Events

Since its earliest times, movies have drawn upon Jewish history and culture to tell dramatic, comedic, and sometimes tragic stories about the Jewish people and their extraordinary ability to survive and thrive since the very beginnings of human history. Although these films often focus on both religious themes rooted in Judaism and secular issues drawn from Jewish history, they also provide insight into an array of issues that go far beyond Jews as a people or Judaism as a religion and culture. This lecture will focus on immigration, one of the many themes in movies about Jewish identity and culture. It will use clips from films such as "Hester Street" and "Avalon" and a PowerPoint presentation to examine how movies have created part of the historical and cultural record of Jewish life and tradition.