As the American Jewish community continues to change and adapt to modern trends, most recently exhibited in the 2013 Pew Research Portrait of Jewish Americans, so too have Jewish communities around the world experienced significant transformations in demographic and communal identity. Join three of Jewish Studies' professors as they explore the issues and subsequent shifts occurring in their native communities.

 

October - Melbourne, Australia (David Slucki)

Melbourne is home to over four million people, with an estimated Jewish population of roughly 60,000. Although Melbourne Jewry is today well-integrated into its local surroundings and comparatively affluent, it is historically a community made of up of migrants and refugees, dating back to the founding of Melbourne in 1835 with the most important growth coming in the decades after the Holocaust.

November 19 - Tel Aviv and the Palestinian Nakba (Oren Segal)

Named after Herzl's utopian novel Altneuland, Tel Aviv became a symbol of liberal Zionism. In recent years, the concept of The First Hebrew City as a model for Jewish exclusivity is being challenged by left-wing activists and organizations. This session will introduce the growing visibility of this paradigm shift by analyzing street art and Alon Hilo's 2010 controversial bestseller "The House of Rajani".