The best place to stay up to date on all events and programming at JSS! This calendar is always up to date and includes all the information you need to get involved.
Jun
13
Tue
Join us for the Levy Summer Series! Presented in partnership with Jeffrey C. Levy, each event will feature an engaging scholar, artist, or community leader speaking over a broad range of topics of interest. The presentation will be followed by an elegant lunch. This is a ticketed event. Scholarships are available. Check back for details on how to register!
“Another Promised Land? A Texan Perspective on Southern Jewish History”
Professor Joshua Furman
Associate Director of the Program in Jewish Studies at Rice University in Houston, where he also serves as curator of the Joan and Stanford Alexander South Texas Jewish Archives.
Schedule:
10:30-11am: check-in
11:00-12:30pm: presentation
12:30-1:30pm: lunch
Cream of asparagus soup, dinner rolls & mini muffinsChoice of entree: Atlantic Salmon stuffed with Shiitake mushrooms & spinach, wild mushroom cream sauce or Tofu Poke Bowl with veggies, ginger soy sauce, and sesame seeds, honey glazed carrots, Dauphinoise potatoes.
“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.
Jun
27
Tue
Join us for the Levy Summer Series! Presented in partnership with Jeffrey C. Levy, each event will feature an engaging scholar, artist, or community leader speaking over a broad range of topics of interest. The presentation will be followed by an elegant lunch. This is a ticketed event. Scholarships are available. Check back for details on how to register!
“The Dead Sea Scrolls”
Rabbi David Kopstein
Rabbi David comes from a long line of rabbis tracing back to eleventh century Spain. Although officially retired from congregational work, he is frequently called into service as a cruise rabbi aboard Celebrity, Holland America, Princess, Royal Caribbean and Seabourn Lines. He and his wife, Patti, a clinical psychologist, live in West Madison.
Schedule:
10:30-11am: check-in
11:00-12:30pm: presentation
12:30-1:30pm: lunch
Seasonal fruit plate, dinner rolls & mini muffins
Choice of entrée: Pecan-crusted walleye or Vegetable Napoleon, sour cream and chive whipped potatoes, roasted root vegetables
Dessert: Door County cherry pie a la mode
The Dead Sea Scrolls’ discovery reads like the opening scene of an Indiana Jones thriller. Were it not for some dramatic twists and turns, the Scrolls might have gone from their limestone-cave hiding places directly into the hands of private collectors.
But now, thanks to digital imaging technology and the pioneering work of Israel Antiquities Authority, these precious texts can be read, translated and studied by all who wish to explore this priceless world heritage. Hear the dramatic story and take a look at surprising revelations about some familiar Biblical personalities.
Jul
12
Wed
Join us for the Levy Summer Series! Presented in partnership with Jeffrey C. Levy, each event will feature an engaging scholar, artist, or community leader speaking over a broad range of topics of interest. The presentation will be followed by an elegant lunch. This is a ticketed event. Scholarships are available.
“Gedanken – Klezmeric Fantasies, Meditations and Improvisations”
Kurt and Annette Bjorling (Duo Controverso)
Annette Bjorling is ”The World’s First and Only Klezmer Harpist.” Beyond merely adapting Jewish tunes to the harp, Annette creates a unique voice that fits naturally within the idiom of Yiddish music. Annette is a member of several performing groups, including the international ensemble Myridián. She was co-director of the Klezmer Orchester (Germany). She has performed and taught at international harp conferences and music festivals in Europe and North America.
Kurt Bjorling, clarinet & basset-horn, is Director of the Chicago Klezmer Ensemble and a member of Brave Old World, Kurt has also toured and recorded with the Klezmatics and violinist Itzhak Perlman. He has taught klezmer music style in Europe and North America, and he has composed symphonic pieces based on klezmer music. In addition to his Yiddish music, he has been active playing jazz, chamber music and various styles of ethnic music, as well as performing music for theater.
Schedule:
10:30-11am: check-in
11:00-12:30pm: presentation
12:30-1:30pm: lunch
Caesar salad, dinner rolls & mini muffins
Choice of entrée: Broiled Tilapia topped with tomato, red onion, basil & Kalamata olive salsa or Pan-fried tofu and vegetables, white and wild rice blend, steamed asparagus.
Dessert: Dark chocolate ganache three-layer cake
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.
Aug
9
Wed
Join us for the Levy Summer Series! Presented in partnership with Jeffrey C. Levy, each event will feature an engaging scholar, artist, or community leader speaking over a broad range of topics of interest. The presentation will be followed by an elegant lunch. This is a ticketed event. Scholarships are available.
“Reuniting Families and Recruiting Workers: The Industrial Removal Office in Madison, 1900-1920”
Professor Jonathan Pollack
Chair, History Department, Madison Area Technical College, and Honorary Fellow, Center for Jewish Studies, UW—Madison
Schedule:
10:30-11am: check-in
11:00-12:30pm: presentation
12:30-1:30pm: lunch
Nakoma salad, dinner rolls & mini muffins
Choice of entrée: Baked Cod with Toasted Spinach-Lemon Butter Sauce orVegetable Phyllo topped with marinara and crème fraiche, roasted red potatoes, French beans and baby carrots
Dessert: Turtle sundae
Many members of Madison’s Jewish community have come here to take a particular job. Others followed family members who did the same. In an earlier era, people came from Russia to Madison when earlier-arriving relatives sent money home and paid for their passage. But in the early 20th century, the Industrial Removal Office (IRO) sent people from New York to Madison, reuniting families who lacked money for train fare, and matching Russian Jews with job opportunities in Wisconsin’s capital city.
This talk will describe the IRO’s growth and decline nationally and in the Madison area, as well as the experiences of Jewish Madisonians who worked with this short-lived social-service organization.
Jun
4
Tue
Jun 4 @ 10:30 am – 1:30 pm
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