JEWISH HISTORY ONLINE: The Sephardic Diaspora

Join Gevarim to explore the Sephardic diaspora through
webinars provided by the Jewish Heritage Alliance.

This is a three-part series on Sephardic Judaism and the second and third sessions will be chosen from the Jewish Heritage Alliance

April 3 | Pioneers: Remembering the First Jews in America

Panelists featured on this program:
Professor Jane S. Gerber
Dr. Jonathan Sarna 
Andrée Aelion Brooks
Joseph Lovett

Moderator:
Daniela Weil

Questions? Contact Andrew Reamer.

Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87291652262
Meeting ID: 872 9165 2262
Dial in: 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kcLFuWVl6i

Past Lectures

January - March '22 | The Jewish Americans a PBS Miniseries
In six sessions over January through March, we'll watch and discuss the PBS miniseries The Jewish Americans, first broadcasted in 2008. 

January 9 & 23 | They Came to Stay; A World of Their Own
The opening program of The Jewish Americans begins the story in the 18th century when a small number of Jews came to America to become part of the emerging nation. Though they fought in the American Revolution, they were tolerated at best and were ready scapegoats, while the Civil War found Jewish Americans fighting on both sides of the struggle.

December 19 | The Last Million: Europe's Displaced Persons from World War to Cold War (David Nasaw)

December 5 | Family Affairs: East West Street and the Ratline (Phillippe Sands)

November 14 | Theodor Herzl: The Charismatic Leader (Derek Penslar)

October 31 | Jews and American Politics: Historical Ideals and Contemporary Realities, by Jonathan Sarna

Jewish leaders used to insist that there was no such thing as “Jewish politics” in the United States: it does not exist and should not exist. The historical record going all the way back to Abraham Lincoln belies that picture. By focusing on presidential elections from the Civil War to the present, we will see that “Jewish politics” has a long and significant history that has shaped both Jews and American politics for over 150 years. 

Focusing on presidential elections through history, Professor Jonathan Sarna explores the long and significant history of “Jewish politics” & the ways in which they have shaped both Jewish identity & American politics more broadly over the past 150 years.

October 3 | Immigration & Adaptation: Jewish Women of the Lower East Side,
with Annie Polland

 "Jewish Women of the World, Unite!" In 1908 a Yiddish newspaper summoned the Jewish immigrant women of New York's Lower East Side to unite—not to start a revolution but rather to observe the Sabbath. The Shabes Zhurnal, an effort led by Jewish rabbis and communal leaders, was chagrined at the blows immigration and adaptation had imposed on Jewish families and homed in on Jewish women as potential saviors. In this illustrated talk, drawing on cookbooks, memoirs, and advice columns, we'll look at the revolution of immigration and Americanization and how immigrant women creatively grappled with adaptation.

Dr. Annie Polland is the executive director of the American Jewish Historical Society, former vice president for programs and education at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, and co-author, with Daniel Soyer, of the award-winning Emerging Metropolis: New York Jews in the Age of Immigration.

October 17 | 'The Times They Were a-Changin’: Jewish Protest Singers of the 1960s, with Seth Rogovoy 

While they may have shed the Yiddish language, Jewish singers and songwriters perpetuated the tradition of songs of social justice in the counter cultural ferment of the 1960s. Musicians ranging from Bob Dylan to Phil Ochs to Janis Ian to Country Joe and the Fish wrote and sang songs that became anthems of the civil rights, antiwar, and women’s movements, among other expressions of political protest. 

YIDSTOCK artistic director Seth Rogovoy—the author of a book about Bob Dylan—explores how these Jewish artists addressed many of the same issues their Yiddish forebears tackled just a few decades earlier and how Jewish values seem to have informed their work.