Past Events

Jochen Hellbeck, Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers, discusses his landmark new book on World War II. 

Supported by the Sagner Family Foundation “The climate is perfect, the land as wondrously beautiful as the poets and prophets and idealists have described it to be.” --Henrietta Szold (founder of Hadassah in 1912) on her life-altering visit to Mandate Palestine in 1909 In the decades between the end of

Dr. Noam Sienna , the Bildner Center’s Jerome and Lorraine Aresty Visiting Scholar, will offer a window into Jewish life in the Islamic world, from medieval Cairo to modern-day North Africa, through an examination of Jewish books and other written texts. Texts produced by Jews over the centuries in Egypt,

Supported by the Henry Schwartzman Endowed Faculty Seminar Fund What is a Jewish book? How has it evolved from antiquity to the present? Join us to explore how Jewish ideas have been transmitted over the centuries—from oral traditions to handwritten manuscripts, from printed books to computer code. Joseph A. Skloot

Daniel Stein Kokin , the Bildner Center’s Norman and Syril Reitman Visiting Professor, will introduce his innovative digital mapping project, “All the Points,” which examines the creation of Zionist and Israeli communities in the Land and State of Israel from the 19th century to the present. The mini-course takes as

The Raoul Wallenberg Annual Program, funded by Leon and Toby Cooperman The exodus of Jews from the former Soviet Union transformed the Jewish landscape on three continents and has been called the preeminent case of Jewish human rights activism. It is often identified—and confused—with the Soviet dissident movement and the

The Ruth and Alvin Rockoff Annual Lecture Join a discussion between Yossi Klein Halevi , a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, and a leading expert on Israeli, Middle Eastern, and global Jewish affairs, and Nancy Sinkoff , the Bildner Center’s academic director, for an update on

The Toby and Herbert Stolzer Annual Program The Bible has long been a source of political fervor in America, both for conservative and progressive voices. Join professors Claudia Setzer (Manhattan University) and Gary A. Rendsburg (Rutgers University) for a conversation on how abolitionists, women's rights supporters, contemporary climate activists, and

The Annual Abram Matlofsky Memorial Program, funded by the Karma Foundation Cosponsored by the Yiddish Book Center Please join us for a dessert reception following the lecture. Until recently, very few people knew about Rokhl Auerbach, a remarkable woman who survived the Holocaust and then dedicated her life to preserving

In partnership with McCarter Theatre Center, we invite you to a special performance Here There Are Blueberries featuring a post-show discussion and private reception —2024 Pulitzer Prize Finalist “RIVETING. An innovative multisensory experience.” — The Washington Post Hailed as the “best theatre of the year” ( Los Angeles Times ),

Jenny R. Labendz , Allen and Joan Bildner Visiting Scholar, Fall 2024 This three-part, online mini-course will compare and contrast Jewish and Christian ideas about the end of the world through an exploration of several topics: divine judgment, resurrection, and the inauguration of the end-times. The course will challenge widespread

The Ruth and Alvin Rockoff Annual Lecture Join a discussion between Miriam Herschlag , opinion and blogs editor for The Times of Israel , and Nancy Sinkoff , the Bildner Center’s academic director, one year after the October 7 attack on Israel. Raised in New Jersey, Herschlag has been based

The Raoul Wallenberg Annual Program, funded by Leon and Toby Cooperman Jonathan Marc Gribetz , professor of Near Eastern studies and Judaic studies at Princeton University, will discuss his new book, Reading Herzl in Beirut: The PLO Effort to Know the Enemy (Princeton University Press, 2024) . Gribetz explores the

Jeffrey Shandler , Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University, will discuss his new book, Homes of the Past: A Lost Jewish Museum (Indiana University Press, 2024). Shandler tells the powerful story of how immigrant Jewish scholars in 1940s New York sought to build a museum to commemorate the

Presented in partnership with the New Brunswick Free Public Library , the New Brunswick African American Heritage Committee , and the Rutgers University Libraries–New Brunswick Wednesday, June 5: The Human Stain by Philip Roth Wednesday, June 26: Passing by Nella Larsen (Register here for Session Two.) Led by Donavan L.

Location: Trayes Hall, Douglass Student Center, 100 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 The Toby and Herbert Stolzer Annual Program Sandra Fox , Goldstein-Goren Visiting Assistant Professor of American Jewish History, New York University In the decades directly following the Holocaust, American Jewish leaders anxiously debated how to preserve and

Location: Trayes Hall, Douglass Student Center, 100 George Street, New Brunswick 08901 The Abram Matlofsky Memorial Program, funded by the Karma Foundation Donavan L. Ramon , Assistant Professor of African-American and English Literature, Southern Illinios University Edwardsville Rachel Gordan , Shorstein Professor of American Jewish Culture and Society, University of

“Black Americans, Jewish Americans: Historical Intersections, Collisions, and Passings” will explore the complex ways in which two different minority communities, Black Americans and Jewish Americans, have nonetheless both struggled to belong in white Christian America. Despite progress made in civil rights since the mid-1960s, both anti-Black racism and antisemitism have

Location: Albers Schonberg Room, Kathleen W. Ludwig Center, 9 Suydam St, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 Presented by the Jewish Music Forum , a Project of the American Society for Jewish Music Cantor Susan Mandell , Temple Emanu-El of Edison, NJ, 1964–1978 Cantor Kalix Jacobson , Temple Emanuel of South Hills,

How does psychoanalysis animate racial passing and how does racial passing inspire psychoanalysis? Despite long-held beliefs that the two have nothing in common, Donavan L. Ramon poses that psychoanalysis is relevant for understanding the reasons behind jumping the color line. Beginning with the premise that Sigmund Freud created psychoanalysis to