Center for Jewish Studies
Feeling Jewish: Nostalgia and American Jewish Religion
Temple Israel 2323 Fremont Ave S, Minneapolis, MN, United StatesAmerican Jews tell stories about who they are and where they come from through a range of everyday objects and supposedly secular organizations. In her book Beyond the Synagogue: Jewish Nostalgia as Religious Practice, religious studies professor Rachel B. Gross examines the longing of many American Jews for Eastern European heritage expressed through artisanal delis, […]
“I Don’t Care What I Am Called”: Mary Antin and the Boundaries of Religious Identity
Nicholson Hall, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities 216 Pillsbury Dr SE, Minneapolis, MN, United StatesOnce one of the most famous Jewish women in the United States, writer Mary Antin shaped American conversations about immigration and religious identity with her 1912 autobiography The Promised Land, which depicted her immigration from Russia to the United States as a religious experience. Rachel B. Gross’s new book project uses Antin’s celebrity and her spiritual […]
Movie-Made Jews
This talk will focus on the American Jewish cinematic tradition that is much more diverse and pluralistic than most people realize. In this rich tradition of fiction films and documentaries, folks who consider themselves just Jews reside alongside those who are traditionally—or sometimes untraditionally--observant. This tradition not only represents Jews onscreen but also makes them […]