Calendar

“There are Jews in Texas?”  Nearly forty years ago, the documentary film West of Hester Street attempted to shed light on the history of Jews in Texas by narrating the story of the Galveston Movement, a project that brought almost 10,000 Jews to the United States via the port on Galveston Island in the years before World War I.   

Today, Texas Jewish history and the larger history of Jews and Jewish communities across the southern United States are enjoying a 21st-century renaissance, as evidenced by the work of the Institute for Southern Jewish Life in Mississippi, the formation of the Joan and Stanford Alexander South Texas Jewish Archives at Rice University in 2018, and the opening of the new Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience in New Orleans.  Nevertheless, outside of Texas and the Deep South, Jews who have made this region their home remain something of an obscure curiosity. 

The program of klezmer music includes virtuosic mazltovs, celebratory dance tunes, instrumental interpretations of liturgical and Hassidic music and classic Yiddish songs. Based upon their ongoing research and exploration of traditional East European Jewish wedding music, Duo Controverso creates a unique soundscape, presenting a program to entertain, educate and elate listeners.

The Summer Levy Series has become a welcoming of summer, and an occasion to socialize, share a wonderful meal, and feed our minds with a variety of inspiring presentations and discussions. Please join us. The program and menu for this event is below – call 608-442-4081 to register at a cost of $25 per person. 

Adam Schrager – “The Principled Politician: A Story of Courage”

One man’s courage offers timeless lessons for us all. In this presentation, Adam Schrager tells the story of Ralph Carr, who was drafted to run for governor of Colorado in 1938, turned down the chance to run as a vice presidential candidate in 1940, and was being discussed as a “future presidential candidate” by newspapers in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Carr became a national figure when, after Pearl Harbor, he defended the constitutional rights of Japanese-Americans and stood against internment. His outspoken and unpopular stance would cost him greatly, both personally and professionally

Adam Schrager is the author of four books, including “The Principled Politician,” which led to Colorado lawmakers naming the state’s new justice center and a state highway after its subject, former Gov. Ralph Carr. Schrager has an undergraduate degree in American History from the University of Michigan and a graduate degree in Broadcast Journalism from Northwestern University.

Lunch: Nakoma salad, dinner rolls & mini muffins, Pesto Crusted Walleye or Roasted Vegetable Napoleon, jasmine herbed rice, steamed asparagus. Dessert: Tiramisu

The Summer Levy Series has become a welcoming of summer, and an occasion to socialize, share a wonderful meal, and feed our minds with a variety of inspiring presentations and discussions. Please join us. The program and menu for this event is below – call 608-442-4081 to register at a cost of $25 per person. 

Erin Faigin – “I Don’t Want To Say a Valley Girl is a ‘JAP’: The San Fernando Valley, Valley Girls, and Postwar Jewish Upward Mobility” 

Erin Faigin will describe the relationship between the Valley Girl of the 1980’s and the Jewish American Princess as a way to understand postwar American Jewish upward mobility. Her research explores the relationship between upward mobility, misogyny, and antisemitism in the imagined and real lives of American Jewish women during the Reagan years and beyond. By looking at popular media (SNL, Valley Girl, Clueless), national scandal (the Monica Lewinsky tapes), and lived experience (including that of the nose job), Faigin’s research demonstrates the limits of the assimilationist paradigm to explain postwar American Jewish history. Even in Los Angeles, even blonde, Jews suburbanized as Jews.

Faigin herself hails from the San Fernando Valley of Valley Girl fame, but she has lived in Madison since 2017. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in American Jewish History and has written and researched diverse topics such as Utah’s Yiddish utopias, Chicago’s interwar Jewish bookstore culture, and now, the Jewish American Princess.

Lunch: Seasonal fruit plate, dinner rolls & mini muffins, Mahi Mahi with toasted kale Buerre Blanc or Sun-dried tomato and asparagus quiche in puff pastry, Yukon Gold potatoes, green bean bundle wrapped in carrot. Dessert: Dark chocolate ganache three-layer cake

The Summer Levy Series has become a welcoming of summer, and an occasion to socialize, share a wonderful meal, and feed our minds with a variety of inspiring presentations and discussions. Please join us. The program and menu for this event is below – call 608-442-4081 to register at a cost of $25 per person. 

Dan Barker: “Faithful and Not-So Faithful: Some Favorite Jewish Composers and Songwriters” 

Many famous Jewish composers and songwriters were secular, not believing, but most showing some caring and appreciation of their Jewish heritage and community. Some were atheists and agnostics. But a few were not. Harold Arlen, son of a Cantor, never claimed to be a nonbeliever, though he did marry a Catholic. We don’t know if Dorothy Fields was a believing Jew, but in the absence of any statements from her, we might assume she was, at least nominally. And we do know some Jews who, like Aaron Copland, had no interest or little knowledge of the faith — Leonard Bernstein called him a “fake Jew.”

Dan Barker is a talented pianist and composer who never fails to impress us with his musical stylings as well as the breadth of his knowledge about popular American composers. Dan Barker graduated from Azusa Pacific University with a degree in Religion and was ordained as an evangelist minister at the age of fifteen. He became a “freethinker” in 1983 and is now the co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

Lunch: Caesar salad, assorted artisan rolls & mini muffins, Broiled tilapia with caper picatta sauce or Goat cheese and spinach strudel, barley pilaf and steamed carrots. Dessert: Door County cherry pie a la mode

The Summer Levy Series has become a welcoming of summer, and an occasion to socialize, share a wonderful meal, and feed our minds with a variety of inspiring presentations and discussions. Please join us. The program and menu for this event is below – call 608-442-4081 to register at a cost of $25 per person. 

Daniel Stolz –  “Recent Research in Ottoman-Jewish History” 

This talk will provide an introduction to recent historical scholarship on the many Jewish communities that once lived across the vast Ottoman domains of the Middle East, the Balkans, and North Africa. Recent years have seen a wave of innovative studies explore Ottoman-Jewish history to shed light on topics such as modern citizenship, coexistence, international law, and the formation of national and diasporic identities. Rather than explore any one subtopic in depth, this talk will reflect on the broader significance of these histories.

Professor Stolz is a gifted instructor, researcher and writer with a particular interest in the history of the late Ottoman Empire and the emergence of the modern Middle East in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His studies focus on how Ottomans used new kinds of technical knowledge to transform their society in the decades before World War I. Professor Stolz currently chairs the Turkish Studies Committee, which oversees the Kemal H. Karpat Center for Turkish Studies.

Lunch: Cream of asparagus soup, dinner rolls & mini muffins, Atlantic Salmon or Tofu Poke Bowl with veggies, ginger soy sauce, and sesame seeds, honey glazed carrots, Dauphinoise potatoes. Dessert: Mango sorbet with pirouline

The Summer Levy Series has become a welcoming of summer, and an occasion to socialize, share a wonderful meal, and feed our minds with a variety of inspiring presentations and discussions. Please join us. The program and menu for this event is below – call 608-442-4081 to register at a cost of $25 per person. 

Join us for the first event in our 2025 Levy Series, “Sustaining Journalism and Serving Jewish Wisconsin”! What are the major challenges that confront journalists? What can Rob Golub and other journalists do to fight for a better way forward? Rob will explain approaches sometimes referred to as “community journalism” and “community engagement.” He will also share experiences from his journalism career and all about the training programs he leads, which have been a launching pad for some great American journalists. We will learn about the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle, its role in the community, and how you can connect with it.

Prior to Rob Golub’s position as editor of the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle, he was the chief editor of The Journal Times in Racine, where he supervised both editors and news reporters. Golub has won multiple awards from the Milwaukee Press Club for his work, including a first-place award in 2022 for Best Long Hard Feature Story. For more than 15 years, he has run an internship program that trains the leading journalists of tomorrow. His “graduates” have become employees and interns at Facebook, CNN, Bloomberg, MSNBC, and other news organizations worldwide.

10:30-10:50 – Check-in

11:00-12:30 – Program

12:30-1:30 – Lunch

Lunch: Nakoma Golf Greens and Veggie Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette, assorted Artisan Rolls and Mini Muffins. Choice of entrée: Broiled Whitefish with Caper Piccata Sauce or Vegan Sweet Potato Curry, Barley Pilaf, French Beans and Baby Carrots. Dessert: Chocolate Mousse Sundae

Register by phone at 608-442-4081, or via mail / in-person at Jewish Social Services, 6300 Enterprise Lane, #309, Madison, WI 53719. You can print out the registration form here: Levy Registration Form