October 25

The Jewish Situation in Colonial America
9:30 am-12:30 pm
School of Management, Room 412, 595 Commonwealth Ave.

Chair: Thomas Glick, Professor of History, Boston University
Allan Arkush, Associate Professor of Judaic Studies, Binghamton University
Enlightenment, Statesmen and the Jews in Europe and the United States: 1776-1820
Holly Snyder, University Archivist, Brown University
From Alien to Subject: The Jewish Experience in the Anglo-Atlantic World, 1580-1780
Fredrick Cople Jaher, Professor of History, University of Illinois, Champaign, Urbana
American Exceptionalism: The Case of the Jews

Lunch 12:30-2 pm

Jews and the American Experience in the 19th and 20th Centuries
2 -5 pm

Chair: Abigail Gillman, Assistant Professor of German and Hebrew, Boston University
Arthur Aryeh Goren, Professor of American Jewish History, Columbia University
The Last Words: Historians Survey American Jews
Hasia Diner, Professor of American Jewish History, New York University
The American Contexts for the Jewish Encounter with a New World
Jeffrey S. Gurock, Professor of History, Yeshiva University
Immigrant Jews and the Challenge of American Athleticism
Pamela Nadell, Professor of History and Director, Jewish Studies Program, American University
Encountering Jewish Feminism

Plenary Lecture
7 -8 pm
George Sherman Union
775 Commonwealth Ave, Metcalf Hall

Why is America Different: Memories of Doubts and Hope
Elie Wiesel, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Boston University

Introduction by Professor Steven T. Katz
Director, The Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies, Boston University

October 26

Religion in Jewish American History
9 am-12:30 pm

Chair: Paula Fredriksen, Professor of Religion, Boston University
Chaim Waxman, Professor of Sociology, Rutgers University
From ‘Treif’ to Glatt Kosher: America in the Eyes of Ultra-Orthodox Jews During the Twentieth Century
Peter L. Berger, Director, Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs, Boston University.
Judaism and the Pluralist Dynamic
Arnie Eisen, Professor and Chair, Department of Religious Studies, Stanford University
Judaism, America, and the Hyphenated Jewish Self
Rela Geffen, President, Baltimore Hebrew University
Super Bowl Parties, Women Rabbis and Freedom Seders: Twenty-first Century Jewish American Synergy

Lunch 12:30-2 pm

The Jewish Factor in American Politics and the American Press
2 -5 pm

Chair: Stephen Prothero, Chair, Department of Religion, Boston University
Barney Frank, United States Congressman
The Jewish Factor in American Politics
Ari Goldman, Associate Professor and Dean of Students, Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University
The New York Times: The Newspaper Jews Love to Hate
Steve Grossman, Past President of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee and former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee
Money, Power, and Jewish Values: How Much is Too Much?
Garry Rosenblatt, Editor and Publisher, The Jewish Week
Covering Jewish News: From The Mideast to the Presidential Election

An Evening of American Jewish Music with the Zamir Chorale
7-10pm
Tsai Performance Center
685 Commonwealth Ave.

Lecture 7-8pm
Stephen Whitfield, Max Richter Professor of American Civilization, Brandeis University
Portraying America in Jewish Culture
Concert 8-10pm
Zamir Chorale of Boston, Hebrew College

October 27

Anti-Semitism and Group Prejudice in the American Experience
9-11:30 am

Chair: Michael Zank, Professor of Religion, Boston University
Michael Dobkowski, Professor of Religious Studies, Hobart and William Smith College
American anti-Semitism: the Myth and Reality of American Exceptionalism
Donald Weber, Lucia, Ruth, and Elizabeth MacGregor Professor of English, Mount Holyoke College
To "Make a Jew": Projecting Anti-Semitism in Post-War America
Leonard Dinnerstein, Professor of History Emeritus, University of Arizona
How America has been Different for Jews

Plenary session
11:30 am-12:30 pm
Abraham Foxman, Executive Director, Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Semitism Today

Lunch 12:30-2 pm

Jews and American Culture
2 -6 pm

Chair: Jonathan Klawans, Professor of Religion, Boston University
Mark Shechner, Professor of English, University of Buffalo
So, How’d We Get So Funny? Jewish Comedy and the New World
Ori Z. Soltes, Professor of Art History, Georgetown University
Layered Identities and Issues: the Challenge of being Jewish and an Artist in America
Eugene Goodheart, Edytha Macy Gross Professor of Humanities Emeritus, Brandeis University
Yiddishkeit and the American Jewish Writer: The Breakthrough Reconsidered
Hankus Netsky, New England Conservatory
American Jewish Music – How Jewish is it?
Eric A. Goldman, Ergo Media and Queens College
Reflections on the Jewish Experience through American Cinema
David Zurawik, Television Film Critic for the Baltimore Sun and Assistant Professor, Goucher University
The Jews of Prime Time