Mission

The Sandra Kahn Wasserman Jewish Studies Center (WJSC) in the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences at Baruch College reflects the legacy and heritage of the college, its tradition of educating New York City immigrants, its diverse population, and its special relationship to and place within Manhattan.

The WJSC is uniquely positioned to take advantage of Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business, School of Public Affairs, and Weissman School of Arts and Sciences as well as the Baruch Performing Arts Center. The WJSC is dedicated to teaching and informing the Baruch community and public about the history and experiences of Jews in America, specifically in New York City. Public programs, courses, events, and campus activities will focus on the Jewish immigration to New york City, and address some of the biggest issues and challenges currently facing today’s American Jewish community — Jewish philanthropy, Jewish business ethics, Jewish politics, Jewish identity and continuity, and the changing face of American Jewry.

Fall Public Events 2023

The Thread Collectors: A Novel. Discussion and lunch with authors Shaunna J. Edwards and Alyson Richman, in conversation with Dr. Jessica Lang 

RESCHEDULED : November 28, 12:00 pm-2:00 pm

Co-sponsored by the Department of Black and Latinx Studies

Special thanks to Kenya Lee (Chief of Staff to President Wu) and Olga Dais (College’s Legal Counsel)

Latin American Jewish Women Writers Series: Argentine human rights activist, poet and professor Alicia Partnoy (Loyola Marymount University)

October 17th, 2:30 pm-4:00 pm

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Fridays: Understanding Antisemitism, Jewish History and the Jewish Experience with April Powers (Project Shema Funder)

October 20th, 12:00 pm-1:30 pm on Zoom

Special thanks to Dr. Anna D’Souza (Associate Professor, Marx School)

Blacks and Jews: Together and Apart film series

A free streaming of the documentary Project 2×1, about West Indian and Chabad Hasidic communities in Crown Height, from 10/22-10/24,

Followed by a Zoom talk back with director Hannah Roodman in conversation with journalist Collier Meyerson, creator of the podcast Love Thy Neighbor: Four Days in Crown Heights That Changed New York, on 10/25 at 6:00 pm.

Immigrant Baggage: a conversation with author, scholar and translator Dr. Maxim Shrayer, (Professor of Russian, English and Jewish Studies, Boston College) and Dr. Sarah Valente (co-director, Wasserman Jewish Studies Center)

October 26th, 6:00 pm-7:30 pm

Kristallnacht concert with pianist Carolyn Enger: Mischlinge Exposé

Enger’s The Mischlinge Exposé interweaves video testimony from her father and godmother, both Holocaust survivors, with music and art from the salon period to the present, exploring the complexities of German-Jewish identity before, during and after the Holocaust.

November 14th, 6:00 pm

Engelman Recital Hall, BPAC

Latin American Jewish Women Writers Series: Chilean-American writer and scholar Marjorie Agosin (Wellesley College) 

November 16th, 2:30 pm-4:00 pm

Latin American Jewish Women: Argentine novelist Alicia Kozameh

November 30th, 2:30 pm-4:00 pm

Spring Public Events 2023

Interfaith Initiative: Faith, Conflicts and Coalition Series:

Antisemitism/Anti-Judaism: a conversation between Professor David Nirenberg, Tenth Director and Leon Levy Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, and Professor Magda Teter, Professor of History and the Shvidler Chair of Judaic Studies at Fordham University

February 7th at 6:00 pm on Zoom

An in-person reading and discussion with Jane Saginaw, author of the memoir Because the World is Round

February 23rd at 6:00 pm

An in-person conversation about Albert Memmi with Jonathan Judaken and Michael Lejman, editors of The Albert Memmi Reader, following a screening of Margaux Fitoussi and Mo Scapelli’s short film El Hara

March

A conversation with Achy Obejas, novelist, poet, translator and journalist, author of Days of Awe, part of our Discovering Crypto-Jewish Identities series

March 28th at 6:00 pm

Interfaith Initiative: Faith, Conflicts and Coalition Series:

In-person discussion with Sander Gilman and Zhou Xun:“I Know Who Caused COVID-19”: Pandemics and Xenophobia

April 17th at 5:30 pm

Yom HaShoah poetry event:

April 18th

With Baruch’s Mishkin Gallery:
Artist Aura Rosenberg’s cinematic interpretations of philosopher Walter Benjamin’s Berlin Childhood Around 1900 and Theses on the Philosophy of History
Screening and Public Conversation featuring:
Aura Rosenberg, Dr. Susan Buck-Morss, CUNY Graduate Center, Dr. Laura López Paniagua, Bard College Berlin

April 27th

An in-person conversation with Ben Moser, Pulitzer-Prize winning author and translator of Susan Sontag: Her Life and Work and Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector

April 27-April 28 (Free streaming)

The Jewish Experience from Basavilbaso to New Amsterdam, dir. Miguel Kohan, 2019

May 11th

Children of the Inquisition, dir. Joseph Lovett, 2019

Free streaming 5/1-5/2 with Zoom director talk back on 5/4 at 6:00 pm

2023 Spring Film Series: Discovering Crypto-Jewish Identities:

 Xueta Island, dirs., Dani Rotstein, Ofer Laszewicki and Felipe Wolokita, 2022. Featuring a talk back with the directors, March 15th

The Last Sephardic Jew, dir. Miguel Angel Nieto, 2004

Sefarad, dir. Rodrigo Santos, 2019

Fall Public Events 2022

13 Drivers’ Licenses exhibit and public lecture

October 24th through October 25th

Public lecture with Lisa Salko: October 25th at 6:30 pm (reception to follow)

Engelman Recital Hall, Baruch’s Performing Arts Center (BPAC)

A tribute to Baruch Distinguished Professor Grace Schulman, on the occasion of her retirement and the launch of her new book: Again, the Dawn: New and Selected Poems, 1976-2002

November 3rd at 6:00 pm

Engleman Recital Hall, Baruch’s Performing Arts Center (BPAC)

Zikkaron Kristallnacht: A Family Story, dir. Eugene Marlow, 2015

An in-person talk back with Baruch Professor Eugene Marlow following the screening

November 10th at 6:00 pm

A reading with Roslyn Bernstein, Baruch Professor Emerita, and author of the novel, The Girl Who Counted Numbers

This event will be Professor Bernstein’s first public reading for The Girl Who Counted Numbers

December 8th at 6:00 pm on Zoom

Fall titles, free 48-hour streaming access 

Spring Public Events 2022

Jess Solomon and Eman El-Husseini, the El Salomons: a married Jewish-Palestinian lesbian comedy couple

February 24th at 7:00 EST pm on Zoom

Public lecture with Dr. Madga Teter

Shvidler Chair in Judaic Studies and Professor of History, Fordham University

March 30th at 6:30 pm EST on Zoom

Jewish/Latinx Film Series: Spring titles, free 48-hour streamings

co-sponsored by Black and Latinx Studies, the Initiative for the Study of Latin America (ISLA) and

Baruch Performing Arts Center (BPAC)

February: El Brindis, Chile, directed by Shai Agosin, 2007

March: La Amiga, Argentina, directed by Jeanine Meerapfel, 1988

talk-back with the director following the streaming!

April: The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, Brazil, directed by Cao Hamburger, 2006

 *exact dates and times for spring films, TBA

Co-sponsored with Baruch’s New Media Artspace, Spring Semester visiting artist: Pinar Yolacan

Public artist lecture by Pinar Yolacan, Tuesday, April 5, 2022 from 6:30 P.M. to 7:30 P.M. via Zoom, RSVP here.

Born in Ankara, Turkey in 1981, Pinar Yolacan studied fashion at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and Fine Art Media in Chelsea School of Art before graduating from The Cooper Union with a BFA in 2004. Yolacan had solo shows at YKY in Istanbul, Finnish Museum of Photography in Helsinki, Center for Contemporary Art in Lagos, and Wetterling Gallery in Stockholm. Since 1997, reviews about her work regularly appeared in The New York Times, Art in America, ArtReview, Bidoun, Dutch, Rolling Stone and i-D magazines. Yolacan’s work is in the permanent collections of The J. Paul Getty Museum, Museum of Fine Art, Boston, KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki and International Center of Photography in New York. Yolacan lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

For More Information

Contact jewish.studies.center@baruch.cuny.edu

Dr. Jessica Lang, Co-Director
jessica.lang@baruch.cuny.edu
Office: Newman Vertical Campus, 7-24

Dr. Sarah Valente, Co-Director
sarah.valente@baruch.cuny.edu
Office: 136 E. 25th Street, #1008

Dr. Carina Pasquesi, Managing Director
carina.pasquesi@baruch.cuny.edu
Office: 136 E. 25th Street, #1008

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Thank you for your support!