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November 6, 1998/ 17 Cheshvan 5759, Vol. 51, No. 7
Valley symposium to take visitors on cultural, historical trip
LOU HIRSH
Managing Editor
A symposium taking place at Arizona State University and Temple Beth Israel will give participants a chance to go back in time, while learning a few things about Jewish culture around the globe.
"Jews Around the World: Cultural Intersections," a symposium planned for Sunday and Monday, Nov. 15 and 16, will examine how Jews' religious and secular culture has grown over the centuries through interaction with other cultural traditions.
Sunday's program will take place from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Temple Beth Israel, 10460 N. 56th St., Scottsdale. It will include a tour of a reconstructed 19th-century synagogue from Tunisia and precious ritual objects on display at the temple's Sylvia Plotkin Judaica Museum. There will also be a series of four talks by faculty from ASU and the University of Arizona on Sephardim in the Old World, philosophical traditions shared by Jews and Muslims in the Middle Ages, illustrations in early Yiddish books, and Torah and scientific pursuits in Renaissance Italy.
On Monday, when talks relating to Jews in the Americas will be held on the ASU campus and the Hillel Jewish Student Center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., subjects will include cultural and legal intersections, such as Jewish involvement in theater and dance; literary and historical developments among Latin American Jewry; and Jewish perceptions and self-perceptions. Interreligious understanding among Jews, Christians and Buddhists also will be explored.
Joel Gereboff, chairman of the religious studies department at ASU, said the symposium was the result of long, detailed planning by several organizations, and organizers hope to hold similar cooperative ventures to educate the public in the future.
"Between all the people participating from ASU, the University of Arizona and the local community, it should show people that there are really great resources for learning about Jewish history here in Arizona," said Gereboff.
Pam Levin, director of the Plotkin Museum at Temple Beth Israel, also said she welcomed the chance to share the museum's resources with a wide community audience.
"This is a very good chance for the public, whatever their religion, to see what's available here and through other institutions to learn about their history," said Levin.
The event is co-sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies at ASU and the Committee on Judaic Studies at the University of Arizona, in cooperation with the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, the Center for Latin American Studies, ASU's Interdisciplinary Humanities Program, the Sylvia Plotkin Judaica Museum and ASU Hillel.
The free symposium is open to the public. For more information, contact ASU's Department of Religious Studies at 965-7145.
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