Past Events

Leah Documentary Film

Wednesday, May 22, 7 pm

At the age of four, after walking through the desert from Ethiopia to Sudan, Leah arrived in Israel. This moving new film employs Leah’s story to illuminate the broad experiences of Ethiopian Jews who were striving to adjust to life in modern Israel. The film was organized by Beta Israel of North America and will be followed by a panel discussion.

---

Jewish Women and the Civil War

Monday, May 6, 7 pm

Historians and literary scholars discuss whether as volunteers in hospitals and charity groups, proud resisters of military occupation, or even spies, Jewish women played a prominent role in nearly all aspects of the war - some were even important memoirists of the conflict.

---

Kaddish for Lincoln

Monday, April 29, 7 pm

In this discussion of Jewish attitudes toward Lincoln--and Lincoln’s evolving attitude toward Jews, Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer explores the 16^th president’s relations with Jews during the Civil War, and assesses whether the Great Emancipator deserved the name many contemporaries gave to him in the 19^th century: American Moses.

---

An Evening with Ken Burns: Revisiting the Civil War Documentary Series
20 Years on Discussion

Sunday, April 14, 6:30 pm

Over the course of 5 days in September 1990, Americans were captivated by Ken Burns? master history lesson on America?s bloodiest conflict. This program features the reflections of the Emmy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated filmmaker on the 150th anniversary of the war.

---

Rescue in the Philippines Documentary Film

Wednesday, April 10, 6:30 PM

This documentary tells the little-known story of the Philippines’ rescue of over 1,300 Jews from Nazi Europe. Orchestrated by Filipino and American politicians, Colonel Dwight Eisenhower and the Frieder brothers, Cincinnati-based businessmen, this film premiere will feature a discussion with the director, producers, former refugees and Frieder family descendants.

---

Passages through the Fire: Jews and the Civil War Curator's Tour*

Wednesday, April 10, 6 PM

---

Louis Marshall and the Founding of Modern American Judaism

Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 7 PM

Marshall was a brilliant lawyer and a pioneer of civil rights and environmental causes who exerted a profound effect on the American Jewish community. Yet today Marshall’s memory has faded, even as his legacy lives on. Scholar Matt Silver discusses the paradox of Marshall’s extraordinary career in his new biography. The author in conversation with AJHS Executive Director, Jonathan Karp.

---

FDR and the Jews

Thursday, March 7, 2013, 6:30 PM

Join Richard Breitman, Allan J. Lichtman and Elizabeth Borgwardt for a discussion of Breitman and Lichtman’s soon-to-be-published book FDR and the Jews, a fascinating new investigation of the machinations, compromises, and dilemmas surrounding the Roosevelt administration's reactions to the Holocaust-- and of the limitations of the presidency.

---

“A Night of Jewish Baseball”

Wednesday, February 27, 2013, 6:00-9:00 PM

Click here for more information

---

The Sixties and Jewish Celebrity: A Conversation with David Kaufman

Wednesday, February 13, 2013 at 7:00 PM

Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Sandy Koufax and Lenny Bruce all helped reshape American culture during a revolutionary decade. What role did their Jewish identity play? Join David Kaufman, author and Associate Professor of Religion at Hofstra University, in conversation with AJHS Executive Director Jonathan Karp.

---

Jews and Popular Music

Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 6:30 PM

From Tin Pan Alley to Tommy Boy Records, Jews have often been at the center of the business of American popular music. Panelists Ben Sidran, musician, producer, NPR and VH-1 host and Jonathan Karp, SUNY Binghamton, Executive Director, American Jewish Historical Society, explain why. Co-sponsored by Center for Jewish History.

---

The Annual Hanukkah Concert

Sunday, December 9, 2012 at 3:00 PM

This concert features Israeli jazz saxophone and clarinetist Anat Cohen and her quartet. The Jazz Journalists Association named Cohen "Clarinetist of the Year" for five years running, the first time that any artist has achieved that honor. Co-sponsored by American Society of Jewish Music.

---

Jews and Publishing

Thursday, December 6, 2012 at 6:30 PM

Three generations of leading publishers explore Jewish participation in the dramatic changes that transformed the book publishing industry in the post-war era from a sleepy "gentlemen's club" into a dynamic and tumultuous industry. Featuring three generations of publishing giants: Jonathan Karp, Executive VP and Publisher, Simon and Schuster; Jane Friedman, CEO and cofounder, Open Road Integrated Media; Jason Epstein, cofounder, The New York Review of Books, creator, the Library of America, former editorial director, Random House. Altie Karper, editorial director, Schocken Books, Moderator. Co-sponsored by the Jewish Book Council and Center for Jewish History.

---

Jews and Film: Exhibitors, Distributors and Showmen

Sunday, December 2, 2012 at 1-5 PM

While the story of "Jewish Hollywood" is well-known, this program will address Jews' roles as film distributors and theater owners, impresarios of both commercial and art film houses that brought movie entertainment to urban and small-town America alike. Program includes a screening of the film Ivan and Abraham. Panelists: Toby Talbot, The New School, founder, New Yorker Films, co-owner, Lincoln Plaza Cinemas; Philip Lopate, American film critic, essayist, fiction writer, poet, and teacher; Ross Melnick, UCLA, author, American Showman. Co-sponsored by Columbia University Press and Center for Jewish History. Film screening in conjunction with AJHS Fall Film Reel.

---

Ivan and Abraham

Sunday, December 2, 2012 at 1:00 PM

In 1930s Poland, it was traditional for some Christian boys to live with Jewish families in order to learn a trade from Jewish craftsmen. For this reason, Ivan has gone to live on a large estate with Abraham and his family, has learned Yiddish, and has become Abraham's best friend. But the anti-Semitism born of poverty, ignorance, and superstition is fierce in this community and the two boys run away into the countryside to flee an imminent conflict. Journeying together in a menacing environment, they reveal their innocence and inseparability. This film is being shown as part of the Culture Brokers series, co-sponsored by the Center for Jewish History and Columbia University Press.

---

The Ritchie Boys

Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 6:30 PM

"The Ritchie Boys" is the untold story of a group of young men who fled Nazi Germany and returned to Europe as soldiers in U.S. uniforms. They knew the psychology and the language of the enemy better than anybody else. In Camp Ritchie, Maryland, they were trained in intelligence and psychological warfare. Not always courageous, but determined, bright, and inventive, they fought their own kind of war. They saved lives. They were victors, not victims. Please join us for a discussion with Ritchie Boys alumnus Victor Brombert.

---

Jews as Art Dealers and Collectors

Monday, October 22, 2012 at 6:30 PM

Jews' prominence as collectors and dealers supported their claim to membership in European high culture and made them the principal targets of Nazi dispossession. Art historian Emily Bilski, historian Charles Dellheim, and curator/art dealer Jane Kallir trace this fascinating history and its current repercussions. Co-sponsored by Yeshiva University Museum.

---

Portrait of Wally

Wednesday, October 10, 2012 at 6:30 PM

In 1939, Egon Schiele's celebrated painting "Portrait of Wally" (1912), a beguiling portrait of the Austrian artist's red-haired mistress Walburga ('Wally') Neuzil, was seized by a Nazi from Lea Bondi, a Viennese gallery owner. Nearly sixty years later, the painting surfaced on the walls of the Museum of Modern Art, triggering a historic court case that pitted the Manhattan District Attorney, the United States Government and the heirs of Lea Bondi against a major Austrian Museum and the MoMA. After the screening, join us for a conversation with director Andrew Shea. Co-sponsored by Yeshiva University Museum.

---

Crossing Delancey

Wednesday, August 1, 2012 at 6:00 PM

Only in New York Summer Film Series

Directed by Joan Micklin Silver. With Amy Irving, Peter Riegert, Reizl Bozyk, Sylvia Miles. A romantic comedy about an independent young woman who ultimately succumbs to the charms of nice Jewish man who sells pickles on the Lower East Side thanks to the machinations of a matchmaker. Amy Irving was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for best actress. 97 minutes, 1988.

The film will be introduced by Annie Polland, historian and vice president for education at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.

---

Next Stop, Greenwich Village

Wednesday, July 25, 2012 at 6:00 PM

Only in New York Summer Film Series

Directed by Paul Mazursky. With Lenny Baker, Shelley Winters, Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum, Ellen Greene. A semi-autobiographical account of Mazursky’s early life as an aspiring actor in New York who moves out of his parent’s Brooklyn apartment to seek his fortune in the bohemian life of Greenwich Village in 1953. 111 minutes, 1976.

The film will be introduced by Noah Isenberg, a film scholar and cultural critic based at The New School.

---

Music in Our Time: 2012

Concert

Sunday, June 3, 2012, 3:00 PM

A felicitous blend of contemporary styles and a variety of vocal and instrumental combinations. With a rarely-heard piece by Leonard Bernstein (Piano Trio, for piano violin and cello); and works by Hugo Weisgall (selections from The Golden Peacock, a delicious set of Yiddish songs for soprano); Ben Yarmonlinsky (Menasche Songs, for baritone, set to texts by the late Samuel Menashe, who received the first “Neglected Master” award); Jody Rockmayer (Marsyas for harp and oboe, based on the Greek myth of Marsyas finding the aulos (oboe) created by Athena); and the award-winning composer Mark Zuckerman (Managerie for soprano, flute and piano, based on texts by the French poet Robert Desnos), this promises to be a stimulating and enjoyable program.

---

New York Places/Jewish Spaces: Life in the City, 1700-2012

A Symposium

Sunday, April 29, 2012, 11:00 AM-6:00 PM

New York City has been home to more Jews than any other city in the United States. Over the years, countless observers—from poets to politicians—have considered New York a “Jewish City.” But what exactly does that idea mean? How have Jews shaped New York? And how has America’s largest city molded the Jews? Join us on Sunday, April 29, for a day of discussion on the remarkable synergy between this great people and this great city.

---

Harry S. Truman and the Jews

Tuesday, April 17, 2012, 6:30 PM

AJHS Spring Speaker Series — The Presidents & the Jews

Presented by Dr. Ronald Radosh, Adjunct Fellow, The Hudson Institute, columnist for PJMedia.com, and Prof. Emeritus of History, CUNY.

---

Love, Loss & Legacy: Isidor and Ida Straus & The Titanic

Sunday, April 1, 2012, 3:00 PM

One hundred years ago, on April 15, 1912, the largest passenger steamship of the day sank in one of the saddest maritime disasters in history. Among the victims were Macy's owner Isidor Straus and his wife Ida. Their example of love and heroism forms one of the truly remarkable stories of the Titanic.

Direct descendants of Isidor and Ida Straus will be present to discuss their legacy, which will be placed in an historical context by Professor Steven Biel, Executive Director of the Humanities Center and Senior Lecturer in History and Literature at Harvard University. Original artifacts and documents from the Titanic, belonging to the Straus Family, will be on display.

A wine, cheese & dessert reception will follow the program. The newly republished 100^th Anniversary Edition of the Autobiography of Isidor Straus will be available for purchase and inscription by the editor and Straus descendants.

---

Teddy Roosevelt and the Jews

Tuesday, March 27, 2012, 6:30 PM

AJHS Spring Speaker Series — The Presidents & the Jews

Presented by Dr. Lance Sussman, Senior Rabbi of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, PA and lecturer in Jewish History at Temple University.

---

Abraham Lincoln and the Jews

February 28, 2012, 6:30 PM

AJHS Spring Speaker Series — The Presidents & the Jews

Dr. Gary P. Zola, Executive Director of The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives (AJA) and Professor of the American Jewish Experience at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Cincinnati. Lectures on Teddy Roosevelt (March 27) and Harry S. Truman and Ronald Reagan (April) to follow this Spring.

---

David's Harp - A Hanukkah Concert

December 18, 2011, 3:00 PM

An amazing afternoon of some of the Middle East's most thrilling and scintillating music, featuring the group David's Harp, that holds many surprises for the audience. And, of course, Isaiah Sheffer, host of Public Radio International's Selected Shorts, will open the program reading a wonderful story from the pen of a great Jewish writer - a tradition of the annual Hanukkah program. David's Harp is a unique and exotic five-piece ensemble singing and playing santouri, darbuka, keyboard, zills, flute, guitar, mandolin, electric bass daf and violin. Directed by Joseph Alpar, the group offers an exciting program of Sephardic, Israeli, Turkish, Greek, Egyptian, Ottoman, Bukharian and Yemenite songs that that have audiences literally "dancing in the aisles"!

---

Not Idly By — Peter Bergson, America and the Holocaust

Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 6:30 PM

On November 24, 1942, Rabbi Stephen Wise held a press conference announcing State Department confirmation that the Jews of Europe were being mass murdered. How did American Jews and their leaders respond to the crisis? Not Idly By — Peter Bergson, America and the Holocaust, an award-winning new documentary by Pierre Sauvage (55 min.), presents the challenging testimony of Peter Bergson, a Palestinian Jew who led a determined and controversial American effort to fight the Holocaust. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Sauvage and distinguished scholars. Co-sponsored by the Center for Jewish History and the Varian Fry Institute.

---

Jewish Soldiers in Blue & Grey

Tuesday, November 1, 2011, 6:30 PM

Coinciding with the 150^th anniversary of the Civil War, Jewish Soldiers in Blue & Grey is a first-of-its-kind film that reveals the little-known struggles facing American Jews both in battle and on the home front during the nation's deadliest war. This Documentary reveals an unknown chapter in American history when allegiances during the War Between the States deeply split the Jewish community between Union and Confederate sides. Join us for a viewing of this outstanding new film plus expert historical commentary.

---

Monument to Fallen Jewish Chaplains will Visit AJHS

Thursday, October 6, 2011, 7 PM

On the evening October 6^th, AJHS will hold a service honoring the Jewish chaplains who died in military service to the United States. The memorial plaque listing the fallen will be displayed at AJHS for a 24-hour period prior to its permanent installation later in the month at the Arlington National Cemetery. Rear Admiral Rabbi Harold Robinson will preside; representatives from Jewish veterans and chaplains groups will be present; and there will be musical accompaniment.

---

Hollywood Zion

Thursday, September 15, 2011, 6:30 PM

Click here for speaker bios.

Israel's creation in 1948 was a story virtually made for Hollywood — a persecuted people rising heroically from the ashes to found a country of their own against extraordinary odds. But behind the miraculous tale, American Jews remained nervous about the ramifications of the new Jewish state. Join us and our panel of historians and critics to view clips from classical films like Exodus and Cast a Giant Shadow.

---

2011 Emma Lazarus Statue of Liberty Award - May 4, 2011 Click here to view invitation Click here for registration form Join the American Jewish Historical Society when we honor of Ralph Lowenstein, founder of the Aliyah Bet/Machal Archives, and the North American volunteers who participated in the Israeli War of Independence. This year's event will be held at the Center for Jewish History in New York City. The American Jewish Historical Society is proud to become the repository of the Aliyah Bet/Machal Archives which records the heroism and sacrifice of approximately 1300 American and Canadian Jewish volunteers who fought in Palestine and for the newly created State of Israel from 1947-1949. If you are a member of Machal or the relative of a "Machalnik" with information to share, please let us know by contacting: AJHS c/o Aliyah Bet/Machal Archive 15 West 16th Street New York, NY 10011 Phone: 212-294-6160 E-mail: info@ajhs.org Visit our website for event updates!

---

Conversations on Conversion — A Symposium
Moderated by WNYC’s Brian Lehrer

Sunday, April 10, 2011, 4:00 - 7:00 PM

Conversion is an explosive topic in Jewish life. Historically, Jews have alternately welcomed and discouraged converts. Jewishness itself has been variously defined by religion, peoplehood, and ethnicity, with differing implications for converts in each case. In our own day the borderlines of Jewish identity appear less fixed than ever, and the question arises as to what significance conversion still holds in a Jewish world increasingly marked by assimilation, intermarriage and cultural hybridity.

Conversations on Conversion will address these issues in two ways, historically and contemporaneously. Two panels will be presented. The first centers on conversion in Jewish history from the biblical period to the mid-twentieth century, as discussed by leading historians currently conducting research on the topic at the Katz Center for Advanced Jewish Studies in Philadelphia. The second, to be hosted by WNYC radio personality Brian Lehrer, will present a range of important voices on conversion in Judaism today and address such related topics as intermarriage, denominational debates and the status of non-Jews in Israel today.

Presented by American Jewish Historical Society, Centro Primo Levi, Center for Jewish History, The Katz Center at the University of Pennsylvania and Yeshiva University Museum

---

Machal/Aliyah Bet Exhibition Opening, Panel Discussion & Reception

Wednesday, January 19, 2011, 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM

No Charge • Reservations Required • 212-294-6160 or info@ajhs.org

Join us as we pay tribute to the more than 1,300 North American volunteers who served in Israel's 1948 War of Independence. Known by the Hebrew acronym Machal (volunteers from abroad), the stories of their sacrifice and heroism form part of the fabric of our own history. The American Jewish Historical Society is proud to be the steward of the Machal/Aliyah Bet Archives.

Moderated by: Deborah Dash Moore, Ph.D., Director, Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, University of Michigan

Panelists: Samuel Klausner, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Sociology Associate, Middle East Center, University of Pennsylvania; Machalnik

Ralph Lowenstein, Dean Emeritus of the College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida; Founder of the Machal/Aliyah Bet Archives at the University of Florida Libraries; Machalnik

Derek Penslar, Ph.D., Samuel Zacks Professor of Jewish History, University of Toronto

Click here to view photographs from the event.

---

Kenneth J. Bialkin/Citigroup Public Service Award given to Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Click here for photographs from the Eizenstat reception

---

American Jewish Historical Society, American Society for Jewish Music & Yeshiva University Museum present:
A Chanukah Cabaret & Holiday Extravaganza

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Come to the Cabaret — A Chanukah Cabaret! • 3:00 PM

With Yiddish and Sephardic songs and stories: A rollicking Trio by Paul Schoenfield -- pianist Ted Rosenthal playing jazz improvisations on Jewish and Chanukah songs -- Zalmen Mlotek and Guests from the National Yiddish Theater-Folksbiene -- Ladino Songs performed by Elie Massias -- and, of course, Isaiah Sheffer of PRI‘s Selected Shorts, as host and storyteller. An annual musical event at the Center given in celebration of a wonderful, joyous and freilach holiday.

Menorah lighting, singing and reception

Chanukah Family Program (ages 4 and up) • 1:00PM-3:00 PM
Free admission with concert ticket purchase

Explore Chanukah relics, hunt for hidden holiday objects, design a festive stained glass panel & tour Yeshiva University Museum galleries

---

Gal Beckerman Book Signing and Reception

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Click here for photographs from the book signing.