THE LIPINSKY INSTITUTE FOR
Lawrence Baron
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THE LIPINSKY INSTITUTE FOR
COMMUNITY
JEWISH STUDIES
Why change the name of the
Lipinsky Institute for Judaic Studies to the Lipinsky Institute for Community
Jewish Studies? Many members of the
San Diego Jewish community have indicated that they believe the Lipinsky
Institute and the Jewish Studies Program at SDSU are one and the same.
The Institute, however, organizes community outreach programs and
sponsors the Visiting Israeli professorship, whereas the Jewish Studies Program
offers courses, which SDSU students take as electives or to major or minor in
Jewish Studies.
Approved as a Major in Modern Jewish Studies in
2003, the Jewish Studies Program at SDSU seeks philanthropic support
to offer a comprehensive curriculum on the three population centers of modern
Jewry: pre-Holocaust Europe, the United States, and Israel.
Scholarships are needed to defer the additional costs incurred by
students who enroll in the CSU’s Israel Program and encourage students to
participate in internships with local Jewish agencies and organizations.
The rich cultural legacy of
European Jewry is often eclipsed by the Holocaust. To recall the vibrant life of Yiddish and Ladino folklore and
music, the Modern Jewish Studies Program has received a $250,000 donation to
appoint the renowned ethnologist, filmmaker, and Klezmer musician Yale Strom as
an artist-in-residence. Strom will
teach courses on Ashkenazi and Sephardic culture, perform local concerts, mount
exhibitions, and organize workshops by leading Jewish artists and musicians
jointly sponsored by the Center for Jewish Creativity and Culture in Los
Angeles.
One cannot understand modern Jewish
life without learning about the culture, history, politics, and religious
denominations of American Jewry. The
Modern Jewish Studies Program plans to establish a Professorship in American
Jewish Studies. This professor
would offer courses in his or her respective discipline and be available to
speak to local groups about the diversity of American Jewry and its impact on
American society.
The Nasatir Professor in Modern
Jewish History serves as the director of the Modern Jewish Studies Program and
the Lipinsky Institute for Community Jewish Studies' programs of film
screenings, symposia, and lectures. The
director of the Institute needs an endowment to fill gaps in the Jewish Studies
curriculum, cover the Institute's operating expenses, and organize special
events at SDSU and in San Diego.
Since 1985, the Lipinsky Institute
annually has brought a Visiting Professor from Israel to teach courses on modern
Israel and its role in the Middle East. The
importance of this program has grown as the Middle East has assumed a central
role in American foreign policy and the world’s economy.
The ability of the original endowment to support the Visiting Israeli
Professorship for a full year appointment gradually has been eroded by increases
in salaries and decreases in investment earnings.
To ensure the Lipinsky Institute can afford to appoint Visiting Israeli
Professors for one-year terms, it is essential that the endowment be doubled.
These are free and open to the public
February
6
"The Politics of Translating the Hebrew Bible"
3:30
PM
Scripps
Cottage, SDSU
Co-Sponsored
by the Religious Studies Department, SDSU
and
the Jewish Student Union, SDSU
March
20
"A History of Their Own: American Jewish Women"
Hasia
Diner
New
York University
7:00
PM
Aztec
Athletics Center Auditorium
Co-Sponsored
by the Women's Studies Department, SDSU
April
4
"Creativity and Orthodoxy in Women's Rosh Hodesh Ceremonies"
California
State University, Northridge
7:00
PM
Ner
Tamid
15318
Pomerado Road, Poway
May
7
"The Social Logic of Muslim Suicide Bombers"
University
of California, Riverside
2:00
PM
Astor
Judaica Library of the M. Larry Lawrence Jewish Community Center
4126
Executive Drive, La Jolla
Universal
Theme of Scholar-Led Program Has Broad Interest to San Diegans
The
San Diego County Library will host a free five-part monthly series titled,
"Let's Talk About It: Jewish Literature - Identity and Imagination."
The series, co-sponsored by the Lipinsky Institute and
the Agency for Jewish Education through a grant from the American Library
Association, explores Jewish literature and culture through scholar-led
discussions. The
first program explores Lost in Translation by Eva Hoffman on Sunday,
March 5, from 1-3 p.m. All programs will be held at San Diego State
University, 201 West Commons (5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego). Ben Siegel, a
scholar of Jewish American literature and Professor of English at California
Polytechnic University, Pomona, will lead the discussions. For
details and to register, phone (858) 694-2484 or send name, address, phone
and email to sdcountylibrary@yahoo.com <mailto:sdcountylibrary@yahoo.com>
, or by mail to: Ellen Zyroff, San Diego County Library, 5555 Overland
Ave., Bldg. 15, San Diego, CA 92123.
Faculty News
Lawrence Baron, Director of the Lipinsky Institute and Jewish Studies
Program
Professor Baron's book Projecting
the Holocaust into the Present: The Changing Focus of Contemporary Holocaust
Cinema was published by Rowman and Littlefield in October.
During the Fall, he delivered lectures at the Spertus Institute for
Jewish Studies in Chicago, St. Lawrence University, Michigan State University,
Lafayette College, University of California at Santa Barbara and the University
College of London. He was one of
four directors of Jewish Studies Programs invited to participate in a panel
discussion at the University of Hartford. He
presented papers on displaced person movies at the Jewish Studies Association
Conference in Washington, DC and an international Holocaust conference held at
the Imperial War Museum in London. In
the community, he has facilitated discussions of Jewish comedies for Temple
Emanu-El and Tifereth Israel Synagogue and has given talks for the College Area
and East County Jewish Senior Centers.
Zev
Bar-Lev, Dept. Linguistics and Oriental Languages
Professor Bar-Lev’s most recent publications include:
- “Why Jake Doesn’t Know Hebrew,” Jewish Educational Leadership (Lookstein
Center Publications), Fall 2005, available @: www.lookstein.org/online_journal.php?id=81.
- ”Arabic Key-Consonants” forthcoming in Journal of Arabic & Islamic
Studies. (See also nacal.org for NACAL 2004.)
- ”shorshé hashorashim’”[‘Roots of Roots’], forthcoming in HED
HAULPAN HEHHADASH.
Joellyn Zollman, Dept. of History
Dr. Zollman designed lesson plans as part of the educational
program for From Haven to Home: 350 Year of Jewish Life in America, a
Library of Congress Exhibit. These
are published online, at www.350th.org,
as well as available in hardcopy for schools in cities where the exhibit has
traveled.
Risa Levitt Kohn, Dept. of Religious Studies
Professor Levitt
Kohn’s most recent pending publications include:
- “In and Out of
Place: Physical Space and Social Location in the Bible,” in From Babel to
Babylon: Essays on Biblical History and Literature in Honour of Brian Peckham,
Sheffield: T & T Clark, in press.
- “Where is God? Divine Presence in the Absence of the Temple,” with
Rebecca E. Moore in S. Malena & D. Miano eds., Milk and Honey: Essays on
Ancient Israel and the Bible (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns)
in press.
Dr. Levitt Kohn is currently on leave from SDSU to serve as the curator
for the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition at the San Diego Museum of Natural History.
The show will run from July 1, 2007 through December 2007.
The Lipinsky Institute for
Community Jewish Studies wishes to thank its honored donors for their generous
contributions, which insures the future success of the Lipinsky Institute and
the Jewish Studies Program at SDSU, both under the direction of Professor
Lawrence Baron. We applaud your gracious giving.
Jonathan
Siegel &
Barbara
Lounsbury
In Memory of Robert Elson:
Roslyn Elson
The
Nierman Foundation,
Paul
Nierman &
Deb Horowitz
Elaine
Millard
Cecile
B. Jordan
Donation
of Books to the Snyder Judaic Studies Reading Room
Norman
Mann
Non-Profit
Org. U.S. POSTAGE PAID San Diego, CA Permit
#265
Lipinsky Institute for Judaic Studies
College
of Arts & Letters
San
Diego State University
5500
Campanile Drive
San Diego, CA 92182-8148