The Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit’s SAJE (Seminars for Adult Jewish Enrichment) will host “Israel in the World,” a lecture series featuring scholars from the University of Michigan’s Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies, beginning at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays throughout February.
The event, co-hosted by the Jewish Federation’s FedEd, is free and open to the public and will take place at the JCC, 6600 W. Maple Road in West Bloomfield.
The program includes:
February 1 – Rachel Seelig of the University of Chicago will speak on “Israeli Berlin: Jewish Culture in the German Capital, Then and Now,” a look at the history, current situation and implications of Jewish immigration to the city.
February 8 – Liora Halperin of the University of Colorado-Boulder will discuss “Hebrew and Beyond: Language as a Window into the History of Israel.” This talk will consider the complexities of language in Israel, including the Hebrew University’s choice to break from longstanding policy and formally allow dissertations to be submitted in English; the politics of Arabic as a minority language; and the growth of the Russian-speaking population in Israel.
February 15 – Bryan Roby of the University of Manchester will speak on “Tracing the Roots of the Black-Israeli Alliance,” which will look at the history of relations between Sephardic Jews in Israel and African-Americans in the United States.
February 22 – Shachar Pinsker from the University of Michigan will speak on “A Silent Language? Yiddish in Israeli Literature and Culture,” which will consider Yiddish, Hebrew and Jewish self-expression in the new State of Israel.
All presentations will include light refreshments.
To register, please call (248) 432.5654.
