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Jewish Heritage Lecture Series helps launch 50th anniversary

February 28, 2006 By Barbara Wolff

From the language of the Sephardim to the language of jazz, the Jewish Heritage Lecture series will reflect the Jewish experience from a variety of angles.

The series will help launch the 50th anniversary of the Department of Hebrew and Semitic Studies. Two internationally recognized scholars, Michael Satlow of Brown University and Marc Saperstein of George Washington University, will lecture on Monday, March 6.

Satlow will talk about “Peoples of the Land: Jewish Piety in Late Antiquity.” He says that although rabbis portrayed their fellow Jews as country bumpkins, they weren’t. The lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Pyle Center.

Saperstein will speak in the same venue at 8:30 p.m. His subject will be “Preaching to a Congregation of ‘New Jews’: The Sermons of Spinoza’s Rabbi.” In his lecture, Saperstein will analyze the 17th century sermons of Saul Levi Mortera.

“This 50th anniversary is a landmark occasion for the field of Hebrew and Semitic studies, of course, but also for UW–Madison,” says Steve Nadler, director of the Mosse-Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies. “We’re bringing together an extraordinary range of individuals and topics.”

Those topics include:

  • “Reflections on Sephardi Ladino Culture in Modern Times,” Aron Rodrigue, Stanford University, 7:30 p.m., Monday, March 20. Rodrigue will examine the political, economic and cultural trends accompanying the rise and fall of this way of life.
  • “Sephardic Jewries and the Holocaust,” Aron Rodrigue, 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 22. Rodrigue looks at Sephardic communities in southwestern Europe decimated in the Holocaust.
  • “The Impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls on Our Bible,” Eugene Ulrich, Notre Dame University, 3 p.m., Sunday, April 2.
  • “The Dead Sea Scrolls and Early Judaism,” James VanderKam, Notre Dame, Sunday, April 2, after Ulrich’s talk.
  • “Interpreting the Word: Hope, Hype and Habit in 50 Years of Biblical Studies,” Leonard Greenspoon, Creighton University, 7:30 p.m., Monday, April 3.
  • “Reclaiming History Letter by Letter: How Modern Technologies are Unlocking Ancient Texts from Biblical Times,” Bruce Zuckerman, University of California, Los Angeles, April 3, following the Greenspoon lecture.
  • “Home and Away: Places and Spaces in Hebrew Literature,” Hannah Naveh, Tel Aviv University, 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 4. This is the 2006 Sanford J. Ettinger Lecture.
  • “From Shtetl to Swing: An Evening of Film and Music with Ben Sidran,” 8 p.m., Thursday, April 27, Wisconsin Union Theater. UW alumnus and jazz virtuoso Sidran will augment musically and anecdotally a screening of the recent “From Shtetl to Swing” PBS documentary.

All events are free and open to the public. With the exception of the concert, all take place in the Pyle Center.

For information, visit http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/jewishst/announcements.htm or contact Anita Lightfoot at 265-4763 or allightf@wisc.edu.