Jewish and Israel Studies

2014–2015 5775

THE CROWN FAMILY CENTER FOR JEWISH AND ISRAEL STUDIES

99616.indd 1 11/30/15 9:08 AM FROM THE DIRECTOR

THE CROWN FAMILY We Want U (University) ... CENTER FOR and You (Chicago-Area Public) ... JEWISH AND ISRAEL STUDIES and #u (Online Public)! The Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Barry Scott Wimpfheimer, director Studies’ mission is an important one: to facilitate Elie Rekhess, associate director, the study of Judaism, Jews, and Israel in all of their Israel studies facets and historical periods with the rigor that Nancy Gelman, program administrator only a premier research institution can provide. The mission engages scholars (both our own faculty and Judd A. and Marjorie Weinberg students and visitors) to advance what is known in College of Arts and Sciences these ﬁelds by building on existing work and applying Northwestern University the most current and sophisticated methods of research to create new knowledge. Crowe Hall 5-163 That knowledge is communicated to the larger public both through academic forums 1860 Campus Drive (conferences, publications, and websites) and through public lectures. Evanston, Illinois 60208 847-491-2612 The Crown Center strives to build ties with three different communities: the North- 847-467-2062 (fax) western campus community (faculty, students, and visiting researchers), the local community that attends our lectures and conferences, and an online community Visit us on the web: that engages us on our website and via social media. www.jewish-studies.northwestern.edu Our campus community consists of people who are devoted to scholarship about

Jewishness, Jews, Judaism, and Israel. The faculty who teach our Jewish studies Contact us: and Israel studies courses rely on the Crown Center to provide research resources, [email protected] conference resources, and an intellectual community within which they can test new Please let us know if you would like to hypotheses and report scholarly results. The students in our graduate cluster rely on be on our mailing list. the center to provide a Jewish studies framework that facilitates research in other

primary disciplinary ﬁelds. Northwestern undergraduates look to us for more than 40 courses a year and the opportunity to major or minor in Jewish studies.

The Chicago-area community enjoys access to our public programming. The Crown Center presents four annual lectures (Crown, Klutznick, Harris, and Vogel) plus additional lectures, panels, and conferences. If you have ideas about speakers we should invite or learning programs we should offer, please share them with us.

Our online endeavors are expanding. Over the past few years we have posted audio and video recordings of public lectures on our website. This coming year we will be making a more deliberate attempt to engage the online public through our website On the cover: Israeli Tu BiShvat poster, and social media. In spring 2016 we will offer The Talmud: A Methodological Introduc- circa 1955–1963. 24 x 36 inches. tion as a MOOC (massive open online course). The course is designed for the general Charles Deering McCormick Library public and requires no prior knowledge of Hebrew, Aramaic, or the Talmud; it will of Special Collections, Northwestern present the Talmud as it is taught in universities. With more extensive video and audio University Libraries. offerings planned, we hope to make the Crown Center website one of your favorite places for online learning.

© 2015 Northwestern University. All rights reserved. Produced by University Relations. 11-15/1.5M/NL-KP-MM/1928-1 Barry Scott Wimpfheimer Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Law 2 Director, Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies

99616.indd 2 11/25/15 9:14 AM 201415 NEWS AND EVENTS

“Film and Politics in Allan and Norma Harris Israeli History” Memorial Lecture Shaul Mitelpunkt, postdoctoral fellow at in Jewish Studies Northwestern, organized “Film and Politics Lawrence Baron (San Diego State in Israeli History,” a panel discussion, on University) delivered “Hollywood and the October 14, 2014. In addition to Mitelpunkt, Holocaust: From Appeasement to Anti- speakers included Orit Bashkin (University Nazism, 1933–1945” on November 3, 2014. of Chicago), Rachel Harris (University of Baron debunked the myth that Hollywood Illinois), and Hamid Naﬁcy (Northwestern). was late to address Nazi anti-Semitism.

“Gaza and Beyond” continued on page 4 “Gaza and Beyond: Israel, the Palestinians, and the Arab World,” a public program presented on October 23, 2014, addressed the ramiﬁcations of the 2014 Gaza war for Israel and the Palestinians, reconcilia- Lawrence Baron tion efforts between Palestinian political factions, the destabilization of the Arab territorial nation-state, the rise of militant Renée and Lester Crown Islam, and the struggle of inﬂuential pow- Speaker Series ers in the Middle East. Moderated by North- western’s Elie Rekhess, the panel included Author Gary Shteyngart discussed and Shai Feldman (Brandeis University), Khalil read from his best-selling memoir, Little Shikaki (Brandeis; Palestinian Center for Failure, in a program held October 25, Policy and Survey Research, Ramallah), 2014, on the Evanston campus. His lecture, Abdel Monem Said Aly (Brandeis; Regional “Still Failing: Gary Shteyngart Returns,” Center for Strategic Studies, Cairo; Al-Masry was presented as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival. Al-Youm), and Nabeel Khoury (Northwest- Gary Shteyngart ern; Chicago Council on Global Affairs).

“Gaza and Beyond: Israel, the Palestinians, and the Arab World”

99616.indd 3 11/25/15 9:14 AM Danny M. Cohen

Yoram Peri and Elie Rekhess

continued from page 3

“2015 Knesset Elections” On March 5, 2015, Yoram Peri (University of Maryland) and Northwestern’s Elie Rekhess anticipated the Israeli elections in a dialogue titled “2015 Knesset Elections: A Shift Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick in Israeli Politics?” Peri overviewed Israel’s Lecture in Jewish Civilization political system and the platforms and issues under consideration in the coming Ruth Langer (Boston College) presented election. Rekhess then discussed the “Dealing with ‘Difficult’ Prayers: Jewish Lit- Arab Joint List coalition party and the urgy in an Age of Jewish-Christian Dialogue” background of Israel’s Arab voters. In Lila Corwin Berman on May 28, 2015, in a program cosponsored the ensuing conversation Rekhess and with the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Peri queried each other about the rele- Chicago. Langer focused her presentation Manfred H. Vogel Memorial vance of party platforms, the absence on birkat haminim, an ancient prayer that of contentious topics such as the Israeli- Lecture in Judaic Studies has been understood as anti-Christian for Palestinian conflict, and the potential Lila Corwin Berman (Temple University) much of its history. Langer framed this in for a major power shift. presented “Is It Good to Give? The Amer- the context of recent traditionalist attempts ican Jewish Philanthropic Complex” on to reinstate such prayers in the liturgy April 23, 2015. Berman outlined the ways Train reading and discussion despite their polemical meanings in an in which communal charity collection unprecedented age of religious dialogue. On Yom Hashoah, April 16, 2015, Danny M. and distribution have changed in the past Cohen (Northwestern) read from his newly century and how tax laws have caused published novel, Train. A work of histor- an increase in “donor-advised funds” and ical fiction based on hidden Holocaust affected Jewish giving. Thank you history, Train gives voice to the unheard Thank you to these friends of the victims of Nazism—the Roma, the “At the Crossroads” Crown Center, who have generously disabled, intermarried Jews, homosexuals, supported our programs this year: and political enemies of the Nazi regime. On May 18–19, 2015, Northwestern’s The reading was followed by a discussion Mira Balberg and Barry Wimpfheimer Heather ’92 and Felix Baker and author interview facilitated by cochaired the conference “At the Cross- Nicholas ’64 and Eleanor Chabraja Northwestern’s Phyllis Lassner. roads: New Directions in the Study of Rabbinic Literature.” Held in work- Diana H. and Steven J. Cobb ’65 shop style, with 12 participants and Ludmilla Coven ample time for discussion and conversa- Crown Family Foundation tion, the conference reflected on the Rochelle and Arthur Elstein past, present, and future of the academic Shlomo Levine ’60 field of rabbinics. 4

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The Golden Age Shtetl wins Jewish book award

Other lectures A book by Northwestern professor Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern that demythologizes the popular image of the shtetl won the Jewish Book Council’s 2014 National Jewish November 3, 2014 Book Award for history. Ethan Tucker (Mechon Hadar), “Conver- sions and Courts: Do You Need Someone Petrovsky-Shtern’s The Golden Age Shtetl: A New History of Jewish Life in East Europe Else’s Approval to Become a Jew?” (Princeton University Press) replaces the ramshackle image familiar from Fiddler on

the Roof with a richly detailed depiction of a vibrant community. November 19, 2014 Marcin Wodzinsky (University of Wroclaw, Poland), “Hasidism: Key Questions” The word shtetl refers to the small market towns where two-thirds of eastern Europe’s Jews lived in the 18th and 19th centuries. Few books have been written on everyday December 10, 2014 shtetl life in the half-century Petrovsky-Shtern calls “the golden age,” between Shaul Mitelpunkt (Northwestern), “Gazing 1790 and 1840; the stereotypes of the broken-down shtetl arose from the period of at the ‘Citizens’ Army’: The Citizen-Soldier its later decline. The author’s “new Crisis and American-Israeli Relations, history” aims to correct the myths. 1967–1973”

A native of Kiev, Petrovsky-Shtern March 10, 2015 accumulated his evidence from Alyssa Henning (Northwestern), “‘For the primary sources in Ukrainian, Polish, Thing Which I Did Fear Is Come upon Me’: and Russian archives. He describes Job and Ethical Responses to Research- Related Injuries” previously unknown aspects of how the shtetl worked, looking in turn May 4, 2015 at trade, the marketplace, the family, Race, Religion, and Diaspora Lecture Series: housing, taverns, the social role of Amelia Glaser (University of California, San liquor, smuggling, Jewish-Slavic Diego), “From Jewish Jesus to Black Christ: relations, religious life, and more. Race Violence in Leftist American Yiddish Poetry”

May 12, 2015 “The Golden Age T. Z. Weiss Holocaust Educational Foundation Lecture: Peter Hayes (North- Shtetl tells a history western), “Anti-Semitism and Homophobia in Nazi Germany: Different but Related that has rarely Hatreds” been transmitted in In choosing The Golden Age Shtetl for a 2014 book award, the Jewish Book June 2, 2015 scholarly books, Council praised the work as “the best Yael Israel-Cohen (Northwestern), around the dinner written, most comprehensive and “Between Feminism and Orthodox Judaism engaging book” in the history category. in Israel: A Post-Orthodox Discourse” table, or even in Petrovsky-Shtern received the award in March 2015 at the National Jewish Yiddish literature.” Book Awards ceremony in New York City. —Jonathan Brent, Moment The Golden Age Shtetl also received an honorable mention for the 2015 PROSE Award in European and world history from the Association of American Publishers.

99616.indd 5 12/1/15 3:19 PM Applying Jewish thought to 21st-century issues Laurie Zoloth on climate change, Planned Parenthood, and end-of-life decisions

he Jewish concept of shmita ownership and possession are broken so travel, staying in hotels, all of this cre- provided an apt metaphor for that the poor can take what they need, ates a way of living on the earth that is TNorthwestern’s Laurie Zoloth when all debts are released,” the profes- carbon intensive. It could be otherwise.”

in her address as outgoing president sor of religious studies, Jewish studies, Zoloth has also proposed that people of the American Academy of Religion in and bioethics and medical humanities replace the conference with participa- said in her speech at AAR’s annual November 2014, when she called on the tion in community service the weekend conference. organization to do its part for climate before Thanksgiving, when the confer- change prevention by suspending its Zoloth was proposing not a once-every- ence is traditionally held.

annual conference. seven-years shmita, however—but, Throughout her speech as outgoing beginning in 2021, a permanent cancel- Shmita is the one year in seven when president, Zoloth brought in references lation of the annual conference for the “all agricultural work stops, the fields from “my Jewish tradition.” In the follow- sake of the planet. are left fallow, and every living crea- ing interview, she talks about how she ture, animal, and person can eat from “Every year each participant going to the finds concepts from Jewish studies such the field and the vineyard and the wide meeting uses a quantum of carbon that as shmita applicable to her work. open world, when the boundaries of is more than considerable,” she said. “Air

Q: Please describe how, as you were developing your There was a second part to your proposal—not just that speech, you hit upon the concept of shmita to illustrate people stay home from the conference, but that they your point about suspending the AAR conference. use the time to work instead with the poor in their own A: Every year the incoming AAR president gets to select the confer- communities. ence theme. I decided as soon as I was elected—three years before Instead of flying about to cities in which we are tourists and staying the meeting—that since I was trained in ethics, my theme would be in fancy hotels, I thought we should turn to our own cities, learn about an ethical issue. Climate change is the central moral problem about our fellow citizens, figure out how to meet the unmet needs in of this time, and time is short to respond and act. I asked every our communities. We could plant orchards, we could teach in high committee chair to focus on this in 2014 so we could spend some schools, we could learn from the poor in our cities about what thoughtful time [before the meeting] doing our research. our cities need. We will need to work to protect the earth in many pragmatic ways. This would be a beginning. As for me, I knew that others had written extensively on the texts of the Jewish tradition and ecology. Many turned to Genesis for You call climate change the moral issue of our time. narratives of stewardship, others to texts that stress the importance Besides shmita, what concepts from the Jewish tradition of trees. I wanted to offer a concrete activity of reform and repair, could guide us as we tackle the issue of climate change? not only a critique of the situation. In fact, the concern of much of Much of halacha [Jewish religious law] stresses the need for limits: Hebrew scripture and the rabbinic response literature in regard to on consumption, on acquisition, on ownership, and on how one agriculture is the relationship between production and distribution treats workers. To live in accordance with a revealed positive law is and the concerns of justice that emerge there. The idea of shmita not only a set of behaviors but also an ontology. One is supposed to reminds us that it is our systems of production and consumption be in a certain relationship to the earth—that of stewardship and that are at the root of the dangerous rise in waste carbon that drives gratitude. The need for adherence to laws of compassion and justice the climate toward ever higher temperatures. Airline traffic uses a is repeated in a wide variety of places, and the relationship of moral disproportionate amount of carbon, as do eating meat and driving. behavior is always linked to the capacity of the earth to be regener- These things are part of academic conferences. We need to start ative. The Noah story is one such place, but this is also detailed in with our own consumptive practices before we profess to others. daily prayers of the Shema and in Hebrew scripture. Of course we understand now how deeply valid is this link between stewardship and the survival of the planet.

99616.indd 6 11/25/15 9:14 AM We need to reflect carefully about Much of halacha stresses ways we can support needed research while respecting valid concerns about the need for limits: tissue donation and collection. And on consumption, on we need to understand the deeply acquisition, on ownership, held religious beliefs of others on these issues. However, clinics such as and on how one treats Planned Parenthood’s need to remain workers. . . . One is supposed open so that women, especially poor How does Jewish morality differ from women with no other options for care, to be in a certain generally accepted morality? can make their decisions in accord One difference that has emerged historically relationship to the with their own moral communities. is the centrality of the Jewish view of time. earth—that of stewardship Core to this are the Sabbath practices, which The videos pose a complex challenge, allow an interruption of the ordinal duties and gratitude. and not just to the halacha that of the marketplace, of technology, and of permits abortion. The issues of justice acquisition. The possibility of interruption in for the poor, journalistic integrity, the the name of faith—a reordering of priorities towards family, prayer, ethical stance of physicians, the marketplace and its limits, and the and study—offers much toward imagining a better world. And polarization of our deliberative democracy are all at stake. the great interruption of the shmita year is a larger version of the weekly Sabbath. In biomedical ethics, one controversial issue is whether to use medical interventions to sustain life, to withdraw Videos showing Planned Parenthood representatives interventions and let nature take its course, or even to allow discussing the use of aborted fetuses for stem cell terminally ill patients to end their own lives. Does Jewish research recently made news. The videos may have been tradition have anything to say about this? distorted—a charge which is disputed—but their content Yes, it has much to say. One important difference between normative was upsetting. How might those who defend a woman’s American bioethics and Jewish bioethics is that American bioethics right to choose think about this? has personal autonomy as a central moral appeal. In Jewish bioethics, Classic Jewish texts have understood that abortion, while regret- personal autonomy has a very weak appeal. A second important dif- table, is a tragic necessity under certain conditions. If a woman’s ference is in the idea of a personal, literal heaven, an idea that drives life or her mental or physical health is endangered, the pregnancy many of these choices, particularly for Christians. Jewish tradition can be ended; the fetus is seen as a rodef [pursuer who threatens to has an idea of collective redemption, of messianic hope, instead. And do harm]. The texts also clarify that the moral status of the embryo finally, the idea of “nature” is different in Jewish thought. The actions and fetus is developmental, starting from being “like water” in the of healing and cultivation are both seen as part of a proper response first 40 days, to becoming a full human person at birth. Because to illness. Nature is not inherently good or wise; the world is unfin- abortion is a matter of religious law in these texts, never a matter of ished, in need of human action. All of these concepts in Jewish ethics state authority, outlawing this aspect of Jewish practice would be make the decision to withdraw care more complex. problematic. Is there anything you would like to add in closing? Doctors who provide abortions do so in accord with the law of the Jewish ethics is heir to a tradition of rabbinic thought. In that tradi- land. The videos were released as a political argument against the tion, the problems of the marketplace, of families, and of neighbors legality of abortion. Yet what made the images troubling—even were brought into the house of study for reflection, analysis, and for those who are pro-choice—was how tangled up in marketplace finally—sometimes—pragmatic solutions. The intricate arguments exchanges the doctors had become. Even if the videos were edited belong in the world—so it is right that scholars of ethics now take to mislead, the negotiations about price and tissues as a commodity these arguments to the site of current ethical dilemmas: Can we were real and disturbing. We would want doctors to think only of allow humans to colonize space? Can we alter DNA to eliminate the health of their patients and not the suitability of tissue. disease? Under what circumstances might war be just? It is the task of Jewish scholars to bring these ideas to the public square and to the public debates about our future.

99616.indd 7 11/25/15 9:14 AM FACULTY NEWS

Mira Balberg, assistant professor of Peter Fenves, Joan and Sarepta Harrison Academic Committee at the US Holocaust religious studies, specializes in ancient Professor of Literature, specializes in Memorial Museum. During the 2014–15 year Judaism, with a focus on rabbinic literature. German-Jewish thought and literature from he gave several talks around the country She is the author of Purity, Body, and Self the late 18th to the early 20th century. His as well as the Holocaust Educational in Early Rabbinic Literature (University of emphasis is on aspects of the Haskalah Foundation Lecture at Northwestern, “Anti- California Press, 2014) and Gateway to [Jewish Enlightenment], especially Moses Semitism and Homophobia in Nazi Germany: Rabbinic Literature (Open University of Mendelssohn’s late writings, and a certain Different but Related Hatreds.” Israel Press, 2013). She is working on a book messianic train in early-20th-century exploring the transformations of sacrifice in thought, especially the work of Franz Kafka Yael Israel-Cohen is a postdoctoral early rabbinic literature. During 2014–15 and Walter Benjamin. His 2015 publications fellow in Israel studies and a visiting she was a fellow at the Frankel Institute include “Entanglement—Of Benjamin with assistant professor in sociology and for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University Heidegger” in Sparks Will Fly: Benjamin gender studies (2014–16). She has recently of Michigan. and Heidegger (SUNY Press) and “Kant in published articles on adolescents’ risk of Benjamins Wahlverwandtschaften-Essay” posttraumatic stress as a result of war and Efrat Bloom, visiting assistant professor, in Benjamins Wahlverwandtschaften: terrorist attacks in Israel. recently published “Fiction’s Paradigmatic Zur Kritik einer programmatischen Alterity: José Saramago on the Ethics of Interpretation (Suhrkamp). Lucille Kerr, professor in the Department the Literary” in the volume Ethics and of Spanish and Portuguese, is interested Poetics: Ethical Recognitions and Social Marcia Gealy, associate professor of in Latin American literary and cultural Reconfigurations in Modern Narratives instruction in the Writing Program, Jewish studies (20th century, Boom and post-Boom; (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014). As a studies, and comparative literature, teaches narrative fiction, theory; literature and film; research fellow at the Frankel Institute for the courses Modern Jewish Literature and testimonio; Jewish Latin America). Her Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Storytelling in American Jewish Literature. research in Latin American Jewish studies Michigan during the 2015–16 academic year, She has been recognized as a Charles deals with literature and film, primarily in the she will be studying Walter Benjamin’s work Deering McCormick Distinguished Senior Southern Cone, and she regularly teaches the on translation. Lecturer for excellence in teaching and has courses Discovering Jewish Latin America been named repeatedly to the Associated and Exploring Jewish Argentina. She coedited Danny M. Cohen, assistant professor Student Government faculty honor roll. the volume Teaching the Latin American Boom of instruction in the School of Education In 2014 she received an Emily Award for (Modern Language Association, 2015). and Social Policy, is a learning scientist her advising and service to the Women’s with a specialization in Holocaust memory Residential College. Jacob Lassner, Philip M. and Ethel and the design of Holocaust education. An Klutznick Professor Emeritus of Jewish appointed member of the Illinois Holocaust Edna Grad, distinguished senior lecturer Civilization, continues to teach two courses and Genocide Commission, he is the in Hebrew language, is a foreign language despite his retirement. A specialist in Near author of Train (2015), a novel inspired by education specialist. She speaks four modern Eastern history, Lassner has focused his hidden Holocaust histories. Other 2014–15 languages and has had training in Latin and attention in recent years on Jewish-Muslim publications include “Behind ‘The 19th classical Greek. Among her publications relations. He delivered the lecture “The Window’” and “The 19th Window” in The are two Hebrew-teaching packages (books, Meaning of the Dome of the Rock” at the Holocaust in History and Memory 7 and workbooks, and audio-exercise recordings) University of Southampton’s (England) Parkes “Magical Transports and Transformations: for beginning- and intermediate-level Institute and presented “Life Cycles in Early The Lessons of Children’s Holocaust Fiction” college students. Islam” at the plenary session of the American (with Phyllis Lassner) in Studies in American Oriental Society’s annual meeting. He also Jewish Literature 33 (2). Peter Hayes, Theodore Zev Weiss presented a paper of Arabic historiography Holocaust Educational Foundation Professor, at the annual meeting of the Association for specializes in the history of the Holocaust. the Study of the Middle East and Africa. He is His principal recent publication is the preparing a reader on the history of the Jews anthology How Was It Possible? A Holocaust in medieval Islamic lands for the University Reader (University of Nebraska Press, of Toronto Press. 2015). In June 2014 he became chair of the

99616.indd 8 11/25/15 9:14 AM Phyllis Lassner, professor of instruction an honorable mention 2015 PROSE Award at Queen Mary University in London, Haifa in the Writing Program, gender studies, from the Association of American Publishers. University, Ben-Gurion University, and the and Jewish studies, teaches courses in Last year Petrovsky-Shtern did research in Institute for Advanced Studies in Jerusalem. Holocaust representation, including Writing Germany and taught in Poland and Ukraine. His 2014–15 articles include “‘You Have about Children and the Holocaust; Gender, From March to October 2015, his solo Saved Me from the Judgment of Gehenna’: Race, and the Holocaust; and Representing painting show was on display at the Ukrainian The Origins of the Mourner’s Kaddish in the Holocaust in Literature and Film. Her Museum in New York City. Medieval Ashkenaz” in AJS Review 39 (1) and 2014 publications included “The Erotics of “Christians and Jews in the Twelfth Century Auschwitz: An American Tale” in National Elie Rekhess, Crown Visiting Professor in Werewolf Renaissance” in Journal of the Narratives of the Holocaust (University of Israel Studies, associate director for Israel History of Ideas 75 (4). Delaware Press), “Dramatizing Britain’s studies, and professor of history, is interested Holocaust Memory” in Jewish Women Writers in the political history of the Arab minority in Claire Sufrin, lecturer in the Department in Britain (Wayne State University Press), Israel and political Islam in Israel and Gaza. of Religious Studies, focuses on modern “Paradoxical Polemics: John le Carré’s In 2014 he published “The Arab Minority in Jewish thought in Europe, Israel, and Responses to 9/11” in Transatlantic Literature Israel: Reconsidering the 1948 Paradigm” in the United States. In summer 2015, more and Culture after 9/11 (Palgrave), and Israel Studies 19 (2) and the entry “Israel” in than 160 adult students attended her “Magical Transports and Transformations: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics course Stories and Beliefs: The Complicated The Lessons of Children’s Holocaust Fiction” (Oxford University Press). In 2014–15 he Partnership of Religion and Literature, (with Danny Cohen) in Studies in American lectured at academic conferences in Israel, offered through the Alumnae of Northwestern Jewish Literature 33 (2). Europe, and the United States and was the continuing education program. resident director of Northwestern’s study Shaul Mitelpunkt, a postdoctoral fellow abroad program in Israel (see page 12). Barry Scott Wimpfheimer, associate in Israel studies and visiting assistant professor of religious studies and law and professor in history (2013–15), specializes in Kenneth Seeskin, Philip M. and Ethel director of the Crown Family Center for US-Israel relations, war and society, and the Klutznick Professor of Jewish Civilization Jewish and Israel Studies, specializes in the politics of cultural representations. In 2014 and professor of philosophy and religion, Talmud and Jewish law. His experience as he published “The Tank Driver Who Ran with works on Jewish philosophy and theology, director was reflected in “Minds and Hearts: Poodles: US Visions of Israeli Soldiers and especially the rationalist tradition that Rethinking the ‘Division of Labor’ between the Cold War Liberal Consensus, 1958–79” in includes Maimonides, Spinoza, and Cohen. Jewish Studies and Hillel on Campus,” a Gender and History 26 (3). Recent publications include “Monotheism at post he wrote for Learning about Learning, a Bay: The Gods of Maimonides and Spinoza” blog of the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Marcus Moseley, associate professor of in Spinoza and Medieval Jewish Philosophy Center for Studies in Jewish Education at German, specializes in modern Hebrew and (Cambridge University Press, 2014), “A Plea Brandeis University. Yiddish literature in equal measure. He is the for Transcendence” in Jewish Philosophy for author of the first comprehensive history of the Twenty-First Century (Brill, 2014), and Laurie Zoloth is a professor of religious Jewish autobiography, Being for Myself Alone: “Maimonides and the Idea of a Deflationary studies at the Weinberg College of Arts Origins of Jewish Autobiography (Stanford Messiah” in Rethinking the Messianic Idea in and Sciences and of bioethics and medical University Press, 2006). Judaism (Indiana University Press, 2015). humanities at the Feinberg School of Medicine. She is a Charles Deering Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern, Crown David Shyovitz, assistant professor of McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence Family Professor of Jewish Studies and history, studies the intellectual and cultural and recipient of numerous teaching awards. professor of Jewish history, focuses on history of the Jews of medieval Europe, with She has authored or edited five books, early modern and modern Jewish history a particular emphasis on Jewish-Christian including (with Elliot Dorff) Jews and Genes: with a special emphasis on eastern Europe. relations. His first book, The World Made The Genetic Future in Jewish Thought (Jewish His 2014 book The Golden Age Shtetl: A Flesh: Nature and the Body in Medieval Publication Society, 2015). In 2014 she was New History of Jewish Life in East Europe Ashkenazic Culture, will be published by the elected to life membership at Clare Hall, (Princeton University Press), which was University of Pennsylvania Press. In 2014–15 University of Cambridge. released in paperback this year, won the he was a Yad Hanadiv Visiting Fellow in Jewish Book Council’s 2014 Jewish Book Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University of Award for history (see page 5) and received Jerusalem and delivered invited lectures

99616.indd 9 11/25/15 9:14 AM UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION

A brotherly approach to Talmud study

It is generally thought that the Talmud is course together was a new way of sharing,”

best studied with a havruta• [partner]. For Iszy said. “Material from the course would Iszy, Aitan, and Yadid Hirschtritt Licht, spill into out-of-class interactions. At meals make that two partners. The three brothers with friends or our parents, we shared in took Professor Barry Wimpfheimer’s Read- conversations and jokes about false wit- ing the Talmud seminar together during nesses, rabbinic scholars, and the phrase spring quarter. quid pro quo.”

Majors in different subjects—Iszy ’15 in “We spent a lot of time discussing the political science, Aitan ’17 in Spanish content outside of class,” Yadid agreed. “We and economics, and Yadid ’18 in radio/ would often joke around about some of the television/film—they realized that Iszy’s more ridiculous premises in the Talmudic final quarter of college would likely be their text, like the one where the possibility of last chance to take a course together. superhuman vision or flying must be ruled out in a legal decision.” “We thought about how much fun it would be to take a course as a ‘brothers class,’” Iszy and Yadid took to studying at Iszy’s Iszy said. And since they all “relished [their] apartment on mornings before class, with How is Talmud study Jewish education,” he said, some aspect of Iszy preparing breakfast. Aitan, usually different in university than Judaism seemed to be the logical subject. inclined to study alone, embraced more in Jewish day school? The Talmud course built on their studies togetherness as the quarter progressed. at Chicagoland Jewish High School in For three straight days he and Iszy worked Barry Wimpfheimer allows that it was Deerfield and the Jewish day schools they alongside one another on their final papers, unusual to have three siblings in his Tal- attended in New Jersey and (after the fami- staying in the library until 2 in the morning. mud course. What the associate professor ly’s move to suburban Chicago in 2006) “While our topics were different—his paper of religious studies and law and director in Illinois. focused on the treatment of Jewish sects of the Crown Family Center for Jewish in the Talmud and I focused on the place and Israel Studies finds more interesting, It wasn’t surprising that the brothers of Jesus in rabbinic literature—we would though, is to compare how students study attended the same university. When Iszy pause to check up on one another, bounce the Talmud in Jewish day school with how made his choice, he wanted to stay near ideas off each other, present our progress to he teaches it in a university setting. home in Northbrook. For Aitan, North- one another, and eat!” Aitan said. western was the “natural choice”: “Iszy “The course assumes that most students was there already. I thought it would have Aitan even admitted to some sibling com- received some background in reading been strange to go to any other school.” By petitiveness: “It made me nervous if my the Talmud within a Jewish learning the time Yadid made his decision, it was brothers participated in class discussions context,” said Wimpfheimer. “I’ve long almost a foregone conclusion: “I immedi- and I did not; I felt like I was lagging behind been interested in the differences between ately would have my two best friends on them. I drove myself to participate actively how the Talmud is studied in confessional campus.” Because his desired major isn’t and to work carefully on assignments not settings in the Jewish community and as common as those of his brothers, it was just for my grade but to demonstrate my how it is studied as an academic subject lucky for Yadid that Northwestern offers a academic potential to my brothers.” in universities.” well-regarded film program. There was no need for concern; all three Iszy Licht believes he and his brothers were Despite their togetherness, Talmud was Lichts did extremely well in the course. excellent subjects for Wimpfheimer’s com- their first shared course. As he prepared for Commencement, Iszy, parative study because “we had the same who’s now pursuing a career in public high school curriculum.” “We’ve always enjoyed talking with one policy research, said that his last quarter of another about national news, but taking a college was his best because of how much he was around his brothers.

99616.indd 10 11/25/15 9:14 AM Board of Trustees rejects Wimpfheimer’s class, however, pre- student BDS resolution sented the Talmud “not only as a book of law but also as a text that docu- On February 10, 2015, the student group ments the many ways in which Jews NU Divest introduced a resolution before have engaged with their faith and life- Northwestern’s Associated Student style for millennia,” Yadid said. Also, Government Senate asking the University Wimpfheimer introduced modern to instruct its investment office to divest Talmudic scholarship. “That Talmu- from stock holdings in six corporations— dic study is a field within academia Boeing, Caterpillar, Elbit Systems, G4S, is something we’d never discussed at Hewlett-Packard, and Lockheed Martin— CJHS,” Yadid said. “At Northwestern that allegedly violate Palestinians’ human we saw how the Talmud is a dynamic rights. Eight days later the ASG Senate document that changed with different held a public forum that was attended by Brothers Yadid, Iszy, and Aitan Licht redactors and varying manuscripts, 400 people and streamed online. each representing unique perspectives on the text and the relation between The deliberations consisted of alternating “At Chicagoland Jewish High School (CJHS),” halacha [law] and Judaism.” speeches for and against the resolution. Yadid explained, “we would study a certain Those promoting the resolution framed sugiya [section] of Talmud in depth, working The class also gave Aitan a new appre- the issue as a matter of human rights and in havruta [pairs] to translate the original • ciation of the Talmud’s role over time connected the plight of Palestinians with Hebrew/Aramaic text, after which we would and continued relevance. that of underprivileged minorities more review the text as a class. Often we would broadly. Those opposing the resolution relate the topics to our own lives and our “This course helped us to realize that positioned themselves as advocating for own Judaism. For instance, following my ‘ancient’ and ‘outdated’ are not syn- peace and a two-state solution; they also senior class trip to Israel, we studied texts onymous,” he said. “The Talmud con- noted the resolution’s connection with the relating to the land, its holiness, and the tinues to act as the foremost basis for broader boycotts/divestment/sanctions importance of aliyah [visiting or settling modern Jewish practice. As we studied (BDS) movement, which includes some in Israel], and we talked in class about our the subtleties surrounding the com- extremist voices that encroach on the unique relationship with Israel. position, history, and rhetoric of the boundary between anti-Israel speech and Talmud in a rigorous academic setting, anti-Semitism. The NU Divest campaign, “I was surprised at how different Talmud we gained a new mode of grasping the which promoted the resolution, was a study was at Northwestern,” Yadid contin- text that underlies current Jewish life.” project of Students for Justice in Palestine ued. “We covered much more material at Northwestern. Pro-Israel students came and spent much more time exploring the Yadid has concluded that the differ- together under the banner of the North- historical contexts of the Talmud—its redac- ent approaches of high school and western Coalition for Peace. tion, its manuscripts, its overall develop- university Talmud study are equally ment through time. Before, I believed that important: “The religious, personal After five hours of discussion the resolu- the Talmud functioned to document the engagement with the text that we tion passed, 24 to 22, with three absten- laws and discussion of the rabbis and employed at CJHS is as vital as the crit- tions. The resolution is not binding on the was completed at a concrete date years in ical, analytic study of the Talmud that University but does reflect the sympathies the past.” was introduced at Northwestern.” of some Northwestern undergraduates. At its June meeting the University’s Board of Trustees’ Investments Committee con- sidered the student government resolution and rejected it. Northwestern is not changing its investment policy.

99616.indd 11 11/25/15 9:14 AM UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION

The Public Health and Society in Israel program: Reﬂections on study abroad

In spring quarter 2015, six Northwestern undergraduates embarked on a special journey into the multifaceted cultural and historical setting of Israel. Through Northwestern’s Interna- Jing Lee ’17 tional Program Development’s (IPD’s) Public Health and Society in Israel program, they were Majors: social policy, economics introduced to the unique, complex medical and cultural landscapes of Israel, both through Minor: global health studies classwork at the top-tier Tel Aviv University and hands-on experiences and site visits throughout the country. Being in Israel challenged me a lot personally“ and helped me to identify The classes focused on health in an Israeli context, from understanding the role of public where my strengths and weaknesses lie. health in managing disaster situations to servicing the speciﬁc health needs of Israel’s Israeli culture and Israelis’ perspectives diverse ethnic and religious communities. In addition, the program aimed to provide the on various issues were very refreshing and eye-opening for me; I think I’ve students with a greater understanding of the history on which the Israeli state and Israeli developed a much more critical mindset and Palestinian identities were founded. as a result and am now much more will- Elie Rekhess, Crown Visiting Professor in Israel Studies, associate director for Israel studies, ing to participate in certain situations that, prior to study abroad, I would have and professor of history, served as director of the program and taught one of the courses. been more likely to avoid.”

The students had many opportunities to experience and participate in the daily life of Israel, “Even though it wasn’t always easy or seeing firsthand how history and identity were and still are being built. They visited histor- pleasant, I think I’ve come out of it much ical cities and sites like Jaffa and Mount Masada, explored Arab and Bedouin communities, more enlightened about myself and the went shopping in local souks, learned to read Hebrew and Arabic, and participated in an world around me.” emergency disaster-response drill. “There is no other place where religion, Four of the participants reflect on their Israel experiences here. For more reflections, see the politics, economics, public health, and “NU in Israel” page (http://sites.northwestern.edu/ipd-israel) on IPD’s website. so many other seemingly disparate facets of society are so closely intertwined. Even though I left with more questions than I came with, my experience in Israel has given me a much more informed perspective on the conflict in the Middle East and changed the way I think about many issues back home and in my own community.”

99616.indd 12 11/25/15 9:15 AM Ariella Hoffman- Peterson ’16 Majors: science in human culture, anthropology

The public health aspect has been “vital to my decision that the ﬁeld of public health is where I want to begin my career, because now I have an understanding of

what topics within the ﬁeld intrigue me. I also feel I made connections I can foster Alli Divine ’16 and capitalize on in the future.” Majors: international studies,

political science “I have been to Israel a few times before, but I felt like I had new and different I really loved living in Tel Aviv experiences on this trip. It was a unique but and“ having the freedom to explore balanced perspective of Israel.” the really accessible city.”

Jessica Hoffen ’17 Major: psychology Minor: global health studies

Getting to study public health in a “region with all the complexities and con- ﬂict of a place like Israel has meant that we learned a lot more about culture and psychology and how political situations impact the lives of individuals than we could have learned anywhere else. People in Israel are always willing to talk, which added to the richness of the program; just listening to the cab driver was an interesting sociological message. Additionally, the country’s size made it really easy to see lots of places. We were able to travel around and see a detailed picture of the country.”

“There is a great deal of tragedy in this region, and you feel it everywhere you go—from the ‘live in the moment’ way Israelis interact to the memorials and the damaged buildings. However, the vitality of the society is also noteworthy, and because of this I was able to learn in three months more than I ever have about the impact of conﬂict and the psychology of perseverance. This place is unlike any other in the sheer amount of history that exists in every tree and every building, and in the willingness with which people will discuss this history with visitors. The experiences I had in this region will likely continue to impact my interactions with the world for the remainder of my life.”

99616.indd 13 11/25/15 9:15 AM Acclimating to life in Israel: Notes from an alum

Tamar Kane, a Jewish studies minor, graduated from the School of Education country sat glued to their screens, franti- cally scanning each list of fallen soldiers for and Social Policy in 2013 in human development and psychological services. familiar names. We attended their funerals, She has since moved to Israel and is currently serving as a ﬁtness instructor shocked and wracked with grief. Yet life in the Israeli army. We asked her to reﬂect on her time in Israel. continued, and so did the Israelis. I was amazed by their resilience and strength.

Has your Jewish studies training Could you share some of your On a lighter note, Israelis know how to eat been helpful in your acclimation to impressions of contemporary well! Shakshuka, fresh hummus, falafel, Israeli culture? Israeli society? tahini, olives, cheeses—food is a part of My Jewish studies training has certainly When I think of contemporary Israelis, everything! There is literally no event, helped me. My Hebrew level was already the concepts of lefargen and frayer stand no matter how small, devoid of plates of fairly high when I arrived here, which was out to me. Lefargen means to cheer some- Bamba and Bissli [snack food brands]. Food tremendously helpful in terms of commu- one on wholeheartedly, to fully praise them is very much part of their culture of com- nicating with people, feel- with no personal agenda what- munal sharing and doing things together. ing like I fit in, and finding soever. Israelis do not hesitate a good job in the army. to lefargen, even if they barely The whole country runs know you. A stranger on the on a Jewish schedule, from train won’t hesitate to ask Strair wins shops closing on Friday for your life story and will department award afternoon to all bakeries lefargen you without thought. selling jelly donuts before Along with this word comes to The 2015 Jill Stacey Harris Prize in Chanukah. I was already mind another, frayer. A frayer Jewish Studies has been awarded familiar with so many is basically someone people to Katherine Strair (economics ’15) aspects of Israeli society take advantage of. If you’re too for her essay “I. L. Peretz’s Socialist that acclimating was very nice, always volunteering for ‘Impression’ of the Shtetl.” Written natural. a task no one wants, you are a for Professor Marcus Moseley’s frayer. As a lone soldier I often Introduction to Yiddish Culture: Has anything surprised you about get called a frayer! “Why would you move Images of the Shtetl course, Strair’s life in Israel based on impressions from New York to this place?” Immediately essay examines Peretz’s Impressions you had before your move? followed by “Kol hakavod [bravo] for doing of a Journey through the Tomaszow I don’t know that I’d say there are things this; you’re amazing. Ein al haaretz [Noth- Region in the Year 1890, raising that surprised me based on previous ing tops Israel].” intriguing and important questions impressions I had. I was fairly well about Yiddish culture. The Jill Stacey acquainted with the country. Within the Israelis, if anything, are brutally honest. Harris Prize been awarded annually army, though, I have met people from all It is all about finding the balance between since 1991 for the best undergraduate strata of Israeli society. On previous visits I not being a frayer while being helpful, essay in Jewish studies. was not given this opportunity to become and learning to do your best while still so intimately involved with different Israe- lefargen-ing others! lis, especially young ones. Their experiences and upbringing have hardened some Another thing I’ve seen is that Israelis of them. have an uncanny ability to bounce back Jewish studies minors, from trauma. They live their daily lives as class of 2015 normally as possible, but they are always Jonathan Gordon aware of the possibility of conflict. During Nina Orwitz last summer’s Operation Protective Edge, Ethan Ritz I witnessed soldiers lose close friends, commanders, and loved ones. The entire

99616.indd 14 11/25/15 9:15 AM GRADUATE EDUCATION POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS

The Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, a partnership between the Crown Family Center, Tel Aviv University, and the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago, brings in two postdoctoral scholars each year as visiting assistant professors at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. The 2014–15 fellows were Yael Israel-Cohen and Shaul Mitelpunkt.

Yael Israel-Cohen submitted three papers for review in 2014–15. The ﬁrst looks at protective and risk factors associated with traumatic stress among Israeli adults during the 2014 Israel-Gaza war, and the second focuses on Israeli youth in Ash- kelon and the relationship between their well-being before the 2014 missile attacks and levels of traumatic stress three months after the attacks. The third paper focuses on the relationship New JD-PhD named between the Ashkelon students’ subjective well-being assistant professor and their academic achievement.

Congratulations to Alyssa Henning, She is also the lead researcher on a collaborative project who defended her dissertation, with Israel Sci-Tech School Network (ORT) and the “Experiments in Judaism: Jewish College of Management Academic Studies in Rishon Sources, Ethics, and Research with Lezion that focuses on aspects of Israeli adolescents’ Human Subjects,” and received her well-being, academic achievement, and traumatic JD-PhD in religious studies in stress after three years of exposure to missiles. summer 2015. She has accepted a position as visiting assistant profes- Israel-Cohen taught Contemporary Jewish Identity: A Comparative Perspec- sor in the Department of Religion at tive between Israel and the United States at Northwestern in 2014–15, as well as Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Women in Traditional Religious Movements: Israeli Orthodox Feminist Activism in a Comparative Perspective. She presented her research findings on traumatic University of Chicago, stress and well-being among Israeli adolescent and adult populations at three con- Northwestern hold second ferences and gave invited talks at Northwestern and in the community. joint seminar Shaul Mitelpunkt taught three classes at Northwestern in 2014–15: Israeli Jewish studies graduate students Military and Society in Comparative Perspective (seminar), Culture and Politics from the University of Chicago and in the History of US-Israeli Relations (lecture), and Film and Politics in Israeli Northwestern held the second annual History (seminar). Havruta,• “Ways of Knowing: The Bible in Jewish Thought,” on May 17, 2015, His article “The Tank Driver Who Ran with Poodles: at the University of Chicago. Graduate US Visions of Israeli Soldiers and the Cold War Liberal students from both institutions led Consensus, 1958–79” was published in November 2014 discussions on texts, and the Univer- in a special issue of Gender and History. He also com- sity of Chicago’s Paul Mendes-Flohr pleted his book manuscript “Liberals, Israel, and War: gave the keynote address. This event, The Cultural Politics of US-Israeli Relations and the which Northwestern hosted in 2014, Rediscovery of American Empire, 1958–1986,” currently has helped to create a closer relation- under review. ship between the two schools. In fall 2014 Mitelpunkt coordinated a panel of faculty from the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Northwestern on film and politics in Israeli history. He presented a paper there on the politics of Americanization in the 1960s Israeli film industry. At a Crown Family Center colloquium, he presented his work on American understand- ings of Israeli soldiers, and at a meeting of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations in Arlington, Virginia, he presented his paper “Operation Exodus and the battle for Cinematic Authorship in 1960s Israel.”

99616.indd 15 11/25/15 9:15 AM The Crown Family Center NONPROFIT for Jewish and Israel Studies ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE Northwestern University P A I D Crowe Hall 5-163 NORTHWESTERN 1860 Campus Drive UNIVERSITY Evanston, Illinois 60208

Coming soon! Consider a gift to Jewish and Next spring Northwestern University will Israel studies at Northwestern Please help enhance our programming and support offer the first-ever massive open online our students with a donation of any size. There are three course (MOOC) on the Talmud. The Talmud: ways to give: A Methodological Introduction is open to • Go to www.giving.northwestern.edu/nu/wcas, click on students of all backgrounds, regardless of “View additional gift designations,” and select Jewish expertise in Talmud study. Beginners will Studies Program from the drop-down menu.

find it an accessible entrée; those with more • Phone 800-222-5603 or 847-491-4591. experience will gain access to academic • Send your check, payable to Northwestern University, methods and historical information that will to Oﬀice of Alumni Relations and Development, supplement their study. The MOOC will be Northwestern University, 1201 Davis Street, Evanston, taught by Professor Barry Wimpfheimer. For Illinois 60208. Be sure to indicate that your donation is for the Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies. more information: coursera.org/northwestern.

99616.indd 1 11/25/15 9:11 AM