Recorded On:
December 7, 2023
Discover how Frank Stella, the celebrated American painter, sculptor, and printmaker, has found inspiration in Jewish themes throughout his career, from his earliest minimalist paintings influenced by the Nazi propaganda newsreels of his childhood, his mixed-media “Polish Wooden Synagogue” works commemorating “the obliteration of a culture,” and his Had Gadya narrative abstractions expressing a universal, aspirational message of justice and hope.
Recorded On:
March 30, 2023
SPEAKERS:
Prof. Dr. Judith Frishman
Dr. Thorsten Fuchshuber
Rabbi David Ellenson, Ph.D.
Rabbi Samuel Hirsch's story is key to understanding the transnational history of Reform Judaism and the struggle of Jews to secure a place in history and society. En route from Thalfang via Dessau and Luxembourg to Philadelphia, Hirsch strove to strengthen Judaism to meet the demands of modernity and enable its survival in the modern era, leaving his mark on societal, religious, and philosophical debates in increasingly radical stances. As a Hegelian and a Jew he claimed that the actualization of freedom - so central to Hegel’s philosophy - was enabled by Judaism, more than any other religion.
Recorded On:
January 12, 2023
SPEAKERS:
Maya Benton
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
Joan H. Neuberger
Jonathan Scheuer
Daniel Scheuer
Charles Seton
Jean Bloch Rosensaft
Maya Benton, Curator and Art Historian
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Ph.D., Chief Curator, Core Exhibition, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews; University Professor Emerita and Professor Emerita of Performance Studies, New York University
Joan H. Neuberger, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, Department of History, University of Texas at Austin
Jonathan Scheuer, Film and Music Producer
Daniel Scheuer, Photographer and Teacher
Charles Seton, Photo-Archivist
Jean Bloch Rosensaft, Director, Bernard Heller Museum; Senior Advisor to President, HUC-JIR/NY
Our guests speakers will guide us on a journey through the lives of ordinary people in pre-war Europe, by means of black and white photography through the thoughtful eye of 17-year-old Richard J. Scheuer, former Chairman of the Board at HUC-JIR.
Recorded On:
December 23, 2022
SPEAKERS:
Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D., President, HUC-JIR
Rabbi Shirley Idelson,
Rabbi Shirley Idelson, Ph.D., Director of the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program, Brandeis University
Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D., President, HUC-JIR
In 1922, Stephen S. Wise and the Free Synagogue launched the Jewish Institute of Religion, a pluralistic rabbinical seminary in the heart of New York City. Bucking denominational trends of the time, JIR held freedom of thought and practice paramount. Yet the school had a definite ethos, borne by the cadre of JIR rabbis who responded to the global crises of their era by fighting for klal yisrael, social justice, and Zionism. Many of these rabbis joined the CCAR, and within a few decades the seemingly counter-cultural ethos of their fledgling seminary came to pervade Reform Judaism. In conversation, President Rehfeld and Rabbi Idelson will explore this history and its resonance today - and the power of seminaries to shape the future.
Recorded On:
June 7, 2022
SPEAKERS:
Rabbi Sally Priesand
Rabbi Denise L. Eger
Rabbi Karen Thomashow
50 years after HUC-JIR ordained the first woman rabbi in America, it’s time to assess progress. What have we achieved and what remains for us to accomplish?
Recorded On:
July 15, 2021
SPEAKERS:
Jeremy Leigh M.A.
Despite having let go of the idea of pilgrimage over two thousand years ago, should traveling to sites of Jewish significance – in Europe and Israel – enter our practice as a way embedding connections across time and space? Are there, or could there be, a 'canon of places'? And by extension, is there is a 'canon of questions' to discuss when we get there?
