Shabbat Services, Dinner and Lecture by Dr. Ofra Amihay
Friday, November 10, 2023 at 6:15 PM
in person at Brith Shalom.
TITLE: THE LIFE OF SARAH, RACHEL AND LEAH GOLDBERG: Israeli Feminine Literary Lineage in Light of the “Hayey Sarah” Parasha
We will hear from Dr. Ofra Amihay, the new Anna Smith Fine Lecturer in Jewish Studies at Rice University, about
Dr. Amihay’s research on Hebrew literature and visual culture and have a conversation about the founding mothers of Hebrew feminine poetry. Among other topics, we will explore the ways in which the “Hayey Sarah” parasha echoes the unique and lasting poetic feminine lineage established by poets like Rachel (Bluwstein) and Leah Goldberg in young Israeli culture.
As part of our conversation, we will read a few poems by these authors, and discuss possible connections between their lives and writings and between the narratives about their namesakes, the biblical mothers.
Bio: Born and raised in Israel, Dr. Ofra Amihay is a scholar of Hebrew and comparative literature with a special interest in text and image relations. She holds a PhD from New York University and before joining Rice University she taught at Lawrence University, Georgetown University, and University of California, Santa Barbara.
She has published articles on Hebrew literature, Jewish comics and graphic novels, children’s literature and photography. Her books include the co-edited volume The Future of Text and Image (Cambridge Scholars, 2012) and a monograph entitled The People of the Book and the Camera: Photography in the Hebrew Novel (Syracuse University Press, 2022).
Shabbat Services, Dinner and Lecture by Dr. Mark Goldberg
Friday, February 23, 2024 at 6:15 PM
in person at Brith Shalom.
Title: Queen Esther of Miami Beach: Cuban Jewish Community Building in the 1960s
This presentation focuses on one Cuban Jewish community event, "La Coronación de la Reina Esther (Queen Esther Coronation)" to explore how migrants settled into life in 1960s Greater Miami. Initially expecting to stay in the United States temporarily, Cuban Jews who fled the 1959 revolution found themselves calling Miami home by the end of the 1960s. Like all newcomers, they faced various challenges in the new U.S. environment, and they responded by building a tight-knit, thriving community.
Bio: Professor Goldberg is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Houston, and he specializes in Latina/o/x history and the history of borders and immigration. His book, Conquering Sickness: Race, Health, and Colonization in the Texas Borderlands, examines the role of health and healing in imperial expansion and nation building in the 18th- and 19th-century Texas-Mexico border region. Goldberg is currently working on another book project on the history of Cuban Jewish migrants. This study examines how Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews built community in Cuba and how later migrants formed community in the United States. This project considers how Latina/o/x Jewish immigrants experienced emigration and settlement in the United States, offering a new understanding of the relationship between race and immigration.
Professor Goldberg is the Interim Director of the Center for Public History and an affiliate of the Jewish Studies Program and the Center for Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at UH.
