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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240222T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240222T203000
DTSTAMP:20260424T020716
CREATED:20240102T220219Z
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SUMMARY:2/22 LECTURE | Jerusalem in Rome and Galilee: Encountering the Holy City in Jewish and Christian Mosaics
DESCRIPTION:The city of Jerusalem has long been of vital importance to numerous religious groups\, from antiquity to the present. But where did rank-and-file believers in the ancient world actually encounter images of the “Holy City” in their daily lives? And what cultural and social work did these images perform? \nJoin Professors Karen Britt and Ra‘anan Boustan as they explore a wide range of depictions of Jerusalem in floor and wall mosaics produced during late antiquity (third to eighth centuries CE). During this period\, which saw the emergence of both orthodox Christianity and novel forms of Judaism\, visual representations of Jerusalem became increasingly prominent in the decoration of religious buildings throughout the Mediterranean\, from the grand basilicas of Rome in the west to rural synagogues and churches in Palestine and Arabia in the east. They will show how images of Jerusalem bridged the great gaps in both space and time that separated the religious communities of late antiquity from Jerusalem and its glorious past. In the process\, these images brought the visual presence of the Holy City into spaces of worship throughout the Roman Empire\, thereby fostering memories of the past\, hopes for the future\, and forging networks of belonging that radiated out from this sacred center into the cities\, towns\, and even villages of the late Roman world. \nThis lecture is co-sponsored by the Middle East Center in the Jackson School of International Studies\, the School of Art + Art History + Design\, the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures\, and the Department of Classics at the University of Washington. \nThis event is free and open to the public\, however RSVP is required. Click the button below to register: \nRegister Now >\nAbout the speakers\n\nKaren Britt is assistant professor of art history at Northwest Missouri State University. As an art historian engaged in archaeology\, her research focuses on the eastern Mediterranean. She has worked on archaeological projects at various sites in the region\, and is currently the mosaics specialist for the Huqoq Excavation Project in Israel. In her scholarship\, Britt explores how architectural decoration\, in particular mosaics\, can illuminate culture and society in the late Roman\, Byzantine\, and early Islamic worlds. Her research has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities\, the U.S. Department of State’s division of Educational and Cultural Affairs\, the J. William Fulbright Foundation\, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation\, and the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. She is the co-author of The Elephant Mosaic Panel in the Synagogue at Huqoq (2017) and has authored or co-authored articles published in venues including Studies in Late Antiquity\, Journal of Late Antiquity\, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research\, Mediterranean Studies\, Journal of Art Historiography\, and Journal of Roman Archaeology. Britt has collaborated with Ra‘anan Boustan since 2014 on the publication of the synagogue mosaics in the village of Huqoq in lower eastern Galilee. \n Ra‘anan Boustan has been a Research Scholar in the Program in Judaic Studies at Princeton University since 2017. Before coming to Princeton\, he was an Associate Professor in the Department of History at UCLA. Boustan’s work explores the dynamic intersections between Judaism and other Mediterranean religious traditions in late antiquity\, with a special focus on the impact of Christianization on Jewish culture and society. In addition to publishing numerous articles and edited volumes\, Boustan is the author of From Martyr to Mystic (2005) and co-author of The Elephant Mosaic Panel in the Synagogue at Huqoq (2017). He currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief of two international journals\, Jewish Studies Quarterly and Studies in Late Antiquity. Boustan is the site historian for the Huqoq Excavation Project and collaborates with Dr. Karen Britt on the publication of the mosaic floor in the site’s late fourth-century synagogue. \nBritt’s and Boustan’s collaboration represents a close partnership between a specialist in late antique material culture who has worked on mosaics at archaeological sites in the eastern Mediterranean and a historian of religion with expertise in literary evidence\, especially the Jewish textual tradition from the Hellenistic\, Roman\, and Byzantine periods. They endeavor not only to bring their respective tools and expertise to bear on their work on mosaics\, but more importantly to develop as much as possible a fully integrated approach that avoids privileging one type of historical source. \n \nThe University of Washington is committed to providing access and accommodation in its services\, programs\, and activities. To make a request connected to a disability or health condition contact Grace Elizabeth Dy at (206) 543-0138 or jewishst@uw.edu at least 10 days before the event.
URL:https://jewishstudies.washington.edu/event/jerusalem-rome-galilee-holy-city-jewish-christian-mosaics/
LOCATION:Thomson Hall 101\, 2023 King Lane\, Seattle\, WA\, 98195\, United States
CATEGORIES:Academic Lectures,Arts & Culture,Israel Studies
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://jewishstudies.washington.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jerusalem_Madaba-Map-Mosaic.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240228T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240228T130000
DTSTAMP:20260424T020716
CREATED:20240209T183135Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240226T233026Z
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SUMMARY:2/28 LUNCH & LEARN | The Invention of the Postcard: The Circulation of Jewish Visual Culture in Ottoman and Greek Salonica with Shalom Sabar
DESCRIPTION:The invention of the postcard in the late nineteenth century revolutionized how people exchanged information and images. While first introduced in the United States\, the postcard quickly spread across the world. In the realm of the Ottoman Empire\, where post offices had operated since the middle of the nineteenth century\, the postcard added a new dimension to the emerging technologies of communication. \nJoin us to hear Professor Shalom Sabar discuss how his review of extensive collections of Jewish postcards from Salonica (1897-1917) helps us to understand the self-perception and the experience of the Jews living in the city. \nLunch will be provided. This event is free and open to the public\, but RSVP is required. Click the button below to register: \nRegister Now > \nThis event is co-sponsored by the Division of Art History at the University of Washington. \n \nAbout the speaker\nShalom Sabar is a Professor Emeritus of Jewish Art and Folklore at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He received his Ph.D. in Art History at the University of California\, Los Angeles in 1987. He is the author of more than 250 publications exploring Jewish art and the material culture of Jewish communities in the Sephardi and Ashkenazi worlds in Europe and the Islamic East. His research areas include Jewish ceremonies and rituals\, life cycle events\, objects of daily life\, ephemera\, folk art\, amulets\, and magic\, as well as the visual culture of illustrated Hebrew books and manuscripts. Shalom Sabar is also an avid collector of Israeli and Jewish ephemera and has guided numerous traveling seminars to Jewish sites in Europe\, North Africa\, India\, and Central Asia \nThe University of Washington is committed to providing access and accommodation in its services\, programs\, and activities. To make a request connected to a disability or health condition contact Grace Elizabeth Dy at (206) 543-0138 or jewishst@uw.edu at least 10 days before the event. \n 
URL:https://jewishstudies.washington.edu/event/shalom-sabar-lunch-and-learn-winter-2024/
LOCATION:Thomson Hall 317\, Thomson Hall 317\, Seattle
CATEGORIES:Academic Lectures,Arts & Culture,Sephardic Studies
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ORGANIZER;CN="Stroum Center for Jewish Studies":MAILTO:jewishst@uw.edu
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240327T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240327T203000
DTSTAMP:20260424T020716
CREATED:20240109T185931Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240319T192246Z
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SUMMARY:3/27 EVENT | A Spark of King David: The Musical Poetry of Rabbi Israel Najara Then and Now
DESCRIPTION:Can a 16th-century religious Hebrew poet remain relevant to contemporary audiences? Rabbi Israel Najara’s poetic legacy proves that this is indeed possible. A Middle Eastern contemporary of William Shakespeare\, nicknamed “A Spark of King David” by his followers\, Najara’s poems continue to be used for Jewish rituals and festivities in the present day. \nJoin us to hear from Professor Edwin Seroussiwhy Rabbi Najara’s poetry of hope and redemption has persisted in synagogues\, in Jewish homes\, and on Israeli pop stages to this very day. \nRegister Now >\nAlso register for Edwin Seroussi’s talk on Thursday\, March 28\, at 7:00 p.m.:\nSonic Ruins of Modernity: Ladino Folksongs Today \n\nAbout the speaker\n \nEdwin Seroussi is the Emanuel Alexandre Professor Emeritus of Musicology at Hebrew University of Jerusalem\, Chair of the Academic Committee of the Jewish Music Research Centre\, Visiting Scholar at Dartmouth College and\, in 2023/4\, Fellow at the Herbert G. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.  His research focuses on Jewish musical cultures of the Mediterranean and Middle East and their interactions with Islamic cultures\, Judeo-Spanish song and music in Israel. He explores processes of hybridization\, diaspora\, nationalism and transnationalism in diverse contexts and historical periods such as the Ottoman Empire\, colonial Morocco and Algeria\, Germany’s Second Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire\, the Zionist settlement in Palestine and the Judeo-Spanish-speaking diaspora.\n\nThis series is cosponsored by the UW Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures\, the UW Middle East Center\, the UW Near and Middle East Studies Ph.D. Program\, ArtsUW\, part of the College of Arts and Sciences\, and by the Ethnomusicology Program at the University of Washington. \nIt was made possible with the support of the Hazzan Isaac Azose Fund for Community Engagement\, which was created in partnership with the Isaac Alhadeff Foundation and the Benoliel Family Fund\, with additional support provided by Congregation Ezra Bessaroth\, the Seattle Sephardic Brotherhood and the Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation\, as well as Jack I. Azose\, Howard Behar\, Harley and Lela Franco\, Jeff and Jamie Merriman Cohen\, Jack Schaloum and Marlene Souriano Vinikoor.\n\nThe University of Washington is committed to providing access and accommodation in its services\, programs\, and activities. To make a request connected to a disability or health condition contact Grace Elizabeth Dy at (206) 543-0138 or by emailing jewishst@uw.edu at least 10 days before the event.
URL:https://jewishstudies.washington.edu/event/musical-poetry-of-rabbi-israel-najara/
LOCATION:Kane Hall 220\, 4069 Spokane Ln\, Seattle\, WA\, 98195\, US
CATEGORIES:Academic Lectures,Arts & Culture,Israel Studies,Sephardic Studies
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ORGANIZER;CN="Stroum Center for Jewish Studies":MAILTO:jewishst@uw.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240328T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240328T203000
DTSTAMP:20260424T020716
CREATED:20231107T215930Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240325T173119Z
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SUMMARY:3/28 LECTURE | Sonic Ruins of Modernity: Ladino Folksongs Today
DESCRIPTION:Drawing on his forthcoming book\, “Sonic Ruins of Modernity: Judeo-Spanish Folksongs Today\,” musicologist Edwin Seroussi will examine a repertoire of Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) folksongs transmitted by Sephardic Jews\, a process made possible by a complex network of people and forces extending from the distant past to the “post-tradition era” of the present. \nIn addition to the lecture\, Ke Guo\, musician and Ph.D. candidate in the UW School of Music\, will perform Sephardic folksongs. \nRegister Now >\n\nAlso register for Edwin Seroussi’s talk on Wednesday\, March 27\, at 7:00 p.m.:\nA Spark of King David: The Musical Poetry of Rabbi Israel Najara Then and Now \n\nAbout the speaker\nEdwin Seroussi is the Emanuel Alexandre Professor Emeritus of Musicology at Hebrew University of Jerusalem\, Chair of the Academic Committee of the Jewish Music Research Centre\, Visiting Scholar at Dartmouth College and\, in 2023/4\, Fellow at the Herbert G. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.  His research focuses on Jewish musical cultures of the Mediterranean and Middle East and their interactions with Islamic cultures\, Judeo-Spanish song and music in Israel. He explores processes of hybridization\, diaspora\, nationalism and transnationalism in diverse contexts and historical periods such as the Ottoman Empire\, colonial Morocco and Algeria\, Germany’s Second Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire\, the Zionist settlement in Palestine and the Judeo-Spanish-speaking diaspora. \n\nThis series is cosponsored by the UW Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures\, the UW Middle East Center\, the UW Near and Middle East Studies Ph.D. Program\, ArtsUW\, part of the College of Arts and Sciences\, and by the Ethnomusicology Program at the University of Washington. \nIt is presented by the Hazzan Isaac Azose Fund for Community Engagement\, created in partnership with the Isaac Alhadeff Foundation and the Benoliel Family Fund\, with additional support provided by Congregation Ezra Bessaroth\, the Seattle Sephardic Brotherhood and the Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation\, as well as Jack I. Azose\, Howard Behar\, Harley and Lela Franco\, Jeff and Jamie Merriman Cohen\, Jack Schaloum and Marlene Souriano Vinikoor.\n\nThe University of Washington is committed to providing access and accommodation in its services\, programs\, and activities. To make a request connected to a disability or health condition contact Grace Elizabeth Dy at (206) 543-0138 or by emailing jewishst@uw.edu at least 10 days before the event.
URL:https://jewishstudies.washington.edu/event/edwin-seroussi-judeo-spanish-folksongs/
LOCATION:Kane Hall 220\, 4069 Spokane Lane\, Seattle\, WA\, 98103\, United States
CATEGORIES:Academic Lectures,Arts & Culture
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ORGANIZER;CN="UW Stroum Center for Jewish Studies":MAILTO:jewishst@uw.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240411T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240411T203000
DTSTAMP:20260424T020716
CREATED:20240103T000837Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240325T183123Z
UID:42822-1712862000-1712867400@jewishstudies.washington.edu
SUMMARY:4/11 LECTURE | Contemporary Ethiopian Artists in Israel and the Question of Hyphenated Identity
DESCRIPTION:Artist and researcher Efrat Yerday will draw upon the work of several contemporary visual artists\, including Zauditu Yossef-Seri\, Tgst Ron Yossef\, Michal Mamit Worku\, and Nirit Takele\, as well as the works of younger artists\, including Ephraim Wasse\, Jenet Belai\, and Rachel Aniyu\, to illustrate the challenges faced by Ethiopian Jewish artists in Israel today. \nYerday will discuss how Israeli artists of Ethiopian descent often feel forced to choose one side of their identity in their lives and work\, along with the diverse strategies these artists use to navigate these challenges. \nRegister Now >\n\nAbout the speaker\nEfrat Yerday is an artist and researcher\, poet and cultural entrepreneur. She is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at Tel Aviv University\, writing about Ethiopian Jews in Israel between 1955-1975 and the struggle for citizenship. Yerday is also the chairwoman of the Association for Ethiopian Jews and in 2020 won New Israel Fund’s Gallanter Prize for emerging Israeli social justice leaders. \nYerday is the co-editor of “The Monk and the Lion: Contemporary Ethiopian Visual Art in Israel” (Achoti Press\, 2017) and wrote the epilogue for the 2018 Hebrew translation of Zora Neal Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” In 2018\, Yerday joined film director Bazi Gete in coordinating the Atesib! African film festival\, the first of its kind in Israel. \nHer scholarly work has appeared in the journal Anthropology of the Middle East and she was a panelist and presenter at the Annual Israeli Sociological Society Conference in 2020 and 2021. \n\nThis event is cosponsored by the UW African Studies Program. \nThe University of Washington is committed to providing access and accommodation in its services\, programs\, and activities. To make a request connected to a disability or health condition contact Grace Elizabeth Dy at (206) 543-0138 or jewishst@uw.edu at least 10 days before the event.
URL:https://jewishstudies.washington.edu/event/efrat-yerday-ethiopian-artists-in-israel-hyphenated-identity/
LOCATION:Thomson Hall 101\, 2023 King Lane\, Seattle\, WA\, 98195\, United States
CATEGORIES:Academic Lectures,Arts & Culture
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ORGANIZER;CN="Stroum Center for Jewish Studies":MAILTO:jewishst@uw.edu
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241208T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241208T113000
DTSTAMP:20260424T020716
CREATED:20240923T185920Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250716T164210Z
UID:43602-1733652000-1733657400@jewishstudies.washington.edu
SUMMARY:12/8 LADINO DAY | "The Familiar" with Author Leigh Bardugo
DESCRIPTION:In Ladino Day 2024\, acclaimed fantasy author Leigh Bardugo (“Shadow and Bone”) discusses her new novel\, “The Familiar\,” which features a Sephardic Jewish heroine in 16th-century Spain who draws magic and power from her family’s secret language\, Ladino\, also known as Judeo-Spanish. \n\nAbout the event\n\nIn this event\, author Leigh Bardugo discusses her new novel\, “The Familiar\,” and its use of Ladino (Judeo-Spanish)  with UW faculty member Canan Bolel\, Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures. \nIn the novel\, Bardugo follows the struggles of a “converso” heroine — from a family forced to convert to Christianity and keep its Jewish heritage secret in 16th-century Spain — who draws magic from her family’s secret language\, Ladino\, and the refranes (sayings) that preserve Sephardic Jewish wit and wisdom across time. \nIn the conversation\, Bardguo discusses what drew her to this story and setting\, how she wove Ladino into her narrative\, the family history that inspired her\, and the collaboration with Bolel that led to the selection of refranes included in the book. \nAbout Leigh Bardugo & Canan Bolel\n\nLeigh Bardugo is the New York Times bestselling author of “The Familiar” and “Ninth House\,” and is the creator of the Grishaverse (now a Netflix original series) which spans the Shadow and Bone trilogy\, the Six of Crows duology\, the King of Scars duology. Her short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies. She lives in Los Angeles and is an associate fellow of Pauli Murray College at Yale University.\n \nCanan Bolel is a historian of the Ottoman Empire’s Jewish communities and is an assistant professor in the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures. Her first book project\, “Constructions of Jewish Modernity and Marginality in Izmir\, 1860–1907\,” explores how Sephardic Jews constituted their identities in imperial and communal settings\, focusing on marginalized Jews — the diseased\, criminals\, and converts to Christianity. She teaches courses on Ladino every year at the UW\, and consulted on the use of Ladino in “The Familiar.”\n\nLadino Day 2024 is supported by the Lucie Benveniste Kavesh Endowed Fund for Sephardic Studies. This event is cosponsored by the Departments of History\, Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures\, Spanish & Portuguese Studies and the Arts & Sciences Humanities Division at the University of Washington\, as well as the American Ladino League\, Congregation Ezra Bessaroth\, the Seattle Sephardic Network and the Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation.
URL:https://jewishstudies.washington.edu/event/ladino-day-2024-the-familiar-leigh-bardugo-sephardic-jews/
LOCATION:Kane Hall 210\, 4069 Spokane Ln NE\, Seattle\, WA\, 98105
CATEGORIES:Arts & Culture
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://jewishstudies.washington.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Ladino-Day-2024_for-website-V-scaled.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="UW Stroum Center for Jewish Studies":MAILTO:jewishst@uw.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260512T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260512T210000
DTSTAMP:20260424T020716
CREATED:20260129T214228Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260413T182326Z
UID:45411-1778612400-1778619600@jewishstudies.washington.edu
SUMMARY:Stroum Lectures 2026 with Rafael Neis
DESCRIPTION:The Stroum Center for Jewish Studies is proud to announce our 2026 Samuel and Althea Stroum Lecture series\, featuring Professor Rafael Neis from the University of Michigan. \nBoth events are free and open to all. Please register here: Registration Required \nLecture 1: Have ‘Men’ and ‘Women’ Always Existed? What the Talmud Can Tell Us\nMay 12\, 7:00-9:00pm\, Kane Hall\, Walker-Ames Room 225 \nWe often assume that the categories “man” and “woman” are stable and self-evident. Indeed\, ideas about the timelessness of gender may also underpin the refrain that “trans and nonbinary people have always existed.” This framing asks us to support the right of contemporary gender-diverse people to exist and flourish\, in part\, by recognizing that they\, too\, have an ancient lineage. In this talk\, Professor Rafael Neis presents an altogether different approach to gender. Through a journey into Talmudic texts composed in late ancient Iraq\, they invite us to set aside what we think we already know about gender categories. Doing so\, Professor Neis argues\, will illuminate how the ancient rabbis sought to invent\, classify\, and make meaning of the diverse plurality of human and other beings. \nLecture 2: Monsters\, Hybrids\, and Holy Images – Rethinking Bodies in Ancient Jewish Art  \nMay 14\, 4:00-5:30pm\, HUB\, 214 \nWalk through the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East\, and you would have been surrounded by images of all kinds—human figures\, animals\, hybrids\, and creatures that blur the line between the familiar and the fantastic. These images appeared everywhere: in streets and homes\, bathhouses and synagogues\, public buildings and sacred spaces. Art historians have traditionally taken upon themselves the role of assigning gender or species designations to such images in ways that replicate modern gender and sexuality concepts (especially of “male” and “female” or “masculine” and “feminine”).  In this talk\, Professor Rafael Neis explores a handful of examples from late ancient Jewish art in the Roman Galilee and Sasanian Iraq. Instead of sorting these images into boxes like “human\,” “animal\,” or “hybrid\,” or even “male\,” “female\,” and “queer\,” they invite us to see the complex ways in which ancient artists and communities imagined species\, divinity\, and gender. The result is an account of ancient Jewish visual culture that offers a more expansive representation of kinship\, difference\, and the sacred. \n  \nAbout the Speaker\nRafael Neis is a scholar and artist. Neis is the Jean and Samuel Frankel Professor of Rabbinic Literature and is appointed in the Department of History and Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. As Faculty Director of Arts Learning at Michigan’s Arts initiative\, Neis supports campus-wide art-integrated pedagogy. Their second book\, When a Human Gives Birth to a Raven: Rabbis & the Reproduction of Species\, was published in 2023 by University of California Press. Their artwork has been featured in shows and in many publications. \nThe Stroum Lectures in Jewish Studies is a nationally-renowned series of public lectures\, which has brought Jewish studies luminaries from around the globe to the University of Washington for more than fifty years. Made possible through the support of the Samuel and Althea Stroum Lectures Endowment\, this annual series is a cornerstone program of UW’s Stroum Center for Jewish Studies and has led to impactful conversations\, groundbreaking scholarship\, and award-winning publications. You may view the full Stroum Lectures archive here and review corresponding books published by University of Washington Press here. \n  \nImage: 4th-7th c. incantation bowl written in Aramaic from Iraq. Photo by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin via Wikimedia Commons.
URL:https://jewishstudies.washington.edu/event/stroum-lectures-2026/
LOCATION:Kane Hall 225\, UW Campus
CATEGORIES:Academic Lectures,Arts & Culture
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ORGANIZER;CN="Stroum Center for Jewish Studies":MAILTO:jewishst@uw.edu
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