For almost 50 years, Yiddish American actress Molly Picon spent her life on stage and screen performing in trousers. Why did Picon spend so much time in cross-dressed roles and what might such roles reveal about Jewish American identity in the first half of the 20th century?

Join the Jewish Community Center’s free Winter Speaker Series, where local scholars share with us some of what they are working on and thinking about. This is an opportunity to find out what’s at the forefront of Judaic studies from our very own experts.

Please join us for an international conference on the Kabbalah, bringing together four eminent scholars of Jewish mysticism from France, Israel, and the United States.

Monday, February 1, 2010, 11:00-12:10 PM
Jack Baskin Auditorium, Room 101.

Jean Baumgarten, is Professor and Directeur de Recherche (CNRS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre des Hautes Etudes Juives, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, in France.

Sunday, January 24, 2010, 12:00 – 4:00 PM
Jewish Community Federation, San Francisco

The Bay Area Academic Consortium invites you to participate in its new winter program, History and Literature in the Study of the Bible, for faculty and graduate students in Jewish Studies.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010
12:00-1:00 PM, Humanities 210

Unlike others who became a part of the Russian Empire as a result of the partitions of Poland, Jews were not viewed as native to the newly colonized territories.

Thursday, February 4, 4:00-5:45 PM
Humanities 1, Room 545.

Please join Nathaniel Deutsch, Co-Director of the Center for Jewish Studies and Neil Brenner, Professor of Sociology at New York University, for a public dialogue on the impact of gentrification on the Hasidic enclave in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010, 5:00 PM
Humanities Lecture Hall.

Rebecca Goldstein is the author of 36 Arguments for the Existence of God and six works of fiction, including The Mind-Body Problem, Mazel, and Properties of Light.

Sunday, November 22, 2009, 1:00 PM
Jewish Community Center of San Francisco

What is the Jewish concept of the Messiah? Join scholars Moshe Halbertal and Nathaniel Deutsch in this eye-opening discussion.

November 9, 2009, 4:00 PM
Humanities 1, Room 210

Fred Astren, Chair of Jewish Studies at San Francisco State University, holds degrees in Medieval History, Arabic, and Near Eastern Studies.