American Jewish History Through Film and Literature with Rachel Bergstein
Past SessionsTuesday, November 18, 2025 • 27 Cheshvan 5786 - 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Tuesday, November 11, 2025 • 20 Cheshvan 5786 - 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Tuesday, November 4, 2025 • 13 Cheshvan 5786 - 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 • 6 Cheshvan 5786 - 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Tuesday, October 21, 2025 • 29 Tishrei 5786 - 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
$36/members; $50/nonmembers
This course explores themes in American Jewish history using film and literature. The primary goal of the course will be to look at how Jews have publicly presented their culture and religion to an American audience, and how those images and themes have changed over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries. Students will learn how to use film and literature as texts with which to explore issues of representation and identity. Core films include The Jazz Singer, Driving Miss Daisy, and others. Films discussed in the class will be screened at B’nai Israel on the Thursday evening prior to the class at which the film is to be discussed. Additional details provided upon registration.
Rachel Bergstein is the Director of the CESJDS Center for Excellence and Engagement in Jewish History and holds the Evonne and Elliot Schnitzer Family Jewish History Department Chair. She earned her undergraduate degree in Jewish Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and a graduate degree in Jewish History from Yale University. Rachel also studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Drisha Institute in New York. She teaches courses in American and Modern Jewish History.
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Wed, December 10 2025
20 Kislev 5786
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