Past Events

Crip Justice: Gender, Disability, and Sexual Violence | Mellon Sawyer Seminar #7

March 26, 2024

Organized by Brandeis professor and HBI Scholar in Residence Ilana Szobel, this session will examine a wide range of issues unique to the experiences of sexual assault victims who have a cognitive, sensory, emotional, or mobility disability.

Events in the year-long Mellon Sawyer seminar series, “Imperiled Bodies: Slavery, Colonialism, Citizenship and the Logics of Gender-Based Violence” are sponsored by a prestigious John E. Sawyer Seminar grant from the Mellon Foundation. Brandeis sponsors and resources include the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, the Women’s Studies Research Center, the Mandel Center for the Humanities, the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, the Feminist Sexual Ethics Project, the Rose Art Museum, the Kniznick Art Gallery, the Gender and Sexuality Center, and the Prevention, Advocacy, and Resource Center.

#UsToo: Interfaith Dialogue and Sexual Violence

March 21, 2024

Dr. Keren R. McGinity, Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Research Associate, will contextualize the start of the U.S. movement against sexual misconduct and abuse of power, sharing research findings from her new book about women of different faith backgrounds, #UsToo: How Jewish, Muslim, and Christian Women Changed Our Communities (2023). Dr. McGinity is the interfaith specialist at United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. #UsToo is available free-of-charge via Open Access.

Co-Sponsors: Prevention, Advocacy, and Resource Center, Brandeis University,  Brandeis Hillel, Center for Spiritual Life at Brandeis University, Jewish Feminist Association of Brandeis (JFAB), The Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University , Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies at Brandeis University , Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University.

"The Plight of Jewish Deserted Wives, 1851-1900: A Social History of East European Agunah"

March 14, 2024

Haim Sperber, Western Galilee College

HBI Scholar in Residence 2013, 2015 | HBI Seminar Series

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Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series Featuring Orit Avishai, author of "Queer Judaism: LGBT Activism and the Remaking of Jewish Orthodoxy in Israel"

March 13, 2024

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series 

HBI is honored to have supported Orit Avishai’s research on this project in 2018 with an HBI Research Award.

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"Religious Misconceptions: American Jews and the Politics of Abortion"

March 11, 2024

Rachel Kranson, University of Pittsburgh

HBI Scholar in Residence | HBI Seminar Series

Diane Markowicz Memorial Lecture on Gender and Human Rights presented by Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy

March 10, 2024

War Crimes Redefined: The Oct. 7th Attack by Hamas on Women, Children and Families 

In observance of International Women's Day, HBI is honored to host Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, international law and human rights expert and founder of The Civil Commission on Oct. 7th Crimes by Hamas Against Women and Children.

The Diane Markowicz Memorial Lecture Series was created by Project on Gender, Culture, Religion and the Law founder Sylvia Neil and her husband Dan Fischel in memory of Sylvia’s late sister, Diane Markowicz, to honor her commitment to gender equality and social justice. 

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"Awakening: Pleasure and Sexuality in Israeli Disability Culture"

March 4, 2024

Ilana Szobel, Brandeis University 

HBI Scholar in Residence | HBI Seminar Series

Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series Featuring Talia Carner, author of "The Boy with the Star Tattoo"

February 28, 2024

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series 

"Religious Israeli Surrogates: Negotiating Jewish Law and the Israeli Surrogacy Law"

February 26, 2024

Elly Teman, Ruppin Academic Center, Israel 

HBI Research Associate and Research Award recipient | HBI Seminar Series

"Laid to Rest: Buried Stories of the Jewish Sex Trade", A Screening and Conversation with Ornit Barkai, Documentary Filmmaker and HBI Research Associate

February 6, 2024

Ornit Barkai’s film, Laid to Rest: Buried Stories of the Jewish Sex Trade, investigates the underreported story of the historic Jewish sex trade in Argentina between the 1890s and 1930s. View the Laid to Rest trailer.

Co-sponsored by the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University.

HBI Open House | "Deeply Rooted: Faith in Reproductive Justice" Closing Reception, Tours, and Talk by Rachel Kranson, HBI Scholar in Residence

January 31, 2024

Deeply Rooted: Faith in Reproductive Justice

Reception and gallery tours

Talk by Rachel Kranson, University of Pittsburgh, HBI Scholar in ResidenceHolocaust Rhetoric and the Politics of Abortion

Curator Tour by Caron Tabb, Deeply Rooted: Faith in Reproductive Justice

Supported by grants from Combined Jewish Philanthropies/CJP and the Mass Cultural Council.

The first logo is circular image that says "Celebrating Brandeis at 75", the second logo is a linear image that says "CJP, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the third logo is an linear image that says "Mass Cultural Council"

Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series Featuring Julia Watts Belser, author of "Loving Our Own Bones: Disability Wisdom and the Spiritual Subversiveness of Knowing Ourselves Whole”

January 24, 2024

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

Winner of the 73rd National Jewish Book Awards Myra H. Kraft Memo­r­i­al Award in Con­tem­po­rary Jew­ish Life and Practice.

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Inspiring Activism: Faith in Reproductive Justice

January 23, 2024

Activist Lilly Marcelin, executive director of the Resilient Sisterhood Project and Nayana LaFond, an artivist known for her painting series Missing & Murdered Indigenous Peoples Painting Project, in conversation with Caron Tabb, curator of HBI’s Deeply Rooted: Faith in Reproductive Justice

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Curator's Tour, Deeply Rooted: Faith in Reproductive Justice

January 12, 2024

Caron Tabb, curator and artist, led a guided tour of Deeply Rooted: Faith in Reproductive Justice. Tabb spoke about her curatorial research, the 21 artists' practices, and how their work responds to this moment in reproductive justice. 

Supported by grants from Combined Jewish Philanthropies/CJP and the Mass Cultural Council. The first logo is circular image that says "Celebrating Brandeis at 75", the second logo is a linear image that says "CJP, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the third logo is an linear image that says "Mass Cultural Council"

Artist Talk: Dell Marie Hamilton and Roya Amigh

December 11, 2023

Deeply Rooted: Faith in Reproductive Justice artists Dell Marie Hamilton and Roya Amigh share their practices and join Guest Curator Caron Tabb in conversation. 

Artist, writer and curator, Dell Marie Hamilton makes work that examines the diasporic, fragmented, and syncretic nature of the human condition at the intersection of race, gender, power, language, memory, and identity. Using fragmentation to encourage viewers to reflect on the body and its most intimate parts, Iranian artist Roya Amigh raises questions about identity and social history through the lens of gender and sexuality.

Supported by grants from Combined Jewish Philanthropies/CJP and the Mass Cultural Council. 

watch here

The first logo is circular image that says "Celebrating Brandeis at 75", the second logo is a linear image that says "CJP, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the third logo is an linear image that says "Mass Cultural Council"

Jewish Women's Organizing in Support of Reproductive Rights: Past and Present

December 7, 2023

Jewish women and Jewish clergy have played an important role in the struggle for reproductive rights, both before and after Roe and Dobbs. Moderated by HBI Director Lisa Fishbayn Joffe and joined by Becca Rausch, Massachusetts State Senator, Melissa Klapper, historian and current HBI Scholar in Residence, Daphne Lazar Price, Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA) Executive Director, and Lara Crawford, National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) MA, we explored the history of Jewish women's activism for reproductive rights and the various forms advocacy is taking in the present moment including a look at the recent rupture in coalition-building caused by the failure of many sister feminist groups and national and global women’s and children’s advocacy groups to condemn Hamas' massacre of Israelis and others in Southern Israel on October 7th.

Supported by grants from Combined Jewish Philanthropies/CJP and the Mass Cultural Council.

watch here

The first logo is circular image that says "Celebrating Brandeis at 75", the second logo is a linear image that says "CJP, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the third logo is an linear image that says "Mass Cultural Council"

Studio Israel / Making Art in Challenging Times with Artists Andi Arnovitz and Caron Tabb

November 29, 2023

Andi Arnovitz and Caron Tabb discussed HBI’s art exhibition Deeply Rooted Faith in Reproductive Justice, the current war in Israel, antisemitism, and attacks on women’s rights.

Israeli artist Andi Arnovitz, whose work is featured in Deeply Rooted: Faith in Reproductive Justice, and who has two sons and three sons-in-law currently serving in the IDF, one who was injured, discussed her work in Deeply Rooted, work related to war, and the experience of being a mother and an artist in Israel during these extremely challenging times. Caron Tabb is the curator of Deeply Rooted: Faith in Reproductive Justice and a contributing artist. Born in apartheid South Africa and raised in Israel, Tabb (Boston, MA) is an artist and curator with an extensive background in nonprofit leadership. Her work focuses on social justice and has been exhibited in museums and galleries across the U.S.

Sponsored by HBI, with support from JArts, the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis, the Vilna Shul, and CJP/Combined Jewish Philanthropies.

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Artist Talk: Zoë Buckman

November 28, 2023

British artist Zoë Buckman is known for her multidisciplinary practice, which incorporates sculpture, textiles, ceramics, photography, and large-scale installations through an explicitly feminist lens. Her art explores themes of identity, trauma, and gendered violence, subverting preconceived notions of vulnerability and strength. Buckman was in conversation with Caron Tabb, artist and curator of HBI's 21-artist exhibition, Deeply Rooted: Faith in Reproductive Justice. Co-presented by HBI and the Rose Art Museum, Buckman discussed her artistic practice and her 2019 work, According to Grandma, acquired by the Rose Art Museum in 2023 and included in the HBI's exhibition, Deeply Rooted, on view in the Kniznick Gallery until December 14, 2023.

Supported by grants from Combined Jewish Philanthropies/CJP and the Mass Cultural Council.

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Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series Featuring Lea Taragin-Zeller, author of "The State of Desire: Religion and Reproductive Politics in the Promised Land”

November 28, 2023

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

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"At Home in the World: American Jewish Women Abroad, 1860-1920"

November 27, 2023

Melissa Klapper, Rowan University

HBI Scholar in Residence / HBI Seminar Series

Religious Perspectives on Reproductive Rights

November 16, 2023

In the post-Dobbs legal landscape, states across the US are passing laws that prohibit almost all abortions. These bans are inconsistent with the more subtle and complicated approaches to reproductive decision-making counseled by many faith communities. For many, they find support in their religious texts and values for respecting pregnant people's needs and visions for their reproductive lives. In this session, HBI Research Associate Dr. Celene Ibrahim, Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Kaeton, Rabbi Lila Kagedan, and HBI Director Lisa Fishbayn Joffe discussed the ways in which religious traditions offer alternate ways of framing debates about abortion. Read about our panelists.

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"The Family Rubinstein"

November 13, 2023

Allegra Goodman, writer, independent

HBI Scholar in Residence / HBI Seminar Series

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re: collections/Deeply Rooted: Cross-Campus Tour

November 8, 2023

A wonderful afternoon learning about art on view at Brandeis with a cross-campus tour from the Rose Art Museum and the Kniznick Gallery. The tour featured highlights from re: collections, Six Decades at the Rose Art Museum and HBI's Deeply Rooted: Faith in Reproductive Justice, twenty-one artists working over five decades, four continents, and numerous traditions as they examine abortion and reproductive justice through the lens of faith and culture. 

Supported by grants from Combined Jewish Philanthropies/CJP and the Mass Cultural Council.

A Loving Thread of Pain and Hope

November 7, 2023

A presentation by visiting artist Claudia Bernardi, followed by a discussion between Bernardi and Professor Toni Shapiro-Phim about the power of art. Bernardi focused on the intersection of art and human rights, with special emphasis on Argentina, where she lived during the military junta that ruled the country from 1976 to 1983 (Argentina’s "Dirty War"), examining the role of artists and activists from the time of the military dictatorship until the present.

Due to the sensitivity of some of Bernardi's slides, we cannot share the video of the event. Instead, you may view Bernardi's sharable slides.

Supported by grants from Combined Jewish Philanthropies/CJP and the Mass Cultural Council.

WATCH HERE

"Into Women's Hands: Misoprostol and the Global Politics of Reproduction in Burkina Faso and Senegal"

November 6, 2023

Siri Suh, Brandeis University 

HBI Seminar Series

November 2, 2023

5:30-8:30 p.m. / In Person / Welcoming remarks, including from Sapna Khatri, director of the newly launched Reproductive Justice Unit of the Massachusetts Attorney General's office, along with an opportunity to meet the artists.

Kniznick Gallery, Epstein Building, 515 South Street, Waltham

Supported by grants from Combined Jewish Philanthropies/CJP and the Mass Cultural Council. 

Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series Featuring Janine Holc, author of "The Weavers of Trautenau: Jewish Female Forced Labor in the Holocaust" in conversation with Joanna Michlic

October 18, 2023

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

Watch here

A circle with a large blue number 75 inside. Around the circle are the words, Celebrating Brandeis.

Survivors Remember their Teenage Selves: What Testimonies Tell Us about Jewish Girls and Women in Forced Labor Camps

October 17, 2023

HBI Book Launch in the HBI Series on Jewish Women

The Weavers of Trautenau: Jewish Female Forced Labor in the Holocaust  by Janine Holc

Paired with Lives Eliminated, Dreams Illuminated in which painter Lauren Bergman and composer Ella Milch-Sheriff honor young women and girls murdered in the Holocaust by using art to imagine the  lives they might have led, Professor Holc discussed the over 3,000 Jewish girls and young women who found themselves in forced labor camps and how gender played an important role in the way they experienced the Holocaust.  

A circle that says celebrating Brandeis at 75 in the middle.

Torn Fabric: Loss, Gender and the Holocaust

October 11, 2023

The Holocaust Research Study Group

Six members of the HBI Holocaust Research Study Group (HRSG), Ornit Barkai, Debra Kaufman, Laurel Leff, Rachel Rapperport Munn, Karin Rosenthal, and Sarah Silberstein Swartz, discussed aspects of their own work that intersect with the themes of the HBI art exhibition Lives Eliminated, Dreams Illuminated.

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Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series Featuring Jennifer Rosner, author of "Once We Were Home"

September 13, 2023

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

HBI is a network member of the Jewish Book Council. 

 WATCH HERE

The Power of Art: Preserving Memory, Teaching the Holocaust

September 12, 2023

How can art help us better understand the Holocaust and discuss its implications for today? U.S. State Department Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues Ellen Germain, Professor Barbara Wallace Grossman, Author Rachel Kadish, and HBI Director Lisa Fishbayn Joffe discuss these questions and more.

WATCH HERE

Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series Featuring Elizabeth Graver, author of “Kantika”

May 3, 2023

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

HBI is honored to have supported Elizabeth Graver’s writing during this project through a residency at HBI.

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Diane Markowicz Memorial Lecture on Gender and Human Rights Featuring Professor Yofi Tirosh: "Populist Regimes and Plans to Control Women: The Israeli Experience"

April 19, 2023

Professor Yofi Tirosh, Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law 

What is the role of gender in the rise of populist illiberal regimes? The case of Israel provides a timely opportunity to examine this question.

More information about the Diane Markowicz Memorial Lecture on Gender and Human Rights

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The Holocaust Research Study Group Presents: "Passing On, Not Passing Over: Intergenerational Memory of Holocaust History"

April 18, 2023

An Annual Virtual Public Event for Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day 

How do we engage with the memory of Holocaust history and understand its relevance for succeeding generations?

More on the Holocaust Research Study Group and this presentation. 

Co-sponsored by the Brandeis University Women's Studies Research Center and the Brandeis University Center for German and European Studies.

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“Gender Perspectives on the Jewish Diaspora Organization”

April 3, 2023

Edith Pick, HBI Research Associate

HBI Seminar Series

Studio Israel with Zoya Cherkassky

March 30, 2023

Studio Israel

Painter Zoya Cherkassky in conversation with Gannit Ankori, Henry and Lois Foster Director and Chief Curator of the Rose Art Museum.

Painter Zoya Cherkassky was born in Ukraine in 1976 and immigrated to Israel in 1991. Her works have been shown in premier Israeli art museums and galleries for over a decade, as well as throughout Europe and North America. Her works bring together languages stemming from ‘high’ and ‘low’ cultures, pop and computer aesthetics. As an immigrant from the former USSR to Israel, Cherkassky deals with issues of identity and alienation as well as the different conflicts that rise in the clash between the cultures.

Discover more of Zoya Cherkassky's work.

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Coffee and the Catskills: Exhibition Tour with Marisa J. Futernick

March 29, 2023

Artist Marisa J. Futernick

WATCH HERE

Read more on this exhibit.

“Preaching the Promised Land: Mary Antin’s American Religions”

March 28, 2023

Rachel B. Gross, San Francisco State University, HBI Scholar in Residence

HBI Seminar Series

March 22, 2023

In this panel discussion, six Israel experts, including HBI Director Lisa Fishbayn Joffe, take us on a deep dive into the social and political implications of the proposed reforms with a global and comparative perspective. 

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Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series Featuring Paula Birnbaum, author of “Sculpting a Life: Chana Orloff between Paris and Tel Aviv”

March 15, 2023

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

A publication of the HBI Series on Jewish Women

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"Registers of Belonging, Registers of Difference: Early Modern Jewish Midwives and their Records"

March 14, 2023

Jordan Katz, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

In collaboration with The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry.

Samantha Pickette's Book Launch: “Peak TV’s Unapologetic Jewish Woman: Exploring Jewish Female Representation in Contemporary Television Comedy”

March 13, 2023

Samantha Pickette, University of Texas at Austin

Pickette's "Peak TV’s Unapologetic Jewish Woman" analyzes the ways in which contemporary American television—with its unprecedented choice, diversity and authenticity — is establishing a new version of the Jewish woman and a new take on American Jewish female identity that challenges the stereotypes of Jewish femininity proliferated on television since its inception.

Dr. Pickette was in conversation with Dr. Rachel Greenblatt, Brandeis University Judaica Librarian & Historian.

Watch here

A Conversation with "The 8th" Director/Producer Aideen Kane

March 8, 2023

Moderated by HBI Director Lisa Fishbayn Joffe

"The 8th" traces Ireland’s campaign to remove the 8th Amendment — a constitutional ban on abortion.

This event was held in conjunction with the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University.

“Mizrahi Feminist Art: A Multicultural Imagination”

March 6, 2023

Sivan Rajuan Shtang,  Sapir Academic College and Shenkar Academic College, Israel, HBI Scholar in Residence 

HBI Seminar Series

Marisa J. Futernick, “Dirty Dancing: Revisiting the Catskills”

March 5, 2023

Artist Talk with Marisa J. Futernick

HBI Arts Program: Virtual Opening & Artist Talk

Marisa J. Futernick’s lush, poster-size prints combine old family photographs with invented text to look at the Jewish Catskill resorts of the 1960s.

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"Formation of Blackness In Israel: The Case of Ethiopian Jews"

February 27, 2023

Shula Mola, HBI Scholar in Residence

HBI Seminar Series

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Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series Featuring Pnina Lahav, author of “The Only Woman in the Room: Golda Meir and Her Path to Power”

February 15, 2023

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

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Studio Israel With Gil Yefman

February 9, 2023

Studio Israel

Visual Artist Gil Yefman in conversation with Shayna Weiss, Associate Director Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University.

A trans-disciplinary conceptual artist, Gil transforms canonized familiar myths from varied beliefs and traditions in order to undermine the structured definitions and portrayal of the other. Collaborative projects fuse memory, trauma and the body, with transgenerational multilayered relations where soft materials dissolve hard subject matters.

Discover more of Gil Yefman's work.

Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series Featuring Joy Ladin, author of “Shekhinah Speaks”

January 25, 2023

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

HBI is honored to have supported Joy Ladin’s writing during this project. 

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“Lady Killers: Jewish Female Assassins in late 19th Century Russia”

January 23, 2023

Rachel Barenbaum, writer

HBI Seminar Series

Studio Israel with Aveve Dese

December 1, 2022

Studio Israel

Singer Aveva Dese in conversation with Shula Mola, Scholar in Residence at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute. Aveva Dese is an Ethiopian-Israeli singer-songwriter who fuses traditional Ethiopian sounds & grooves with her soul-pop melodies, producing a unique style with universal appeal.

Discover more of Aveva Dese's work.

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“Gestating Difference: Jews, Non-Jews, and Abortion in the Babylonian Talmud”

November 14, 2022

Sara Ronis, St. Mary’s University, Texas

HBI Seminar Series / HBI Gender, Culture, Religion and the Law Scholar in Residence

“Rabbis Before Ordination: Origin Stories of Female Orthodox Rabbis”

November 10, 2022

Michal Raucher, Rutgers University

HBI Seminar Series

Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series Featuring Susan Weidman Schneider and Yona Zeldis McDonough, editors of "Frankly Feminist: Short Stories by Jewish Women from Lilith Magazine"

November 9, 2022

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

A publication of the HBI Series on Jewish Women

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“Queering and Transing the Jewish Life Cycle”

November 7, 2022

Max Strassfeld, University of Arizona

HBI Seminar Series / HBI Project on Gender, Culture, Religion and the Law 

Max Strassfeld, "Trans Tal­mud: Androg­y­nes and Eunuchs in Rab­binic Literature"

October 26, 2022

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

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Studio Israel with Orit Bergman

October 20, 2022

Studio Israel

Children’s book author/illustrator Orit Bergman in conversation with Orna Granot, Associate Curator of Illustrated Children’s Books at the Israel Museum, and moderated by Jonathan Krasner, the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Associate Professor of Jewish Education Research at Brandeis.

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Tamar Biala, Editor, "Dirshuni: Contemporary Women's Midrash"

October 19, 2022

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

A Publication of the HBI Series on Jewish Women

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Rachel Barenbaum, “Atomic Anna”

September 14, 2022

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

HBI is a network member of the Jewish Book Council. 

watch here

September 8, 2022

Art Exhibit In The Kniznick Gallery

Hosted by the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute and the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis with generous funding from the Combined Jewish Philanthropies.

Read more in "The Boston Globe" and "JewishBoston."

Watch Here

September 7, 2022

Art Exhibit In The Kniznick Gallery

Hosted by the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute and the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis with generous funding from the Combined Jewish Philanthropies.

Read more in "The Boston Globe" and "JewishBoston."

July 28, 2022

Art Exhibit In The Kniznick Gallery

Hosted by the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute and the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis with generous funding from the Combined Jewish Philanthropies.

Read more in "The Boston Globe" and "JewishBoston."

Contagious Truths

HBI Artist Program with Tamar Nissim

March 10-July 8, 2022

 Co-sponsor: The Schusterman Center for Israel Studies.

WATCH THE OPENING ARTIST TALK

Portuguese Jewish Women between Two Courts: Germany's Imperial Supreme Court and the Portuguese Inquisition

May 2, 2022

Tamar Menashe, University of Pennsylvania

HBI Seminar Series, HBI Project on Gender, Culture, Religion, and the Law

Beyond Trauma: Roots and Routes

May 1, 2022

HBI Project on Latin American Jewish & Gender Studies

Featuring mixed-media artist Sandra Mayo,“Beyond Trauma: Roots and Routes” is an interactive art exhibit that took place at Brandeis University during the 2022 Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts.

Women’s Voices and the Holocaust: How Stories are Told

April 28, 2022

Presented by the Holocaust Research Study Group (HRSG)

WATCH HERE 

MORE INFORMATION

Marcia Falk, "Night of Beginnings: A Radical Re-visioning of the Passover Seder"

April 11, 2022

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

HBI is honored to have funded a portion of Falk’s research.

 Co-Sponsor: The Brandeis Alumni Association

WATCH HERE

Studio Israel with Tamar Nissim

April 7, 2022

Tamar Nissim in conversation with Lisa Fishbayn Joffe and Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber

Studio Israel is an online conversation series that looks at Israeli culture and diversity through the lens of contemporary Israeli artists and creatives. Chaired by Caron Tabb. Studio Israel is a partnership among Hadassah-Brandeis InstituteJewish Arts Collaborative, the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, and the Vilna Shul, and is made possible by generous support from Combined Jewish Philanthropies. 

WATCH HERE

Using New Criminal Laws Against Coercive Control to Combat Get Abuse: Lessons from the Field

A series of online workshops organized by the Boston Agunah Task Force, the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute at Brandeis University, JOFA, and Cheirut

March 22, 2022

Panel 1: “Coercive Control” and Get abuse in the United Kingdom

WATCH PANEL 1

March 29, 2022

Panel 2: Possibilities for Using “Coercive Control” to Fight Get Abuse in the United States

WATCH PANEL 2

April 5, 2022

Panel 3: Considering the Halachic Implications of Relying on “Coercive Control” Laws to Fight Get Abuse 

WATCH PANEL 3

"Man convicted after refusing a Jewish divorce in landmark English court case", The Jewish Chronicle

"Man jailed for not granting Jewish divorce to wife", BBC News

MORE INFORMATION

The Yiddish “New Girl” and the Power of Getting Lost

April 4, 2022

Miriam Udel, Emory University & HBI Scholar in Residence

HBI Seminar Series

“Two Writers in Our House”: Unearthing Women’s Contributions to the American Yiddish Press

March 28, 2022

Ayelet Brinn, University of Pennsylvania & HBI Scholar in Residence

HBI Seminar Series

Judy Heumann, "Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist"

March 23, 2022

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman Conversations Series

Co-sponsors: Hadassah's Attorneys and Judges Council and Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc.

WATCH HERE

The Torah of Reproductive Freedom

March 20, 2022

Diane Markowicz Memorial Lecture on Gender and Human Rights

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg

WATCH HERE

HBI Project on Gender, Culture, Religion and the Law

Gender, Reproductive Rights and Jewish law: Israeli and American Perspectives

March 7, 2022

Gender, Reproductive Rights and Jewish Law: Israeli and American Perspectives: Part 1

Watch here

March 14, 2022

Gender, Reproductive Rights and Jewish Law: Israeli and American Perspectives: Part 2

Watch here

Co-sponsor: The Forum for Gender Law and Policy at the University of Haifa, JOFA

Contagious Truths

March 10, 2022

HBI Artist Program with Tamar Nissim

Opening and Artist Talk

Co-sponsor: The Schusterman Center for Israel Studies

Watch here

Galleries, Guilds, and Graves: British Orthodox Jewish Women

February 28, 2022

Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz, Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Manchester

HBI Seminar Series

Latin American Jewish Studies Association is pleased to announce the launch of its journal, "Latin American Jewish Studies"

February 23, 2022

HBI Project on Latin American Jewish & Gender Studies

Co-sponsor: Latin American Jewish Studies Association

Laura Arnold Leibman, PhD, "Once We Were Slaves: The Extraordinary Journey of a Multi-Racial Jewish Family"

February 15, 2022

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

HBI is a network member of the Jewish Book Council. 

WATCH HERE

Studio Israel with Dege Feder

February 10, 2022

Dege Feder in conversation with Shula Mola

Studio Israel is an online conversation series that looks at Israeli culture and diversity through the lens of contemporary Israeli artists and creatives. Chaired by Caron Tabb. Studio Israel is a partnership among Hadassah-Brandeis InstituteJewish Arts Collaborative, the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, and the Vilna Shul, and is made possible by generous support from Combined Jewish Philanthropies. 

Watch here

“Nobody Told Me”: The Loss of Family Through the Eyes of Wanda Albinska, a Child Holocaust Survivor from Warsaw

February 7, 2022

Co-sponsor: The Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre

Watch the discussion and Q&A

Pressing Feminist Agendas: New Reports from the Field

January 31, 2022

Launch Event for NASHIM Issue 37

Co-sponsor: Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies

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Rachel Sharona Lewis, "The Rabbi Who Prayed With Fire"

January 19, 2022

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

Co-sponsor: The Brandeis Alumni Association

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“Sefarad... To Be or Not to Be” - Conversion, Expulsion, and the Legacy of 1492

December 19, 2021

This program was presented by Jewish Heritage Alliance in partnership with the National Museum of American Jewish History, ANU Museum of the Jewish People, the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies, The American Sephardi Federation’s Institute of Jewish Experience, Fundación HispanoJudía, EJCC European Jewish Community Center, University of Miami (Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies and the George Feldenkreis Program in Judaic Studies), Hadassah-Brandeis Institute and Kulanu.

HBI Project on Latin American Jewish and Gender Studies

Carole S. Kessner, PhD, "Marie Syrkin: Values Beyond the Self"

December 15, 2021

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

Carole S. Kessner, PhD, Marie Syrkin: Values Beyond the Self (HBI Series on Jewish Women and National Jewish Book Award for Biography) in conversation with Peter Osnos

Co-Sponsor: The Brandeis Alumni Association

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Studio Israel

December 9, 2021

Yuval Evri, Assistant Professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and Marash and Ocuin Chair in Ottoman, Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish Studies at Brandeis University in conversation with Neta Elkayam, an Israeli singer and visual artist whose work plumbs the culture of the Moroccan Jews from which she descended.

Studio Israel is an online conversation series that looks at Israeli culture and diversity through the lens of contemporary Israeli artists and creatives. Chaired by Caron Tabb. Studio Israel is a partnership among Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, Jewish Arts Collaborative, the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, and the Vilna Shul, and is made possible by generous support from Combined Jewish Philanthropies. This event is also cosponsored by the Consulate General of Israel to New England.

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Rabbi Haviva Ner-David, "Hope Valley"

December 8, 2021

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

Rabbi Haviva Ner-David, Hope Valley

HBI is a network member of the Jewish Book Council.

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Navigating the Current Climate Through Judaism: Author Sarah Hurwitz in Conversation with Rav Tiferet Berenbaum

December 2, 2021

Sarah Hurwitz in conversation with Rav Tiferet Berenbaum as they grapple with current issues and turn to Judaism for guidance.

In Search of Late Ottoman Sephardi Women’s Lives

November 22, 2021

HBI Seminar Series

Julia Phillips Cohen, Vanderbilt University

HBI Scholar in Residence

Boston Jewish Film Festival’s "Leaving Paradise"

HBI Project on Latin American Jewish and Gender Studies

November 7-21, 2021

Leaving Paradise, Dir. Ofer Freiman, Documentary, 2021, Brazil/Israel, 86 min.

Co-sponsors: BJFF, Schusterman Center for Israel Studies

BOOK LAUNCH - Flesh of My Flesh: Sexual Violence in Modern Hebrew Literature

November 17, 2021

Cosponsored by: Hadassah-Brandeis InstituteDepartment of Near Eastern and Judaic StudiesDepartment of Women's, Gender and Sexuality StudiesSchusterman Center for Israel Studies; and Women's Studies Research Center, at Brandeis University.

Women's Daf Yomi [Daily Talmud Cycle] Study: The Confluence of Three Religious Revolutions

November 15, 2021

HBI Seminar Series

Adam Ferziger, Bar-Ilan University

HBI Scholar in Residence

Revolutionary Legacies: Jewish Feminist Political Thinking

November 8, 2021

HBI Seminar Series

Marla Brettschneider, University of New Hampshire

HBI Scholar in Residence & HBI Research Associate

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Geographies of Jewish Latina Literature: Between Scholarship, Poetry, and YA Fiction

November 4, 2021

HBI Project on Latin American Jewish and Gender Studies

Co-Sponsors: Brandeis Anthropology Department, Brandeis Creative Writing Program, Brandeis Hispanic Studies Program, Brandeis Gender & Sexuality Center, Brandeis Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Wellesley College Spanish Dept., J-Lats Princeton, Facing History and Ourselves, Museo Judío de Chile, CubaOne

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She Knows: Using the Brandeis Feminist Collection Archives to Explore the History of Israeli Feminism

November 1, 2021

HBI Seminar Series

Orly Nathan, Technion Israel Institute of Technology

HBI Scholar in Residence

At HBI, Orly Nathan will undertake an archival research case study, which has evolved from the work on “She Knows," Israel's Gender Knowledge Center and Isha L’Isha. The first aim is to expand the range of the thesaurus terms by tracing the evolution and transformation of terms expressed by Marcia Freedman and used in feminist and gender research and practice. The case study will attempt to propose in-depth cataloguing of a sample of collection documents using the thesaurus, integrated with the existing LCSH- Library of Congress Subject Headings.

Women of Sefarad Series presents: "Heroines"

October 31, 2021

HBI Project on Latin American Jewish and Gender Studies

The Jewish Heritage Alliance and their participating co-hosting partners resume the Women of Sefarad Series presenting “Heroines”, an event celebrating the courage and determination of the Women of Sefarad who played a unique and special role during Medieval and Early Modern times.

This program is being presented by the Jewish Heritage Alliance in partnership with ANU Museum of the Jewish People, the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies, The American Sephardi Federation’s Institute of Jewish Experience, Fundación HispanoJudía, EJCC European Jewish Community Center, University of Miami (Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies and the George Feldenkreis Program in Judaic Studies), Hadassah-Brandeis Institute and Kulanu.

Judy Batalion, "The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos"

October 27, 2021

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

Judy Batalion, The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos

Batalion’s deep exploration of the brave women of the Jewish resistance in the Nazi ghettos.

HBI is honored to have funded a portion of Batalion’s research. Read more in the New York Times.

HBI is a network member of the Jewish Book Council.

VIEW JUDY BATALION SPEAKING ABOUT THE IMPACT OF HER HBI RESEARCH AWARDS

#UsToo: How Jewish and Muslim Women Woke Our Communities

October 25, 2021

HBI Seminar Series

Keren McGinity, Brandeis University

HBI Research Associate

Studio Israel: Featuring Raida Adon

October 14, 2021

Studio Israel is an online conversation series that looks at Israeli culture and diversity through the lens of contemporary Israeli artists and creatives. Featuring visual and performing artists, designers, dancers and more, all framed by Brandeis University academic expertise.  

Dr. Gannit Ankori, Henry and Lois Foster Director and Chief Curator of the Rose Art Museum and Professor of Fine Arts and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Brandeis University, in conversation with Israeli-born Palestinian multi-media artist, director, and actor Raida Adon.

This program is presented by Studio Israel, an online conversation series that looks at Israeli culture and diversity through the lens of contemporary Israeli artists and creatives. Chaired by Caron Tabb. Studio Israel is a partnership among Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, Jewish Arts Collaborative, the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, and the Vilna Shul, and is made possible by generous support from Combined Jewish Philanthropies. This event is also cosponsored by the Rose Art Museum, and is supported by the Essential Israel New Israel Fund for Artists. 

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Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series Launch Event Featuring Judy Bolton-Fasman, author of "Asylum, A Memoir of Family Secrets"

October 12, 2021

The Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series

In Asylum, A Memoir of Family Secrets, Judy Bolton-Fasman explores her family’s secret and tumultuous past with warmth, passion, and subtle humor, firmly rooted in Jewish tradition. 

After complying with her father's request to burn a package of his still unread letters, Bolton-Fasman began to explore her bifurcated ancestry - a Sephardic, Spanish/Ladino-speaking culture inherited from her mother and an Ashkenazi, English-only, old-fashioned American patriotism from her father. While Asylum asks how much do we really know about the lives of our parents and the secrets lodged in their past, Bolton-Fasman shows that the answers may lie in the exploration itself.  

HBI is proud to have supported Bolton-Fasman’s research and writing during the early phases of her project.

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Henrietta Szold, Judah Magnes, and the “Hebrew Orient”: New Scholarship Concerning American Jewry and the Land of Israel, 1900-1948

October 12, 2021

Cosponsored with the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies

Narrating Belonging: The Art of Memory

October 5, 2021

HBI Project on Latin American Jewish and Gender Studies

Adriana Katzew, JARTS 2021 Community Creative Fellow and Dalia Wassner, Director of HBI Project on Latin American Jewish & Gender Studies discuss the power of material art in claiming and transmitting personal identity and group history.

Co-Sponsor: JARTS

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Switching Gender in the Torah: What We Reveal by Changing the Perspective

September 27, 2021

What if all the genders in the Torah were switched? Tamar Biala and Yael Kanarek discuss the HerTorah Project that gender bends the Torah to reveal the divine influence in women’s body language.

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Rediscovering the Lost Literature of Unconventional Jewish Women

May 13, 2021

HBI Seminar Series

Lori Harrison-Kahan, Boston College

Jessica Kirzane, University of Chicago

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Exploring Jewish Women’s Fiction as Mirrors into Jewish Women’s Lives

April 28, 2021

HBI Virtual Conversations

A discussion on Jewish women's writing with Dr. Nora Gold, award-winning author, editor of Jewish Fiction .net, and long-standing HBI Academic Advisory member. Dr. Gold was joined by Israeli author Nora Houri-Haim, and American author Diane Lederman who shared their work.

Co-sponsored by Jewish Fiction .net and the Consulates General of Israel to New England and to Toronto/Western Canada

WATCH HERE

The Crooked and the Straight: Queer Theory and Rabbinic Literature

April 26, 2021

HBI Seminar Series

Gwynn Kessler, Swarthmore College
HBI Spring 2021 Scholar in Residence

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Performing Disability in Israel

March 11 & April 22, 2021

A two-part series  held in conjunction with Professor Ilana Szobel’s course, Disability Cultures: Art, Film, and Literature of People with Disabilities — that explores real-life experiences and artistic performances of people living with disability in Israel. Artists, writers, and scholars will examine the intersection of disability with Zionist ideology, gender, race, and class.

Presented by the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University and cosponsored by the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute; the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies; the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy; and the Program in Health: Science, Society, and Policy (HSSP), all housed at Brandeis University. 

Indomitable Woman: Feminism in the Poetry of Rosita Kalina of Costa Rica

April 22, 2021

HBI Project on Latin American Jewish & Gender Studies

LAJGS welcomes Stephen A. Sadow, Professor Emeritus of Latin American Literature and Jewish Studies at Northeastern University, for a conversation about Costa Rican poet and writer of short-stories, Rosita Kalina (1934-2004).

Co-Sponsor: Brandeis Creative Writing Program

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"Hadassah: An American Story" with Hadassah Lieberman Moderated by Deborah Lipstadt, MA'72, PhD'76, H'19, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies, Emory University

April 14, 2021

This program launched the book, "Hadassah: An American Story," by Hadassah Lieberman, published by Brandeis University Press in the HBI Series on Jewish Women.

Sponsored by the Office of the President

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Hadassah: An American Story

April 12, 2021

This program is a partnership between HBI and The Vilna Shul, Boston's Center for Jewish Culture with promotional support from the Jewish Women's Archive, The Holocaust Center LA, and the Illinois Holocaust Center and Museum.

Conceiving Motherhood: The Reception of Biblical Mothers in the Early Jewish Imagination

April 12, 2021

HBI Seminar Series

Sari Fein, Brandeis University
HBI Spring 2021 Scholar in Residence

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Studio Israel: Conversation Series

Studio Israel is a new series, chaired by Caron Tabb, that gives an insider’s view of Israeli society through an array of contemporary creative female voices of diverse Israeli backgrounds. Each one-hour conversation features art and expertise that shed light on important social, cultural, and political issues in Israel today. 

The series is a collaboration between the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, Jewish Arts Collaborative, and the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies. It is made possible with generous support from CJP Arts & Culture.

Oct. 15, 2020

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Dec. 10, 2020 

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Feb. 11, 2021 

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April 8, 2021

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2021 Holocaust Remembrance Panel: Echoes and Reckonings

April 8, 2021

Presented by the WSRC Holocaust Research Study Group

Conceiving Agency: Reproductive Authority among Haredi Women

April 6, 2021

HBI Seminar Series

Michal Raucher, Rutgers University

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Taking Over the Crown: Camille Eskell’s “The Fez as Storyteller"

April 1, 2021

HBI Research Associate, Dr. Sivan Rajuan Shtang interviewed 2021 HBI artist Camille Eskell.

More information on the exhibition.

Co-sponsored with the Vilna Shul

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Virtual Artist Lecture: Camille Eskell | The Fez as Storyteller

March 24, 2021

HBI Artist Program

More information on the exhibition.

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Suffering, Stereotypes, and Psychosis: The Representation of Jewish Femininity in the CW Series "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"

March 22, 2021

HBI Seminar Series

Samantha Pickette, Boston University

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The First American Jewish Novelist: Cora Wilburn

March 17, 2021

HBI Project on Latin American Jewish & Gender Studies

Professor Jonathan Sarna in conversation with Sephardic scholar Ronnie Perelis, on the well-traversed world of Sephardic America and its intersection with early U.S. Jewish History.

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America and the Crypto Jewish Presence: Reclaiming the Legacy of Sepharad

March 11, 2021

HBI Project on Latin American Jewish & Gender Studies

Ron Duncan Hart, anthropologist and author of Crypto-Jews: The Long Journey (2020), and Mary Morris, author of Gateway to the Moon (2018), will engage contemporary cultural and political ramifications of the historic crypto-Jewish presence in the Americas.

Co-sponsors: Brandeis Near Eastern & Judaic Studies, Hispanic Studies, Latin American and Latino Studies. J-Lats Princeton

This program is made possible with generous support from the Ostrowicz Lilienthal Foundation for Jewish Education.

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Four Mothers: Live Program

March 8, 2021

The Boston Jewish Film Festival

Join us for a live conversation with subject Rachel Madpis Ben Dor and moderated by Lisa Fishbayn Joffe.

Hidden Heretics: Jewish Doubt in the Digital Age

March 8, 2021

HBI Seminar Series

Ayala Fader, Fordham University

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From Miniskirt to Hijab: A Girl in Revolutionary Iran

March 3, 2021

A collaboration between the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute at Brandeis University and The Alliance Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University

Jacqueline Saper and Farideh Goldin Discuss Memoirs of Iranian Jewish Girlhood

Watch a 9-minute highlight video

American Jewish Women Craft Resilience and Community: Making Meaning Through Everyday Action

February 25, 2021

HBI Virtual Conversations with Professor Jodi Eichler-Levine

In Painted Pomegranates and Needlepoint Rabbis: How Jews Craft Resilience and Create Community, Jodi Eichler-Levine, Ph.D., Professor of Jewish Civilization and Associate Professor of Religion Studies at Lehigh University, takes us inside a flourishing American Jewish crafting movement through her travels across the country to homes, craft conventions, synagogue knitting circles, and craftivist actions.

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The End of Iberian Jewry and The Beginnings of a Sephardi Diaspora: Through the Eyes of Women

February 22, 2021

HBI Project on Latin American Jewish & Gender Studies

A mediated conversation between Edith Scott Saavedra, author of The Lamps of Albarracín (2019), and Spanish historians Lucía Conte Aguilar and Miguel Angel Motis, as they discuss the feminist experience of the Inquisition and end of Iberian Jewry, as well as the revival of Spain’s Jewish heritage in the present day. 

Co-sponsors: Brandeis Near Eastern & Judaic Studies, Hispanic Studies, Latin American and Latino Studies, J-Lats Princeton

This program is made possible with generous support from the Ostrowicz Lilienthal Foundation for Jewish Education.

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Kugel and Frijoles: Latinx Jews in the United States

February 10, 2021

HBI Project on Latin American Jewish & Gender Studies

LAJGS in conversation with Laura Limonic on her award-winning book, Kugel and Frijoles (2019), which offers new insights into the diversity of Jews and Latino/as in the United States.

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Israel in the Spanish-speaking Media: The Case of Latina Entrepreneurship

February 4, 2021

LAJGS in conversation with Leah Soibel, Fuente Latina founder and CEO, and Susanne Althoff, journalist and author of Launching While Female (2020).

Co-sponsors: Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, Brandeis International Business School (Asper Center, Latin American Initiative, Israel Initiative), Brandeis Journalism Program

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Finding Matilda: Uncovering the Life & Death of a Jewish Lithuanian Poet

January 27, 2021

In commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day, we co-sponsored a panel to discuss the search for a little-known Holocaust victim, Matilda Olkin, and her extended family who were killed in an isolated location in northern Lithuania in the beginning of Holocaust in 1941. The film, “Finding Matilda: The Anne Frank of Lithuania" by Kyle Conti, himself a college student, follows the search for the mass grave.

HBI Virtual Conversations with Rachel Biale, author of "Growing Up Below Sea Level: A Kibbutz Childhood"

January 27, 2021

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HBI Virtual Conversations with Anna Solomon, author of "The Book of V."

December 2, 2020

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Become a Gett Advocate

Gett advocates receive training to be able to to accompany women through the Jewish divorce process in the Boston Rabbinical court.

Presented by the Boston Agunah Taskforce

The World Split Open: Redefining Sexual Harm in Halakhah

November 18, 2020

Diane Markowicz Memorial Lecture

Rachel Adler
David Ellenson Professor of Modern Jewish Thought
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Los Angeles Campus

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Healing, Support & Commemoration: Reform Jewish Liturgy for HIV\AIDS

November 16, 2020

HBI Seminar Series

Elazar Ben-Lulu, The Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania & Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Discussant: Professor Shirley Idelson, director of Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program

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TLV TV Israeli TV Binge: Unchained - Live Q&A

November 15, 2020

Sponsored by the Boston Jewish Film Festival, the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, and the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies with cosponsorships from the following Brandeis University partners: Brandeis Alumni Association,  Hebrew Language and Literature Program, Hillel, and the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies.

Unsung Heroines of the Holocaust: A Personal Reflection in Contemporary Times

October 26, 2020

HBI Seminar Series

Sarah Swartz, HBI Research Associate

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Braided Memories: A Journey of Words and Photographs

October 20, 2020

HBI Project on Latin American Jewish & Gender Studies

Poet and scholar Marjorie Agosín and photographer Samuel Shats explore the truth that lies in fragmented memories, the legacy of refugees defined by truncated pasts, and the power of art as a vehicle for healing across generations.

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Monologues from the Makom

October 19, 2020

A conversation and readings by editors and contributors: Rivka Cohen ’17, Naima Hirsch (HBI Intern 2018), Alona Weimer ’18, and Jordyn Kaufman, moderated by HBI Director Lisa Fishbayn Joffe.

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HBI Virtual Conversations with Marra B. Gad, author of "The Color of Love: A Story of a Mixed-Race Jewish Girl"

October 14, 2020

HBI and Marra B. Gad discussed The Color of Love, Marra’s award-winning and compelling memoir about growing up as “a mixed-race, Jewish unicorn” and how she transcended intolerance, trauma, and racism through love.

Jewish Women Medical Practitioners in Europe Before, During and After the Holocaust

October 13, 2020

Launch Event for NASHIM Issue 36

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Wandering Jews and Latinx Migrations

October 8, 2020

HBI Project on Latin American Jewish & Gender Studies

During Sukkot and Latinx Heritage month, join HBI Project on Latin American Jewish & Gender Studies and Jewtina y Co., for a panel discussion on contemporary Jewish Latinx migration in the context of race, gender, and legality.

Co-Sponsored by Jewtina y Co., Brandeis Alumni Association, the Latin America Initiative, International Business School, Brandeis Latin American and Latino Studies Program, Brandeis Hispanic Studies, J-Lats Princeton

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The Days Between: Blessings, Poems, and Directions of the Heart for the Jewish High Holiday Season

September 23, 2020

For those seeking to connect more deeply with their Judaism, and for all those in search of a contemplative approach to these challenging times, poet and scholar Marcia Falk reads from and comments on her groundbreaking book, which re-creates prayers and rituals from a meditative, inclusive perspective.

To purchase a personally inscribed copy of the book please email Marcia Falk with "Purchase Days Between" in the subject line.

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Friendship, Kinship, Partnership: Women’s Networks as a Political Mechanism

September 21, 2020

HBI Seminar Series

Bat-Sheva Margalit Stern, Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies

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Femicide in Israel: A Pandemic during a Pandemic

September 14, 2020

HBI Seminar Series

Shalva Weil, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Watch here

Braided: A Journey of A Thousand Challahs

September 10, 2020

HBI Virtual Conversations with Beth Ricanati, MD

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HBI Virtual Conversations with Pamela Nadell

July 8, 2020

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Jewish Artist Experience: Lynne Avadenka

June 30, 2020

Artist Lynne Avadenka, 2019 HBI Research Award Recipient and 2008 Artist in Residence, explored her newest endeavor, an artistic investigation into Jewish women's involvement in early Hebrew printing. Lynne is an American artist/printmaker specializing in multimedia works influenced by the Jewish experience. She is known for her art that explores text and image, and the physical and philosophical idea of the book.

Co-Sponsored by the Vilna Shul

Masculinity, Race, and Jewish Stardom

June 25, 2020

Jonathan Branfman, Cornell University, 2020-2022: Visiting Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies

Summer 2020 HBI Scholar in Residence

HBI Conversations with Jennifer Cody Epstein, author of "Wunderland"

June 3, 2020

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Virtual Workshop: Exercises for the Quiet Eye with Annie Storr

May 27, 2020

WSRC Scholar, museum educator and art historian, Annie Storr leads a virtual workshop in reflective looking using imagery from the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute exhibition "Ich Bin Di Sitra Achra (I am the Other)" by Shterna Goldbloom.

A Look at Women's Letters in the Cairo Geniza

May 20, 2020

Renée Levine Melammed, Schechter Institute in Jerusalem

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Reading Glikl: Life Stories from the Pen of a 17th-Century Jewish Working Mother, a virtual learning series

May 5, 12, 19, 2020

HBI Conversations with Susan Solomont, author of "Lost and Found in Spain: Tales of an Ambassador’s Wife"

May 13, 2020

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HBI Conversations with Rachel Barenbaum, author of "A Bend in the Stars"

May 6, 2020

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Virtual Workshop: Self(ie) in Isolation

May 3, 2020

As part of the Create@Brandeis Living Room Fest, Shterna Goldbloom leads a workshop in fine-tuning your selfie techniques during these selfie-necessary times. Goldbloom will talk about her self-portraits from her current exhibition “Ich Bin Di Sitra Achra (I Am the Other)” at the Kniznick Gallery through the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Artist Program.

HBI Conversations with Goldie Goldbloom, author of "On Division"

April 22, 2020

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The Concubine in the Refrigerator: Objectifying Women in Comics and Scripture

March 30, 2020

Esther Brownsmith, Brandeis University

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Latina Jews Crafting Bridges

February 27, 2020

A conversation with Aileen Josephs ’86, Rosa Lowinger ’78 and Dalia Wassner as they engage the many ways Latina Jews are impacting America in the fields of law, architecture, art and academia. 

The event was co-sponsored by Brandeis Alumni Club of South Florida and HBI's Project on Latin American Jewish & Gender Studies.

Next Year in Argentina

February 12, 2020

A film screening of "Next Year in Argentina" followed by a panel discussion. The speakers examined Argentinian Jewry and the subject of return migration.

The Cultural Power of Religious Women

February 11, 2020

Karen Skinazi, University of Bristol

Skinazi discussed the ways that women have inspired change in Orthodox Judaism through creative and cultural channels, such as memoirs, novels, film, and social media, using Naomi Alderman’s novel Disobedience (2006) as a case study.

Holocaust Remembrance: "Only Someone Forgotten is Dead" Restoring Through Stories

February 6, 2020

The Holocaust Research Study Group presents lectures, readings, visual talks, and break-out sessions in a half-day Holocaust Remembrance event

A Suffrage and Citizenship Teach-In: 72 Years in 72 Minutes

January 30, 2020

It took 72 years for women to get the right to vote in the US. Come to this Teach-In to learn about the mobilization from 1848 at Seneca Falls to 1920 with passage of the 19th Constitutional Amendment. 

Co-sponsored by the Women's Studies Research CenterWomen's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Politics Department at Brandeis University

Jewish Women and Religious Change in Israel and the United States: Divergence and Dialogue

January 30, 2020

A conversation about developments concerning Israeli women in Judaism, both Orthodox and secular, and how they have impacted similar issues in the US. Co-sponsored by the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies and JFAB: Jewish Feminist Association of Brandeis.

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"Flawless" at the Boston Jewish Film Festival

November 16, 2019

HBI proudly sponsored the film, “Flawless” at the Boston Jewish Film Festival on Nov. 9 and Nov. 16. “Flawless” is a 2018 Israeli film directed by Tal Granit and Sharon Maymon that tackles issues facing transgender youth and other marginalized communities in Israel. In this film, Eden, a trans high schooler, discovers that her two best — and only — friends are secretly planning to sell their kidneys to pay for cosmetic surgery and dresses for prom. Though dubious at first, Eden decides that joining them may be the answer to her prayers. But when their plans go awry, the girls are confronted by their own prejudices and find themselves on a journey of self-discovery, shaping these self-conscious high-schoolers into adults. “Flawless” was nominated for 12 Ophir Awards including the award for Best Picture. This was the first film in the history of Israeli cinema for which a transgender woman, Stav Strashko (Eden), was nominated for the Ophir Best Actress award.

Lunchtime Seminar: From Orthodox and Feminist to Orthodox Feminist: Kolech, JOFA, and Orthodox Feminist Activism in Israel and the US

November 13, 2019

Lunchtime Seminars: Ketubot as Enforceable Contracts under American Law: The Case of Charleston, South Carolina

November 6, 2019

She Can Do Anything: Jewish Life in the Post Soviet States

October 23, 2019

The groundbreaking work of Project Kesher and the gift of its archives to Brandeis University was celebrated. Brandeis’s Archives & Special Collections is home to significant holdings on Jewish feminism and the Project Kesher materials are an enriching and important addition to this repository.

Founder Sallie E. Gratch was joined by Project Kesher Ukraine Director Vlada Nedak to link the history to the present work and vision of the future. A panel of academic experts provided historical context and laid out pathways for future researchers using the Project Kesher archival collection now housed at Brandeis.

The Voices That Wouldn't Be Silenced

October 2, 2019

In the late 1800s and early 1900s in Russia, the only escape from pogroms for thousands of girls was the prospect of a job or marriage that would take them to “America.” Unfortunately, fleeing poverty and strife, an estimated 200,000 Jewish girls and women found themselves in the clutches of Zwi Migdal, a legal traffickers’ union that operated with impunity throughout South America for 70 years. Talia Carner, author of “The Third Daughter,” revealed how the cries of these women prompted her to expose a shameful chapter in Jewish history. She discussed actions that can be taken today to abolish human enslavement.

Lunchtime Seminar: Gender and Ethnicity in Mizrahi Feminist Contemporary Photography

September 25, 2019

Sivan Rajuan Shtang

Lunchtime Seminar: Women’s Midrash on Alternative Families

September 11, 2019

Tamar Biala

Knocking at Our Hearts

September 8, 2019

Mayyim Hayyim and Kavod (a lay-led Jewish community focused on social justice) presented the 5th annual High Holiday program: Knocking at Our Hearts. The event focused on preparing your whole self — body and soul — for the holidays with the power and joy of communal song. This year, our teacher was singer/composer/scholar, Galeet Dardashti, who offered two workshops focusing on Sephardi and Mizrahi music.

One Foot Planted

Feb. 28–June 28, 2019

Hadassah-Brandeis Institute presented Ayelet Carmi and Meirav Heiman in “One Foot Planted.” Israeli artists Carmi and Heiman created ambitious video works that explored the impact that politics and conflict have on Israeli women in times of crisis. In their work, Israel is redefined as a mythical and post-apocalyptic world, which feminine and differently-abled bodies must ritually traverse through extreme physical acts. Both the ritual of processing the Israel Trail and counting the Omer become ungendered and labor-intensive sites of communication between bodies, land, machines, and the movement of time itself. In creating these spectacles and invented worlds, the artists’ combined interests in cinematography, live-action performance, group dynamics and mechanical inventions were all at play.

Words and Artifacts: Treasures of a Cuban Jewish Exile

April 10, 2019

This is event was part of the HBI Project on Latin American Jewish & Gender Studies. Ruth Behar, a Cuban-Jewish anthropologist and the first Latina MacArthur Fellow, showed how culture is both an artifact of history and a vehicle of ongoing memory. Included was a reading of her latest book of poetry, “Everything I Kept/Todo lo que Guardé,” discussed in combination with excerpts from her award-winning novel “Lucky Broken Girl,” documentary film Adio Kerida, and photojournalism in “An Island Called Home: Returning to Jewish Cuba.”

Co-sponsored by Brandeis Alumni Association, the Brandeis International Business School, & Latin American & Latino Studies Program. This event was a part of the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts Program.

Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective: A Talk with Joy Ladin

February 7, 2019

Joy Ladin, the first openly transgender professor in an Orthodox institution, read from her new book, “The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah From a Transgender Perspective,” Brandeis University Press/HBI Series on Jewish Women. Ladin discussed the need for this trans perspective, as well as her process and journey. She is a professor of English at Stern College/Yeshiva University.

This event was a part of ’Deis Impact.

Co-Sponsored by Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Jewish Feminist Association of Brandeis, Keshet, Ruach HaYam, Jewish Women's Archive

Herstories: Changing Portrayals of Women in Jewish Literature

Oct. 3–Dec. 19, 2018

HBI presented a Me’ah Course taught by Professor Sylvia Barack Fishman.

Women and gender were spotlighted in Jewish literature from gripping biblical narratives through the latest exciting novels by American Jewish writers. This 10-week course examined texts in which women play major roles, exploring various subtexts, literary dimensions, and historical context. After an introductory conversation about stories in Genesis and the Book of Ruth, this interactive class read and discussed works including:

  • Yiddish writers Sholom Aleichem and I.B. Singer (in translation) Immigration authors Abraham Cahan and Anzia Yezierska

  • Classics of American Jewish women’s writing such as Tillie Olsen, Grace Paley, Cynthia Ozick, and Rebecca Goldstein

  • A selection of works by younger writers such as Allegra Goodman, Dara Horn, Nathan Englander, and Nicole Krauss

A Latin American Pen, A Global Memory: Imagining Anne Frank Today

November 1, 2018

The Fall 2018 LAJGS launch event featured a dramatic reading of Marjorie Agosín’s illustrated book “Anne: Imagining the Diary of Anne Frank,” which was accompanied by a multimedia presentation and a panel discussion about the ongoing relevance of Anne Frank in Latin America, a region that has struggled with authoritarian regimes and ongoing human rights abuses.

Panelists

  • Dalia Wassner, PhD, HBI Project in Latin American Jewish & Gender Studies, Brandeis University

  • Marjorie Agosín, PhD, Professor of Spanish at Wellesley College

  • Francisca Yáñez, Chilean illustrator, graphic designer and visual artist

  • Nisha Sajnani, PhD, Director of Drama Therapy Program at New York University.

  • Sandra Mayo, Printmaker and mixed media artist.

Co-sponsored by JCC Greater Boston, Facing History & Ourselves, Hadassah Boston, Jewish Women’s Archive, Gann Academy, and Temple Beth Zion.

Israel’s Photoshop Law: The Idea, The Execution, and The Effect

October 25, 2018

HBI was proud to host Dr. Rachel Adatto, Former Member of Israeli Knesset. Adatto, an international expert on women’s health, spearheaded the Photoshop law in Knesset. This law banned the use of Photoshop to “remake” the images of models in advertising without disclaimers in Israel. There was a panel discussion about the effects of this law including Lisa Fishbayn Joffe, director of HBI and Shayna Weiss, associate director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies.

Rachel Adatto, PhD, is a former Member of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament), with an undergraduate degree in law, an MBA and MD from Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is an expert in women’s health and served as the Chair of the National Council for Women’s Health; the senior advisor to the Minister of Health on women’s issues and on four U.N. committees dealing with women’s health.

Notably, she was the lead sponsor of the 2012 “Photoshop Law” that banned ads featuring underweight models. About the law, Adatto said, “Extremely thin models have become the ideal in the advertising world, which surrounds us all day long and tells us what to buy and what to do. They can no longer serve as role models for innocent youth that adopt and copy the illusion of thinness.”

Sexual Harassment: The Law, The Politics and The Movement

October 14, 2018

HBI was proud to host Catharine A. MacKinnon, the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan and James Barr Ames Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School for our annual Diane Markowicz Lecture on Gender and Human Rights.

Long before the #MeToo movement, Professor MacKinnon pioneered the legal claim for sexual harassment and, with Andrea Dworkin, created ordinances recognizing pornography as a civil rights violation and proposed the Swedish model for abolishing prostitution. The Supreme Court of Canada has largely accepted her approaches to equality, pornography, and hate speech, which have been influential internationally as well.

Author of 13 scholarly books, Professor MacKinnon practices law, consults nationally and internationally on legislation, litigation, and activism, and works regularly with the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), and The ERA Coalition. Serving as the first Special Gender Adviser to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (The Hague) from 2008 to 2012, she helped implement her concept “gender crime.” In 2014, she was awarded the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lifetime Achievement Award by the Women’s Section of the American Association of Law Schools, and is an elected member of the American Law Institute (ALI).

The Markowicz Lecture Series is part of HBI’s project on Gender, Culture, Religion and the Law and was created by GCRL Founder Sylvia Neil and her husband Dan Fischel in memory of Sylvia’s late sister, Diane Markowicz, to honor her commitment to gender equality and social justice.

Watch the Lecture