Hebrew College Calendar of Public Events, Winter/Spring 2015

Winter/Spring 2015

Calendar of Public Events

Film • Lectures • Music • Theater

hebrewcollege.edu/tickets

Calendar of Public Events Winter/Spring 2015 BUYING AND RESERVING TICKETS Tickets to all events are general admission. Unless otherwise noted, they can be purchased online at hebrewcollege.edu/tickets or at the door (cash or check) beginning one hour prior to the start of the event. Registration is requested for free events to assist us with planning. Visit hebrewcollege.edu/tickets.

GETTING TO HEBREW COLLEGE Hebrew College is located in Newton Centre, Massachusetts, adjacent to Andover Newton Theological School. Campus is a short walk from the Newton Centre trolley stop on the Green Line (D branch—Riverside). For more information, visit hebrewcollege.edu/directions.

ABOUT HEBREW COLLEGE Founded in 1921, Hebrew College promotes excellence in Jewish learning and leadership within a pluralistic environment of open inquiry, intellectual rigor, personal engagement, and spiritual creativity. Its programs include graduate degrees and courses in Jewish studies, Jewish education, and leadership; community education for adult learners; and a supplemental Hebrew high school and middle school. For more information, visit www.hebrewcollege.edu.

ACCESSIBILITY ALL EVENTS ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. HEBREW COLLEGE IS ACCESSIBLE BY WHEELCHAIR.

Thursday, January 29 7:00 p.m.

Berenson Hall

1913: Seeds of Conflict—Film Screening and Discussion Most observers consider the Balfour Declaration and Mandate period of the 1920s as the origin of today’s IsraeliPalestinian conflict. Breaking new ground, 1913: Seeds of Conflict, a one-hour documentary directed by filmmaker Ben Loeterman, explores the divergent social forces growing in Palestine before World War I, when Arabs and Jews coexisted in harmony as Ottomans, each yearning for a land to call their own. Loeterman will lead a discussion and answer questions following the screening. $10.

Tuesday, February 3 7:00 p.m.

Wilson Chapel, Andover Newton Theological School

Third Annual BTI Choirfest Featuring musical performances by member groups of the Boston Theological Institute, including Kol Arev, the chamber choir of Hebrew College. Light refreshments will be served following the concert. No registration required. Free.

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Kol Arev, the Hebrew College choir, will perform ‘Ma Tovu’ by Israeli composer Yehezkel Braun. Cantor Louise Treitman will be a featured soloist.

Wednesday, February 4 5:30 p.m.

Raytheon Amphitheater, Egan Center Northeastern University

From left: Jennifer Howe Peace, Rabbi Or Rose, and Celene Ayat Ibrahim-Lizzio.

Our Neighbors’ Faiths: Stories of Interreligious Encounter and Transformation Rabbi Or Rose, director of the Center for Global Judaism at Hebrew College, and his colleagues from the Center for Inter-Religious and Communal Leadership Education, Jennifer Howe Peace and Celene Ayat Ibrahim-Lizzio, deliver the keynote panel presentation at Northeastern University’s annual observance of the United Nations’ World Interfaith Harmony Week. Prior to their talk, the trio will honored as the 2014–15 Northeastern University Interfaith Leadership Fellows for their innovative interreligious educational work. Free.

Tuesday, February 10 7:30 p.m.

Alumni Dining Hall

Religion and Race in the United States: Where Are We? Join us for a thought-provoking and heart-opening evening as we explore the intersection of religion and race in the United States with two distinguished speakers: the Rev. Ray Hammond, founder and pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Boston, and Mark Oppenheimer, New York Times columnist and the Corcoran Visiting Chair in Christian-Jewish Relations at Boston College. The panelists will discuss issues of civil rights, religious freedom, and the ongoing challenges we face in integrating these values into our society. The conversation will focus on the recent tragedies in Ferguson, Missouri, and elsewhere, and the role religious communities can play in creating a more just and compassionate nation. Moderated by Islamic Scholar-inResidence Celene Ayat Ibrahim-Lizzio. $10.

Rev. Ray Hammond

Mark Oppenheimer

Celene Ayat Ibrahim-Lizzio

Co-sponsored by the Center for Inter-Religious and Communal Leadership Education.

Thursday, February 26 7:30 p.m.

Berenson Hall

Kabbalah and Ecology: God’s Image in the More Than Human World Rabbi David Seidenberg discusses his groundbreaking new book that resets the conversation about ecology and the Abrahamic traditions. Kabbalah and Ecology challenges the anthropocentric reading of the Torah, showing that a radically different orientation to the more-than-human world of nature is not only possible, but that it also leads to a more accurate interpretation of scripture, rabbinic texts, Maimonides, and Kabbalah. Deeply grounded in traditional texts and fluent with the physical sciences, this book proposes not only a new understanding of God’s image, but also a new direction to restore religion—to its senses and to a more alive relationship with the more-than-human, with nature, and with divinity. Free.

Sunday, March 8 3:30 p.m.

Conference Center

Matzah Matters with Parenting Through a Jewish Lens Spend an afternoon with the Parenting Through a Jewish Lens community and discover how to engage your entire family in the holiday of Passover.

Discussions will be led by Rabbis Dan Liben (Temple Israel, Natick) and Jillian Cameron (director of Interfaith Family, Boston). Free babysitting and children’s activities included. Free if registered before March 6; $10 per family thereafter and at the door.

Tuesday, March 17 8:00 a.m.

Berenson Hall

Jewish Values and Leading a Billion-Dollar Company: A Conversation with Aron Ain Aron Ain, CEO of the multinational enterprise software company Kronos Inc., will serve as keynote speaker of Hebrew College’s inaugural CEO Breakfast Forum. His remarks will be of particular interest to executives in high-tech, biotech, real estate, retail, and other for-profit endeavors. A kosher breakfast buffet will be served. Seating is limited, so reserve your place early. Free.

Wednesday, March 18 7:00 p.m.

Berenson Hall

Jewish Difference and the Parish Priest: A FourteenthCentury German Guide to Christian-Jewish Coexistence Medieval European Jews were highly integrated into majority society and culture, but they were also partially marginalized.

With little warning, Jews living peacefully among Christian neighbors could suddenly find themselves the target of violence. In the aftermath of Plague-related violence against Jews in Southern Germany, a popular German guidebook for parish priests tried to put the brakes on anti-Jewish violence, outlining a path toward peaceful coexistence. How does the Deeana Klepper existence of such a work affect the way we understand the history of the Jewish experience in Europe? Deeana Klepper, associate professor of religion at Boston University, leads the discussion. Part of “Celebrating Twenty Years of Me’ah: Cutting-Edge Conversations,” a series of lectures marking two decades of Hebrew College’s signature adult-learning program. $10.

Monday, March 23 7:30 p.m.

Tichnor Conference Rooms 1 and 2

Bar Mitzvah: A History How did bar and bat mitzvah develop over centuries from an obscure legal ritual into a core component of Judaism? How did girls come to be included in a ceremony originally for boys only? When did rabbis and congregations begin to complain that parties had gotten too big and lavish? Michael Hilton, rabbi at Kol Chai Hatch End Jewish Community in London, discusses these and other questions from his new book, Bar Mitzvah: A History (University of Nebraska Press, 2014). Hilton will sign copies of the book following his talk. Free.

Wednesday, April 15 7:30 p.m.

Berenson Hall

A World Apart Inspired by hundreds of her parents’ love letters discovered after their deaths in 2010, Joyce Friedman explores her family’s parallel lives on both sides of the ocean during World War II. This heartwarming one-woman cabaret-theater performance, to take place on Holocaust Remembrance Day, features songs of the 1940s from America and Eastern Europe. Following the performance, Friedman will take questions from the audience. $10.

Sunday, April 19 3:00 p.m.

Berenson Hall

The Heart of the Matter: A Book Event With Rabbi Arthur Green Rabbi Arthur Green, Irving Brudnick Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Religion, discusses his newest book, The Heart of the Matter: Studies in Jewish Mysticism and Theology (The Jewish Publication Society, 2015), a collection of essays that brings together Green’s scholarly writings. Melila HellnerEshed, professor of Jewish mysticism at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, calls the work “a river of living waters connecting heart, mind, and spirit, flowing through past, present, and future.” Following his talk, Green will sign copies of the book. Free.

Thursday, April 23 7:00 p.m.

Berenson Hall

Muslims and Jews in France: History of a Conflict Maud Mandel, dean of the college and professor of history and Judaic studies at Brown University, presents her research on the conflict that has long shadowed Muslim-Jewish relations in France. Although anti-Semitic violence began capturing international attention in 2000, Muslim-Jewish tensions were, in fact, the subject of commentary much earlier in the century, as a diverse range of social actors began to fear that Middle Eastern conflict was coming to France.

Mandel will argue, however, that focusing solely on the Middle East in an effort to understand Muslim-Jewish politics in France misses key aspects of the story.

Part of “Celebrating Twenty Years of Me’ah: Cutting-Edge Conversations,” a series of lectures marking two decades of Hebrew College’s signature adult-learning program. $10.

Thursday, May 14 7:30 p.m.

Berenson Hall

Mendelssohn, the Nazis, and Me The School of Jewish Music presents a special showing of Mendelssohn, the Nazis, and Me, a documentary film by writer and director Sheila Hayman, a descendant of the famed nineteenth-century German composer. The film chronicles the Nazis’ attempt to erase the music of Felix Mendelssohn—a devout Christian who was born Jewish—from the history books, and of his decsendant’s struggle to stay alive during the Holocaust. Prior to the screeening, the Zamir Chorale of Boston and Hebrew College’s Lynn Torgove will perform excerpts of Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” oratorio. After the film’s showing, a panel discussion, moderated by Professor Joshua Jacobson, will focus on Mendelssohn’s musical and cultural legacies, as well as the Jewishness of Mendelssohn and his descendants. $10.

May 6, 2015

Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Meah hebrewcollege.edu/celebrate-2015