News

Reading Group

Hello, To help bring community attention to issues of current debate in Jewish life, culture, and experience, UMaine Judaic Studies invites you to join a special reading group starting in October. We will study and discuss Dara Horn’s People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present (W W Norton, 2021). This bestselling and critically acclaimed book explores […]

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Fall 2023 Courses

HBR  101 – 0180    Beginning Modern Hebrew – Online Live, 11:00-12:15, TTh A systematic study of the basics of the Hebrew language. Equal emphasis is placed on developing reading, listening comprehension, speaking and writing skills. For students with minimal or no previous knowledge of Modern Hebrew. No Prerequisites. General Education: Cultural Diversity & International Perspectives. Instructor: […]

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Welcome Rabbi Weiss!

Judaic Studies is excited to announce that Rabbi Samuel Weiss (Congregation Beth El, Bangor) will be joining the faculty as a Lecturer of Judaic Studies this fall! Weiss holds a B.A. in Rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley, and was ordained as a graduate of the New York Campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish […]

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UMaine Judaic Studies Events 2022-2023

It’s been a long and busy academic year for UMaine Judaic Studies! In 2022-2023 we hosted seven public events. September 15th 2022, Dutch historian David Barnouw spoke on “Who Betrayed Anne Frank and Who Owns her Legacy?”  December 4th, 2022, Vicki Summers performed her one-woman play “Bella, An Immigrant’s Tale” about the life of her […]

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Rabbi Rachel Isaacs, on the Center for Small Town Jewish Life, April 25, 2023

On April 25th UMaine Judaic Studies was honored to host Rabbi Rachel Isaacs, Executive Director of the Center for Small Town Jewish Life, spiritual leader of Beth Israel Congregation in Waterville, Maine, and Dorothy “Bibby” Levine Alfond chair in Jewish Studies at Colby Colby. Rabbi Isaacs spoke to a combined in-person and online audience of over […]

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“Landscapes of Remembrance” April 17, 2023

On April 17th we marked Yom HaShoah with a public lecture by Professor Anne Knowles on “Landscapes of Remembrance.” There are now thousands of Holocaust memorials around the world, from the vast grounds of former concentration camps to the palm-size “stumbling stones” that mark where individuals last lived before they were deported or killed. This […]

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Goodbye, Lord February 28th 2023

Rabbi Beth Lieberman takes us on a journey through the history of Jewish translations of the Hebrew Bible, offers a glimpse into the translation process for the forthcoming JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition, and explores its game-changing potential for the next generation. Recorded February 28, 2023. Rabbi Beth Lieberman served as literary editor and a revising […]

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“Bella” a hit with audience at Minsky Hall

Playwright and actress Vicki Summers kept the audience hanging on her every word as her grandmother in “Bella, An Immigrant’s Tale” on the evening of Sunday, December 4th, 2022 in Minsky Recital Hall. 50+ joined the audience from across the greater Bangor area and another 24 watched a live-stream. “Bella,” tells the fascinating story of […]

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