Fred Rosenbaum, 8/7/2025—Rosenbaum discusses the millennia-long importance of the Rhine River to the economy, culture, and geopolitics of Western Europe with a focus on Frankfurt and the fraught Jewish experience in the region. The lecture encompasses medieval persecution and ghettoization, the astonishing rise of the Rothschild dynasty, the fruits of emancipation, and the destruction of German Jewry at the hands of the Nazis.

Rachel Biale, 8/15/2025—This lecture describes two medieval rabbinic luminaries of the region: Rabbi Gershom ben Judah of Mainz (who prohibited polygamy around 1000 CE), and Rashi (1040-1105), considered the greatest commentator on the Bible and Talmud, who studied and taught in Worms. Rachel Biale also touches on the aesthetic practices, gender roles, and sexuality in these medieval Ashkenazi communities.

Daniel Sokatch, 7/15/202—Resistance to authoritarian, oppressive regimes is as old as those regimes themselves. We will examine the historical record for resistance efforts and movements around the world with particular emphasis on the ordeal and role of Jews, as victims and/or defiers. Here, Sokatch discusses resistance efforts in Israel.

Albie Sachs, 7/13/2025—Resistance to authoritarian, oppressive regimes is as old as those regimes themselves. We will examine the historical record for resistance efforts and movements around the world with particular emphasis on the ordeal and role of Jews, as victims and/or defiers. Here, Albie Sachs discusses resistance efforts in South Africa under Apartheid.

Robert Alter, 6/11/2025

Rabbi Roberto Graetz & Shana Penn, 7/8/2025—Resistance to authoritarian, oppressive regimes is as old as those regimes themselves. We will examine the historical record for resistance efforts and movements around the world with particular emphasis on the ordeal and role of Jews, as victims and/or defiers. Here, Rabbi Graetz and Shana Penn discuss resistance efforts in South America and Eastern Europe.

Andrew Porwancher, 7/2/2025—This lecture traces Roosevelt’s deep connection with the Jewish people at every step of his dazzling ascent. It also reveals a man of contradictions whose checkered approach to Jewish issues was no less conflicted than the nation he led. Drawing on fresh research from his newest book, Porwancher explores the complicated relationship between the leader of a youthful nation and the people of an ancient faith.

Prof. Stephen Whitfield, 6/1/2025—Resistance to authoritarian, oppressive regimes is as old as those regimes themselves. We will examine the historical record for resistance efforts and movements around the world with particular emphasis on the ordeal and role of Jews, as victims and/or defiers. Here, Prof.Whitfield speaks on resistance to McCarthyism.

Bradley Burston, 6/30/2025—Resistance to authoritarian, oppressive regimes is as old as those regimes themselves. We will examine the historical record for resistance efforts and movements around the world with particular emphasis on the ordeal and role of Jews, as victims and/or defiers.

Prof. Wolf Gruner, 6/25/2025—Resistance to authoritarian, oppressive regimes is as old as those regimes themselves. We will examine the historical record for resistance efforts and movements around the world with particular emphasis on the ordeal and role of Jews, as victims and/or defiers. Here, Prof. Gruner speaks on resistance to Hitler.

Rabbi Yoel Kahn, 6/12/2025—“Hear the gay shouts of liberation in the tents of the just!” (Psalm 118:15). Reciting the festival liturgy on Pride Shabbat was an important innovation—first celebrated at Congregation Beth Simchat Torah in New York in 1973—and so was this early gay-inclusive new translation of the psalm. This session, in honor of LGBTQ Pride, examines the creation and evolution of early LGBTQ-informed and -inclusive liturgy in the 1970s and 1980s.

Profs. Bruce Phillips and David Myers, and Adam Brown, 6/11/2025—"Jewish Peoplehood" has recently been the nom de jour in the Jewish community. What does Jewish Peoplehood actually mean? Is it a historical phenomenon, a demographic characterization, or a genetically transmitted set of traits? Our three distinguished presenters will examine the meaning, validity, and usefulness of this term.