Arlene Lazarowitz, Ph.D.   

 

It is with a sense of success and accomplishment that the Jewish Studies Program at CSULB completes its seventh year.  Students have begun choosing the new Bachelor of Arts major in Modern Jewish Studies.  The B. A. is an interdisciplinary major that consists of courses in a variety of disciplines, including Geography, Hebrew Language, History, Literature, Politics, and Religion.

              The Jewish Studies Program continues to co-sponsor a monthly lecture series in the academic year with the Alpert Jewish Community Center.  These lectures are listed under the link for the Jewish Studies Program Speakers Series.  Each February, in cooperation with the Orange County Jewish Community Scholars Program, the Jewish Studies Program offers an on-campus lecture by a visiting scholar.

              Last September, the Jewish Studies Program and the Alpert Jewish Community Center co-sponsored the first ever and very successful Long Beach Jewish Film Festival in the University Theatre on the university campus.  Each film was followed by commentary from an expert in the area, as well as a question and answer session. Plans are being made for a 2006 film festival.

              In February, Dr. Jeffrey Blutinger, Assistant Director of the Jewish Studies Program, and a colleague in the Spanish Department, presented a notable Colloquium on Sephardic Culture, "My Heart is in the East and I in the Uttermost West."  On Saturday evening, the performance artist and singer Vanessa Paloma performed Ladino music that reflected the rich cultural traditions of the Sephardic diaspora.  The lyrics were infused with melodies from Mediterranean, African, and American countries.  The following day, an overflow crowd listened to panel discussions on "Jewish and Converso Life and "New Christians Crypto-Jews in the New World," and viewed a new documentary on Jews in Spain.  The evening concluded with a presentation on Sephardic music traditions in Italy by Francesco Spagnolo.

              Also in February 2006, the Jewish Studies Program and the Theater Arts Department co-sponsored a visit from David Zinder, Director and Acting Professor at Tel Aviv University, who held a week-long workshop for CSULB students.  Plans are being made for him to return next year.

              Last March, I hosted the twelfth annual Western Jewish Studies Association conference at CSULB.  More than fifty people attended the eleven sessions in which scholars presented papers on Jewish Studies topics that ranged from history to literature to religion.  Hasia Diner, the distinguished historian of American Jewish History, delivered the keynote address, "Teaching American Jewish History."  The conference concluded at Loyola Marymount University in West Los Angeles with a presentation by Artie Galles on his "Fourteen Stations:/'Hey Yud Dalet' Suite of Drawings" of Holocaust concentration camps.

              CSULB remains supportive of the Jewish Studies Program.  In particular, I am indebted to Dorothy Abrahamse, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts; Nancy Quam-Wickham, Chair of the Department of History, along with the History Department staff.  I owe a special thanks to the members of the Jewish Studies Community Advisory Board for construction advice, as well as financial support.

           We are looking forward to another full year.  I will be on sabbatical leave in the fall semester to finish writing an article, and Dr. Blutinger will direct the Jewish Studies Program. The lecture series will continue.  In the spring semester, Dr. Blutinger and I will bring two symposiums to campus, one on Yiddish culture and the other on issues of Jewish denominationalism.