Program for Jewish Civilization

Since its inception in 2003, the PJC has held a wide variety of free public events including lectures, conferences and panel discussions. Speakers have included former heads of state, members of congress, journalists, authors, musicians, poets, and of course academics.

April 29, 2010 “How the Jews Became Japanese and Other Stories of Brazilian Nationality and Ethnicity”
Jeffrey Lesser, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of History and Director, Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, Emory University

April 22, 2010 “Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World”
Jeffrey Herf, Professor, Department of History, University of Maryland

April 15, 2010 “Famous Jewish Trials: From Jesus to Demjanjuk”
Ori Soltes, Professorial Lecturer, Philosophy Department, Georgetown University

March 22, 2010 “Why Mideast Peace Must Begin At Home: Bridging the Jewish-Arab Divide in Israel and Beyond”
Ami Nahshon, President & CEO of the Abraham Fund Initiatives

March 17 & 18, 2010 “Jews and Muslims in France: The Challenge of Multiculturalism in Contemporary Europe”
Two-day conference featuring several distinguished scholars

March 15, 2010  Goldman Visiting Israeli Professorship Lecture
Tamar Meisels, Goldman Visiting Israeli Professor, Department of Government, Georgetown University

March 2, 2010 “How to Read the Bible”
Marc Brettler, Professor of Biblical Studies and Chair, Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Brandeis University

February 2, 2010 “Elvis Was a Shabbes Goy: Or, What You Should Know About Southern Jewishness”
Eliza McGraw, Scholar and Author

January 25, 2010 “An Evening with David Bezmozgis: A Public Interview with Jacques Berlinerblau”
David Bezmozgis, Writer and Filmmaker
Jacques Berlinerblau, Associate Professor and Director, Program for Jewish Civilization, Georgetown University

January 20, 2010 “Jewish Orthodoxy Confronts Feminism: An Interview with Tova Cohen”
Tova Cohen, Director of the Program in Gender Studies, Bar-Ilan University
Interviewed by Sarah Fainberg, Visiting Assistant Professor of Jewish Civilization, Georgetown University

December 2, 2009 “Jewish-Catholic Relations in Light of the Bishop Williamson Controversy”
Herman Allen “Hal” Israel, Endowed Lectureship in Jewish Catholic Relations
Deborah E. Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies, Emory University

November 19, 2009 “We are Not Mizrahi, We are Indian Jews”
Maina Chawla Singh, Associate Professor, University of Delhi

November 17, 2009 “Making Pro Sports Kosher in an Age of Conspicuous Evangelical Christianity”
Tom Krattenmaker, Associate Vice President for Public Affairs and Communications, Lewis and Clark University

November 12, 2009 “Famous Jewish Trials: From Jesus to Eichmann”
Ori Soltes, Professorial Lecturer, Department of Theology, Georgetown University

November 10, 2009 “Human Rights, Antisemitism, and International Politics”
Robert S. Wistrich, Professor, The Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism—SICSA

November 4, 2009 “Missing from the Map: Feminist Theory and the Omission of Jewish Women”
Jennifer Roskies, Doctoral Candidate, Bar Ilan University, Israel

October 28, 2009 “Obama, Israel, and the Middle East”
Robert Lieber, Professor, Department of Government, Georgetown University

October 14, 2009 “Jewish Morality at a Crossroad; Who Speaks for Ethics in Israel?”
Yossi Shain, Professor, Department of Government, Georgetown University

October 13, 2009 “BADDIES—Between Image and Text”
David Stromberg, Israeli Writer, Artist and Journalist

September 30, 2009 “Can Terrorism Ever Be Justified?”
Tamar Meisels, Aaron & Cecile Goldman Visiting Israeli Professor, Department of Government, Georgetown University

September 22, 2009 “What is Secular Judaism?”
Jacques Berlinerblau, Associate Professor and Director, Program for Jewish Civilization, Georgetown University

September 16, 2009 “Personal Identity Confronts the Modern State: Jewish Tales from Russia, France, and Israel”
Sarah Fainberg, Visiting Assistant Professor of Jewish Civilization, Georgetown University