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Fall 2023 Lectures & Events
All lectures and events are in-person and open to the public. For more information, contact Glenn Dynner, director of the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies at bennettcenter@fairfield.edu or (203) 254-4000, ext. 2066.
Bennett Center For Judaic Studies Video Playlist
Previous Lectures & Programs
Nicole Krauss
Diane Feigenson Lecture in Jewish Literature
“Here and There: The Parallel Worlds of Literature and Life”
Nicole Krauss, award winning novelist and short story writer, including, Great House (2010), Forest Dark (2017), and To Be A Man (2020)
Monday, October 25
7:30 p.m., free webinar
Gabriel Mancuso, PhD
Joan and Henry Katz Lecture in Judaic Studies
“‘The Other Dome’ – The Jews of Italian Renaissance Italy, Between Paradigms and Paradoxes”
Gabriel Mancuso, PhD, director, The Eugene Grant Research Program on Jewish History and Culture in Early Modern Europe at The Medici Archive Project, Florence, Italy
Wednesday, October 13
7:30 p.m., free webinar
Alicia Jo Rabins
Alicia Jo Rabins, composer, singer, violinist, poet, writer, and Torah teacher performs from Portland, Oregon, her indie-folk song cycle “Girls in Trouble”
Thursday, October 7
7:30 p.m. free virtual event
Lawrence R. Douglas, JD
Lecture marking the 75th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials
"A History of Holocaust Trials: From Nuremberg to Demjanjuk and Back Again."
Lawrence R. Douglas, JD, James J. Grosfeld Professor of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought, Amherst College; author, The Memory of Judgment: Making Law and History in the Trials of the Holocaust (2001),The Right Wrong Man: John Demjanjuk and the Last Great Nazi War Crimes Trials (2016)
Thursday, November 18
7:30 p.m., free webinar
LaTosha Brown
24th Jacoby-Lunin Humanitarian Lecture
“Black Voters Matter: Our Obligation to Democracy and Equality”
LaTosha Brown, co-Founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter Social activist, political strategist, and jazz singer. In collaboration with Open Visions Forum.
Tuesday, November 9
7:30 p.m., free webinar
Joshua Shanes, PhD
“A Growing Schism: Politics and Identity Among Orthodox and Non-Orthodox Jews”
Joshua Shanes, PhD, associate professor of Jewish Studies & director of the Center for Israel Studies, College of Charleston. Sponsored by the Judaic Studies Program in collaboration with the Bennett Center.
Tuesday, February 9
7:30 p.m.
Irvin Ungar
“Arthur Szyk & the Art of the Haggadah”
Irvin Ungar, rabbi and antiquarian book dealer specializing in historic Judaica. World’s foremost expert on the artist-activist, Arthur Szyk. Co-editor, The Szyk Haggadah, publisher and editor, Arthur Szyk: Soldier in Art (2017)
Wednesday, February 24
7:30 p.m.
Ann Millin, PhD
15th Annual Lecture in Jewish and Christian Engagement
“Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing: Jewish and Christian Women as Allies Against Racism”
Ann Millin, PhD, historian, former program coordinator at US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, works on issues of antisemitism and race. Co-sponsored with the Center for Catholic Studies.
Tuesday, March 16
7:30 p.m.
Bradley Hart, PhD
“Hitler’s American Friends: The Third Reich’s Supporters in the United States”
Bradley Hart, PhD, author and associate professor, California State University, Fresno. Sponsored by the Judaic Studies Program in collaboration with the Bennett Center.
Monday, March 29
7:30 p.m.
Uwe Westphal
Joan and Henry Katz Lecture in Judaic Studies
“The Rise and Destruction of the Jewish Fashion Industry, Berlin 1836 – 1939
Uwe Westphal, journalist and author, Fashion Metropolis Berlin (2019)
Tuesday, April 13
7:30 p.m.
David Axelrod
Bennett Lecture in Judaic Studies
“State of Play: The Political Future of the American Jewish Community”
David Axelrod, American political consultant and strategist; CNN senior political commentator former chief strategist and senior advisor to President Obama.
Monday, April 26
7:30 p.m.
Joseph A. Skloot, PhD
Adolph and Ruth Schnurmacher Scholar-in-Residence Lecture
“People of the (Printed/Digital) Book: Printing and the Birth of the Jewish Bookshelf”
Tuesday, September 29
7:30 p.m.
Judith Rosenbaum, PhD
Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment to the US Constitution
“Speaking in a Political Voice: Jews and the Fight for Women’s Suffrage”
Wednesday, October 14
7:30 p.m.
Rabbi David Sandmel, PhD
14th Annual Lecture in Jewish-Christian Engagement
“Loving the Jews: Philosemitism and Judaizing in Contemporary Christianity” - rescheduled from spring 2020
Thursday, October 22
7:30 p.m.
Cantor Azi Schwartz
Daniel Pearl World Music Days Concert
“Cantor Azi Schwartz in Concert: From Bimah to Broadway”
Wednesday, October 28
7:30 p.m.
Jonathan Petropoulos, PhD
Open VISIONS/espresso, in affiliation with the Bennett Center and the Judaic Studies Program
“Göring’s Man in Paris: The Story of a Nazi Art Plunderer and his World”
Tuesday, November 10
7:30 p.m.
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha
Jacoby-Lunin Humanitarian Lecture
Co-sponsored with Open VISIONS Forum
“Flint’s Fight for America’s Children”
Wednesday, November 18
8:00 p.m.
Michael R. Cohen, PhD
Adolph and Ruth Schnurmacher Lecture in Judaic Studies
“Cotton Capitalists: American Jewish Entrepreneurship in the Reconstruction Era”
Thursday, December 3
7:30 p.m.
- rescheduled from spring 2020
Joan and Henry Katz Lecture in Judaic Studies
“Dueling Loyalties: Honor, Citizenship, and Antisemitism in Nineteenth Century Germany”
David Meola, PhD, author and scholar, Bert & Fanny Meisler Chair in History and Jewish Studies, University of Southern Alabama
Wednesday, February 26
7:30 p.m.
Kelley Center Presentation Room
Diane Feigenson Lecture in Jewish Literature
“Guilt, Memory, and the Beta-God: Nathan Englander on kaddish.com”
Nathan Englander, retelling author whose works include For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank (Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2013) and kaddish.com (2019)
Thursday, March 5
7:30 p.m.
Oak Room - Barone Campus Center
Adolph and Ruth Schnurmacher Lecture in Judaic Studies (Rescheduled February 22, 2021)
“Cotton Capitalists: American Jewish Entrepreneurship in the Reconstruction Era”
Michael R. Cohen, PhD, author, Sizeler Professorship and chair of Dept. of Jewish Studies, Tulane University
Thursday, March 19
7:30 p.m.
Kelley Center Presentation Room
14th Annual Lecture in Jewish-Christian Engagement (Rescheduled October 22, 2020)
“Loving the Jews: Philosemitism and Judaizing in Contemporary Christianity”
Rabbi David Sandmel, PhD, Director of Interfaith Affairs, Anti-Defamation League (ADL), educator, scholar
Wednesday, April 1
7:30 p.m.
Dolan School of Business
Bennett Lecture in Judaic Studies (Rescheduled October 28, 2020)
“State of Play: The American Jewish Community and the Road to 2020”
David Axelrod, American political consultant and analyst; Chief Strategist for Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns and Senior Advisor to President Obama
Monday, April 20
7:30 p.m.
Kelley Theater, Quick Center
Tickets: $20, to be purchased from Quick Center Box Office
Annual Holocaust Remembrance Service (Canceled)
Featured speaker: Judith Altmann, Czech survivor of Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen Co-sponsored with Campus Ministry
Thursday, April 23
4:30 p.m.
Egan Chapel of St. Ignatius Loyola
2019-2020 Judaic Studies Scholar in Residence
"Eleven Months After Pittsburgh: What Did We Learn?"
Rabbi Danny Schiff, PhD, Foundation Scholar, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, author, Kelley Center founder of the Museum of Jewish Ideas
Wednesday, September 18
7:30 p.m.
Kelley Center Presentation Room
Daniel Pearl World Music Days Concert
“An Evening with Elana Arian: A Celebration in Story and Song”
Elana Arian, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and recording artist. Guest artist-in-residence in Jewish congregations and communities throughout the United States
Tuesday, October 22
7:30 p.m.
Kelley Center Presentation Room
“New Jerusalem Down Under: The Search for a Jewish Homeland in Australia”
Adam Rovner, PhD, author and assoc. professor of English and Jewish literature, University of Denver
Monday, October 28
7:30 p.m.
Conference Center at Fairfield University Dining Room
Co-sponsored with Fairfield University’s undergraduate Judaic Studies Program
Jacoby-Lunin Humanitarian Lecture
“Demanding Justice for Victims: From Cyber Crimes to Federal Court”
Carrie Goldberg, victims’ rights attorney, fights for victims of sexual assault, stalking and blackmail - online and off
Wednesday, November 13
8 p.m.
Quick Center for the Arts
Co-sponsored by the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies and Open VISIONS Forum
*Tickets required
Samuel and Bettie Roberts Lecture in Jewish Art
“Ghosts: An Artistic Meditation on the Holocaust and Anti-Semitism”
Robert Hirsch, artist and photographic historian, in conjunction with his exhibition on Jewish Children in France during the Shoah.
Wednesday, February 6
7:30 p.m.
Dolan School of Business Dining Room
Anne Nelson
“Suzanne's Children: How an Underground Network of Catholics, Protestants and Jews Defied the Nazis in Paris and Saved 500 Children from Auschwitz”
Author and Playwright, Professor at the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs in New York City. Author of “Red Orchestra”
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
5 p.m.
Wien Experimental Theatre, Quick Center for the Arts
2019 Bennett Lecture in Judaic Studies
“U.S. – Israel Relations during the Obama and Trump Administrations: An Inside Look”
Daniel Shapiro, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel (2011 – 2017), distinguished visiting fellow, Tel Aviv University’s Institute of National Security Studies
Tuesday, March 26
7:30 p.m.
Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts
13th Annual Lecture in Jewish and Christian Engagement
“Female Faith Leaders in Collaboration: Rabbis, Nuns, and Ministers for (nearly) 50 Years”
Rabbi Carole B. Balin, PhD; Auburn Seminary, professor emerita of history HUC-JIR
Response by Dr. Elena Procario-Foley, Iona College
Thursday, April 4
7:30 p.m.
Dolan School of Business Dining Room
Co-sponsored by the Center for Catholic Studies
26th Annual Holocaust Remembrance Service
Featured speaker: Betty Knoop, survivor of Westerbork & Bergen Belsen concentration camp
Wednesday, April 24
4:30 p.m.
Egan Chapel of St. Ignatius Loyola
Co-sponsored with Campus Ministry
Jacques Schwarz-Bart, jazz saxophonist and his quartet
Tuesday, October 2, 7:30 p.m.
Quick Center for the Arts, Wien Experimental Theatre
LIMITED SEATING. Reservations required.
“Looking for Bubbe: The Remembered and Forgotten Jewish World in Heritage Tourism”
Daniel J. Walkowitz, PhD, emeritus professor of history and of social & cultural analysis at New York University, author of a dozen books, including The Remembered and Forgotten Jewish World
Monday October 29, 7:30 p.m.
Dolan School of Business Dining Room
“Defending Human Dignities”
Khizr Khan, lawyer and activist, founder of a pro bono project to provide legal services for families of men and women serving in the military and a newly released memoir, An American Family.
Wednesday, November 14, 8 p.m.
Quick Center for the Arts, Kelley Theatre
Co-sponsored by the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies and Open Visions Forum.
Call Quick Center Box Office to purchase tickets.
“Is a Manuscript a Mirror? Reading Jewish History in Jewish Art”
Marc Michael Epstein, PhD, professor of religion and visual culture, director of Jewish studies, Vassar College, author of The Medieval Haggadah: Art, Narrative, and Religious Imagination
Monday, November 26, 7:30 p.m.
Dolan School of Business Dining Room
“Star Spangled Fascism: The Past and Present of American Political Extremism”
Monday, February 26, 7:30 p.m.
Dr. Richard Steigmann-Gall, Associate Professor of History, Kent State, author of The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919-1945
Dolan School of Business Dining Room
Co-sponsored with the Judaic Studies Program
Diane Feigenson Lecture in Jewish Literature
“Traveling to the Holy Land in Jewish Literature and Music”
Wednesday, March 21, 7:30 p.m.
Dr. Ken Frieden, B.G. Rudolph Professor of Judaic Studies, Syracuse University, author of Travels in Translation with musical performance on hammer dulcimer by Pete Rushefsky
Dolan School of Business Dining Room
Bennett Lecture in Judaic Studies
“Politics and Jewish Identity in Today’s America”
Tuesday, April 10, 7:30 p.m.
Chuck Todd, moderator of Meet the Press, host of MTP Daily on MSNBC, and Political Director for NBC News
Quick Center for the Arts, Kelley Theatre
Tickets: $15 to be purchased from Quick Center Box Office
Annual Holocaust Remembrance Service
Featured speaker: Esther Geizhals, survivor of Auschwitz & Bergen-Belsen
Thursday, April 12, 4:30 p.m.
Egan Chapel of St. Ignatius Loyola
Co-sponsored with Campus Ministry
Joan and Henry Katz Lecture in Judaic Studies
“Can We Laugh at God? Humor and Truth in Rabbinic Judaism”
Thursday, April 26, 7:30 p.m.
Dr. Christine Hayes, Robert F. and Patricia R. Weis Professor of Religious Studies in Classical Judaica, Yale University
Dolan School of Business Dining Room
Daniel Pearl World Music Days Program
Sunday, October 1, 4:00-6:30 p.m.
Film Screening, Q&A with David Broza, Israeli singer-songwriter and activist and Performance
SPOTLIGHT: DAVID BROZA, “East Jerusalem West Jerusalem”
Quick Center for the Arts
Tickets: $10 to be purchased from Quick Center Box Office, call (203) 254-4010.
Co-sponsored by the Bennett Center and the Federation for Jewish Philanthropy of Upper Fairfield County
Judaic Studies Scholar-in-Residence
Wednesday, October 18, 7:30 p.m.
“In Search of Abraham Joshua Heschel”
Rabbi Michael Marmur, PhD, Mandel Provost, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, author of Abraham Joshua Heschel and the Sources of Wonder
Dolan School of Business Dining Room
Annual Jewish-Christian Engagement Lecture
Wednesday, October 25, 7:30 p.m.
“Was Luther’s Jesus a Jew?”
Dr. Kirsi Stjerna, First Lutheran, Los Angeles/Southwest California Synod Professor of Lutheran History and Theology; Chair, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley. Co-sponsored by the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies and the Center for Catholic Studies.
Dolan School of Business Dining Room
Jacoby-Lunin Humanitarian Lecture
Wednesday, November 15, 8:00 p.m.
“A Voice of Conscience: Uncovering Mass Murder from the Holocaust to Today”
Fr. Patrick Desbois, Commission for Relations with Judaism of the French Bishops' Conference; founder of Yahad-In Unum, an organization dedicated to locating sites of mass graves of Jews killed by German “Death Squads” during WWII. Co-sponsored by the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies and Open VISIONS Forum.
Kelley Theatre, Quick Center for the Arts
Call Quick Center Box Office to Purchase Tickets
Adolph and Ruth Schnurmacher Lecture
Tuesday, November 28, 7:30 p.m.
“How American Jews Mobilized to Free Soviet Jewry: Lessons for Activism Today”
Dr. Shaul Kelner, Associate Professor of Sociology & Jewish Studies, Vanderbilt University, Fellow, Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Michigan (2016)
Dolan School of Business Dining Room
“Is the Movement to Boycott Israel Anti-Semitic?”
Dr. Gabriel Noah Brahm, co-editor, The Case Against Academic Boycotts of Israel and Assoc. Professor of English, Northern Michigan University
Monday, February 27, 7:30 p.m. Dolan School of Business Dining Room
Sponsored by Fairfield University’s Judaic Studies Program and the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies
The Samuel and Bettie Roberts Lecture in Jewish Art
“Blue Like Me: The Art of Siona Benjamin”
Painter Siona Benjamin, whose work reflects her background of being brought up Jewish in a predominately Hindu and Muslim India.
Wednesday, March 22, 7:30 p.m. Dolan School of Business Dining Room
Annual Jewish-Christian Engagement Event
“Annelies: A Choral Setting of the Diary of Anne Frank”
Performed by Soprano, Arianna Zukerman and the Mendelssohn Choir of Connecticut
Sunday, March 26, 3 p.m. Quick Center for the Arts, Kelley Theatre
Co-sponsored by the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies and the Center for Catholic Studies
Carl and Dorothy Bennett Lecture in Judaic Studies
“Flight for Life: Jewish Heroism and the Creation of the Israeli Air Force”
Nancy Spielberg, documentary film maker and producer of “Above and Beyond,” the story of Jewish airmen who smuggled planes out of the U.S. to fight in Israel’s War of Independence.
Tuesday, April 4, 7:30 p.m. Quick Center for the Arts, Kelley Theatre
Annual Holocaust Remembrance Service
Featured speaker: Hungarian Holocaust survivor, Betty Deutsch
Monday, April 24, 4:30 p.m. Egan Chapel
Judaic Studies Scholar-in-Residence
Monday, September 26, 7:30 p.m.
Dolan School of Business Dining Room
Daniel Pearl World Music Days Concert: Sephardic Songs and Stories with Dan Saks
Dan Saks, the driving force behind the Jewish indie rock band DeLeon, transforms ancient Sephardic folk songs into a sound both brand new and centuries old.
Thursday, October 6, 7:30 p.m.
Wien Experimental Theatre at the Quick Center for the Arts
The Hidden Poetry of the Five Books of Moses
Dr. Jason Gaines, Biblical scholar, associate faculty member, College of the Holy Cross and Fairfield University, and author of The Poetic Priestly Source.
Thursday, October 27, 7:30 p.m.
Dolan School of Business Dining Room
“Etty,” a one-woman play based on the diaries and letters of Etty Hillesum, a young Dutch Jewish woman who died in Auschwitz in 1943.
Adapted and performed by actress/playwright Susan Stein.
Tuesday, November 1, 7:30 p.m.
Wien Experimental Theatre at the Quick Center for the Arts
Jacoby-Lunin Humanitarian Lecture
Timothy P. Shriver, activist, author and Chairman of Special Olympics
Wednesday, November 16, 8:00 p.m.
Kelley Theatre, Quick Center for the Arts
Co-Sponsored with Open VISIONS Forum
Adolph and Ruth Schnurmacher Lecture in Judaic Studies
“Popular Anger or Planned Pogrom? What Really Happened During Kristallnacht 78 Years Ago”
Dr. Michael A. Meyer, Adolph S. Ochs Professor Emeritus, Hebrew-Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, historian, author.
Tuesday, November 29, 7:30 p.m.
Dolan School of Business Dining Room
"Where Harry Met Sally: The Jewish Deli in America"
Dr. Ted Merwin, Associate Professor of Religion and Judaic Studies, Dickinson College
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Funded in part by a gift from Shayle Robins
"Anti-Semitism in Europe Today"
David Harris, Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
"From Enemy To Brother: The Revolution in Catholic Teaching on the Jews"
Dr. John Connelly, Associate Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Co-sponsored with the Center for Catholic Studies
Judith Altmann, Guest Speaker, Czech Holocaust survivor of Bergen Belsen and Auschwitz
Monday, April 20, 2015
"Jewish Women and American Art"
Dr. Gail Levin, Professor of Art History, American Studies, and Women’s Studies
City University of New York
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
"Creativity in the Midst of Catastrophe: Jewish Youth in Nazi Europe"
Dr. Debórah Dwork, Rose Professor of Holocaust History; director of the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Clark University
Monday, October 6, 2014
"Yentl: From Yeshiva Boy to Syndrome"
Dr. Pamela S. Nadell, Patrick Clendenen Professor of Women's and Gender History; chair, Department of History, American University
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Daniel Pearl World Music Days Concert
Golem: A Klezmer rock band featuring Yiddish and Eastern European music with a contemporary edge
Monday, October 27, 2014
"A World without Jews: The Nazi Imagination from Persecution to Genocide"
Dr. Alon Confino, professor of history, University of Virginia and Ben-Gurion University, Israel
Monday, November 20, 2015
"I Believe in Zero: Learning from the World's Children"
Caryl M. Stern, president and CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF
Wednesday, November 19, 2015
Co-sponsored with Open VISIONS Forum
"Whose Heroes? Hollywood Portrayals of the Bible"
Dr. Adele Reinhartz, professor of classics and religious studies, University of Ottawa, Canada
Wednesday, December 3, 2015