Jewish Studies Talks to Probe Music, the South

Jewish music, Zionist ideology and Jewish merchants in the post-Civil War South are among topics to be explored in a spring lecture series at Carolina.

UNC’s Carolina Center for Jewish Studies will present the free public lectures, all at 7:30 p.m. in the theater of the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History at 150 South Road. Dates, titles and speakers for the four lectures will be:

• Jan. 14: “Israel and the Diaspora: Convergence or Rupture?” Derek Penslar, Samuel J. Zacks Professor of Jewish history at the University of Toronto. In his talk, UNC’s Morris, Ida and Alan Heilig Lecture in Jewish Studies, Penslar will examine how Zionist ideology and the Israeli state are not as far removed from diaspora Jewish norms as is commonly thought.
• Feb. 4: “Jewish Merchants and Former Slaves: The Economic Relationship in the Post-Civil War South,” Eric Goldstein, director of the graduate program in Jewish studies and associate professor at Emory University. The talk will be UNC’s Sylvia and Irving Margolis Lecture on the Jewish Experience in the American South.
• March 3: “Jewish Music and All That Jazz,” Joshua Jacobson, professor of music and director of choral activities at Northeastern University. In the Kaplan-Brauer Lecture on the Contribution of Judaism to Civilization, Jacobson will examine the impact of American life on Jewish composers and the impact of Jews on American music.
• April 14: “A Brief History of 3200 Years,” Richard Elliott Friedman, Ann and Jay Davis Professor of Jewish studies at the University of Georgia, will discuss why understanding present-day Israel involves exploring its history dating to biblical times. The talk is made possible by a grant from the Charles H. Revson Foundation in honor of Eli N. Evans ’58 of New York.

The lectures are co-sponsored by other campus units, including the Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations, the Center for the Study of the American South and the departments of music and religion.

Related coverage is available online:

• Center for Jewish Studies to Begin Fall Lecture Series
  News report from September 2005
• Gift to Center for Jewish Studies Made in Evans’ Name
  News report from April 2004