2012 - 2013 Events

SEPT 9-10, 2012 | conference Judaism, Science & Medicine Group Annual Meeting Day 1: Evolution and Traditional Religions Day 2: The Obesity Epidemic: A Multi-Disciplinary Examination University Club | 425 East University Drive | Arizona State University, Tempe campus


SEPT 19, 2012 | film screening | Polish-Jewish Film Series The Moon is Jewish (Ksiezyc jest Zyd) 7 p.m. | Barrett, The Honors College | Cottonwood Hall, room 103 | Arizona State University, Tempe campus


OCT 18, 2012 | lecture Jewish Philosophy Crossing Boundaries Lecture Series Transgressing Boundaries: Jewish Philosophy in Crisis Aaron Hughes, Rochester University 4 p.m. | Lattie F. Coor Hall, room 4403 | Arizona State University, Tempe campus


OCT 22, 2012 | lecture Greening the Desert: Israel's Strategy to Combat Desertification Alon Tal, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research at Ben Gurion University of the Negev 7 p.m. | Desert Botanical Garden | 1201 North Galvin Parkway, Phoenix this event is made possible through a special grant from MASA


OCT 23, 2012 | lecture Sustainability and Equity in a Desert Environment: The Case of Israel 3 p.m. | Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University, Tempe campus this event is made possible through a special grant from MASA


OCT 31, 2012 | lecture The Wonder of Their Voices: The History and Meaning of Interviewing Holocaust Survivors Alan Rosen, Holocaust Scholar 4 p.m. | Lattie F. Coor Hall, room 4403 | Arizona State University, Tempe campus


NOV 1, 2012 | lecture Cities, Writing, and Readerships: Social History and Jewish Sectarianism in the Early Centuries of Islam Fred Astren, San Francisco State University 4 p.m. | Lattie F. Coor Hall, room 4403 | Arizona State University, Tempe campus


NOV 2, 2012 | lecture Karaite Judaism: A Jewish Alternative to Rabbis and the Talmud, from the Middle Ages to the Present Fred Astren, San Francisco State University 5:45 p.m. Kabbalat Shabbat Service | Beth El Congregation | 1118 West Glendale Avenue, Phoenix


NOV 3, 2012 | lecture Judaism and Islam: Roots, Relationships and Perceptions Fred Astren, San Francisco State University 9 a.m. services with Q&A afterward | Beth El Congregation | 1118 West Glendale Avenue, Phoenix


NOV 4, 2012 | community symposium On the Cutting Edge… Today's Jewish Woman 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. | Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus, Scottsdale pre-registration required | for additional information: 480-634-8050 or jewished@bjephoenix.org


NOV 8-9, 2012 | symposium The Revival of Jewish Studies in Poland and Eastern Europe This symposium will inaugurate the formal relationship between the Center for Jewish Studies, the Melikian Center: Russian, Eurasian & East-European Studies and the Department of Jewish Studies at Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland Arizona State University, Tempe campus | additional details to be announced


NOV 8, 2012 | lecture Memory and Countermemory: For an Open Future What Does It Mean to Inherit the Past? Migrant Archives of Holocaust Remembrance Michael Rothberg, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 7 p.m. | Arizona Jewish Historical Society, 122 East Culver Street, Phoenix additional information at http://ccics.asu.edu


NOV 14, 2012 | Valley Beit Midrash panel discussion Jews and Political Power presented by Valley Beit Midrash in cooperation with Arizona State University 7 p.m. | Congregation Or Chadash | registration fee: $18 | register now

CHAIR Hava Tirosh-Samuelson | Director of Jewish Studies

PANEL Jewish Influence on Politics and Policy Donald T. Critchlow | Barry M. Goldwater Chair of American Institutions at ASU

Jews and the Presidential Election Patrick Kenney | Dean of Social Sciences at ASU

Judaism and Democracy: The Problem of Power Amit Ron | Assistant Professor, Social and Behavioral Sciences at ASU


NOV 19 | film screening | Polish-Jewish Film Series The Miracle of Purim (Cud Purimowy) 7 p.m. | Barrett, The Honors College | Cottonwood Hall, room 103 | Arizona State University, Tempe campu download publicity flyer


JAN 30 | lecture The Debate on Slavery and the Decline of the Old Testament as a Political Text Eran Shalev, Haifa University 3:30 p.m. | Lattie F. Coor Hall, room 4401 | Arizona State University, Tempe campus download event flyer


FEB 7 | lecture Jewish Philosophy Crossing Boundaries Lecture Series Bioengineering God: Oskar Goldberg and German Science Bruce Rosenstock, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 4 p.m. | Lattie F. Coor Hall, room 4403 | Arizona State University, Tempe campus

The Arab Spring: between hopes & challengesFEB 11 | lecture The Arab Spring: between hopes & challenges Jonathan Fine 1:30 p.m. | West Hall room 135

download publicity flyer

Sponsored by the Center for Jewish Studies, Center for the Study of Religion & Conflict and School of Politics & Global Studies.


Love & Dance flyerFEB 20 | Jewish Studies Film Series screening film: Love& Dance followed by a discussion with Dr. Daniel Gilfillan & Dr. Anna Cichopek-Gajraj 7 p.m. | Memorial Union, Pima Auditorium Free admission. Open to all. No reservations required.

Chen is caught in the middle of the cultural conflict raging between his Russian-born mother and his Israeli father. One day he happens upon a ballroom dance class for young people and sees Natalie, a stunning young Russian girl with whom he immediately falls in love. His interest in Natalie results in his taking ballroom dancing classes and ultimately bridging the cultural divide in his own family—with the help of the Cha-cha-cha and the Tango. Meanwhile, Chen's teachers are former world champions from Russia who never quite fulfilled their potential and who find themselves battling their own demons while training their young students.


invitation postcard

FEB 25 | lecture Albert & Liese Eckstein Scholar-in-Residence Can Israel be Both a Democratic and Jewish State? Zvi Gitelman, University of Michigan 7 p.m. | Arizona Jewish Historical Society | 122 East Culver Street, Phoenix reserve your spot or call 480-727-5151

Does Israel treat its Arab minority as equal citizens? If not, can it claim to be a democracy? On the other hand, if there is no distinction between Jews and others, in what sense would Israel be a “Jewish” state? The Albert & Liese Eckstein Scholar-in-Residence program is made possible through an endowment established by the late Dr. Albert and Mrs. Liese Eckstein, with additional contributions from the Eckstein family and Friends of Jewish Studies. The program features annual lectures by experts—professors, authors and other—in the field of Jewish Studies.


APR 15 | Student Celebration

Jewish Studies Celebrates our Outstanding Students 7 p.m. | Memorial Union, room 202 (Alumni Lounge) reserve your spot or call 480-727-5151

Join us for a delicious dessert reception and evening of celebration, as we recognize the outstanding accomplishments of the 2011-2012 Jewish Studies award recipients and winners of the Sonia Minuskin Memorial Competition for the Best Undergraduate Research Paper Related to the Holocaust. Each of the award winners will give a brief presentation of their research and share their experiences funded by endowments generously established by Jewish Studies donors. event program


APR 17 | concert & lecture Cultivating the Repertoire: Music in the Garden featuring a performance by Quartet Sabaku tickets: $50 7 p.m. | Webster Auditorium Desert Botanical Garden | 1201 North Galvin Parkway, Phoenix

A program of lesser-known gems for string quartet by Aaron Copland, Hans Gal and Viktor Ullmann. While the name Copland is widely known among music-lovers, such is not the case for Gal and Ullmann. The reasons for this will be discussed by Robert Elias of The OREL Foundation. And then the music will speak for itself.

sponsored by the Desert Botanical Garden, The OREL Foundation and the Center for Jewish Studies


MAY 5 | community event East Valley Jewish Community Building Initiative (printable program)

Arizona State University, Tempe campus Memorial Union, Cochise (228)