Events

All members of the Purdue University community and the public are cordially invited to attend events offered by the Jewish Studies Program.

Evening Events
Spring 2023
Tuesday, February 28, 2023 ~ University Hall Room 217 and on Zoom ~ 5:00pm-6:30 pm
"Nobody is going to break us": A History of Russian Agression in Ukraine.
Dr. Amber Nickell, GLHRC Gedalyah Engel Lecturer
http://glhrc.org/ 

Evening Events
Fall 2022
13th Annual Larry Axel Memorial Lecture in Religion
Monday, September 4 ~ RAWL 1062 ~ 6:30 p.m.
Eugene M. Avrutin, Professor of History, University of Illinois, “Racism in Modern Russia:  A Short History” 

Thursday, October 27 ~ SC 239 ~ 5:00 p.m.
Jan Lenicek (University of New South Wales), “Australia and the Holocaust:  An Intimate History”

Friday, November 11 ~ University 201 ~ 11:30
Phil Nord, Professor Emeritus at Princeton, "After the Deportation: Memory Battles in Postwar France"

Evening Events
Spring 2022
Noon Lecture and Discussion Series
Wednesday, February 23, 2022 ~ Virtual Zoom Lecture ~ 7:00pm
“In Praise of Secular Jewish American Lyric Commentary: Why Bob Dylan and Louise Glück are 21st Century Nobel Laureates,” 
Daniel Morris, Professor of English, Purdue University
https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/j/94283593257?pwd=T2FSRTNvNWJDWTRROVVQQUEySTVKQT09

41st Greater Lafayette Holocaust Remembrance Conference
Thursday, April 2, 2022 ~ Virtual Zoom Lecture ~ 7:00-8:30pm
"The Art Cured Me!"
Tibor Spitz, Survivor, Engineer, Artist
Registration: http://glhrc.org/     

Book Launch
Tuesday, April 19, 2022 ~ Virtual Event ~ 7:00pm
"Hope and Honor: Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust"
Rachel L. Einwohner, Professor of Sociology, Purdue University 
Registration: https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/j/4491198854

Youngstown - Purdue Jewish Studies Symposium
CONTACT: Meetings and Movements of Jewish People & Artifacts across Cold-War Boundaries
May 22-24, 2022
Location: Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH
Organizers: Rebekah Klein-Pejšová (Purdue) and Jacob Ari Labendz (YSU)
Sponsors: The Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies at YSU and The Jewish Studies Program at Purdue Univeristy
https://jewishstudies.ysu.edu/?page_id=733

Noon Series
Spring 2022                                                                                                                                                                                        Wednesday, April 13 ~ Beering 1254 ~ 12:30
Jesse Peterson, Visiting Instructor, Cornerstone Integrated Liberal Arts, Purdue University
"Was Qoheleth a Proto-Nietzschean? Comparative Reflections on Time, Agency, and Value"

Evening Events
Fall 2021
13th Annual Larry Axel Memorial Lecture in Religion CANCELLED
Monday, October 4 ~ RAWL 1057 ~ 7:00 p.m.
Eugene M. Avrutin, Professor of History, University of Illinois, “The Velizh Affair: Blood Libel in a Russian Town” 
Co-sponsored by the Purdue Jewish Studies and Religious Studies Programs

Noon Series
Fall 2021
Wednesday, September 22 ~ STEW 310 ~ 12:30
Sarah Epstein, First Year Engineering, Midshipman Naval ROTC,  Winner of the 2021 Edward Simon Essay Prize in Jewish Studies, “Jews and Judaism: Inside Out”

Evening Events
Spring 2020

Klatch Jewish Arts Series Presentation CANCELLED
Monday, March 30 ~ RAWL 1062 ~ 7:00 p.m.
Jessie Auritt, filmmaker, Austin, Texas, Supergirl (2017)

Special Events
Spring 2020

39th Greater Lafayette Holocaust Remembrance Conference CANCELLED
April 17-23, 2020
http://glhrc.org/

Noon Series
Spring 2020

Wednesday, February 12 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Thomas H. Brush, Professor of Management, Krannert School of Management, “A Surgeon’s View of WWII in Patton’s Third Army: The Story of John H. Brush, M.D.”

Wednesday, March 4 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Rabbi Michael Harvey, Temple Israel, West Lafayette, Indiana, "Why Keep Kosher?"

Evening Events
Fall 2019

12th Annual Larry Axel Memorial Lecture in Religion
Thursday, October 24 ~ RAWL 1057 ~ 7:30 p.m.
Gary A. Anderson, Department of Theology, University of Notre Dame, "Atonement in the Bible: The Notion and Its Relationship to Easter and the High Holy Days"
Co-sponsored by the Purdue Jewish Studies and Religious Studies Programs

Noon Series
Fall 2019

Wednesday, September 4 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Sarah Weaver, Winner of the 2019 Edward Simon Essay Prize in Jewish Studies, “Politics on the Periphery: Oscar Ewing and a Special Relationship with Israel”

Wednesday, October 16 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Stuart Robertson, Continuing Lecturer, Hebrew, School of Languages and Cultures, Purdue University, “Israel’s Third Historian: Josephus’ Revision of the History of Israel”  

Evening Events
Spring 2019

Klatch Jewish Arts Series Presentation
Monday, April 8 ~ Rawls Hall, Room 1062 ~ 7:00 p.m.
Nathan Abrams, Professor, Film Studies, Bangor University, Wales, UK, "Stanley Kubrick: New York Jewish Intellectual"
Co-sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program, Film and Video Studies, and the Department of English

Special Events
Spring 2019

38th Greater Lafayette Holocaust Remembrance Conference
April 6-11, 2019
http://glhrc.org/

Noon Series
Spring 2019

Wednesday, February 20 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Roy Holler, PhD Candidate, Comparative Literature Department, Borns Jewish Studies Program, Indiana University, Bloomington, "Multiple Identity Politics: Dahn Ben-Amotz and the Negotiation of Identity/Difference in Readings of Modern Hebrew Literature"

Wednesday, March 27 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Ephraim Fischbach, Professor of Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, "How I Became a Quasi-Professional Torah Reader"

Evening Events
Fall 2018

11th Annual Larry Axel Memorial Lecture in Religion
Monday, October 15 ~ RAWL 1062 ~ 8:00 p.m.
James Loeffler, Professor of History and Jewish Studies, University of Virginia, "Three Days in December: How Zionism, Human Rights, and Genocide Came Together and Fell Apart in 1948"
Co-sponsored by the Purdue Jewish Studies, Religious Studies, and Human Rights Programs

Special Events
Fall 2018

Human Rights Program at Purdue
Tuesday, September 18 ~ BRNG 1248 ~ 12:30
Amber Nickell, PhD Candidate, Department of History, Purdue University, "From Babi Yar to Bogdanovka:  Encounters with the Holocaust in Contemporary Ukraine"

Camp Tippecanoe Civil War Round Table Fall Lecture Series
Tuesday, October 9 ~ Nanotechnology Building, Room 1001 ~ 6:45 p.m.
Robert E. May, Professor Emeritus, Department of History, Purdue University, "Southern Jews, Cuba, and the Coming of the Civil War--Or, Assimilation and Southern History"

Noon Series
Fall 2018

Wednesday, September 5 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Paul Benhamou, Professor Emeritus of French, School of Languages and Cultures, Purdue University, "A la Recherche de mon Pays Perdu:  Memories of my experience in Algeria"

Wednesday, October 17 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Andrew Fahrenbach, Winner of the 2018 Edward Simon Essay Prize in Jewish Studies, “If I Were a NEPman: A Sholem Aleichem Film Adaptation in the Soviet 1920s”

Wednesday, November 14 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Thomas Busch, Retired Circuit Court Judge, Lafayette, Indiana, "From Prayer to Action:  The Alternative Philosophies of the Early Twentieth Century Which Brought One Jewish Family to America"  

Evening Events
Spring 2018

Klatch Jewish Arts Series Presentation
Monday, April 23 ~  PAO Hall, Room 1197 ~ 8:00 p.m.
Anna Shternshis, University of Toronto and Psoy Korolenko, Singer-songwriter, "Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II"

Special Events
Spring 2018

IU/Purdue Jewish Studies Graduate Student Workshop
Global and International Studies Building, Indiana University, Bloomington
Sunday, February 25, 2018

37th Greater Lafayette Holocaust Remembrance Conference
April 14-18, 2018
http://glhrc.org/

Noon Series
Spring 2018

Wednesday, February 14 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Lynn Parrish, PhD Student, Philosophy and Classical Literature, Purdue University, “Tempio Maggiore di Roma (The Great Synagogue of Rome): A Guided Tour”

Wednesday, March 21 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Daniel Morris, Professor, Department of English, Purdue University, “Jewish Memory, Jewish Museum, Jewish Modernist: On Jewish American Poet Kenneth Goldsmith’s Annotations for The ARCADES: Walter Benjamin and Contemporary Art”

Wednesday, April 18 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Lawrence Mykytiuk, Associate Professor, Library Science, Purdue University, "Is the Bible a Work of Fiction? The Historical Reality of Characters in the Bible"

Evening Events
Fall 2017

10th Annual Larry Axel Memorial Lecture in Religion
Tuesday, September 26 ~ Krannert Auditorium ~ 7:00 p.m.
Brad Gregory, Professor of History, University of Notre Dame, "Why the Reformation Matters, Whether We Like It or Not" 
Co-sponsored by the Purdue Jewish Studies and Religious Studies Programs

Noon Series
Fall 2017

Wednesday, September 13 ~ Beering Hall, Room B222 ~ 12:30
Elena Coda, Associate Professor, Italian, School of Languages and Cultures, Purdue University, "National Identity and World War I in Trieste"

Wednesday, October 18 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Alabi-Michael Akande, Winner of the 2017 Edward Simon Essay Prize in Jewish Studies, "Music in the Death Camps"

Wednesday, November 15 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Rachel Einwohner, Professor, Department of Sociology, Purdue University, “Hope and Honor: Explaining Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust”  

Evening Events
Spring 2017

Klatch Jewish Arts Series Presentation
Monday, April 3 ~ Krannert Auditorium ~ 8:00 p.m.
Ranen Omer-Sherman, JHFE Endowed Chair in Judaic Studies, University of Louisville, “The Crisis of the Individual and the Community in Kibbutz Narrative”

Special Events
Spring 2017

Victoria Saker Woeste, Research Professor, American Bar Foundation
"The Resurgence of Overt Racism in the Age of Trump: From Free Speech to Hate Speech"
Thursday, January 19, 6:00 p.m., Beering Hall, B268

IU/Purdue Jewish Studies Graduate Student Workshop
Purdue University's West Lafayette campus
Sunday, February 26, 2017, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

SLC Colloquium
Wednesday, March 8, 3:00 p.m., UNIV 203
Stuart Robertson, Continuing Lecturer, Hebrew, School of Languages and Cultures, Purdue University, “Israel’s Third Historian” 

CLA Faculty Development Center Presentations
Title:  “Hope and Honor: Explaining Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust”
Presenter:  Professor Rachel Einwohner
Wednesday, March 22 at 12:00 p.m.
Location:  NLSN 1215

36th Greater Lafayette Holocaust Remembrance Conference
April 23-24, 2017
http://glhrc.org/

Noon Series
Spring 2017

Wednesday, February 15 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Olga Lyanda-Geller, Continuing Lecturer, Russian, School of Languages and Cultures, Purdue University, "Who Am I?  Crypto-Jews and Identity in Russian Literature"

Wednesday, March 22 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Stuart Robertson, Continuing Lecturer, Hebrew, School of Languages and Cultures, Purdue University, "Did the Exodus Really Happen?"

Wednesday, April 19 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Susan Wegener, Graduate Student, Department of English, Purdue University, "Medicalized Antisemitism: Jewishness and Disability in Transatlantic Modernist Literature"

Evening Events
Fall 2016

9th Annual Larry Axel Memorial Lecture in Religion
Monday, September 26 ~ Krannert Auditorium ~ 8:00 p.m.
Tzvi Novick, Department of Theology, University of Notre Dame, "God in the Lab: Technical Expertise and Rabbinic Authority"
Co-sponsored by the Purdue Jewish Studies and Religious Studies Programs

Noon Series
Fall 2016

Wednesday, September 21 ~ Beering Hall, Room B222 ~ 12:30
Jules Janick, James Troop Distinguished Professor of Horticulture, Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University, "A Kabbalah Sephirothic Tree, the New Jerusalem, and the Voynich Codex:  Understanding a Bizarre 16th Century Manuscript of New Spain"

Wednesday, October 26 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30 
Arman Kavalekar, Winner of the 2016 Edward Simon Essay Prize in Jewish Studies, "Judaism Through the Eyes of Global Media"

Wednesday, November 16 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Hernán Matzkevich, Graduate Student, Spanish, School of Languages and Cultures, Purdue University, "Messianic Hope and Its Parody in Spanish Golden Age Theater"

Evening Events
Spring 2016

Klatch Jewish Arts Series Presentation
Monday, March 28 ~ Krannert Auditorium ~ 8:00 p.m.
Norman Moses Joseph, Technical Director, Walt Disney Animation Studios
"From Mumbai to Disney Animation:  A Personal Story of An Indian Jew's Journey to America and Animation"

Special Events
Spring 2016

35th Greater Lafayette Holocaust Remembrance Conference
April 10-13, 2016
Purdue University Campus

Noon Series
Spring 2016

Wednesday, February 10 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Amber Nickell, Graduate Student, Department of History, Purdue University, "The Holocaust in the Soviet Union"

Wednesday, March 23 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Joyce Field, Emerita JewishGen Vice President of Research and Data Acquisition, "Zachor: Jewish Genealogy as Discovery and Remembrance of a Lost World"

Wednesday, April 20 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Constanze Kolbe, Graduate Student, Department of History, Indiana University, "Topographies of Commerce: The Making of an Ionian Jewish Adriatic"

Evening Events
Fall 2015

8th Annual Larry Axel Memorial Lecture in Religion
Wednesday, September 30 ~ Stewart Center, Room 202 ~ 7:00 p.m.
Sigrun Haude, Associate Professor of History, University of Cincinnati, "Religion in Conflict:  From Martin Luther to the Thirty Years' War (1500-1650)"
Co-sponsored by the Purdue Jewish Studies and Religious Studies Programs

Special Events
Fall 2015

The Aquinas Educational Foundation Public Lecture
Victoria Saker Woeste, Research Professor, American Bar Foundation
"Henry Ford’s War on Jews and the Legal Battle Against Hate Speech"
Sunday, September 27, 3:00pm
St. Thomas Aquinas, the Catholic Center at Purdue, Siena Rooms A&B

MARS (Medieval and Renaissance Studies) Mondays
12:30-1:20 in BRNG 1284
Monday, October 26:  Daniel Frank (Jewish Studies, Philosophy) will present
"Meaning, Truth, & History:  Maimonides & Spinoza on the Interpretation of Scripture"

Noon Series
Fall 2015

Wednesday, September 30 ~ Stewart Center, Room 310 ~ 12:30
Ashley Purpura, Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Purdue University, "Problematic Discourse and Producing Orthodoxy:  'Jews' in Byzantine Christian Hagiography and Hymns"

Wednesday, October 21 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30 
Lukas Plank, Winner of the 2015 Edward Simon B'nai B'rith Barzillai Lodge No. 111 Prize in Jewish Studies, "Holocaust Denial"

Wednesday, November 11 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Marcus Smith, Graduate Student, Department of History, Purdue University, "The Jewish Community in Iraq: 1951 to Present"

Evening Events
Spring 2015

Center for the Environment and the Jewish Studies Program Special Seminar
Tuesday, March 3 ~ Stewart Center, Room 214AB ~ 7:30 p.m.
Professor Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University, "Will the Environment Survive a Renewed Middle East Peace Process?  A Blueprint for Progress"

Stover Lecture Series
Thursday, March 5 ~ Stewart Center, Fowler Hall ~ 7:00 p.m.
Tara Zahra, Professor of History, University of Chicago, "Exodus from the East:  Emigration from East Central Europe and the Making of the Free World"

Special Events
Spring 2015

34th Annual Holocaust Remembrance Conference
April 11-14, 2015
http://www.glhrc.org/

Noon Series
Spring 2015

Wednesday, February 18 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Aaron Hoffman, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Purdue University, "The Effectiveness of Israel's Use of Social Media to Publicize Its Counterterrorism Efforts"

Wednesday, March 11 ~ Beering Hall, Room 1222 ~ 12:30
Rabbi Levi Tiechtel, "Chabad:  Its History and Journey from White Russia, 1773 to West Lafayette, Indiana, 2014"

Wednesday, April 15 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Lynn Parrish, Graduate Student, Philosophy and Classical Literature, Purdue University, " 'In the Abundance of Thy Lovingkindness':  The Portuguese Synagogue of Amsterdam"

Evening Events
Fall 2014

7th Annual Larry Axel Memorial Lecture in Religion
Monday, October 20 ~ RAWL 1062 ~ 8:00 p.m.

Victoria Aarons, Professor of English, Trinity University
"The Shape of Memory:  Post-Holocaust Literary Representation"
Co-sponsored by the Purdue Jewish Studies and Religious Studies Programs

Film screening and lecture
Tuesday, November 11 ~ Program (films plus lecture) begins at 7:00 p.m. in Krannert G002
Gary Weissman, Associate Professor, English and Comparative Literature, University of Cincinnati
"Begin Again and Look Closely:  Narrating the Holocaust in the Films of Peter Thompson"
The talk will be preceded by a screening of two short films by Peter Thompson, Universal Citizen and Universal Hotel, before the lecture. 
Co-sponsored by the Purdue Film and Video Studies and Jewish Studies Programs and the School of Languages and Cultures

Noon Series
Fall 2014

Wednesday, September 17 ~ Beering Hall, Room B222 ~ 12:30
Andrew Fogel, Doctoral Student, Department of History, Purdue University, "Supermentsh:  Superman's Covert and Overt Jewish Origins"

Wednesday, October 22 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30 
Nicole Fourman, Winner of the 2014 Edward Simon B'nai B'rith Barzillai Lodge No. 111 Prize in Jewish Studies, "The Jewish Dietary Laws:  A Matter of Interpretation"

Wednesday, November 12 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Rebekah Klein-Pejšová, Jewish Studies Assistant Professor of History, Purdue University, "Between Refugees and the State:  Hungarian Jews and Jewish Refugee Policy in Wartime Austria-Hungary"

Evening Events
Spring 2014

Klatch Jewish Arts Series Presentation
Monday, March 31 ~ RAWL 1062 ~ 8:00 p.m.
Ruth Ellen Gruber, Award-winning American writer, photographer, editor, and independent scholar
"Holocaust Legacy:  Empty Spaces, Fading First-Hand Memories, New Jewish Realities"
 
Jewish Film Series (organized by Alon Kantor; akantor@purdue.edu)
Spring 2014

1) Tue Jan. 28, 2014
6:00p - 9:00p FRNY G140
La genèse (1999) (Genesis) Cheick Oumar Sissoko
Country: France, Mali
Running time: 102 minutes

2) Tue 02/11, 2014
6:00p - 9:00p BRNG 2290
The Golem (1920) (The Golem: How He Came Into the World / Der Golem,
Wie er in die Welt Kam) Paul Wegener, Carl Boese
Country: Weimar Republic
Running time: 85 minutes

3) Tue 03/04, 2014
6:00p - 9:00p BRNG 2290
Green Fields (Grine Felder) (1937) Edgar G. Ulmer and Jacob Ben-Ami
Running time: 97 minutes

4) Tue 04/01, 2014
6:00p - 9:00p BRNG 2290
Jacob the Liar (Jakob, der Lügner) (1976) Frank Beyer
Country: German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia
Running time: 100 minutes

5) Tue 04/15, 2014
6:00p - 9:00p BRNG 2290
Bruriah (2008) Avraham Kushnir
Country: Israel
Running time: 89 minutes

Special Events
Spring 2014

The 14th Annual Graduate Student Symposium
"Merging Borders:  Language, Literature and Communication in Cross-Cultural Contexts"
Keynote speakers:  Dr. Dov-Ber Kerler, Indiana University and Dr. Karen Thornber, Harvard University
March 7-8, 2014
School of Languages and Cultures, Purdue University
Program coming soon!

The 33rd Annual Holocaust Remembrance Conference
"Hidden Within"
April 6-8, 2014
All events will be held at Purdue University

Social Science Mechanics:  A Look Under the Hood At Innovative Research Methods
Purdue University Associate Professor Rachel L. Einwohner presents:
"Ethical Considerations on the Use of Archived Testimonies in Holocaust Research:  Beyond the IRB Exemption"
Wednesday, April 23 ~ BRNG 2243 ~ 12:00-1:30 p.m.
A Unique Approach to the presentation of methods.  Researchers will approach the presentation as a storyline:  from beginning to publication.
Series sponsorship:  Political Science Graduate Student Association (PSGSA)

Noon Series Lectures
Spring 2014

Thursday, February 6 ~ Stewart Center, Room 318 ~ 12:30
Harry Targ, Professor, Department of Political Science, Purdue University, "Jewish Influences on Labor and Other Progressive Movements in 20th Century America:  Chicago Examples"

Wednesday, March 5 ~ Stewart Center, Room 318 ~ 12:30
Stuart Robertson, Continuing Lecturer, Biblical Hebrew, School of Languages and Cultures, Purdue University, "The Hebrew Bible in Church and Synagogue"

Wednesday, April 9 ~ Stewart Center, Room 318 ~ 12:30
Deena Linett, Professor Emerita, Department of English, Montclair State University, "Seder," a Fiction: Reading by Professor Deena Linett

Evening Events
Fall 2013

Klatch Jewish Arts Series Presentation
Monday, October 28 ~ Krannert Auditorium ~ 8:00 p.m.
Daniel Asia, Composer and Professor of Music, University of Arizona
"Breath in a Ram's Horn:  The Jewish Spirit in Classical Music"

6th Annual Larry Axel Memorial Lecture in Religion
Thursday, November 7 ~ STEW 214ABC ~ 7:00-8:00 p.m.
Wendy Furman-Adams, Professor of English, Whittier College
"Visualizing Paradise: Artists Representing Eden Before and After Milton's Paradise Lost"
Co-sponsored by the Purdue Jewish Studies and Religious Studies Programs

Special Events
Fall 2013

Illuminations Lecture Series 
Philosophy and Literature Program
Thursday, September 26 ~ BRNG 1230 ~ 4:30-6:00 p.m.
Daniel Morris, Professor, Department of English, Purdue University
“Pedagogical Personae:  On Two Approaches to Literature and Criticism”

Consul General of Israel to the Midwest
Tuesday, November 19 ~ STEW 214 ~ 12:00 noon
Consul General Roey Gilad, "A View of the Middle East from Jerusalem"
Co-sponsored by the Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council, Purdue Hillel, Purdue Jewish Studies Program, and Temple Israel

Noon Series Lectures
Fall 2013

Wednesday, October 2 ~ Stewart Center, Room 202 ~ 12:30
Saul Lerner, Professor, Department of History and Political Science, Purdue University Calumet, "Creating a Master Race:  American Eugenics and Nazi Racial Policy"

Wednesday, November 6 ~ Stewart Center, Room 202 ~ 12:30
Peter Kern, Winner of the 2013 Edward Simon B'nai B'rith Barzillai Lodge No. 111 Prize in Jewish Studies, "Moses Hess:  His Influences and Influence"

Evening Events
Spring 2013

Klatch Jewish Arts Series Presentation
Monday, March 18 ~ Krannert Auditorium ~ 8:00 p.m.
Samantha Baskind, Art History, Cleveland State University
"Beatified But Not Canonized: Jewish American Artists and the Formation of the American Art Canon"

Special Events
Spring 2013

Thursday, February 14 ~ Krannert Auditorium ~ 4:00 p.m.
Michael Miller, Associate Professor, Department of History, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
“Jewish Beauty and Jewish Questions in Hungary, Poland and the Land of Israel”

Thursday, March 21 ~ STEW 310 ~ 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Pesach Roundtable: "Of Memory and Forgetting and the Passover Seder"
Participants:   Stella Setka, Daniel Frank, David Sanders, Sandor Goodhart, Rebekah Klein-Pejšová, and Rabbi Audrey Pollack

Thursday, April 4 ~ Fowler Hall ~ 6:00-7:00 p.m.
Anne Marie O'Connor (Washington Post), "The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer”
Reception from 5:00-6:00 in the Stewart Center Gallery

32nd Annual Greater Lafayette Holocaust Remembrance Conference
"From Living Memory to Historical Memory:  The Holocaust in Transition"
April 7-12, 2013

Noon Series Lectures
Spring 2013

Wednesday, February 6 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Samantha Richards, Winner of the 2012 Edward Simon B'nai B'rith Barzillai Lodge No. 111 Prize in Jewish Studies, "The First Political Movement:  Moses as a Political Leader, the Exodus as a Revolution, and the Constituting of a Nation"

Wednesday, February 27 ~ Stewart Center, Room 320 ~ 12:30
Warren Rosenberg, English Department, Wabash College, "Serious Men?:  Jewishness in the Films of Ethan and Joel Coen"

Wednesday, March 20 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Fritz Cohen, Professor Emeritus, School of Languages and Cultures, Purdue University, "History of the Jewish Community of Bisenz (Bzenec), Moravia"
Wednesday, April 10 ~ Stewart Center, Room 320 ~ 12:30
William Glenn Gray, Associate Professor, Department of History, Purdue University, "Germany, Israel, and Palestinian Terror in the 1970s: 'Black September' and its Aftermaths"

Evening Events
Fall 2012

5th Annual Larry Axel Memorial Lecture in Religion
Monday, October 22 ~ Krannert Auditorium ~ 8:00 p.m.
Kenneth Seeskin, Professor of Philosophy, Northwestern University
"Is Judaism Really Monotheistic?  A Maimonidean Inquiry"
Co-sponsored by the Purdue Jewish Studies and Religious Studies Programs and the DiversiKey Certificate Program/Diversity Resource Office

Special Events
Fall 2012

"Borges and the Sciences:  A Symposium on the Intersection of Literature, Mathematics, and Physics"
Wednesday, October 3
9:30 a.m. to noon and 1:30-4:00 p.m.
Stewart Center, Room 214 ABCD

"The Hebrew Bible's Judges and Milton's Samson's Agonistes"
Wednesday, October 10
3:00 p.m.
Krannert Auditorium
Co-sponsored by the Jewish Studies and Religious Studies Programs

Noon Series Lectures
Fall 2012

Wednesday, September 5 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Charles Watkinson, Director, Purdue University Press, "What is the Future for Jewish Studies Publishing?"

Wednesday, October 24 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Philip Schlossberg, Director, Purdue Hillel, "The Ideology of the Birthright Israel Program"

Wednesday, November 14 ~ Stewart Center, Room 313 ~ 12:30
Ana Parra Sanchez, PhD Candidate, Spanish Literature, School of Languages and Cultures, Purdue University, "The Myth of Don Juan in the Sephardic Tradition"

Evening Events
Spring 2012

Klatch Jewish Arts Series Presentation
Edith Pearlman Q&A
Tuesday, March 27 ~ Stewart Center, Room 318 ~ 4:30 p.m. 

Tuesday, March 27 ~ Krannert Auditorium ~ 7:30 p.m.
Edith Pearlman, author and recipient of the 2011 PEN/Malamud Award for excellence in the art of short fiction, "Binocular Vision:  Reading with Award-Winning Fiction Writer Edith Pearlman"
Co-sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts, the Department of English, and the Creative Writing and Jewish Studies Programs at Purdue.

Special Events
Spring 2012

Documentary Film Screening and Discussion
"Who Killed Walter Benjamin?"
Wednesday, January 18 ~  BCHM 105 ~ 6:00 p.m.
Co-sponsored by the School of Languages and Cultures, the Department of Philosophy, and the Comparative Literature, Jewish Studies, and Philosophy & Literature Programs.

"Praying in Her Own Voice" (film followed by discussion)
Wednesday, February 29 ~ Krannert Auditorium ~ 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Co-sponsored by the Temple Israel Sisterhood and the Jewish Studies Program

50/50 Lectures 
Thursday, March 1 ~ SC G039 ~ 4:30 p.m.
Daniela Flesler, State University of New York, Stony Brook
"Performing the Past:  Jewish and Muslim Spain in the Twenty-First Century"
A PSRL (Purdue Studies in Romance Literatures) and Purdue University Press collaboration

Monday, March 5 ~ Krannert Auditorium ~ 8:00 p.m.
Michael Heller, American poet, essayist and critic
"Under the Sign of Benjamin"
Co-sponsored by the Department of English and the Comparative Literature and Jewish Studies Programs

Noon Series Lectures
Spring 2012

Wednesday, February 8 ~ Stewart Center, Room 320 ~ 12:30
Stacy Holden, Associate Professor, Department of History, Purdue University, "Muslim and Jewish Interaction in Moroccan Meat Markets, 1873-1912"

Wednesday, March 7 ~ BRNG 2275 ~ 12:30
Rebekah Klein-Pejšová, Jewish Studies Assistant Professor of History with HIST 390 students Rachel Levine and Jennifer McVeigh, Purdue University, "The Great Greater Lafayette Jewish Scavenger Hunt"

Wednesday, April 4 ~ Stewart Center, Room 320 ~ 12:30
Stuart Robertson, Continuing Lecturer, Biblical Hebrew, School of Languages and Cultures, Purdue University, "Josephus and Philo on the Ancient Israelite Tabernacle"

Special Events
Fall 2011

MARS Mondays
October 3 ~ BRNG 1284 ~ 12:30
Stuart Robertson, Continuing Lecturer, Hebrew and Religious Studies
"The Shadow of Genesis One in the Flood Story, or Genesis' Near Identical-Twin Accounts of the First and Second Beginnings of Life on Planet Earth"
Co-sponsored by the Purdue Jewish Studies and Medieval and Renaissance Studies Programs

4th Annual Larry Axel Memorial Lecture in Religion
Tuesday, October 4 ~ STEW 202 ~ 7:30 p.m.
Mark Noll, Professor of History, University of Notre Dame,
"The King James Bible and the U.S. Populace"
Co-sponsored by the Purdue Jewish Studies and Religious Studies Programs

31st Annual Greater Lafayette Holocaust Remembrance Conference
"Reflections on Kristallnacht"
Sunday, November 13 ~ Krannert Auditorium
Opening session begins at 2:00 p.m.

Noon Series Lectures
Fall 2011

Wednesday, September 7 ~ Stewart Center, Room 320 ~ 12:30
Xue Yu, Winner of the 2011 Edward Simon B'nai B'rith Barzillai Lodge No. 111 Prize in Jewish Studies, "Escape to the East:  The Shanghai Jewish Community During the Second World War"

Wednesday, October 26 ~ Stewart Center, Room 320 ~ 12:30
Stella Setka, Doctoral Student, Literary Studies, Department of English, Purdue University, "Trends in 21st-century Jewish American Fiction"

Wednesday, November 16 ~ Stewart Center, Room 318 ~ 12:30
Colleen Neary-Sundquist, Assistant Professor, School of Languages and Cultures, Purdue University, "Glückel of Hameln: A Jewish Autobiography"