Upcoming Programs at the Center for Jewish History

Upcoming Programs  at the CENTER

Monday, May 8, 6:30 pm: “My Unconscious Speaks Yiddish”: Psychoanalysis and Jewish Languages
Lecture

Join us for a talk by NEH Senior Scholar Naomi Seidman exploring the role played by Yiddish and other Jewish languages in Freud’s writing, from the Yiddish of his parents “behind” his Viennese German to the translations and adaptations of his work in Eastern Europe. In the years since Jacques Lacan first called for “a return to Freud,” a vast literature has arisen around the question of the translation of Freud’s German into English and of the Nazi-era diaspora of psychoanalysts from Central Europe to England and the United States. But Freud’s writing was in some sense already the product of translation and diaspora, from the Yiddish of his parents to his own Viennese German and from Eastern to Central Europe. This is not only a matter of the prehistory of psychoanalysis: Eastern Europe developed its own form of psychoanalysis, and psychoanalysts fled to Jerusalem as well as New York and London. In these contexts, Freud’s work circulated in Hebrew and Yiddish among other languages. In this talk, we will explore the Eastern European dimension of psychoanalysis, discussing the Jewish languages “behind” Freud’s German and in the translational “afterlife” of his writings.

Naomi Seidman is the Koret Professor of Jewish Culture at the Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, a 2016 Guggenheim Fellow, and the 2016-2017 NEH Senior Fellow at the Center for Jewish History in New York. Her most recent book is titled The Marriage Plot, or, How Jews Fell in Love with Love, and with Literature, and another book on Bais Yaakov and Orthodox girls’ education in interwar Poland is forthcoming from Littman Library. Her present research explores the question of the relationship between psychoanalysis and Jewish languages.

Presented by Center for Jewish History, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research & Leo Baeck Institute > Free; RSVP required

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Monday, May 15, 12 pm

Is There a Biblical “Law”? Law in the World of the Bible
Lecture

The Pentateuch contains many passages that have long been thought of as “law” – from the time of the rabbis, who debated their intricate legal details, through modern-day America, where the Ten Commandments still stand on display outside some courthouses. However, the discovery of the Code of Hammurabi and other documents from the ancient Near Eastern world, in which the Bible emerged, has thrown into question whether or not one ought to consider these texts “law” at all. After all, the so-called law codes from the ancient Near East are never cited in legal cases, and are sometimes even contradicted by trial records. But if the law codes did not prescribe law, what was their purpose? And should the “law” of the Bible be understood similarly to the law codes of the ancient Near East? This talk will look at the reasons for questioning the legal nature of biblical “law”; the alternate approaches to interpreting relevant texts; and the ramifications of different understandings.  Yael Landman, a doctoral candidate at Yeshiva University and an AJS Dissertation Completion Fellow, will examine these questions and explore possible answers. This program is generously supported through a grant from Legacy Heritage Fund.

Presented by Association for Jewish Studies & Center for Jewish History > Free; RSVP required to aweiss@ajs.cjh.org

Please join us for this wonderful event Monday evening…

Monday, April 24, 7:30 pm
Walking Backwards: A Special Evening with Lee Sharkey
Poetry Reading & Discussion

 

Lee Sharkey will read from her new poetry collection Walking Backwards, which Edward Hirsch has called a “deep book of remembrance—a collection of parables, an ongoing conversation with the dead, a tablet of fire.” Walking Backwards examines resistance to violence and repression. It evokes contemporary events and converses with poets and artists whose voices arise from the Holocaust. Lee will then be joined by multidisciplinary poet and artist Maya Pindyck for a conversation about engaging Jewish history and memory in creative work.

Presented by Center for Jewish History & YIVO Institute for Jewish Research > Free; reservations required

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PLEASE NOTE:  Our programs often sell out.
We strongly recommend reserving tickets in advance.

Next Week at the Center

Monday, April 24, 6:30 pm
Liel Leibovitz, Inbound Exile: Jerusalem as Viewed from Tel Aviv
Presented by Yeshiva University Museum & The Center for Israel Studies of Yeshiva University
Gallery Talk
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Monday, April 24, 6:30 pm
When We Remembered Zion: The New Budapest Orpheum Society Commemorates Yom HaShoah
Presented by American Society for Jewish Music & Leo Baeck Institute
Lecture and Concert
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Wednesday, April 26, 7:30 pm
Women and Resistance: Women, Theater and the Holocaust
Presented by Remember the Women Institute in cooperation with American Jewish Historical Society
Dramatic Readings
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Sunday, April 30, 11 am – 1 pm
Children’s Day
Presented by YIVO Institute for Jewish Research & Center for Jewish History
Activities and Cultural Immersion
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Sunday, April 30, 2 – 5 pm
Growing Up Jewish
Presented by YIVO Institute for Jewish Research & Center for Jewish History
Panel Discussion
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Visitor Information

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CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY
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