Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies

October 27, Lehrhaus, Somerville, MA

6:00 pm

Engaging with the question of how historical memory can be inscribed into public spaces and our built environment raises a whole host of questions. How can we create innovative proposals to work through and shed light over difficult memories and past and present injustices? How can we create justice-centered works, programs and organizations aimed at eliciting new forms of memory and ethical consciousness -new forms of visibility- in our democratic public spaces? How do we position ourselves and how do we envision our roles as architects, artists, designers and cultural agents when working on such projects understood as spaces for reflection, engagement, and action?

Julián Bonder brings his perspective as an Argentine Jew whose family escaped Nazi Germany, to his projects around the world. These are dedicated to connecting past and present, inviting visitors to engage in dialogues, reckoning, and action. Bonder’s work, as an educator and a practitioner, along with his scholarship and advocacy, is based on an understanding of architecture as a life-affirming endeavor deeply linked to history and memory, and to our social, political, and cultural existence.

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October 28, Rapaporte Treasure Hall, Brandeis University Library

6:30 pm  Keynote Address: Mirta Kupferminc, JOTA Artist-Scholar Fellowship Artistic Director

7:45 pm Music and Dessert reception with vocalist Yasmin Garfunkel accompanied on piano by Silvia Gerszkowicz: Yiddish y Sepharadic Music

We are delighted to invite you to our keynote event of the inaugural Jews of the Americas Artist-Scholar Fellowship “The Spine/La Médula.” Beginning with Jorge Luis Borges and his engagement with the “People of the Book,” the talk will engage Kabbalistic concepts and explore themes of diaspora, alphabets, and the power of the word in creating contained universes. Additionally, the lecture will be an indication of that which can be created from a profound collaboration between artists and scholars.

A dessert reception to follow will feature Yiddish and Ladino music with vocalist JOTA Fellow Yasmin Garfunkel accompanied on piano by Silvia Gerszkowicz.

Co-sponsored by NEJS, Romance Languages, and the Latin American Initiative at the School of Business and Economics at Brandeis University. Free and open to the public with registration.

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Join JOTA, AJC New England, and Fuente Latina for an exclusive screening and discussion of "7/1O: Testigos del Terror " (10/7: Witnesses of Terror), the first documentary to chronicle the Hamas massacre as told by Israel's Spanish-speaking Latin American community, the largest immigrant group attacked on Oct. 7, 2023. The docuseries highlights Latin American migration to Israel and the role of Latin American immigrants in building the Israeli kibbutz movement. Our exclusive event adds an important dimension to understanding of the diversity in Israeli society and the implications for Israel and the Americas today. (The docuseries is in Spanish with English subtitles.)