UW Stroum Center for Jewish Studies

Tabling Outside Thomson!
2017-05-04 12:00 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
Join UW Stroum Center outside Thomson hall to learn about upcoming courses and to get a free Stroum Center Tote Bag!

Graduate Fellow Presentation: Life in Conflict Zones
2017-05-11 12:00 - 13:30 | Thomson 317, UW Campus, 2023 Skagit Lane, Seattle, WA, 98195, United States
New event series this year! The Jewish Studies faculty is hosting quarterly seminars featuring the research projects of our Jewish Studies Graduate Fellows. These talks will take place at lunchtime, 12:00-1:30 pm, on the UW campus. Join us to hear about the latest innovations in the field from our talented class of 2016-17 fellows!
Vegetarian lunch will be provided; please RSVP so that we can plan our catering accordingly.
“Non-Muslim Military Service and Minority Experience in the Late Ottoman Empire”
Ozgur Ozkan – 2016-17 I. Mervin & Georgiana Gorasht Fellow
Ozgur Ozkan is a PhD candidate in the Jackson’s School International Studies doctoral program. He holds a BS degree in Systems Engineering and an MA degree in Regional Security Studies from the US Naval Postgraduate School. Ozgur is planning to study Sephardic Jewish heritage in the Northern Aegean and Southern Marmara, especially in Canakkale and its vicinity. He is particularly interested in Sephardic Jewish participation in the Ottoman Gallipoli Front in the First World War and the immigration patterns of Sephardic Jews of this region.
“Effects of Violence on Civilian Support for Militancy”
Emily Gade – 2016-17 Samuel & Althea Stroum Fellow
Emily Gade is a PhD candidate in the Political Science Department at the University of Washington. Her research focuses on civilians in conflict zones, political violence and nonviolent resistance, and she is especially interested in the role of ZAKA recovery workers in Israel. Before coming to Seattle, she worked as a contract research and writer, most recently completing research for the LSE Center for the Study of Global Governance on peace agreements. Emily also enjoys athletic endeavors, having competed at the 2012 Olympic Trials (rowing) in the lightweight double sculls and placed second in that same event at the 2013 US National Team Trials.
Professor Noam Pianko will serve as moderator and respondent for these presentations.

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Spinoza and Modern Jewish Philosophy Conference: Day 1
2017-05-21 12:45 - 17:15 | Hillel UW, 4745 17th Ave NE, Seattle, WA, 98105, US
This international conference aims to explore the myriad ways in which Spinoza contributed to the development of modern Jewish philosophy. Although Spinoza was banned from the Jewish community in 1656 due to his “abominable heresies,” posterity has come to see his work differently. For some he is the central figure of the radical Enlightenment and the secular world. For others he is the first modern Jew, the harbinger of reforms that make Judaism possible in the modern world. Is Spinoza antithetical to the basic tenets of Judaism, or is his work essential to the articulation of a modern Jewish identity? The sessions will explore Spinoza’s philosophy and its impact on the philosophical, historical, and literary understanding of the modern world.
Confirmed speakers include:
Leora Batnitzky (Princeton University) ● Julie E. Cooper (Tel Aviv University) ● Paul Franks (Yale University) ● Willi Goetschel (University of Toronto) ● Michah Gottlieb (New York University) ● Jonathan Israel (Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton University) ● Julie R. Klein (Villanova University) ● Tracie Matysik (University of Texas) ● Yitzhak Melamed (Johns Hopkins) ● Michael Morgan (University of Indiana & University of Toronto) ● Steven Nadler (University of Wisconsin) ● Benjamin Pollock (Hebrew University) ● Michael A. Rosenthal (University of Washington) ● Daniel Schwartz (George Washington University) ● Abraham Socher (Oberlin College)
The conference schedule, along with information about speakers and panels, are online now on the conference webpage. Conference sessions (excluding meals) are free and open to the public; please register in advance. You may reserve a seat at both day sessions, and attend any or all panels on that day.
The UW Stroum Center for Jewish Studies is pleased to host “Spinoza and Modern Jewish Philosophy” in conjunction with the 2017 Stroum Lectures featuring Prof. Jonathan Israel. Prof. Israel will be speaking on May 21st and 23rd, 7:00 pm in Kane Hall. Click here for more information and registration.
We thank the following units for their support of this event: the Department of Philosophy, the Department of Germanics, and the Simpson Center for the Humanities.
Related Events:

Spinoza and Modern Jewish Philosophy Conference: Day 2 – May 22, 2017
Samuel and Althea Stroum Lectures featuring Prof. Jonathan Israel

Stroum Lecture Night 1: In What Sense was Spinoza a Revolutionary Thinker?
2017-05-21 19:00 - 20:30 | Kane Hall 220, 4069 Spokane Ln, Seattle, WA, 98195, US
Learn more about Spinoza, and read writing by Jonathan Israel and other Spinoza scholars, at the 2017 Spinoza & Modern Jewish Philosophy Conference website.

The 2017 Stroum Lectures will feature Prof. Jonathan Israel of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
Jonathan Israel’s recent work focuses on the impact of radical thought (especially Spinoza, Bayle, Diderot, and the eighteenth-century French materialists) on the Enlightenment and on the emergence of modern ideas of democracy, equality, toleration, freedom of the press, and individual freedom. His books include European Jewry in the Age of Mercantilism, 1550–1750 (1985); The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall, 1477–1806 (1995); Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity, 1650–1750 (2001); Enlightenment Contested: Philosophy, Modernity, and the Emancipation of Man 1670–1752 (2006); and A Revolution of the Mind: Radical Enlightenment and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Democracy (2009).
Prof. Israel received his Ph.D. from the University of Oxford in 1972. Prior to the IAS, he taught at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, the University of Hull, and University College London. He has been awarded numerous prizes, including the PROSE Award 2015; City of Amsterdam, Frans Banninck Cocq Medal 2012; London Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, Benjamin Franklin Medal 2010; Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Dr. A. H. Heineken Prize in History 2008; Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion 2004; American Historical Association, Leo Gershoy Award 2001; Wolfson Literary Award for History 1986. He is a member of the British Academy and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In What Sense was Spinoza a Revolutionary Thinker?
In the centuries since his expulsion from the synagogue in 1656, Spinoza has been a notorious figure within the Jewish world, and in the wider Western world as a whole. Spinoza is seen as the very embodiment of irreligion, of the rejection of religious authority, and of skepticism about the Hebrew Bible as divine revelation. As several key passages of his writings make clear, however, his principal aim was not to spread irreligious attitudes, but rather to promote “freedom” and to fight political tyranny, especially tyranny in the form of great monarchical empires, like those of Philip II of Spain and Louis XIV of France, which operated in close alliance with religious authority.
Spinoza was a revolutionary in his attempt to undermine political tyranny in alliance with institutionalized religion and philosophy in alliance with theology, and in his efforts to move the intellectually aware toward the view that the democratic republic guaranteeing individual freedom is the best, safest and freest form of government. In this respect, Spinoza can be described as the greatest Jewish “revolutionary” before Karl Marx.

Following Prof. Israel’s first Stroum Lecture, the Stroum Center will host a kosher reception in the Walker Ames Room of Kane Hall.
This year’s Stroum Lectures will take place in conjunction with the international conference on “Spinoza and Modern Jewish Philosophy,” taking place at the UW on May 21-22, 2017. Learn more about the conference, which has been organized by Prof. Michael Rosenthal, the Samuel and Althea Stroum Chair in Jewish Studies and professor in the Department of Philosophy.

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Related Events:

Stroum Lecture Night 2, May 23, 2017: “Eighteenth-Century Jewish Emancipation: a Consequence of the Radical Enlightenment?” featuring Prof. Jonathan Israel
Spinoza and Modern Jewish Philosophy Conference, May 21-22, 2017: Hosted by the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Washington

Related Links:

Stroum Lecture Digital Archive – watch lectures from previous years by scholars such as Ruth Behar, Jonathan Sarna, and Yael Zerubavel
Stroum Lectures at the University of Washington Press – browse titles that emerged from previous years’ Stroum Lectures, including Yosef Haim Yerushalmi’s Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory and Ilana Pardes’ Agnon’s Moonstruck Lovers: The Song of Songs in Israel Culture.

Spinoza and Modern Jewish Philosophy Conference: Day 2
2017-05-22 09:00 - 17:30 | HUB 334, UW Campus, 4001 E Stevens Way NE, Seattle, WA, 98195, United States
Spinoza by Studio Odilo Girod.
This international conference aims to explore the myriad ways in which Spinoza contributed to the development of modern Jewish philosophy. Although Spinoza was banned from the Jewish community in 1656 due to his “abominable heresies,” posterity has come to see his work differently. For some he is the central figure of the radical Enlightenment and the secular world. For others he is the first modern Jew, the harbinger of reforms that make Judaism possible in the modern world. Is Spinoza antithetical to the basic tenets of Judaism, or is his work essential to the articulation of a modern Jewish identity? The sessions will explore Spinoza’s philosophy and its impact on the philosophical, historical, and literary understanding of the modern world.
Confirmed speakers include:
Leora Batnitzky (Princeton University) ● Julie E. Cooper (Tel Aviv University) ● Paul Franks (Yale University) ● Willi Goetschel (University of Toronto) ● Michah Gottlieb (New York University) ● Jonathan Israel (Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton University) ● Julie R. Klein (Villanova University) ● Tracie Matysik (University of Texas) ● Yitzhak Melamed (Johns Hopkins) ● Michael Morgan (University of Indiana & University of Toronto) ● Steven Nadler (University of Wisconsin) ● Benjamin Pollock (Hebrew University) ● Michael A. Rosenthal (University of Washington) ● Daniel Schwartz (George Washington University) ● Abraham Socher (Oberlin College)
The conference schedule, along with information about speakers and panels, are online now on the conference webpage. Conference sessions (excluding meals) are free and open to the public; please register in advance. You may reserve a seat at either day session, and attend any or all panels on that day.
The UW Stroum Center for Jewish Studies is pleased to host “Spinoza and Modern Jewish Philosophy” in conjunction with the 2017 Stroum Lectures featuring Prof. Jonathan Israel. Prof. Israel will be speaking on May 21st and 23rd, 7:00 pm in Kane Hall. Click here for more information and registration for the Stroum Lectures.
We thank the following units for their support of this event: the Department of Philosophy, the Department of Germanics, and the Simpson Center for the Humanities.
Related Events:

Spinoza and Modern Jewish Philosophy Conference: Day 1 – May 21, 2017
Samuel and Althea Stroum Lectures featuring Prof. Jonathan Israel

Stroum Lecture Night 2: Jewish Emancipation and the Radical Enlightenment
2017-05-23 19:00 - 20:30 | Kane Hall 220, 4069 Spokane Ln, Seattle, WA, 98195, US
Learn more about Spinoza, and read writing by Jonathan Israel and other Spinoza scholars, at the 2017 Spinoza & Modern Jewish Philosophy Conference website.

The 2017 Stroum Lectures will feature Prof. Jonathan Israel of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. The second night’s lecture, on May 23, 2017, will explore “Eighteenth-Century Jewish Emancipation: a Consequence of the Radical Enlightenment?”
Jonathan Israel’s recent work focuses on the impact of radical thought (especially Spinoza, Bayle, Diderot, and the eighteenth-century French materialists) on the Enlightenment and on the emergence of modern ideas of democracy, equality, toleration, freedom of the press, and individual freedom. His books include European Jewry in the Age of Mercantilism, 1550–1750 (1985); The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall, 1477–1806 (1995); Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity, 1650–1750 (2001); Enlightenment Contested: Philosophy, Modernity, and the Emancipation of Man 1670–1752 (2006); and A Revolution of the Mind: Radical Enlightenment and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Democracy (2009).
Prof. Israel received his Ph.D. from the University of Oxford in 1972. Prior to the IAS, he taught at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, the University of Hull, and University College London. He has been awarded numerous prizes, including the PROSE Award 2015; City of Amsterdam, Frans Banninck Cocq Medal 2012; London Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, Benjamin Franklin Medal 2010; Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Dr. A. H. Heineken Prize in History 2008; Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion 2004; American Historical Association, Leo Gershoy Award 2001; Wolfson Literary Award for History 1986. He is a member of the British Academy and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Jewish Emancipation and the Radical Enlightenment
The process of Jewish emancipation in Europe proved to be long, hard, and bitter. Most people, most churchmen, and most governments, as well as most academics in Europe did not accept that Jews had rights equal to those of other citizens until well into the second half of the nineteenth century. How then did Jewish emancipation come about? What were the forces that dismantled the near-universal prevalence of restrictions that controlled where Jews could live, excluded them from occupations, limited their property rights, kept them out of the universities and excluded them from holding public office?
This lecture will explore how the Jewish emancipation is inseparable from the eighteenth and early nineteenth-century revolutionary tendency, especially the subversive call for “universal and equal rights” that first arose in the 1770s and 1780s. The intellectual forces that rallied behind the call for Jewish emancipation were the same as those fighting for “universal and equal rights” in Europe generally– the Radical Enlightenment.
Because of this, modern Jewish history is fundamentally embedded in a style of political and religious thinking that was anti-monarchical, anti-aristocratic and anti-ecclesiastical, one that began in Holland with the group around Baurch Spinoza in the seventeenth century. This Radical Enlightenment included a long list of subversive thinkers and revolutionaries from a variety of backgrounds, including a remarkable batch of Jewish revolutionaries before Marx: Moses Mendelssohn, the “gentle revolutionary,” Zalkind Hourwitz, Hartog de Hartog Lemon, Ludwig Börne, Heinrich Heine, Moses Hess. Even young Marx himself can be seen as part of this tradition–until he turned away from democracy and equal rights, rejected Spinoza, and finally became a “Marxist.”

This year’s Stroum Lectures will take place in conjunction with the international conference on “Spinoza and Modern Jewish Philosophy,” taking place at the UW on May 21-22, 2017. Learn more about the conference, which has been organized by Prof. Michael Rosenthal, the Samuel and Althea Stroum Chair in Jewish Studies and professor in the Department of Philosophy.

Powered by Eventbrite

Related Events:

Stroum Lecture Night 1, May 21, 2017: “In What Sense was Spinoza a Revolutionary Thinker?” featuring Prof. Jonathan Israel
Spinoza and Modern Jewish Philosophy Conference, May 21-22, 2017: Hosted by the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Washington

Related Links:

Stroum Lecture Digital Archive – watch lectures from previous years by scholars such as Ruth Behar, Jonathan Sarna, and Yael Zerubavel
Stroum Lectures at the University of Washington Press – browse titles that emerged from previous years’ Stroum Lectures, including Yosef Haim Yerushalmi’s Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory and Ilana Pardes’ Agnon’s Moonstruck Lovers: The Song of Songs in Israel Culture.
