Now that grades have been submitted, the seniors have graduated and cap and gown have been returned to the back of the closet, it’s time to take stock of what the Program in Judaic Studies has accomplished over the course of the past academic year.
Whether exploring the millennial history of Jerusalem, taking the measure of Israeli culture, learning about the making of Jewish books, reckoning with the American Jewish experience and the challenges of memory or meeting weekly with contemporary Jewish writers, our classes have deepened our students’ critical encounter with the richness and complexity of Jewish arts and letters, geopolitics and philosophy.
Public programs, meanwhile, have enlarged our audience as well as our opportunities for partnerships with neighboring institutions. From the Cedar Film Retrospective, which was held on campus as well as at the D.C.-JCC, to “Tough Guys,” a cooperative venture with American University and the Foundation for Jewish Culture; from the annual Fleischman Lecture at The Phillips Collection to a behind-the-scenes tour of the new National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, the Program in Judaic Studies has made a point of extending its reach into the community at large.
As we close the books on this academic year, we look forward to expanding our repertoire of courses and public events for the fall term. For starters, GW will welcome its very first Schusterman Visiting Artist from Israel -- Sharon Ya’ari is his name -- who will offer a very special honors course, “Eye on Israel: Photography of the Middle East,” as well as deliver a public talk hosted by the Department of Fine Arts and Art History.
Other new and most promising offerings include Masha Belenky’s inquiry into France and the Jews, Daniel Schwartz’s omnibus course on Jewish civilization, and “On and Off the Rialto: An Interdisciplinary Inquiry into The Merchant of Venice," which will be team-taught by Leslie Jacobson of Theatre & Dance, and yours truly.
Future goings-on outside the classroom include a series of workshops and public talks in early November by the celebrated cultural anthropologist and museum theorist, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, who heads up a team of historians and curators at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, which is slated to open in 2012. Stay tuned for more details as the Program in Judaic Studies joins together with the Polish Embassy and the Department of Museum Studies to showcase this enormously challenging undertaking.
Speaking of exciting new ventures, the Program in Judaic Studies is pleased to announce that, come fall 2012 (a year away), it will launch a new master's program in Jewish cultural arts. The very first of its kind in the entire country, this two year program will train students in the art and craft of Jewish cultural programming and, in that connection, serve as a laboratory for the support and creation of Jewish cultural and artistic expression at home and abroad. As this program takes shape and our recruitment efforts get underway, there’ll be lots more to report. In the meantime, do spread the word.
Putting it all together, I’d say the Program in Judaic Studies had a banner year. Wouldn’t you?
