Lecture series to examine issues of Jewish identity through American history

Jewish identity in America owes much to the influence of memory, food and music, among other elements. How that identity was forged and plays out today will be the focus of this spring’s Jewish Heritage Lecture Series, sponsored by the UW Center for Jewish Studies.

Although Jews have been an important part of America’s ethnic and cultural landscape since the earliest days of settlement, the issue of Jewish identity is still critical, according to Robert Skloot, professor of theatre and drama, and the center’s new director.

Details This spring’s Jewish Heritage Lecture series begins Tuesday, March 23. The free events are open to the public. For information, call Anita Lightfoot, UW–Madison Center for Jewish Studies, 265-4763.

“Defining identity and the complexities of what identity means are uppermost in political, social and religious conversations,” he says. “These lectures will contribute to our investigations of these issues, both inside and outside the university.”

The 1999 Kutler Lectures will feature guest speaker Hasia Diner of New York University. Diner, the author of three books dealing with immigration, will speak Tuesday, March 23, on “Making Space Sacred: The Lower East Side and American Jewish Memory.” Her lecture will explore the ways Jews remember the famous New York neighborhood and how those memories have helped construct a Jewish identity in post-World War II America.

Diner will turn to the domestic arts Thursday, March 25. “Jewish Women, Jewish Food: The Making of an Ethnic Culture” will recount the part women have played in the history of Jewish people in America.

Both lectures are scheduled at 7:30 p.m. in the Memorial Union (check Today in the Union for room locations).

Israeli composer Jan Radzynski of Ohio State University investigates how music helps create and reinforce an ethnic identity. In his lecture, “Israeli Music: Nation Building and Musical Creativity,” Radzynski will consider both popular and classical Israeli music. He will speak Monday, April 26, at 8 p.m. in Memorial Union.

Uri Vardi, associate professor of music and winner of a 1999 Creative Arts award from the UW–Madison Arts Institute, will perform Radzynski’s cello concerto with the UW Chamber Orchestra Wednesday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. in Music Hall.

Author Marion Kaplan will conclude the Jewish Heritage series by delivering the 1999 Paul J. Schrag lecture Thursday, May 6. She will base her remarks on her most recent book, “Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany,” which illustrates how ordinary Jews coped under the Third Reich. Kaplan will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the Memorial Union.

The Department of Hebrew and Semitic Studies will sponsor a special symposium the weekend of March 27 and 28 in honor of the university’s sesquicentennial. Participating in “The Formation of Jewish National Identity: The Role of Hebrew Literature” will be experts from Harvard, the University of California-Berkeley, Columbia and Rutgers. For a complete schedule, call 262-3204.

Skloot, an expert on literature of the Holocaust, will lecture as part of an outside-the-university community lecture series Sunday, March 14. He will discuss “Americans, the Holocaust and ‘Schindler’s List’ ” at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 326 S. Segoe Road, as part of the church’s “Being Jewish in America” series. Five UW–Madison faculty present talks in this series. For more information on the Covenant series, which began this month, contact Brian McCarthy, 233-6297.