After a resounding defeat, France officially left the war and a new government, retaining some sovereignty over part of the country and settled in the city of Vichy put an end to the Republican regime and collaborated with the Nazi occupiers. As a result, the Jews were faced with a double persecution, led by the German occupier as well as by the Vichy regime. Marginalization and exclusion led to internment before deportation to the East and extermination. A propaganda war…

This book panel will focus on a new volume of work, When Jews Argue: Between the University and the Beit Midrash, by Professor and CJS Faculty Director Ethan Katz. Joining Professor Katz on the panel will be the book's co-editors Elisha Anscelovits (Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies) and Sergey Dolgopolski (University of Buffalo); as well as Professors Deena Aranoff (Graduate Theological Union), Duncan MacRae (UC Berkeley), and Masua Sagiv (UC Berkeley). As panelists will discuss, this book raises fundamental questions…

Settled in the mid-1970s by a small contingent of Hasidic families, Kiryas Joel is an American town with few parallels in Jewish history—but many precedents among religious communities in the United States. Professors Nomi M. Stolzenberg (USC, Gould School of Law) and David N. Myers (UCLA) will relate the story of how a group of pious, Yiddish-speaking Jews has become a thriving insular enclave and a powerful local government in suburban New York. Their co-authored book, American Shtetl: The Making…

Join us for a special screening of the historic silent film The City Without Jews accompanied live with original music composed and performed by klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals and silent film pianist Donald Sosin. The screening will be followed by a conversation with UC San Diego Professor Emerita Cynthia Walk and UC Berkeley Professor and CJS affiliate Philipp Lenhard. Wednesday, March 20, 2024 | 5:30pm 5:00 pm: Doors open, light refreshments available 5:30 pm: Program begins Based on the controversial…

In the middle of the twentieth century, good cameras became smaller and lighter, enabling street photographers to roam alleyways, ride elevated trains and subways, and stroll beaches in summertime to capture daily life with urgency and intimacy. Walkers in the City showcases the distinctive urban vision that working-class Jewish photographers produced with these new cameras on New York City's streets and in public spaces. Drawing on the experiences of and photographs by a generation of young Jewish photographers who belonged to the…

Join us for a bilingual reading featuring acclaimed French poet and translator Mireille Gansel and her English translator, poet Joan Seliger Sidney. Soul House (World Poetry, 2023) is Gansel's first book of poetry in English translation and her second book in English since her important contribution to Translation Studies, Translation as Transhumance (Feminist Press, 2017). The reading will be followed by a discussion with the author and translator. In her first book of poetry to appear in English, acclaimed French-Jewish…

There has long been debate and disagreement over whether anti-Zionism is antisemitic. In recent months, this debate has become particularly intense and often acrimonious. In an effort to tackle this contentious and timely question in a serious, scholarly, and nuanced manner, Professor Ethan Katz (UC Berkeley) and Professor Dov Waxman (UCLA) will engage in a two-part, public conversation: "Is Anti-Zionism Antisemitic?" Part 1. Anti-Zionism on Campus: Legitimate Protest or Dangerous Hate Speech? will take place Thursday, February 1st on the…