Near Eastern Languages & Cultures Calendar - Past Events for this Academic Year

The Hermetic Imagination in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

-- submitted by Kathy Sanchez (ksanchez@humnet.ucla.edu)

For more information, see http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/c1718cs/calendar.htm

CMRS Faculty Roundtable: "Are the Days of Aramaic Numbered? A Socio-Linguistic Study of the Christian and Jewish Aramaic Vestiges"

-- submitted by Karen Burgess (cmrs@humnet.ucla.edu)

Towards the Pyramids: Administration, Architecture, and Ideology in Egypt's Early Dynastic Period

Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge

-- submitted by Michael Fishbein (fishbein@humnet.ucla.edu)

For more information, contact wendrich@humnet.ucla.edu

Revelation Regained: Hermeneutics in the Temple Scroll

-- submitted by Michael Fishbein (fishbein@humnet.ucla.edu)

For more information, contact williams@humnet.ucla.edu

Using the Classical Sources in the Study of the Ancient Near East

-- submitted by Michael Fishbein (fishbein@humnet.ucla.edu)

For more information, contact carter@humnet.ucla.edu

The Legacy of the Ten Commandments: Ancient Text and Modern Contexts

V. HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.

Speakers:

EDWARD FEINSTEIN, Rabbi, Valley Beth Shalom (Encino) and professor of Professional Rabbinical Studies at the University of Judaism's Zeigler School of Rabbinic Studies.

JULIA REINHARD LUPTON,Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature, UC Irvine, and Director of Humanities Out There (H.O.T.).

The Ten Commandments: Universal ethics that all righteous people should uphold or the "Moral Majority's" attempt to impose its religious beliefs on the secular world? Come discover with us, on selected Thursday evenings during Fall and Winter quarters, the remarkable textual and historical complexity of these Commandments and their legacies in the modern world.

A public forum sponsored by the Center for Jewish Studies with the generous assistance of the Jerry and Joy Monkarsh Family, this series costs $55 for all 11 evenings ($25 for UCLA students with SID) or $10 per person per evening ($5 for UCLA students with SID).

For further information or to receive a brochure, contact CJS at (310) 825-5387.

-- submitted by Susan Spitzer (spitzer@humnet.ucla.edu)

The Legacy of the Ten Commandments: Ancient Text & Modern Contexts

VI. DO NOT MURDER.

Speakers:

ROBERT WEXLER, President of the University of Judaism and Louis Colen Distinguished Lecturer in Bible.

KHALED ABOU EL FADL, The Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Fellow in Islamic Law at UCLA.

The Ten Commandments: Universal ethics that all righteous people should uphold or the "Moral Majority's" attempt to impose its religious beliefs on the secular world? Come discover with us, on selected Thursday evenings during Winter quarter, the remarkable textual and historical complexity of these Commandments and their legacies in the modern world.

A public forum sponsored by the Center for Jewish Studies with the generous assistance of the Jerry and Joy Monkarsh Family, this series costs $10 per person per evening ($5 for UCLA students with SID).

For further information or to receive a brochure, contact CJS at (310) 825-5387.

-- submitted by Susan Spitzer (spitzer@humnet.ucla.edu)

"Walter Benjamin's Friendships: A Biographical Exploration"

ALEX GELLEY (UCI)

Thursday, January 31, 2002 Royce Hall, Room 306, 4:00 PM

as part of the Seminar on Jewish Hermeneutics and Philosophy

Cosponsors: Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures, Department of Germanic Languages, Center for European and Russian Studies

-- submitted by spitzer (spitzer@humnet.ucla.edu)

'"You Still Haven't Finished With Your Mother': Allen Ginsberg and the Gendered Poetics of 'Kaddish'"

MAEERA SCHREIBER (U. of Utah)

as part of our Seminar on Jewish Hermeneutics and Philosophy.

Co-sponsored by:

UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures UCLA Department of Germanic Languages UCLA Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies UCLA Center for European & Russian Studies

-- submitted by Susan Spitzer (spitzer@humnet.ucla.edu)

"The Suffering and Salvation of God in Ancient Rabbinic Midrash"

MICHAEL FISHBANE (University of Chicago, Divinity School)

as part of the Seminar on Jewish Hermeneutics and Philosophy.

Cosponsored by: Center for Near Eastern Languages & Cultures Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies Department of Germanic Languages Center for European and Russian Studies

-- submitted by Susan Spitzer (spitzer@humnet.ucla.edu)

Lecture by Professor Sharon E.J. Gerstel, "Painting, Piety and the Peasantry in Late Medieval Byzantium"

present a lecture by

Professor Sharon E. J. Gerstel, Department of Art History & Archaeology, University of Maryland, College Park

"Painting, Piety and the Peasantry in Late Medieval Byzantium"

Monday, February 11, 2002, 4:00 PM, Dodd Hall 167

Professor Gerstel received her Ph.D. at New York University and specializes in Byzantine art and archaeology. As an art historian, her research focuses on the complex relationship between liturgical and extra-liturgical ceremony and monumental painting of medieval Byzantium. She is currently at work on a book entitled Painting the Sacred House, a study of art and family ritual in village churches of rural Byzantium. As an archaeologist, Gerstel has worked at numerous Early Christian and Byzantine sites in Greece, including Dion and Corinth. She has published on the history of medieval Messenia and has written on Byzantine and Turkish pottery recovered from an intensive surface survey in that region. She serves as Co-Director of fieldwork for excavations at Panakton, Boeotia, an ancient site covered by a medieval village of the fourteenth and early fifteenth century.

-- submitted by Heather Gould (gould@humnet.ucla.edu)

Remapping Rabbinic Judaism: Legal Hermeneutics in Rabbi Ishmael and Clement of Alexandria

-- submitted by Michael Fishbein (fishbein@humnet.ucla.edu)

For more information, contact williams@humnet.ucla.edu

What If She Puts a Basket Over Her Head? Contexts, Subtexts, and Pretexts of an Early Rabbinic Tradition

-- submitted by Michael Fishbein (fishbein@humnet.ucla.edu)

For more information, contact williams@humnet.ucla.edu

Was There 'Science' in Ancient Judaism? Creation, Cosmology, and the Limits of Exegesis in Late Antiquity

-- submitted by Michael Fishbein (fishbein@humnet.ucla.edu)

For more information, contact williams@humnet.ucla.edu

Israel Versus American Jewry: The Struggle over Soviet Jews

FRED LAZIN (Ben-Gurion University)

Cosponsored with:

The Center for American Politics & Public Policy

UCLA-BGU Program of Academic Cooperation, ISOP

-- submitted by Susan Spitzer (spitzer@humnet.ucla.edu)

History and Exegesis in the Study of Midrash: The Case of Rabbinic Portrayals of Ishmael

-- submitted by Michael Fishbein (fishbein@humnet.ucla.edu)

For more information, contact williams@humnet.ucla.edu

"The Legacy of the Ten Commandments, IX: Do not Testify as a False Witness Against Your Neighbor"

Speakers:

DANIEL SMITH-CHRISTOPHER, Professor of Theological Studies (Old Testament)and Director of Peace Studies at Loyola Marymount University .

MORDECAI FINLEY,Rabbi, Ohr HaTorah (West L.A.)

The Ten Commandments: Universal ethics that all righteous people should uphold or the "Moral Majority's" attempt to impose its religious beliefs on the secular world? Come discover with us, on selected Thursday evenings during Fall and Winter quarters, the remarkable textual and historical complexity of these Commandments and their legacies in the modern world.

A public forum sponsored by the Center for Jewish Studies with the generous assistance of the Jerry and Joy Monkarsh Family, this series costs $55 for all 11 evenings ($25 for UCLA students with SID) or $10 per person per evening ($5 for UCLA students with SID). For further information or to receive a brochure, contact CJS at (310) 825-5387.

-- submitted by Susan Spitzer (spitzer@humnet.ucla.edu)

"'Remember Lot's Wife' [Luke 17:32]: Scenes from a Failed Encounter in Post-Biblical Cultures"

"'Remember Lot's Wife' [Luke 17:32]: Scenes from a Failed Encounter in Post-Biblical Cultures"

as part of our ongoing Seminar on Jewish Hermeneutics and Philosophy.

Cosponsors: Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies; Department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures; Department of Germanic Languages; Center for European and Russian Studies; Department of English; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Studies

-- submitted by Susan Spitzer (spitzer@humnet.ucla.edu)

The Legacy of the Ten Commandments: Ancient Text and Modern Contexts, X

X: DO NOT COVET YOUR NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE, WIFE, HIS MALE OR FEMALE SLAVE, HIS OX, HIS ASS, OR ANYTHING THAT IS YOUR NEIGHBOR'S.

Speakers:

ELIE SPITZ, Rabbi, Congregation B'nai Israel (Tustin).

RICHARD MOUW, President, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Professor of Christian Philosophy and Ethics.

The Ten Commandments: Universal ethics that all righteous people should uphold or the "Moral Majority's" attempt to impose its religious beliefs on the secular world? Come discover with us, on selected Thursday evenings during Fall and Winter quarters, the remarkable textual and historical complexity of these Commandments and their legacies in the modern world.

A public forum sponsored by the Center for Jewish Studies with the generous assistance of the Jerry and Joy Monkarsh Family, this series costs $55 for all 11 evenings ($25 for UCLA students with SID) or $10 per person per evening ($5 for UCLA students with SID). For further information or to receive a brochure, contact CJS at (310) 825-5387.

-- submitted by Susan Spitzer (spitzer@humnet.ucla.edu)

"Differing Conceptions of Memory in the Book of Numbers"

PROFESSOR ADRIANE LEVEEN (Hebrew Union College) on:

"Differing Conceptions of Memory in the Book of Numbers"

as part of our ongoing Seminar on Jewish Hermeneutics and Philosophy.

Cosponsors: Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies; Department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures; Department of Germanic Languages; Center for European and Russian Studies; Department of English; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Studies

-- submitted by Susan Spitzer (spitzer@humnet.ucla.edu)

"The Dialogue with Judaism: Its Challenge for Christian Self-Understanding"

JOHN T. PAWLIKOWSKI, O.S.M., Ph.D. (Catholic Theological Union, University of Chicago)

speaking on "The Dialogue with Judaism: Its Challenge for Christian Self-Understanding."

John Pawlikowski, a priest of the Servite Order, serves on the Executive Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council and chairs its Church Relations Committee. He is a member of the Advisory Committee on Catholic-Jewish Relations, National Conference of Catholic Bishops. A 1986 recipient of "The Righteous Among Nations" Award from the Detroit Holocaust Museum, he is also the 1989 recipient of the Raoul Wallenberg Humanitarian Award for Distinguished Contributions to Religion. He is the author and editor of 11 books, including "The Challenge of the Holocaust for Christian Theology," "Christ in the Light of the Christian- Jewish Dialogue," and "Jesus and the Theology of Israel."

-- submitted by Susan Spitzer (spitzer@humnet.ucla.edu)

Virginity in Ancient Babylonia

-- submitted by Michael Fishbein (fishbein@humnet.ucla.edu)

20th Century Armenian Art: the Central Trends

Dr. Khachatryan received his tertiary education at the Pedagogical Institute of Erevan, going on to graduate school at the Leningrad Academy of Fine Arts. In 1959 he was appointed scientific research worker in the State Gallery of Armenia. He was promoted to his current post as director of the Saryan Museum in 1967 and has held the joint post of director of the National Gallery of Armenia since 1991. In addition, he teaches History of Art at the Fine Arts Academy of Erevan.

He has lectured widely in Europe and the Middle East on Armenian Art. The author of more than 200 articles, he has written several monographs on the 19th century seascape artist Yovhannes Aivazovsky and on one of the most important 20th century Armenian painters, Martiros Saryan.

-- submitted by Michael Fishbein (fishbein@humnet.ucla.edu)

Ethnic Identity in the Roman Near East: the Evidence of Aramaic Inscriptions

-- submitted by Michael Fishbein (fishbein@humnet.ucla.edu)

For more information, contact carter@humnet.ucla.edu

Martiros Saryan's Contribution to Modern Armenian Art

Dr. Khachatryan received his tertiary education at the Pedagogical Institute of Erevan, going on to graduate school at the Leningrad Academy of Fine Arts. In 1959 he was appointed scientific research worker in the State Gallery of Armenia. He was promoted to his current post as director of the Saryan Museum in 1967 and has held the joint post of director of the National Gallery of Armenia since 1991. In addition, he teaches History of Art at the Fine Arts Academy of Erevan.

He has lectured widely in Europe and the Middle East on Armenian Art. The author of more than 200 articles, he has written several monographs on the 19th century seascape artist Yovhannes Aivazovsky and on one of the most important 20th century Armenian painters, Martiros Saryan.

-- submitted by Michael Fishbein (fishbein@humnet.ucla.edu)

"Religion and Society in the Late Ottoman Empire" - a conference

The conference will bring together a dynamic group of scholars whose research addresses pertinent aspects of the religion/culture/social change problem. They will be joined by members of the UCLA History Department from fields outside the Middle East whose work deals with issues similar to those confronting historians of the Middle East and who will comment on papers presented by the participants.

This program is being co-sponsored by The Center for Near Eastern Studies, The Department of History, The Division of Social Sciences, The Center for the Study of Religion, and The Humanities Research Institute at UC Irvine.

Please see the website below for the full program schedule and online copies of papers. Hard copies of the papers are available upon request.

Limited seating is available, however no reservations required. Parking is available for $6 in Lot 2 of the UCLA Campus. The kiosk entrance is at Hilgard and Westholme Avenues. For further information, please visit our website at http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/cmcs or contact our office by email at modcon@humnet.ucla.edu or by phone at (310) 825-9581.

-- submitted by Kathy Sanchez (ksanchez@humnet.ucla.edu)

For more information, see http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/cmcs/Ottoman.htm

"TEACHING ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST IN POLAND: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE"

Professor Trojanski is a senior lecturer at the Institute of History of the Pedagogical University in Krakow, Poland where he specializes in the modern history of the Jews in Poland, and especially Holocaust education. He is a member of the Polish-German Center in Krakow and the Polish Society of Jewish Studies as well as on the editorial board of the journal "Studia Judaica." He is the co-author of the Polish curriculum for teaching about the Holocaust ("Holocaust: About the History and Extermination of the Jews within the Framework of Humanities Lessons in Post- Primary Schools.")

-- submitted by Susan Spitzer (spitzer@humnet.ucla.edu)

"Jacques Derrida: The Last and Least of the Jews"

With Gil Anidjar (Columbia University.), Robert Gibbs (University of Toronto), Dana Hollander (Michigan State University), Moshe Idel (Hebrew University), Joshua Kates (St. Johns College), Eric Santner (University of Chicago), Elisabeth Weber (UC Santa Barbara), Samuel Weber (Northwestern University)

Sunday, April 28th, 2002, 2:30 - 7:30 Covel Commons: The Grand Horizon Room, Salon A UCLA

Jacques Derrida is one of the most famous and influential philosophers of our times. At the same time he is arguably a centrally Jewish philosopher, not only biographically, but as one whose ideas cannot be understood exclusively within a Greek framework of thinking. Derrida was born in El-Biar, Algeria in 1930 and grew up there with a strong sense both of being a Jew and of being persecuted for his Jewishness. He has referred to himself, somewhat cryptically, as "the last and the least of the Jews," and as a "Marrano." In an essay on the great Jewish Egyptian writer Edmond Jabès, Derrida comments on "the difficulty of being a Jew, which coincides with the difficulty of writing; for Judaism and writing are but the same waiting, the same hope, the same depletion."

Please join us for a discussion with Professor Derrida on the Jewish themes that have become ever more present in his work in recent years. This symposium is the first half of a two day conference on the Impact of Jewish Thought on European Culture, which will continue the following day with sessions on Franz Rosenzweig.

After initial Remarks by Professor Derrida, a group of his readers will present their Responses to the role of "the Jewish Question" in deconstruction and philosophy. This will be followed by an open discussion, focused on two of Derrida's recent essays on Jewish issues, "Avowing -- The Impossible" and "Abraham, the Other," which are attached here. Finally, the Symposium will end with a reception and screening of the recent film by Safaa Fathy, Derrida's Elsewhere, which takes up the role of religion and Jewish culture in his life and ideas. A schedule and parking information is below.

2:30 - 2:40 Kenneth Reinhard, Director UCLA Center for Jewish Studies Introductory Remarks

2:45 - 3:15 Jacques Derrida, Director of Studies at the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris), Professor of Comparative Literature, UC Irvine, Remarks

3:15 - 5:45 Responses to Derrida's "Abraham, the Other" and "Avowing - The Impossible" and Comments by Professor Derrida

Gil Anidjar (Columbia University.), Robert Gibbs (University of Toronto) Dana Hollander (Michigan State University), Moshe Idel (Hebrew University) Joshua Kates (St. Johns College), Eric Santner (University of Chicago) Elisabeth Weber (UC Santa Barbara), Samuel Weber (Northwestern University)

5:45 - 6:30 Reception

6:30 - 7:30 Screening of Derrida's Elsewhere (1999, 52 minutes)

PARKING DIRECTIONS

Parking permits may be purchased at Lot 4. Enter campus at Westwood Plaza from Sunset Blvd. and proceed straight ahead to the information kiosk in front of the underground parking structure. You may purchase your permit ($6) from the attendant, who can direct you to the Sunset Village parking structure, where parking for the conference will be.

Once parked in Sunset Village, take the elevator in the southwest corner of the parking garage to the Lobby (L) level. Once on the L Level, the Covel Commons building will be directly in front of you.

Turn RIGHT and walk along the outside of the Covel Commons building. Turn LEFT at the corner of the building and proceed to the entrance. There will be signs directing you to the Derrida symposium.

Here is a link to a map of campus that shows Covel Commons and the Sunset Village parking structure: http://www.ucla.edu/map/sectors/northwest.html

-- submitted by Susan Spitzer (spitzer@humnet.ucla.edu)

"Haunts of Assimilation: The Work of New York Artist David Deutsch"

LAWRENCE RICKELS (UC Santa Barbara)

on "HAUNTS OF ASSIMILATION: THE WORK OF NEW YORK ARTIST DAVID DEUTSCH" as part of our ongoing Seminar on Jewish Hermeneutics and Philosophy.

Professor Rickels, author of numerous books, including Nazi Psychoanalysis, Volume I: Only Psychoanalysis Won the War; Nazi Psychoanalysis, Volume II:Crypto-Fetishism; Nazi Psychoanalysis, Volume III: Psy Fi; The Vampire Lectures; The Case of California; and Acting Out in Groups, will discuss David Deutsch's surveillance photographs and explore them in the context of contest between Old Testament and New Testament media, with special attention awarded the Golem legend.

Co-sponsored by:

Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Department of Germanic Languages Department of English Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Center for European and Russian Studies Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies

-- submitted by Susan Spitzer (spitzer@humnet.ucla.edu)

"ISAAC ENCOUNTERS ISHMAEL: A MUSLIM-JEWISH CONVERSATION"

RABBI CHAIM SEIDLER-FELLER (UCLA Hillel) AND PROFESSOR KHALED ABOU EL FADL (The Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Felllow in Islamic Law, UCLA) ON "ISAAC ENCOUNTERS ISHMAEL: A MUSLIM-JEWISH CONVERSATION"

Co-sponsor: UCLA Hillel

-- submitted by Susan Spitzer (spitzer@humnet.ucla.edu)

The Syntax of Special Inflection in Coptic and Hausa WH-Constructions

-- submitted by Michael Fishbein (fishbein@humnet.ucla.edu)

For more information, contact wendrich@humnet.ucla.edu

The Older Egyptian Verbal System: Roots and "Binyanim" (Stem Classes)

-- submitted by Michael Fishbein (fishbein@humnet.ucla.edu)

For more information, contact wendrich@humnet.ucla.edu

THE MAURICE AMADO COLLOQUIUM IN SEPHARDIC STUDIES

"HERMENEUTICS IN SPANISH JEWRY"

June 2, 2002 • 1 PM • Faculty Center, UCLA

SHALOM ROSENBERG (Professor of Philosophy and Jewish Thought, Hebrew University, Jerusalem)

"Sephardic Hermeneutics: Deciphering the Mystery of the Texts"

BOAZ HUSS (Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica, Harvard University, and Professor of Jewish Thought, Ben Gurion University of the Negev)

"Exegesis and Cultural Power: The Emergence of Zoharic Literature"

MOSHE IDEL (Visiting Maurice Amado Chair in Sephardic Studies, UCLA, and Professor of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University, Jerusalem)

"Spiritual Interpretations in Spanish Thought"

MOSHE LAZAR (Professor of Drama and Comparative Literature, University of Southern California)

"Moses Arragel's 'Biblia de Alba' (1422-1430): An Ecumenical Translation-Interpretation of the Scriptures for a Tolerant Christian Patron"

-- submitted by Susan Spitzer (spitzer@humnet.ucla.edu)

Wep-waut in Westwood: Ancient Egypt at UCLA
Ancient Egyptian Architecture and Use of Space

Please, reserve this day in your planner. The program and abstracts will be sent to you at the end of May.

-- submitted by Michael Fishbein (fishbein@humnet.ucla.edu)

For more information, contact wendrich@humnet.ucla.edu