Author: Cuberis
The TEN: Together Ending Need Advisory Board
The TEN: Together Ending Need Advisory Board was launched in February 2024 and is comprised of dedicated funders, human services practitioners, leading researchers, and experienced communal professionals. Collectively, this group will inform, guide and steward the work of TEN in its aim to raise awareness, funds, and action to support economically vulnerable Jews. TEN, established in 2019, is an initiative of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and JFN.
Wild Visionary: Maurice Sendak in Queer Jewish Context
LINK: https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=31783 Wild Visionary reconsiders Maurice Sendak’s life and work in the context of his experience as a Jewish gay man. Maurice (Moishe) Bernard Sendak (1928–2012) was
God, Grades, and Graduation: Religion’s Surprising Impact on Academic Success by Ilana Horwitz, PhD
LINK: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/god-grades-and-graduation-9780197534144?cc=us&lang=en& Ilana M. Horwitz
Cotton Capitalists American Jewish Entrepreneurship in the Reconstruction Era by Michael R. Cohen
LINK: https://nyupress.org/9781479879700/cotton-capitalists/ Honorable Mention, 2019 Saul Viener Book Prize, given by the American Jewish Historical Society A vivid history of the American Jewish merchants who concentrated
The Birth of Conservative Judaism Solomon Schechter’s Disciples and the Creation of an American Religious Movement by Michael R. Cohen
LINK: https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-birth-of-conservative-judaism/9780231156356 Solomon Schechter (1847–1915), the charismatic leader of New York’s Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), came to America in 1902 intent on revitalizing traditional Judaism. While
Michael Cohen Invested as Inaugural Grant Chair in the American Jewish Experience
LINK: https://news.tulane.edu/news/michael-cohen-invested-inaugural-grant-chair-american-jewish-experience Michael Cohen, Provost Robin Forman and Dean Brian Edwards process at 2 Audubon Place during Cohen’s investiture as the Stuart and Suzanne Grant Chair
Central Synagogue recording
Maurice Sendak was once described as “one of the most powerful men in the United States,” by art critic Brian O’Doherty, for having “given shape to the fantasies of millions of children.” In this special PRIDE book talk with Dr. Golan Moskowitz, journey into the fantastical world of Sendak’s stories and illustrations. Examine how Sendak’s multiple perspectives as a gay, Holocaust-conscious, American-born son of Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants from Poland informed his life and work. Explore how his creative output interacted dynamically with his cultural surroundings. This talk and Q&A will offer insights into experiences of marginality and emotional resilience that remain relevant and visionary to this day.
AJHS event recap and recording
Golan Moskowitz joined us for a presentation Wild Outside in the Night: Queer Jewishness and Childhood Liminality in the Picture-Books of Maurice Sendak a talk based off his book Wild Visionary: Maurice Sendak in Queer Jewish Context (Stanford University Press, 2020). In his talk, Golan spoke about the ways in which Maurice Sendak’s work connects to queer identity, Jewish American history, holocaust memory, and the history of modern childhood. Golan spoke about Sendak’s family life and upbringing as the queer child of Yiddish speaking immigrants, impacted by the holocaust and economic depression. Not just in the Sendak household but also for other Yiddish speaking and minority families, childhood bedtime stories reflected harsh realities of the world and taught children how to recognize dangerous situations. For Sendak, the truth of the stories was a way to build trust and connection with his parents and grandparents. Sendak’s extraordinary children’s books often featured characters who used fantasy as a way to combat isolation and claim a sense of self outside of conventional expectations. Sendak’s characters stand directly in opposition to a mid-century generic child ideal of vulnerable innocence, this generic child image was used to socio-politically define what was “normal” and “American.” Sendak’s children experienced a kind of wildness and danger, and were not always innocent or protected.
An Interview with Michael R. Cohen
LINK: https://cup.columbia.edu/author-interviews/cohen-birth-conservative-judaism The following is an interview with Michael R. Cohen, author of The Birth of Conservative Judaism: Solomon Schechter’s Disciples and the Creation of an American
Online Education Has Exacerbated Inequalities
Due to worldwide lockdowns, education has moved online. Most American households do not have access to the right technologies, spaces and basic needs to provide a quality online education for their kids.
Reinventing the University for Lifelong Learning.
I don’t know if there’s a more segregated part of our society than the education system. We won’t even put 8 year olds in the same room as 10 year olds. Most Americans’ education ends in their 20’s. Ilana talks to us about reimagining the education system.
Lessons from the 1900 Generation: Connecting the Old and New Maps of Life
In their groundbreaking new book, Living on the Edge: An American Generation’s Journey through the 20th Century (written with Lisa D. Pearce), Glen Elder and Richard Settersten follow the 1900 generation as they live through the turbulent times of the new century: World War I, the 1918 pandemic, the Roaring 20s, the Great Depression, and World War II.
