The College of Social & Behavioral Sciences Fall 2016 | Volume … · 2017-08-15 · The College of Social & Behavioral Sciences Fall 2016 | Volume XIII, Issue I. Save the Dates:

The College of Social & Behavioral Sciences Fall 2016 | Volume XIII, Issue I

Save the Dates: December 4-5, 2016

Conference Sponsors:

Thank You!Sponsors of Israel Studies at

the University of Arizona

$20,000+Israel Institute

Alice & Paul BakerJoan & Don DiamondBetsy & Ken Plevan

Andrea & David SteinDiane & Ron Weintraub

$10,000-20,000Sara & Tom Borin

Steve Sim & Marilyn Einstein

$5,000-10,000Larry and Kristen Gellman

Linda & Ken RobinThe Jewish Federation

of Southern Arizona

$1,000-5,000Ron Margolis

Trudy & Howard SchwartzMarsha & Gary Tankenoff

Thank You!Our 2015 Conference, Israel in the Changing Middle East, was a great success thanks to all of our speakers, volunteers, sponsors and participants!

Visit our YouTube Channel to watch the entire 2015 Conference.

Speakers & TopicsProf. Anita Shapira, Tel Aviv UniversityKeynote Address Israel 2016: Vision and RealityProf. Asher Susser, University of ArizonaIntroduction: Israel’s Changing Society & Politics Prof. Dan Ben-David, Tel Aviv UniversityIsrael at a Crossroads: The View from 30,000 Feet Dr. Einat Wilf, Jewish People Policy InstituteBack to Basics: Israeli Education, Society & Politics Prof. Aomar Boum, University of California, Los AngelesPeculiar Ties: The Cultural & Political Capital of North African Judaism in Israel

Prof. Elie Rekhess, Northwestern UniversityThe Arabs in Israel: Reconsidering the “1948 Paradigm”Prof. Shibley Telhami, University of MarylandShifting Public Attitudes on Coexistence and PeaceProf. Ilan Troen, Brandeis UniversityIsrael and the Land of Israel

Prof. Yoram Peri, University of MarylandThe (Fatal) Decline of the Israeli Left

Prof. Joel Peters, Virginian Tech UniversityIsraeli Foreign Policy

For more information, call (520) 626-5758

or visit us at judaic.arizona.edu/IsraelConference2016

Fall 2016, Volume XIII, Issue IThis newsletter is a biannual publication for alumni and friends of The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies at The Univer-sity of Arizona.

DirectorJ. Edward Wright

Assistant DirectorDavid Graizbord

Sr. Business ManagerMartha Castleberry

Outreach CoordinatorJohn Winchester

Student StaffDakota Hogeboom, Martin Somoza, Jennie Taer, Daniela Tascarella

Advisory BoardAlice & Paul Baker Joan & Donald Diamond Deanna Evenchik Joan Kaye Cauthorn Gary Kippur Mitchell Pozez Bobby Present

Mission StatementThe Arizona Center for Judaic Studies’ mission is to contribute to the overall mission of The University of Arizona by promoting advanced scholarship, by translating faculty research into dynamic undergraduate instruction, and by con-tributing to the community through ed-ucational outreach and professional ad-vising. Our goal is to transmit, interpret, and critique Jewish historical, religious, and cultural traditions for the benefit of present and future generations.

From the DirectorThe fall semester is a season of new beginnings — a new academic year, a new set of courses, new professors, new programs and most importantly, new students. This fall we in the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies proudly an-nounce a couple new Judaic Studies courses and welcome

to our program a new professor, a couple new graduate students and many new undergraduate students.

This fall Dr. Gil Ribak will join us as the university’s first professor of Modern Amer-ican Jewish Studies. After serving as a Schusterman Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow at the UofA from 2010-2012, Dr. Ribak taught at The American Jewish University and Oberlin College. We welcome him back to Tucson and look forward to the new courses he will offer in the area of American Jewish history and culture.

We are also pleased to announce some other new courses. Uri Maimon, the head of our Hebrew Program will be offering a new advanced Hebrew course that focuses on Israel’s hi-tech industry. He and Hebrew instructor Naomi Present will also add a hi-tech component to all the intermediate Hebrew courses. This year the Center will also offer a new course on the archaeology of early Judaism and Christianity. With these additions to our already strong programs, we are able to offer our students and supporters a dynamic educational experience on campus and in the community.

The Center will host its second annual Israel Studies conference on December 4th and 5th. This year’s theme builds on last year’s conference theme, Israel’s Place in the Changing Middle East, and will focus on Israel’s Changing Society and Politics as it strives to balance its unity and diversity as a Jewish, democratic state in the context of its pressing regional, social and cultural challenges. You will not want to miss this opportunity to hear from some of the world’s leading experts on various aspects of Israeli society.

Due in part to the growth of our programs both on and off campus over the past several years, Dean JP Jones of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences has ap-proved the appointment of Prof. David Graizbord as Assistant Director of the Cen-ter. Prof. Graizbord has been at the UofA for 15 years, and he will be supervising all curricular affairs, undergraduate advising and various other projects in the Center.

The Center is a thriving enterprise, and I hope that you find our semi-annual news-letters informative updates on what we are doing. I also hope that you find them to be inspiring reminders of how your support positively impacts the lives of the many people we serve on our campus and in our community. I would take this opportuni-ty to ask that you please consider renewing your commitment to our campus and community enterprise by supporting the Center financially at this time. We work hard to maximize the impact of our partners’ support, and I hope that you enjoy this brief update on the success you have made possible. Appreciatively as always,

Ed Wright, Director

judaic.arizona.edu Arizona Center for Judaic Studies | Fall 2016 3judaic.arizona.edu

Forbidden Composers: Schoenberg, Weill, Winterberg2016 Shaol & Louis Pozez Fine Arts SymposiumOctober 14-16The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

Festival Director: Daniel AsiaGuest artists: Michael Haas, Stephen Hinton, Sabine Feisst, Amernet String Quartet

The music of three compos-ers, Arnold Schoenberg, Kurt Weill, and Hans Winterberg was banned by the Nazis. This year’s Pozez Fine Arts Sym-posium will present the lives and music of these three ma-jor composers under the over-arching theme of “Forbidden Composers.” The speakers will explore the lives of these composers in their native lands and as immigrants in America, explain the relation-

ship between serious and popular music as exemplified in their music, and present a new understanding of ‘compositional voice’ in the music of these important 20th century composers. There will also be two concerts in conjunction with the symposium. For a complete schedule of events, please go to judaic.arizona.edu/ForbiddenComposers

Israel, Jordan and Palestine: What is their Place in the New Middle East?Monday, Nov. 7, 2016 • 7pmTucson JCC • Free

Prof. Asher SusserThe Stein Family Professor of Modern Israel Studies University of Arizona

As the Middle East region goes through what is perhaps its worst crisis ever, and as key states seem to be on the verge of disintegration, how stable are countries like Jordan and how does its stability impinge upon Israeli security, on the one hand, and on the future of Palestinian statehood on the other? In the present regional circumstances how valid is the two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians? Is there a one-state solution? To what extent should old ideas like the Jordanian - Palestinian confederation be revived? What validity is there to the notion that “Jordan is Palestine”? This lecture seeks to discuss these questions and other related issues.

Shaol & Louis Pozez Memorial Lectureship Series

Israel 2016: Vision and RealityKeynote Address for the “Balancing Unity & Diversity” Israel ConferenceMonday, Dec. 5, 2016 • 7pmTucson Marriott University Park $50 (Students $25) includes Dinner

Prof. Anita ShapiraProfessor Emerita Tel Aviv University

The Zionist thinkers envisioned a pasto-ral land of milk and honey, living in har-mony with its neighbors, a country that is a model of enlightenment and prog-ress. Reality trumps the idyllic dreams: Israel is better than the vision in some aspects, but much less idyllic, full of con-trasts and conflicts, and of contradictory trends. The lecture will try to describe and analyze the expectations versus the reality, the success and the failure of the most amazing national movement in the 20th Century, Zionism.

Lecture Series

Mapping Middle East Mayhem:Monday, January 30, 2017 • 7pmTucson JCC • Free Prof. Laurie Zittrain Eisenberg University of Pittsburgh

Religion & the 2016 Election: Historical Context & Unusual AlliancesMonday, February 20, 2017 • 7pmTucson JCC • FreeProf. Randall Balmer, Dartmouth College

Stolen LegacyMonday, March 6, 2017 • 7pmTucson JCC • FreeDina Gold Moment Magazine

Full information is online at Judaic.arizona.edu/

PozezLectures

Spring 2017 Lectures

4 Arizona Center for Judaic Studies | Fall 2016 judaic.arizona.edu

Sally & Ralph Duchin Campus Lecture SeriesMiddle Eastern Secularism, Islamism and Sectarianism - A Brief History of Ideas & PoliticsMonday, Sept. 12, 2016 • 4 pm UA Hillel • Free

Prof. Asher SusserThe Stein Family Professor of Modern Israel Studies University of Arizona

Over the last two hundred years the Mid-dle East has undergone various forms of Westernizing and secularizing reforms under the impact of European ideas, key of which was nationalism. How did Ottoman reforms evolve into national-ism and into secular ideas of collective identity? Why did the process of secu-larization have only a limited impact? Secular nationalism proved to be less pervasive than initially assumed and never really superseded religious iden-tities, which have reasserted themselves with great force in recent decades. Isla-mism has become a dominant force in Middle Eastern politics. As religion and religious identity have become more politicized, religious sectarianism has resurfaced to deeply divide Middle East-ern societies and thus to challenge the integrity of the Middle East state system.

Gender in Archaeology Today: The Key to Understanding Ancient IsraelMonday, Sept. 26, 2016 • 4 pm UA Hillel • Free

Prof. Beth Alpert NakhaiUniversity of Arizona

Until the last few decades, the topic of women in antiquity was virtually un-explored by archaeologists and bibli-cal scholars. Little was known about

women’s daily lives, nor about their crit-ically important contributions to social, economic, and religious well-being. For those interested in Iron Age Israel (1200-587 BCE) this might seem surprising, since the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament includes many well-known stories about illustrious – and not so illustrious – wom-en. This talk explores the ways in which traditional scholarship in the fields of ar-chaeology and biblical studies has ham-pered exploration of the roles of women in the ancient Near East and, specifically, in ancient Israel. It looks at women and the exploration of the ancient Near East, and relates these topics to changing fron-tiers in scholarship on women in ancient Israel.

Innocent Until Proven Guilty: Jewish Responses to Accusations of Jewish Criminality in Early Twentieth-Century AmericaMonday, Oct. 31, 2016 • 4 pm UA Hillel • Free

Dr. Gil RibakUniversity of Arizona

Dr. Ribak’s talk will focus on the ways Jewish communal leaders, activists, in-tellectuals, and the Yiddish press in New York City responded to accusations in the early twentieth century by American nativists about alleged Jewish proclivity to criminality. Those Jewish reactions delineated the beliefs, attitudes and judgments about Jewish difference from non-Jews at a time when xenophobia and nativism were on the rise in America.

Armageddon and the Roman VIth Ferrata Legion: New Excavations at Legio, Israel, and Early Jewish-Christian-Roman RelationsMonday, Nov. 14, 2016 • 4 pm UA Hillel • Free

Dr. Matthew AdamsDirector, W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem

In the late 1st and early 2nd Centuries CE, dangerous Jewish (and incipient Chris-tian) rebels were causing problems for the Roman Empire in Palestine. Though the First Revolt resulted in the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE and in the establishment of a permanent base of the Xth Legion there, these groups con-tinued to harass their overlords. Histori-cal sources indicate that the Roman VIth Ferrata Legion was deployed to Palestine in the early 2nd Century CE to provide support for the Xth, a sure sign that the rebels were acting up again. The VIth Le-gion established their base somewhere near Megiddo, but its exact location has been a long-standing question in the ar-chaeology of the period. Using historical and geographical sources, aerial photog-raphy, and remote sensing, the Jezreel Valley Regional Project searched for po-tential locations of the elusive fortress. In 2013, one of these locations was tested by excavation, providing the first glimpse of a 2nd Century Roman military base yet uncovered in the entire eastern Empire. These new excavations have new impli-cations for Jewish-Christian-Roman re-lations and for the composition of the Book of Revelation.

judaic.arizona.edu Arizona Center for Judaic Studies | Fall 2016 5

Alumni NewsAndrea Brodie, Class of 2006Andrea Brodie is now an associate at Abrams, Fenster-man, Fensterman,

Eisman, Formato, Ferrara & Wolf, LLP in the family law group. Prior to joining Abrams Fensterman, Ms. Brodie worked at another prominent family law bou-tique firm as their senior associate with an emphasis almost exclusively on family and matrimonial cases.

Ms. Brodie graduated magna cum laude from the U of A and received her J.D. from Hofstra University School of Law with a Concentration and Citation of Ex-cellence in Child and Family Advocacy.

Weintraub Scholar Kati JuhlinWeintraub Scholarship recipient Kati Juhlin spent the Spring 2016 semester in Jerusalem, Israel.

The greatest thing she took from her experience living in Israel was a greater proficiency in spoken Hebrew, especially learning “how much more I need to learn”. She laughingly recalls asking a fellow bus passenger to repeat an announcement from the driv-er and then asked directions, but promptly forgot the Hebrew name of the place she was going.

Living in the land of the Bible brought to life the Judaic Studies lectures she had attended. Especially moving for her was learning how to put Biblical nar-ratives into Mesopotamian and Babylonian history,

looking at 5,000 year old accounts of life, and gaining a greater understanding of the Torah through the greater contextualization.

Living in Israel during this tumultuous time was eye-opening. Though she was never directly affected by violence, she began to recognize the places mentioned in news stories, and heard the harrowing personal accounts of Jewish and Muslim friends. The quote that she’ll most remember is this: “When someone visits Israel for a week, they know enough to write a book. When they visit Israel for a month, they know enough to write a journal article. When they visit Israel for a few months, they maybe will say a sentence or two. When they live in Israel, they realize they don’t know anything.”

Student News

$10,000+Anonymous

Paul & Alice BakerTom & Sara Borin

Don & Joan DiamondRalph & Sally Duchin

Marilyn Einstein & Steve SimDeanna Evenchik

Larry & Kristen GellmanThe Israel Institute

Gary & Tandy KippurKen & Betsy Plevan

The Pozez Family FundBobby Present

Ken & Linda RobinDavid & Andrea Stein

$5,000-$9,999Anonymous

Roy Medina & Rowene Medina Aguirre

Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona

Ruthann Pozez & Norman PozezEvie & Shaol Pozez Fund

$1,000-$5,000Anonymous

Deborah BakerMargaret Houghton

Michael & Robin KaisermanRon & Kathy MargolisMitch & Robin Pozez

Shelley Jo PozezHoward & Trudy Schwartz

Irving I. SilvermanGary & Marsha Tankenoff

Under $1,000Anonymous

Jack & Stephanie AaronAshley AguilarBarry BakerAl BergesenDavid Bilgray

Nathaniel & Suzanne Bloomfield

Ken BrandisRon Breiger & Linda Waugh

Jade CarrEdward & Arlene Cohen

George & Marjorie CunninghamJacob Donze

Emmanuel FurstDavid Goldstein

Ralph & Maxine HenigGary & Linda Israel

Robert JewettDeborah Kaye

Ron & Ruth KolkerBoris & Billie Kozolchyk

Lisa Kurr-McMillanSeymour & Sheila Lehrer

Sidney LissnerMichael & Helene Miron

Alice MorrisTom & Caren Newman

Janet OseranHal & Rachel OssmanStuart & Eve Pinkert

Burke & Kathleen RosenzweigBetty Anne Sarver

John & Helen SchaeferEsther SherbergShelly SilvermanNancy Surdoval

Donald & Elissa TempkinShelia Tobias & Carl Tomizuka

Robert & Evelyn VaradyTamir & Naomi WeinerLiz Weiner-Schulman

Patricia WhiteIrving & Marcia WinickBruce & Linda Wright

Your donations support

engaging programs, academic excellence

and community involvement!

Thanks to Judaic Studies Donors

6 Arizona Center for Judaic Studies | Fall 2016 judaic.arizona.edu

Jeffrey Plevan Memorial Lecture: Dennis RossUnited States Ambassador Dennis Ross addressed the history of the U.S. rela-tionship with Israel for the purpose of plotting the future trajectory in a lecture hosted by The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies on April 6th.

Ross’ talk was the 2016 Jeffrey Plevan Memorial Lecture, which is an annual

endowed lecture memorializing Jeffrey Plevan, a graduate of the University of Arizona in History and Judaic Studies. Jeff passed away at the age of 38.

In 2013 Betsy and Ken Plevan graciously and generously endowed the Jeffrey Plev-an Memorial Lecture in Israel Studies to honor the memory of their son. Mod-ern Israel was a very important topic to Jeff, and each year the lecture is aimed at shedding light on this area of study.

This year, lecture-goers were in for a treat as they attended “The Past, The Present and Future of U.S.-Israel Relations,” pre-sented by Ambassador Ross, one of the

world’s leading experts on U.S. policy in the Middle East and U.S.-Israel relations.

Ross, the author of new book, Doomed to Succeed: The U.S.-Israel Relationship from Truman to Obama, contextualized the relationship between the U.S. and Is-rael against the backdrop of the regional threats and the struggle between extrem-

ist religious groups in the Middle East. The most difficult task of the evening was to predict where the relationship would go to the near future by trying to track U.S. policy decisions in the region.

The lecture took place in the newly con-structed Environment and Natural Re-sources Phase 2 building located on the University of Arizona campus. A free re-ception hosted by the Plevan family was held in Jeff’s honor in the courtyard of the building prior to the talk.

Over 200 people attended the reception and 90-minute lecture.

Please consider a donation to Judaic Studies.

Your donations support excellent programs

like this one.

Ross served as the director of Policy Planning in the State Department under President George H. W. Bush. As well, Ross served as the Middle East peace en-voy for President Bill Clinton and served as a special assistant to President Barack Obama.

Ross is the William Davidson Distin-guished Fellow at the Washington In-stitute for Near East Policy, and is also a Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

judaic.arizona.edu Arizona Center for Judaic Studies | Fall 2016 7

Save the Dates: December 4-5, 2016

The University of ArizonaArizona Center for Judaic StudiesLouise Foucar Marshall Bldg.845 N. Park Ave., Ste. 420Tucson, AZ 85721-0158

NON-PROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE

PAIDTUCSON AZ

PERMIT NO. 190

Second Annual Modern Israel Conference

Conference Sponsors: