Tag: Education

An Evening with Author Rachael Cerrotti
Wednesday, December 1, 2021 | 7:00 PM | Joseph-Beth Booksellers

Join the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, and Joseph-Beth Booksellers for a special evening with author Rachael Cerrotti. Rachael will join us for a discussion about her memoir, We Share the Same Sky. In 2009, Rachael Cerrotti, a college student pursuing a career in photojournalism, asked her grandmother, Hana, if she could record her story. Rachael knew that her grandmother was a Holocaust survivor and the only one in her family alive at the end of the war. Rachael also knew that she survived because of the kindness of strangers. It wasn’t a secret. Hana spoke about her history publicly and regularly. But, Rachael wanted to document it as only a granddaughter could. So, that’s what they did: Hana talked and Rachael wrote. The memoir weaves together the stories of these two women—Hana as a refugee who remains one step ahead of the Nazis at every turn, and Rachael, whose insatiable curiosity to touch the past guides her into the lives of countless strangers, bringing her love and tragic loss. Throughout the course of her twenties, Hana’s history becomes a guidebook for Rachael in how to live a life empowered by grief.

Books will be available for purchase during this special event hosted at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Rookwood. PRE-ORDER THE BOOK TODAY.

Rachael Cerrotti is an award-winning photographer, writer, educator and audio producer as well as the inaugural Storyteller in Residence for USC Shoah Foundation. For over a decade, she has been retracing her grandmother’s Holocaust survival story and documenting the echoes of WWII. In the fall of 2019, she released a narrative podcast, titled We Share The Same Sky, about this story. The show was the first-ever documentary podcast to be based on a Holocaust survivor’s testimony. It was listed as one of the best podcasts of 2019 by HuffPost, as a “Show We Love” by Apple Podcasts, and a “Reader’s Pick” by Vulture Magazine. In addition it received a literary award from The Missouri Review. The show is now being taught in classrooms worldwide, accompanied by educational resources developed by USC Shoah Foundation’s IWitness and Echoes & Reflections. Rachael’s memoir, also titled ‘We Share The Same Sky’ will be published in August 2021 and is now available for pre-order.

Rachael has worked in over a dozen countries; her work has been published and featured by NPR, PRI’s The World, WBUR, GBH, The Washington Post, Times of Israel, BBC and others, as well on podcasts such as Kind World and Israel Story. Rachael is currently producing and co-hosting a new podcast called “The Memory Generation” which digs into USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive and explores what it means to inherit memory.

Tickets are free but required. Learn more here.

The Holocaust Speaker Series, held each Wednesday at 11:00 am, features Holocaust survivors and descendants of survivors sharing stories of life before, during, and after the Holocaust. Join us on Wednesday, December 1 at 11:00 am via Zoom with Cheryl Hecht.

Cheryl tells the story of her father, David Hochstein, a Holocaust survivor from Cologne, Germany. Rescued by a Kindertransport, he was taken to London when he was 15. The Kindertransport movement was unique in that people of many religions came together to rescue 10,000 mostly Jewish children, bringing them to Great Britain. David’s story is one example of a teenager’s resilience, perseverance, and strength, during the Holocaust. Cheryl has worked as a professional and volunteer in the Jewish community. A graphic designer, she recently retired from the Mayerson JCC after 19 years.

Register in advance at this link.

The Holocaust Speaker Series, held each Wednesday at 11:00 am, features Holocaust survivors and descendants of survivors sharing stories of life before, during, and after the Holocaust. Join us on Wednesday, December 1 at 11:00 am via Zoom with Cheryl Hecht.

Cheryl tells the story of her father, David Hochstein, a Holocaust survivor from Cologne, Germany. Rescued by a Kindertransport, he was taken to London when he was 15. The Kindertransport movement was unique in that people of many religions came together to rescue 10,000 mostly Jewish children, bringing them to Great Britain. David’s story is one example of a teenager’s resilience, perseverance, and strength, during the Holocaust. Cheryl has worked as a professional and volunteer in the Jewish community. A graphic designer, she recently retired from the Mayerson JCC after 19 years.

Register in advance at this link.

In an era of political polarization and often vitriolic public discourse, educational institutions are uniquely positioned to create countercultures in which civil discourse can thrive. In this session, we’ll explore what civil discourse can look and sound like in educational institutions and consider what educators can do to create cultures in which it is possible to disagree, with mutual respect and compassion, about key issues facing our society.
Dr. Sivan Zakai, Sara S. Lee Associate Professor of Jewish Education, will lead this lecture.
Register in advance at this website.
In an era of political polarization and often vitriolic public discourse, educational institutions are uniquely positioned to create countercultures in which civil discourse can thrive. In this session, we’ll explore what civil discourse can look and sound like in educational institutions and consider what educators can do to create cultures in which it is possible to disagree, with mutual respect and compassion, about key issues facing our society.
Dr. Sivan Zakai, Sara S. Lee Associate Professor of Jewish Education, will lead this lecture.
Register in advance at this website.

Allison Schachter (Vanderbilt University) and Jordan Finkin (Klau Library, Hebrew Union College) will discuss their translation of the selected Yiddish stories of Fradl Shtok, in conversation with Madeleine Cohen (Yiddish Book Center). Fradl Shtok was one of Yiddish literature’s brilliant chroniclers of the inner lives of everyday people. Whether in the shtetls of her native Galicia or the urban tangle of her adopted New York, she sheds a light on the unglimpsed corners of the Jewish imagination, be they the travails of young women looking for love and desire in a world that spurns them or the frustrations and failures of men struggling to live up to stifling social expectations. Her deft modernist prose showcases Jewish women’s aesthetic experiences in a way no Yiddish writer had. The selected stories in From the Jewish Provinces represents the first collection dedicated solely to bringing Shtok’s work to the English-speaking world.

Register in advance, here.

Allison Schachter (Vanderbilt University) and Jordan Finkin (Klau Library, Hebrew Union College) will discuss their translation of the selected Yiddish stories of Fradl Shtok, in conversation with Madeleine Cohen (Yiddish Book Center). Fradl Shtok was one of Yiddish literature’s brilliant chroniclers of the inner lives of everyday people. Whether in the shtetls of her native Galicia or the urban tangle of her adopted New York, she sheds a light on the unglimpsed corners of the Jewish imagination, be they the travails of young women looking for love and desire in a world that spurns them or the frustrations and failures of men struggling to live up to stifling social expectations. Her deft modernist prose showcases Jewish women’s aesthetic experiences in a way no Yiddish writer had. The selected stories in From the Jewish Provinces represents the first collection dedicated solely to bringing Shtok’s work to the English-speaking world.

Register in advance, here.

In the entire Jewish Bible (Tanach) only fifty women are mentioned by name, and they “speak” less than 1% of the time. Re-examining the texts in which women are mentioned, we will read between the lines for the details of their lives and stories. This series will take place on Rosh Hodesh (except when on Shabbat) and will be taught by a combination of rabbis and Jewish educators in partnership with HUC-JIR. Register online here.

VIRTUAL SERIES

Ages 15+
7pm | Virtual
FREE with RSVP

DATES

Thursday, October 7
Sunday, November 7
Tuesday, December 7
Wednesday, February 2
Sunday, March 6
Tuesday, April 5
Monday, May 2

In the entire Jewish Bible (Tanach) only fifty women are mentioned by name, and they “speak” less than 1% of the time. Re-examining the texts in which women are mentioned, we will read between the lines for the details of their lives and stories. This series will take place on Rosh Hodesh (except when on Shabbat) and will be taught by a combination of rabbis and Jewish educators in partnership with HUC-JIR. Register online here.

VIRTUAL SERIES

Ages 15+
7pm | Virtual
FREE with RSVP

DATES

Thursday, October 7
Sunday, November 7
Tuesday, December 7
Wednesday, February 2
Sunday, March 6
Tuesday, April 5
Monday, May 2

In the entire Jewish Bible (Tanach) only fifty women are mentioned by name, and they “speak” less than 1% of the time. Re-examining the texts in which women are mentioned, we will read between the lines for the details of their lives and stories. This series will take place on Rosh Hodesh (except when on Shabbat) and will be taught by a combination of rabbis and Jewish educators in partnership with HUC-JIR. Register online here.

VIRTUAL SERIES

Ages 15+
7pm | Virtual
FREE with RSVP

DATES

Thursday, October 7
Sunday, November 7
Tuesday, December 7
Wednesday, February 2
Sunday, March 6
Tuesday, April 5
Monday, May 2