A Blog for Northeastern University Jewish Studies Faculty, Students, and Community
By Lori Hope Lefkovitz Image above: Italian Chanukah menorah (17th or 18th century) featuring Judith, in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Dawn of History At this season, when daylight hours are few and all around us people are displaying decorative lights—on homes, in windows, on evergreens—I like to imagine a time when the planet… Continue reading Secrets of the Sixth Candle
by Deborah Levisohn Stanhill. This week, Jews around the world celebrate the holiday of Sukkot. After the introspection of the High Holidays, we open ourselves once again to the world around us in joyous celebration of the fall harvest season. One of the commandments (mitzvah) of the holiday is to build, and metaphorically live in,… Continue reading Celebrating Sukkot in a pandemic
A Northeastern Professor Reflects on his Time Living in a Druze Town by William F.S. Miles. As recent protests in Jerusalem attest, no ethno-religious group has been as much disturbed by Israel’s new nationality law as the Druze. For sure, parliamentary ratification of a collective destiny for Israel’s Jewish citizens alone, and the concomitant elimination… Continue reading An Outside View Inside Israeli Druze Society
Photo from the 2019 Ruderman Lecture, Jessie Sigler left, Yael Sheinfeld right Gideon Klein Scholar Yael Sheinfeld '21 and Ruderman Scholar Jessie Sigler '20 Present about their Work Improving Public Knowledge of the Holocaust By Simon Rabinovitch. On September 24, Northeastern University's Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Committee held the first of its events rescheduled from… Continue reading Northeastern Students Build Tools to Remember and Teach about the Holocaust
By Simon Rabinovitch. Like many others, I was shocked to read on Saturday (August 15, 2020) that Ruth Gavison, one of Israel’s most prominent legal and constitutional scholars had passed away, at the age of 75. Ruth Gavison spent a long career as an esteemed professor on the Hebrew University’s law faculty (and remained Professor… Continue reading Ruth Gavison, in Memoriam
Painting (above) by Isaak Asknaziy, 1893. By Debra H. Mandel. The library has various media resources on Yiddish and Klezmer music, which thrived in Eastern Europe and America amongst Ashkenazi Jews during the 19th century through the mid-20th century. The genre was further shaped by American jazz. Klezmer musicians performed at life-cycle functions and took… Continue reading An Introduction to Yiddish and Klezmer Music through the Northeastern University Library
By Lori Hope Lefkovitz. Tish'a B’Av—the ninth day of the month of Av, which this year falls on July 30— at the height of summer’s dry heat, is a long day of fasting and national mourning for the Jewish people world-over, commemorating the fiery losses of the Temples in Jerusalem and later calamities of Jewish… Continue reading Tish’a B’Av
By Phil Brown. Pack a few trunks and valises, call the “hack” or load your car, and drive to the Catskills for a communal vacation. That’s what millions of Jews did for over a century, and many still do. They took their communities from major east coast cities and set them up for the summer… Continue reading Summer Vacation in the Catskills via the Catskills Institute Website
By Daniel P. Aldrich. Daniel Aldrich's understanding of resilience at the current moment is enriched by both his scholarly work and his deep knowledge of Jewish religious texts. In his day job, Prof. Aldrich directs Northeastern's Security and Resilience Studies Program, where he researches post-disaster recovery and countering violent extremism. Unbeknownst to some, however, Professor… Continue reading Finding Resilience, Finding Justice: A Jewish Perspective
The image above with the inscription from Deuteronomy, "Tsedek tsedek tirdof" (justice justice you will pursue) is being printed on t-shirts and sold to raise bail funds for arrested activists. The image was created by @maimonides_nutz and promoted on Twitter by the Jewish feminist website @hey_alma. By Laurel Leff. Professors often say that we learn… Continue reading What We Learn from Our Students When They Call for Change
Northeastern Jewish Studies Blog 