2012-2013 Events Calendar

 

Spring 2013

Thursday, February 7 (snow date Feb. 12)

O Powerful, Western Star!

Book Talk by Peter Golden

7:00 PM @ The Golub Center, Jewish Federation of Northeastern NY
184 Washington Ave. Extension, Albany

Peter Golden discusses how American Jews became engaged in the campaign to rescue Soviet Jewry amidst the Cold War and the dramatic changes to American and Soviet culture. His new book, O Powerful Western Star!, a chronicle of this history, is based in part on his personal interviews with leaders such as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Mikhail Gorbachev. Peter Golden is an award-winning journalist and a UAlbany graduate.

 

Tuesday, February 26

Jewish Genealogy: How to Find Your Ancestors and their History

Lecture by Nolan Altman

7:00 pm @ the Sidney Albert Albany Jewish Community Center
340 Whitehall Rd., Albany

Jewish genealogist Nolan Altman will discuss how to rediscover your ancestors' history from the time your family arrived in the United States--and even back to the "old country"! He will outline resources for trying to find ancestors who did not migrate to the United States and who might have been lost during the Holocaust. Using actual historical documents and photos from his own family history as a guide, Altman will provide participants with a step-by-step guide to researching their own family tree.

This is an encore presentation due to its overwhelming popularity last year. The program is co-sponsored by the Jewish Historical Society of Northeastern New York.

 

Tuesday, March 5

"Frozen Time, Liquid Memories: 1942 – 2012”
A Film by Dragan Kujundzic

Film and discussion by filmmaker Dragan Kujundzic

7:00 pm @ The Golub Center, Jewish Federation of Northeastern NY

184 Washington Ave. Extension, Albany

This film commemorates the 70 years since the 2 round-ups of the Jews and Serbs in Novi Sad (today Serbia) in January 1942, and of the Jews in Paris in July 1942. The archival footage includes the last interview with the foremost historian of the Novi Sad Racija, Pavle Sosberger, filmed in June 2011, as well as footage from the 2012 commemoration of the Vel d'Hiv in Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) in Paris, the event introduced by Serge Klarsfeld. The deportation of children is further explored in the footage taken in the Musée Mémorial des Enfants du Vel d'Hiv (Memorial Museum of the Children of Vel d'Hiv) in Orleans, and interviews with a child Vel d´Hiv survivor. In Serbian and French, with subtitles in English.

Dragan Kujundzic is Professor of Germanic and Slavic Studies, Film and Media Studies and Jewish Studies at the University of Florida.

Co-sponsored by the UAlbany Center for Jewish Studies and the Holocaust Survivors and Friends Education Center.

Tuesday, March 12

"Old Haggadot for New Audiences: Art, Story-telling, and the Religious Imagination"

Presented by Prof. Marc Michael Epstein

7:00 PM @ UAlbany NanoFab South Auditorium, College of Nanoscale Science & Engineering (CNSE)

255 Fuller Road, Albany, NY 12203

Free parking is available onsite.

Jews over the centuries have invested huge amounts of time and money upon the creation of beautiful Passover Haggadot, and have lavished much attention on their decoration. The illustrations of the medieval haggadah—if we understand how to view them—speak volumes to the post-modern audience, in a language at once of great antiquity and of more contemporary political dilemmas. Marc Michael Epstein, Professor of Religion at Vassar College, leads us through this imagery.

This program is co-sponsored by the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) and the Art Department.

 

Monday, April 8

The Malka and Eitan Evan Center for Jewish Studies Yom haShoah Lecture:

When the Extraordinary Became Ordinary: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany

Lecture by Prof. Marion A. Kaplan

7:00 PM @ the UAlbany Performing Arts Center, Uptown Campus

How did ordinary Jews understand and endure Nazism? The lecture will chronicle the everyday tyranny Jews in Germany experienced and how they reacted. Using a wealth of primary sources, particularly memoirs, diaries, and letters, Kaplan discusses how the victims, especially women and families, tried to cope with Nazism and how it felt as the noose tightened around Jewish life.

Marion Kaplan is the Skirball Professor of Modern Jewish History at New York University. She is a three time National Jewish Book Award winner.

Fall 2012

Thursday, October 11

Mycale Sings John Zorn's Book of Angels

7:30pm @ the UAlbany Performing Arts Center

$15 general public / $12 faculty, staff & seniors / $10 students

Four dynamic singer/songwriters perform an a capella repertoire of Jewish art and litergical songs. This concert is co-sponsored by the UAlbany Performing Arts Center. For tickets call 518-442-3995 or visit the PAC Box Office. Learn more.

 

Thursday, October 25

The Wandering View: The Jewish Immigrant in World Cinema

Lecture presented by Lawrence Baron

7:00pm @ the William K. Sanford Public Library

San Diego State University Professor Lawrence Baron discusses his book The Wandering View: The Jewish Immigrant in World Cinema (2011), comparing the depictions of Jewish immigrants in several national cinemas. Includes clips from films such as The Jazz Singer, Hester Street, Sallah, and Little Jerusalem. Learn more.

 

Wednesday, November 14

Kristallnacht Interfaith Commemoration

Premiere One-Time Screening of "The Rescuers"

7:00pm @ Page Hall, UAlbany downtown campus

The Rescuers is the inspiring documentary about non-Jewish diplomats who helped save thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. The event will feature special guests, Stephanie Nyombayire, Joyce Mandell, Michael King and Sir Martin Gilbert. Learn more.

 

Thursday, November 29

The Tragedy of Leon Trotsky

Lecture by Joshua Rubenstein, author of "Leon Trotsky: A Revolutionary's Life"

7:00pm @ Milne Hall Room 200, UAlbany downtown Campus

A preeminent revolutionary figure, Leon Trotsky led an upheaval that helped to define the contours of 20th century politics. Rubenstein gives us an interpretation for the 21st century. Joshua Rubenstein is the author of Leon Trotsky: A Revolutionary's Life (2011), the Northeast Regional Director of Amnesty International USA, and an associate at Harvard's Davis Center for Russian & Eurasian Studies. The program is free and open to the public. Learn more.