Contact: Alice Lawrence
alicezora@gmail.com
Between October 18 and 27, 2006, the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture will present a vibrant and interactive series of cultural offerings at multiple locations. Called "WHERE WE COME FROM: Our Jewish Heritage in Poland, Past, Present and Future", this multi-event program will introduce the Bay Area to exciting developments now underway to revitalize Jewish life in Poland, 60 years after the Nazi genocide.
Eight visiting fellows from Poland – writers, curators, scholars, educators, artists and student activists – are traveling to the Bay Area to participate in activities hosted by the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco; Taube Center for Jewish Studies and Hillel at Stanford; Graduate Theological Union and the University of California, Berkeley; Judah L. Magnes Museum; Congregation Emanu-El; Jewish Family and Children’s Services. Our Polish guests will be joined by American experts in this field for a lively and rich cross-cultural exchange.
This unprecedented program will foster cross-cultural dialogue on issues of common concern, such as cultural identity, memory and renewal.
Says Tad Taube, chairman of the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture: “The Jewish Heritage Initiative supports institutions and individuals — in Poland as well as in the United States — who are preserving Jewish heritage and enriching the cultural and intellectual landscape in Poland today.”
Schedule of Events
Wednesday, October 18, 2:30 pm-4:00 pm: Tour of Judah L. Magnes Museum and its Polish collections. Preview of upcoming exhibitions related to Polish Jewish heritage.
R.s.v.p. 510.549.6950. www.magnes.org
Wednesday, October 18-Thursday, October 19 SYMPOSIUM: “Renewal and Resistance: The Revitalization of Jewish Culture in Post-Holocaust, Post-Communist Poland.” Cohosted by the Center for Jewish Studies Conference, Graduate Theological Union, and Institute for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies, UC Berkeley.
Keynote: Dr. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, New York University. Free and open to the public. For more information or to register: 510.649.2482
Saturday, October 21, 8:00 PM CONCERT: “Even the Birds Sang in Yiddish” featuring Theodore Bikel, Michael Alpert and Tamara Brooks, at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco (JCCSF). To reserve tickets: 415.292.1233
Sunday, October 22, 10:00 AM-3:00 PM WORKSHOPS: “Telling Our Stories, Tracing Our Roots,” at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco (JCCSF). To register: 415.292.1200. Registration fee includes lunch.
Tuesday, October 24, 5:30 pm-9:00 pm:
Hillel at Stanford and Taube Center for Jewish Studies at Stanford University
- 5:30pm: Dinner and Discussion about Jewish identity and student life in Poland and the U.S., at Taube Hillel House. For Hillel students and Polish visitors only.
R.s.v.p. to adanzig@stanford.edu
- 7:30 pm: Panel hosted by Taube Center for Jewish Studies. Free and open to the public. For information: rlowy@stanford.edu
Thursday, October 26, 2:00 PM: Gathering with Holocaust survivors, their families and friends of the Jewish Family and Children’s Services of San Francisco, at the JFCS. Free and open to the public. R.s.v.p. 415.449.3843
Friday, October 27, Erev Shabbat at Congregation Emanu-El, 5:30 PM-6:45 PM Presentation: “Is Poland an Ally of Israel?” Konstanty Gebert, founder-publisher, Midrasz Magazine, Warsaw.
Participants (for more extensive bios, http://www.gtu.edu/news-events )
Dr. Eleonora Bergman, deputy director, Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw, architect and historian of architecture, author of several histories of wooden synagogues in Poland
Konstanty Gebert, visiting professor, Dept of History, UCB, journalist/publisher, Midrasz Magazine, columnist, Gazeta Wyborcza, former Solidarity activist
Anka Grupinska, director, Centropa-Poland, oral historian, author of Holocaust histories
Dr. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Professor of Judaic and Hebrew Studies, New York University; Chief Consultant, Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw
Dr. Samuel Kassow, Professor of History, Trinity College; Emanuel Ringelblum biographer, Consultant, Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw
Daniela Malec, co-director, “Czulent” Polish Jewish Student Union, Krakow
Janusz Makuch, director, Jewish Culture Festival, Krakow
Magdalena Matuszewska, Warsaw program consultant, Jewish Heritage Initiative in Poland, Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture; doctoral candidate, Hebrew Studies, Warsaw University
Shana Penn, director, Jewish Heritage Initiative in Poland, Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture; visiting scholar, Center for Jewish Studies, Graduate Theological Union
Yale Reisner, co-director, Lauder Genealogy Project, Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw
Chris Schwarz, founding director and curator, Galicia Jewish Museum, Krakow
PARTNERING ORGANIZATIONS
Center for Jewish Studies, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley Congregation Emanu-El, San Francisco
Institute for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies, University of California Berkeley
Jewish Community Center of San Francisco
Jewish Family and Children’s Services of San Francisco Jewish Music Festival, East Bay Jewish Community Center Judah L. Magnes Museum
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
Stanford University Hillel and Taube Center for Jewish Studies
SPONSORS
The program is sponsored by the Jewish Heritage Initiative in Poland (JHIP).
FOUNDER:
Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture.
PARTNERS:
Newton D. & Rochelle F. Becker Joe Feshbach
Anita Friedman and Igor Tartakovsky Friend Family Foundation
John and Marcia Goldman
Jewish Community Endowment Fund of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin & Sonoma Counties and the Maisin Foundation
Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley Kanbar Charitable Trust
Koret Foundation Funds
The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation Henry Libicki
The Marcus Foundation, Inc. Victor Markowicz
The Bernard Osher Jewish Philanthropies of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund John and Lisa Pritzker Family Fund
Irving and Varda Rabin Sigmund Rolat
Judy and Michael Steinhardt
