Please join us on April 27th for the upcoming CJS conference on “Healing in Jewish History and Thought." This daylong program will feature scholars from UC Berkeley, Stanford, GTU, and beyond. The keynote by Nathaniel Deutsch (UC Santa Cruz) is entitled, "In Lilith's Shadow: Pregnancy and Childbirth Among Jewish Immigrants on the Lower East Side," with a response by Jordan Katz (UMass Amherst). The conference is cosponsored by UC Berkeley's Center for Jewish Studies and Stanford's Taube Center for Jewish Studies. For more details, please see the link in our bio.
$5 Student tickets for Elana Sasson in concert!
🎼Don't miss "No Lines in the Sea," a special concert with internationally acclaimed vocalist, composer, and bandleader Elana Sasson, Queralt Giralt on cell, and Bahar Badiei on oud.
From the mountains of Kurdistan to the shores of the Mediterranean, the ensemble performs ten songs in seven languages, including four original compositions. Together, they trace routes of exile, memory, and belonging, casting water as a universal symbol of hope, survival, and celebration.
🗓 Thursday, April 16, 2026 | 5:30–7:00 pm
📍 Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, 2121 Allston Way, Downtown Berkeley
🔗 Use the QR code or find the link for more info and to buy your tickets in @themagnes profile linktree
Presented in partnership with UC Berkeley Center for Jewish Studies and Center for Middle Eastern Studies.
#NoLinesInTheSea #ElanaSasson #WorldMusic #BerkeleyEvents #LiveMusic #TheMagnes #UCBerkeley #PersianMusic #KurdishMusic #Cello #Oud #DowntownBerkeley #VisitBerkeley @elanasasson@queraltgiralt@baharbadiei@ucb_cjs@ucberkeley_cmes_@ucberkeleymusic@ucberkeleyofficial@berkeleyartshumanities@berkeleyhillel@dwntwnberkeley
How did Yiddish culture – the press, theater, and literature, both in Eastern Europe and later in the United States through the 1930s – portray Black Africans and African Americans and what can we learn from it? Covering also residential patterns and socioeconomic relations between African Americans and Jewish immigrants, the conclusions of Gil Ribak’s new book, Crude Creatures, point to the intricate ways in which immigrant groups integrated their own cultures into American racial hierarchy and vocabulary. Gil Ribak is the Shirley D. Curson Associate Professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Arizona.
To register, visit the link in our Bio above ⬆️ #jewishstudies #yiddish #jewishhistory #yiddishstudies
TODAY IS THE DAY and we’re counting on YOU! Please consider making a gift today to the Center for Jewish Studies during BIG GIVE. We need just 5 more donations to UNLOCK our MATCH GIFT of $2500!
All gifts—no matter what size—help to sustain our mission of educating students and the larger community about the richness, depth, and diversity of Jewish history and culture.
We cannot do all we do without your ongoing support. Thank you for supporting Jewish Studies at Berkeley! Make a Gift to CJS by visiting the link in our Bio ⬆️
#CalBigGive
Join us TOMORROW for UC Berkeley's Center for Jewish Studies Annual Diller Lecture as we look at the life and legacy of one of America’s most influential and provocative writers, Philip Roth.
The program will feature a conversation between award-winning biographer Steven J. Zipperstein and UC Berkeley’s Scott Saul. Together, they will explore Zipperstein’s new biography, "Philip Roth: Stung by Life," which uncovers the complexities of Roth’s life and the astonishing range of his self-reflective writings, from "Goodbye, Columbus" and "Portnoy’s Complaint" to the Pulitzer Prize–winning "American Pastoral" and "The Plot Against America."
Drawing on extensive archival research and more than one hundred interviews, including conversations with Philip Roth himself, Zipperstein places Roth’s work in the context of Jewishness, freedom, and sexuality in America. Deeply researched, highly original, and beautifully written, Zipperstein’s revealing biography yields the clearest picture yet of one of the twentieth century’s most influential writers.
📍 Where: Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life,2121 Allston Way, Downtown Berkeley
⏰ When: Tomorrow, Feb 25 | 5:00 PM Reception | 5:30 PM Program
🎟️ RSVP at https://bit.ly/4qSdxJm
@ucb_cjs@themagnes@jewishartsbookfest@berkeleyartshumanities@ucberkeleyenglish@ls.ucberkeley@ucberkeleyofficial #PhilipRoth #TheMagnes #JewishLiterature #UCBerkeley #LiteraryHistory #StevenZipperstein #BerkeleyEvents #JewishCulture #JewishStudies
2026 Botstiber lecture in Austrian Studies
The Jewish Community of Vienna in the Middle Ages: A Turbulent History and its Material Remains
🗓️ 4 February 🕛 Noon-2p.m. 📍223 Philosophy Hall
Thomas Ertl, Professor of High and Late Medieval History at the Freie Universität Berlin, will explore the history of Vienna’s Jewish community in the Middle Ages, tracing its growth, cultural achievements, and the dramatic challenges it faced, including persecution and eventual expulsion. Special attention is given to the material remains of Jewish life, such as the medieval synagogue at Judenplatz and archaeological findings that shed light on daily life, religious practice, and communal structures.
This is a hybrid event.
🔗Register for this event on our website
https://events.berkeley.edu/ies/event/310815-2026-botstiber-lecture-in-austrian-studies-the
Featured Spring 2026 Class - Seats Still Available: Jewish Studies 126 | Intro to Modern Jewish Thought: Faith, Culture, and Education | Instructor: Hanan Alexander | CN# 27964 | Tu, Th 9:30-11:00 am | 4 units | Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish thought is a field of Jewish studies that analyzes the themes of Jewish tradition, culture, community, and education throughout the ages from a conceptual point of view. The field often deals with connections, parallels, influences, and tensions between Jewish ideas and those of the wider world through studies of Jewish philosophy, theology, and mysticism. Key topics that are considered in this field include the existence and nature of God, the rationale for religious observance, the purpose of the Jewish people, the demands of Jewish ethics, the bonds between Israel and the Diaspora, the authority of revelation, the relation between faith and reason, and the transmission of Jewish culture across the generations.
@berkeleyartshumanities #jewishstudies #jewishthought #education #jewishculture
Featured Spring 2026 Class - Seats Still Available! Jewish Studies 175E | Social Movements in Israel | Instructor: Yifat Moas
CN# 34471 | Mon, Wed, Fri 10:00-11:00am | 4 units | Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Israeli society has consistently drawn global attention, primarily in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet many remain unaware of the vibrant and intensely contested public debates within Israel itself, and of the diverse social struggles that shape its internal dynamics.
This course explores the development of protest movements and social activism in Israel—from left-wing movements calling to end the occupation to right-wing mobilizations seeking to reinforce it, as well as religious- and ethnic-based campaigns, struggles over social equality, gender and sexual identity, and the relationship between religion and state.
Through these case studies, the course situates Israeli activism within broader theoretical perspectives on social movements—particularly the cultural approach, which highlights collective identity, meaning-making, and the emotional dimensions of political action. @berkeleyartshumanities
- Meets International Studies, L&S Breadth #jewishstudies #ucberkeley #israelstudies #israel
Political Science and History Professor Sarah Gensburger (French National Center for Scientific Research and Sciences Paris Po is speaking this evening at the Magnes. This UC Berkeley Center for Jewish Studies Annual Pell Lecture is about her research into the housing market in Paris during the Holocaust, a case study of systemic antisemitism.
@ucberkeleyofficial@ucb_cjs@berkeleyartshumanities #themagnes #jewishstudies #jewishmuseum #ucberkeley
Did most Parisians resist antisemitism during the Holocaust? 🤔 A common historical narrative suggests yes, but a deep dive into the housing market tells a different story of systemic antisemitism.
Join us at the Magnes this Thursday for UC Berkeley Center for Jewish Studies's Annual Pell Lecture: "A Case Study of Systemic Antisemitism: The Housing Market in Paris during the Holocaust" with Sarah Gensburger, professor of political science and history at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Sciences Po Paris.
We'll explore how ordinary residents actively participated in replacing Jewish families in their legal rental apartments—a policy that became permanent even after the Liberation. This research forces us to confront the difference between individual action and devastating systemic policy.
🗓️ When: Thurs, Nov 20, 5:00-6:30pm
📍 Where: Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, 2121 Allston Way, Downtown Berkeley
🔗 Learn More & Register in our profile linktree.
P.S. If you're interested in memory and history, check out a second UC Berkeley Center for Jewish Studies's event happening this evening, Monday, Nov 17, with Professor Gensburger on how states and publics remember the past - 5:00-6:30pm at223 Philosophy Hall, UC Berkeley campus.
@UCBerkeleyOfficial@ucb_cjs@berkeleyartshumanities #HolocaustStudies #SystemicAntisemitism #ParisHistory #JewishHistory #PellLecture #TheMagnes #HistoryResearch #CJS #UCBerkeley #TheMagnes
Mark your calendars! CJS and the Department of German are delighted to welcome Noah Isenberg (Charles Sapp Centennial Professor of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin) for a lecture on “‘Runnin’ Wild’: Billy Wilder, Hot Jazz, and Weimar Jewish Culture.” This lecture will take place Thursday, November 6, from 5–6:30 pm, in Dwinelle 142. Link in bio above.
Isenberg will also lead a workshop open to graduate students of all departments on Friday, November 7, 11 am–1 pm, in Dwinelle 282. In preparation for the workshop, participants are asked to watch People on Sunday (Menschen am Sonntag, 1930) and read Isenberg’s text on the film. Lunch will be provided.
#ucberkeley #jazz #jewishstudies #jewishculture #media #billywilder #weimar #film #jewish
