Karaite Past and Jewish History, Judaism and Islam: Boundaries, Communication, and Interaction (Editor, with B. H. Hary and J. L. Hayes), Festschrift for William M. Brinner, and The Jewish Printed Book in India: Imprints of the Blumenthal Rare Book and Manuscript Library. His areas of research include minority/sectarian history in the Mediterranean Middle Ages, with special focus on Jewish history under Islam, Islamization, Jewish-Muslim relations, and the Karaite Jewish sect. Having recently published a study on Jews in the early medieval Muslim conquests of the Near East and Spain, he is currently writing a book on Jews in the Mediterranean of the early Middle Ages.
Julie Bernstein is director of campus and community programs, Middle East Project of the Jewish Community Relations Council. In this capacity, she has been leading advocacy efforts and producing educational resources throughout the Bay Area on behalf of Israel. Bernstein’s experience and success combating Israel divestment and related issues, particularly on campus, have been recognized by national and international organizations.
David Biale is the Emanuel Ringelblum Professor of Jewish History, and the chair of the Department of History at the University of California at Davis. He is the author of six books including: Gershom Scholem: Kabbalah and Counter-History, Power and Powerlessness in Jewish History, Eros and the Jews: From Biblical Israel to Contemporary America, Blood and Belief: The Circulation of a Symbol Between Jews and Christians and the newly published Not in the Heavens: The Tradition of Jewish Secular Thought. He is the editor of Cultures of the Jews: A New History; and, together with Susannah Heschel and Michael Galchinsky, of Insider/Outsider: American Jews and Multiculturalism. He recently received the UC Davis Prize for Teaching and Scholarly Achievement.
Morgan Blum is the director of education with the JFCS Holocaust Center. Originally, from the San Francisco Bay Area, Blum graduated cum laude from Clark University with a B.A. in history specializing in Holocaust and genocide studies. Continuing her research at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, Blum focused her master’s thesis on the forced removal of Aboriginal children as a case of genocide. In her current position with the JFCS Holocaust Center, she develops curriculum and leads professional development workshops for Bay Area educators. Each year, Morgan builds the course curriculum and teaches a variety of educational opportunities for Bay Area youth including the Manovill Holocaust History Fellowship, Next Chapter, and educational journeys to Poland and Israel. March 2011 marked the ninth annual Day of Learning; Morgan conceptualizes and facilitates this conference on the Holocaust and genocide for over 500 local students and teachers.
Louis de Groot was born in 1929 and grew up in Arnhem, Holland. His family went into hiding in 1942, and he was separated from his parents and sister who were betrayed, deported, and killed in Auschwitz in 1944. De Groot lived in 21 hiding places during those three years. After the war, he lived in a Jewish orphanage in Amsterdam. He fought in Palestine during the War of Independence and later emigrated to the United States where he was drafted in the U.S. army shortly after his arrival. He attended Columbia University in New York City followed by advanced graduate work at New York University in economics. He worked for IBM and settled in the Bay Area with his family in 1977.
Marc Dollinger is professor and the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility at San Francisco State University. His books include Quest for Inclusion: Jews and Liberalism in Modern America, and California Jews (co-edited with Ava F. Kahn). He serves on the California advisory committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, the board of the Jewish Community High School of the Bay, and is academic vice president of Lehrhaus Judaica.
John Efron is Koret Professor of Jewish History at UC Berkeley. A native of Melbourne, Australia, he earned a Ph.D. at Columbia University (1991). In his work, Efron has focused on the German-Jewish engagement with medicine, anthropology, and anti-Semitism. He has also written on Jewish political and popular culture in Central Europe, on Yiddish political satire in Poland and Israel, and on the role of sport in the modern Jewish experience. His books include Defenders of the Race: Jewish Doctors and Race Science in Fin-de-Siècle Europe; Jewish History and Jewish Memory: Essays in Honor of Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi (Co-edited with Elisheva Carlebach and David Myers); Medicine and the German Jews: A History and The Jews: A History a cultural and social history of the Jewish people from antiquity to today. He is currently at work on a book entitled, Jewish Orientalism in the Age of Emancipation.
Nina Simone Grotch directs the educational programs of the Anti-Defamation League’s Central Pacific Region. She has over 20 years experience facilitating interactive workshops for children, youth, and parents and teachers. As the associate director, Grotch is responsible for Holocaust education and facilitating anti-bias workshops for schools and community groups about issues of prejudice and discrimination. Prior to joining the ADL, Grotch worked on employing homeless adults and youth and also taught at the elementary level. She has presented at numerous conferences for educators, youth, police officers, and parents on combating hate and creating safe school environments. Grotch has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English literature.
Erich Gruen is an American classicist and ancient historian. He was the Gladys Rehard Wood Professor of History and Classics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has been teaching since 1966. His areas of focus include Roman and Greek history and Jews in the Greco-Roman world. His book Diaspora: Jews Amidst the Greeks and Romans was published in 2002. Prof. Gruen currently serves as chair of the Jewish studies program at UC Berkeley. His most recent book is Rethinking the Other in Antiquity (2011).
William Hagen is professor of history emeritus at UC Davis. He has held fellowships from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Max-Planck Society, and the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He is the author of Germans, Poles, and Jews: The Nationality Conflict in the Prussian East, 1772–1914, Ordinary Prussians: Brandenburg Junkers and Villagers, 1500–1840, and German History in Modern Times: Four Lives of the Nation. His research articles on anti-Semitism in central European history include “Before the ‘Final Solution:’ Toward a Comparative Analysis of Political Antisemitism in Interwar Germany and Poland” in the Journal of Modern History; “The Moral Economy of Popular Violence: The Pogrom in Lwów, November 1918,” in Robert Blobaum, ed., Antisemitism and Its Opponents in Modern Poland; and “The Three Horsemen of the Holocaust: Antisemitism, East European Empire, Aryan Folk Community,” forthcoming in The Oxford Handbook of Modern German History. His next book is provisionally titled Folk Theater under Apocalyptic Skies: Anti-Jewish Violence in Poland and the Polish-Russian Borderlands, 1914-1920.
Rabbi Douglas Kahn is executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council. He serves on the Global Council of United Religions Initiative. He previously served as co-chair of the Intergroup Clearinghouse, San Francisco’s major organization addressing issues of intergroup tensions, and President of the CRC Directors Association. Prior to joining the JCRC staff in 1982, he was the executive director of Hillel at George Washington University. A fourth generation San Franciscan, Kahn received his rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and his B.A. from UC Berkeley. He is the recipient of the Jewish Community Federation’s Executive of the Year Award and the community’s Israel in our Hearts award.
Peter Kenez is a historian specializing in Russian history and Eastern Europe. He teaches courses on Soviet cinema, and an interdisciplinary course on the Holocaust, with literature professor Maury Baumgarten. He has taught at the University of California, Santa Cruz since 1966. Prof. Kenez’ publications include Hungary from the Nazis to the Soviets: The Establishment of the Communist Regime in Hungary, 1944-1948; A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End; Cinema and Soviet Society from the Revolution to the Death of Stalin, and Varieties of Fear: Growing Up Jewish under Nazism and Communism. He is presently working on a new book titled The Road to the Holocaust.
Fred Rosenbaum, founding director of Lehrhaus Judaica, has written four books on modern Jewish history and has taught numerous courses on the history of contemporary Israel at Lehrhaus and the University of San Francisco. He has been awarded the S.Y. Agnon Gold Medal for Intellectual Excellence by the Scopus Society of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Covenant Award for Exceptional Jewish Educators, as well as the Anne and Robert Cowan Writers’ Award for making an exceptional impact on the Bay Area by writing on Jewish themes.
Laura Rosenzweig is currently working on her doctorate in U.S. history at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Laura’s research focuses on American Jewish history, and in particular, the Jewish experience in the 1930s. Her dissertation, “Hollywood’s Spies: Jewish Infiltration of Nazi and Pro-Nazi Groups in Los Angeles, 1933-1941″ has been supported by grants from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, the American Jewish Archives, the Annenberg Foundation and numerous research grants from UCSC. Rosenzweig is a lecturer in U.S. and in Jewish history at San Francisco State and UCSC. She holds a B.A. in history from Union College (Schenectady, N.Y.) and an M.A. in education from Stanford.
Daniel S. Sandman serves as the regional director of the Central Pacific Regional Office of the Anti-Defamation League. Originally from Chicago, Sandman comes to the Bay Area by way of Los Angeles where he most recently chaired a Los Angeles city committee dedicated to addressing public safety issues. As chairman, Sandman took the lead on emergency preparedness initiatives and helped build bridges between his constituents and city officials. In May, the City of Los Angeles honored him for his public service achievements. Prior to becoming involved in public service, Sandman was director of business and legal affairs for The Tennis Channel, Inc. in Santa Monica, Calif. He has extensive experience as a lead trial attorney with firms in Chicago and Los Angeles. Sandman was a television news producer before entering law school. He is a graduate of The John Marshall Law School and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Now having settled in the Bay Area, where his wife grew up, Sandman is focused on furthering the ADL mission of fighting anti-Semitism and other forms of injustice.
Leon Wieseltier is a writer and cultural critic, and has been the literary editor of The New Republic since 1983. He is a nationally renowned public intellectual and author of several books, including Kaddish, and Against Identity, a collection of essays on the modern notions of identity. Wieseltier also edited and introduced a volume of works by Lionel Trilling entitled The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent. He was a member of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University, where he studied Jewish history, philosophy, and literature.
Diane Wolf is professor of sociology at UC Davis. Her research interests include Jewish studies, children of immigrants, and memory and trauma. Her recent book, Beyond Anne Frank: Jewish Families in Postwar Holland (U.C. Press, 2007) analyzed childhood memory, family dynamics and trauma during and after war and genocide. Her previous books are Feminist Dilemmas In Fieldwork, and Factory Daughters: Gender, Household Dynamics, and Rural Industrialization in Java. She has been the chair of the Jewish studies program at UC Davis for the past five years.
Rabbi Peretz Wolf-Prusan is the senior educator of Lehrhaus Judaica. Since 1975, he has been a Jewish educator in the San Francisco Bay Area, learning with children, teens, families, and adults. He has been active in informal education, tours, community development and congregational life. In 2002, he was awarded the Covenant Award as “An Exceptional Jewish Educator who has had a significant impact on others, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the transmission of Jewish knowledge, values, and identity.”
Celebrate 100 years of giving at FedFest One Hundred.
A day-long event to thank donors to the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund.
Sunday, April 10, 2011—10 am-5 pm
Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF
1675 Owens Street, San Francisco.
• Lehrhaus Judaica’s Rabbi Peretz Wolf-Prusan will introduce the panel on Jewish Identity in the 21st Century.
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