2022-2023 Events
Elie Wiesel Memorial Lecture Series
10/26/2023: Timothy Snyder and the Question of Genocide
In a momentous event, the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies at Boston University launched a new major in Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies. To mark this significant milestone and pay homage to the enduring legacy of Elie Wiesel, we organized the inaugural Elie Wiesel Memorial Lecture featuring esteemed historian Professor Timothy Snyder. Dr. Timothy Snyder is a professor of history at Yale University with expertise in Eastern Europe and the Second World War. He is the author of renowned books, including Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Bloodlands, and The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America. His captivating address, titled “The War in Ukraine and the Question of Genocide,” served as a catalyst for intellectual exploration and engaged our community in critical discussions.
Professor Snyder’s lecture delved into the genocidal language and actions surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Drawing upon his expertise in Eastern Europe and the Second World War, he shed light on the historical context and emphasized the importance of labeling these actions as genocide. He powerfully conveyed that even if prosecution may not be possible, recognizing these atrocities as genocide is crucial for remembrance and acknowledgment.
The lecture successfully engaged both the academic community and the public, fostering meaningful discussions on justice and co-witnessing in the face of ethical crises. Participants provided overwhelmingly positive feedback, highlighting the lecture’s impact in raising awareness and promoting critical dialogue.
The event benefited from the expertise of Professor Alexis Peri, the Director of Graduate Studies and an Associate Professor in the History Department at BU, who served as the moderator and brought a wealth of knowledge and insight to the discussion. This lecture was made possible through a collaborative partnership with the Center for the Study of Europe.
11/9/2023: Professor Irene Kacandes on Co-Witnessing & Social Justice
Professor Irene Kacandes delivered a captivating lecture titled “Co-Witnessing and Social Justice: Our Response to Humanitarian Crises” as part of the second Elie Wiesel Memorial Lecture Series. The event, which took place on November 9, 2022, was moderated by Professor Ingrid Anderson.
During her lecture, Professor Kacandes introduced the concept of “co-witnessing,” which refers to how individuals who were not directly oppressed can support those who were by respectfully listening to and sharing their stories. She stressed the importance of presenting someone’s experiences in their own words without appropriating their pain or centering one’s own learning experience. According to Professor Kacandes, this approach allows for the genuine respect of the original experiences of those impacted by oppression.
Professor Kacandes also explored our roles and responsibilities in engaging with humanitarian crises. She discussed strategies for assisting victims of injustice, highlighting the significance of active listening, genuine compassion, thorough research, humility regarding our own limitations, and the proper recognition of the actual victims rather than appropriating their victimhood. She also touched upon various domains where co-witnessing can occur, such as literature, documentaries, journalism, and public speeches.
The lecture gave the audience valuable insights into how individuals can engage with humanitarian crises and fulfill their ethical responsibilities while also considering strategies for supporting victims of injustice.
4/3/2023: The Question of Restitution with Dr. Leora Bilsky
Professor Leora Bilsky delivered the final lecture of the 2022 Elie Wiesel Memorial Lecture Series on April 3rd. Her talk, titled “The Question of Restitution: From Post Holocaust to Post Colonial Struggles,” discussed the challenges faced by two victim groups: Jewish scholars after World War II and Kenyan and German activists. These groups struggled to create inventory lists for the large-scale restitution of looted books and cultural artifacts, challenging the traditional conception of restitution in legal discourse.
The lecture explored how both groups composed “inventory lists” to change history’s direction and reclaim lost cultural heritage. Through explicit documentation, they sought to make visible the absences caused by the systematic attacks on their culture. The talk highlighted the bottom-up mobilization efforts of the victim groups and their challenge to the conventional paradigm of restitution advocated by lawyers and museum gatekeepers. Professor Bilsky argued for a reparative framework for transitional justice that goes beyond a private property conception of restitution and instead emphasizes the ethical creation of new relationships between the looters and the looted and between victim groups and their cultural heritage.
Professor Bilsky’s lecture provided a thought-provoking examination of the complex issue of restitution and its implications in post-Holocaust and post-colonial contexts. This event concluded the year’s lecture series by exploring crucial examples of how justice and co-witnessing in response to humanitarian crises can shift existing paradigms of reparation.
This lecture was made possible through a co-sponsorship with the Center for the Study of Europe and was thoughtfully moderated by Professor Pnina Lahav.
Fall 2022
10/19/2023: Space Torah
On October 19, 2022, the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies hosted a highly attended screening of Space Torah at BU Hillel. This documentary follows the remarkable journey of Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman, an MIT astronaut, who brought a Torah scroll aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, fostering a profound appreciation for Jewish culture and its intersection with science and exploration.
Following the screening, Mira Angrist, a Master Lecturer in Hebrew, moderated a thought-provoking discussion. Attendees had the unique opportunity to speak directly with Dr. Hoffman and executive producer Rachel Raz. The panel explored the significance of reading the Torah in outer space, its implications for the Jewish present and future, and the profound connection between Jewish tradition and space exploration.
A collaboration with the Hebrew Language Program and the Department of World Languages and Literature made this incredible event possible.
11/16/2022: Jerusalem: City of Change
Jerusalem: City of Change was an all-day forum devoted to new archaeological work in and new views of Jerusalem, aimed at gaining a sense of the city across time, from its rise as a colonial capital in the early first millennium BCE through its status as a lively commercial center in the early first millennium CE. The program featured archaeologists and scholars who are actively uncovering new evidence in and around the city. By bringing together their voices and views, the event provided a complete and up-to-date understanding of Jerusalem’s persona and character at crucial moments in the long arc of its history.
This event included 6 different lectures: “The Colonial City: Jerusalem in the First Temple Period” by Yuval Gadot, “The Ruined City: Jerusalem under Achaemenid Persian Rule” by Yiftah Shalev, “The Reclaimed City: Jerusalem under Hasmonean Rule” by Tehillah Lieberman, “The Pilgrim’s City: Byzantine Jerusalem” by Yana Tchekhanovets, “The Commercial City: Mamluk Jerusalem” by Bethany Walker, and “The Contested City: Jerusalem Today” by Tamara Lotner Lev. This event was sponsored by the Elie Wiesel Center, Department of Religion, and Department of Archaeology.
Spring 2023
1/22/2023: International Holocaust Remembrance Day with Sarah Botstein
To honor International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Sarah Botstein joined the Elie Wiesel Center and AJC at Boston University to discuss the experience of making the landmark documentary, The U.S. and the Holocaust, that appeared on PBS last fall. Rob Leikind, the regional director of AJC New England, and Nancy Harrowitz, director of the Elie Wiesel Center, joined Sarah Botstein for a conversation. This event was co-sponsored by AJC New England and the Consulate General of Israel to New England, supported by the Jewish Cultural Endowment of Boston University and BU Hillel.
3/1/2023: “A Controversy on Ethical Culture: Hermann Cohen and Felix Adler” with Professor Myriam Bienenstock
In this thought-provoking talk, Professor Myriam Bienenstock delved into the history of the German Society for Ethical Culture, founded in Berlin in 1892 and modeled after the Ethical Culture Society created by American philosopher and social reformer Felix Adler in New York in 1876. The society won the support of prominent figures, including the German-Jewish philosopher Hermann Cohen, who later withdrew his support. Prof. Bienenstock argued that Cohen remained a staunch defender of the universalistic ethical convictions advocated by Ethical Culture societies but contended that they must be defended by law to avoid becoming marginalized and relapsing into the very ‘confessionalism’ of the sectarian and ‘religious’ communities they wanted to eradicate. This argument remains highly relevant in the realm of education, particularly in the ongoing debate about how ethics should be taught in schools.
Prof. Bienenstock, a renowned expert in the field of Practical Philosophy of German Idealism and Jewish Thought, will share her insights and research on the topic. Born and educated in France, she is currently an Emeritus Prof. at the University of Tours and has published extensively on Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, and Emmanuel Levinas. To learn more about Prof. Bienenstock, please visit her website at http://mbienenstock.free.fr/.
3/16/2023: Arendt, Israel, and the Contemporary Relevance of the Eichmann Controversy
Renowned professor Michael Weinman gave a talk on his recently released book, Hannah Arendt and Politics, discussing how the book argues that Arendt’s thinking about Zionism and the modern state of Israel has everything to do with the furious and sometimes demonizing reception Eichmann in Jerusalem and its author faced upon its initial publication.
Professor Weinman is a Professor of Philosophy at Bard College Berlin and a Visiting Professor at the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University. He is the author of five books, including The Emergence of Illiberalism and The Parthenon and Liberal Education.
This event was made possible with the generous sponsorship of the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies, the Jewish Cultural Endowment, the Institute on Culture, Religion, & World Affairs, the Graduate Program of Religion Student Association, and the Department of Religion.
3/30/2023: Student Discussion: Jews in the Media
The Elie Wiesel Center hosted a student discussion on “Representation: Jews in the Media” in the Center library. The students had a chance to share their thoughts, experiences, and concerns about depictions of Jewish people in the media, engage in meaningful dialogue with other students, and enjoy a delicious meal.
4/15/2023: Yitzhak Rabin Lecture with Pnina Lahav
The Elie Wiesel Center hosted Prof. Pnina Lahav for a lecture entitled “The Only Woman in the Room: Writing the Life of Golda Meir,” a thought-provoking discussion on Golda Meir’s life and journey to becoming Israel’s fourth prime minister. Professor Lahav explored how Golda Meir overcame gender bias to achieve her goals and become a trusted leader. She also delved into the misogyny that existed in Israeli culture, making it difficult for women to hold positions of power, and explained why Israelis ultimately turned against Golda Meir in 1973 and concluded that a woman could not be trusted with security matters.
Professor Lahav is a renowned legal scholar and author of the recently released biography, The Only Woman in the Room: Golda Meir and Her Path to Power. This book has gained widespread attention and is part of the 2022-2023 book picks of the Jewish Women’s Archive. Professor Lahav has received many awards, including the Israel Studies Award for Lifetime Achievement (2017) and the Prime Minister Golda Meir for Society and Leadership Award (2021).
The lecture’s respondent, Bat-Sheva Margalit Stern, Ph.D., is an expert in 20th-century Jewish women, specifically women in Zionism, mostly in Eretz Israel and Israel. She is the author of the Hecht prize-winning book Redemption in Bondage: The Women Workers Movement in Eretz Israel 1920-1939 and The Revolutionary: Ada Fishman Maimon-Biography, (2018), which won the prestigious Yad Izhak Ben Zvi Prize in 2019. Stern teaches women’s studies and Jewish history at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem and is currently working on new research focusing on radical Jewish women in the first half of the 20th century.
5/3/2023: End of Year Celebration
The Elie Wiesel Center celebrated the end of another successful year by honoring student minors as well as the recipients of scholarships and awards. In addition to good food and company, this year people were able to decorate a flower pot and plant a flower to take home for the summer.