Events
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All of HBI’s events are free and open to the public. HBI is pleased to participate in the Mass Cultural Council’s Card to Culture Program.
Upcoming Events
Book cover art: Israeli artist Andi Arnovitz's "Coat of the Agunot" (2010), a composition of hundreds of shredded marriage certificates. Image: Noa Shashar, Ph.D.
May 14, 2025
12:30 pm EDT | Online
Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series
Cosponsored by The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry at Brandeis University
The Marital Knot, Agunot in the Ashkenazi Realm, 1648-1850 tells the family stories of men and women who lived hundreds of years ago. Focusing on agunot, literally “chained women,” who were often considered a marginal group, it sheds light on Jewish family life in the early modern era and on the activity of poskim, rabbis who gave Jewish legal rulings related to agunot.
Noa Shashar earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Jewish History from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an M.A. in Jewish and Gender Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Shashar is a lecturer at the Sapir Academic College and the author of several volumes including Not on Bread Alone: The Krell Murachovski Family Histories.
The Marital Knot is a Brandeis University Press publication in the Brandeis Series on Gender, Culture, Religion, and Law, created under the auspices of HBI in conjunction with its Project on Gender, Culture, Religion, and the Law, and The Tauber Institute Series for the Study of European Jewry.
The Marital Knot is available from the Brandeis University Press, Amazon, Bookshop, and your local bookseller.
June 8, 2025
2 - 4 pm | In-Person | Leventhal-Sidman JCC
In partnership with JCC Greater Boston and Hadassah Boston
This compilation of captivating stories from Jewish brides in 83 countries and 6 continents will introduce you to far-flung places, rituals and traditions that may be completely unknown to you. Written by brides, their relatives, clergy and others, their stories reveal the commonalities and differences across the Jewish diaspora, from courtship and betrothal to pre-wedding customs, the wedding ceremony and beyond. Barbara Vinick, Ph.D., a past HBI Research Associate and co-editor together with HBI founding director Shulamit Reinharz, Ph.D., will share stories from the book accompanied by a slide show of evocative and moving photos.
Barbara Vinick is a sociologist, author and editor of several anthologies on aspects of Jewish life around the world. She is secretary of Kulanu, an organization that supports isolated and emerging Jewish communities around the world. Kulanu has allowed Vinick access to Jewish communities worldwide, many remote and little-known.
Cost: $10 for JCC and Hadassah members, $15 for non-members.