Lectures

ChaeRan Freeze speaks from a podium

The Tauber Institute organizes numerous lectures throughout the academic year to keep Brandeis faculty and staff abreast of current research and trends in all fields of Jewish Studies.

In addition, the Tauber Institute also organizes thematically-based lecture series designed to provide students and academics with a more in-depth look at a particular area of scholarly inquiry.

Upcoming Lectures

headshot of Susannah Heschel in front of a blurry, green outdoor scene
The 60th Annual Simon Rawidowicz Memorial Lecture

April 4, 2024

Susannah Heschel, the Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College, will deliver the 60th Annual Simon Rawidowicz Memorial Lecture on Thursday, April 4, 2024 at 4:30pm Eastern at Brandeis University. This year's lecture, "Does Jewish Studies Have a Theory? Changing Historiographical Methods and Contexts from the 19th Century to the Present," will be in-person, with a reception to follow. RSVPs are recommended.

The Simon Rawidowicz Memorial Lecture is named for Simon Rawidowicz (1896–1957), one of the most innovative Jewish thinkers of the twentieth century and a founding member of the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. Recordings of Rawidowicz lectures from 2018 to 2023 can be viewed below.

Recent Lectures

Susan Neiman seated with her hands folded looking off camera to the left
Neiman: "Racism, Antisemitism, and Rethinking Historical Reckoning"

March 9, 2023

Susan Neiman, Director of the Einstein Forum in Potsdam, Germany, delivered the 59th Annual Simon Rawidowicz Memorial Lecture, "Racism, Antisemitism, and Rethinking Historical Reckoning," on Thursday, March 9, 2023 at 7:30pm.

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Annette Yoshiko Reed
Reed: "Forgetting Second Temple Judaism: History, Memory, and the Dead Sea Scrolls"

April 7, 2022

Annette Yoshiko Reed, Professor in the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and Department of Religious Studies at New York University, delivered the 58th Annual Simon Rawidowicz Memorial Lecture, "Forgetting Second Temple Judaism: History, Memory, and the Dead Sea Scrolls," on Thursday, April 7, 2022 at 7:30pm.

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Faculty photo of Sarah Stein, against a blue background
Stein: "A Sephardic Family’s Journey Through the Twentieth Century"

November 11, 2020

Sarah Abrevaya Stein, the Viterbi Family Endowed Professor in Mediterranean Jewish Studies, & Sady and Ludwig Kahn Director of the Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, delivered the 57th Annual Simon Rawidowicz Memorial Lecture, "A Sephardic Family’s Journey Through the Twentieth Century," on Wednesday, November 11, 2020 at 7:00pm. 

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Michael Fishbane speaks at a podium
Fishbane: "Natural Supernaturalism: Themes of Mystic Light and Despair in the Poetry of Chaim Nahman Bialik"

November 13, 2019

The Tauber Institute hosted Professor Michael (Buzzy) Fishbane, Ph.D. '71, who delivered the 56th Annual Simon Rawidowicz Lecture, "Natural Supernaturalism: Themes of Mystic Light and Despair in the Poetry of Chaim Nahman Bialik." Professor Fishbane is the Nathan Cummings Distinguished Service Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Chicago.

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Samuel Moyn, delivering his lecture "Rights and Nationhood from 1948 to the Present"
Moyn: "Rights and Nationhood from 1948 to the Present"

November 8, 2018

Samuel Moyn (Yale University) delivered the 55th Annual Simon Rawidowicz Memorial Lecture, "Rights and Nationhood from 1948 to the Present." The Rawidowicz Lecture is sponsored by the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry, with the support of the Valya and Robert Shapiro Endowment, the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, and the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life. 

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