Academic Events, Lecture

Worlds Apart: Antithetical Jewish Experiences in the Twentieth Century

The CJC invites you to our book discussion with Dr. Ori Z. Soltes, the former Director of the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum.

About this Event

RSVP required. Only those who register will receive the Zoom link to access the lecture.

This program will delve into the following books:

Immortality, Memory, Creativity, and Survival: The Arts of Alice Lok Cahana, Ronnie Cahana, and Kitra Cahana. This book reviews the story of a 14-year-old girl from Sarvar, Hungary who was deported to Auschwitz by the Nazis, together with her family. She was the sole survivor of the deportation and transit through three different camps, ended up marrying a rabbi, moving to Houston, Texas, by way of Israel, and becoming an artist. She defeated Hitler in three ways: she survived; she ended up turning the destructive processes of her Holocaust experience into creative expression–extracting rainbows from the ashes; and she and her husband produced three children (both sons becoming rabbis) and nine grandchildren.Funding for this publication was made possible with a grant by the Federal Republic of Germany. Dr. Ori Z. Soltes conceived this publication with Rachel Stern, the Founding Director and CEO of The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art in New York. Immortality, Memory, Creativity, and Survival: The Arts of Alice Lok Cahana, Ronnie Cahana and Kitra Cahana was published by The Fritz Ascher Society.

Growing Up Jewish in India: Synagogues, Customs and Ceremonies from the Bene Israel to the Art of Siona Benjamin. This book considers the diverse and positive experience of the Jewish communities in India, culminating with a discussion of the work of an artist who, growing up in that Hindu and Muslim country, went to Catholic and Zoroastrian (Parsi) schools, before migrating to America and finding her artistic voice as a harmony of multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious influences.

Speakers:

Dr. Meital Orr, Center for Jewish Civilization. Dr. Orr is a literary critic who has published peer-reviewed articles on modern Jewish literature and film in comparative context. Dr. Orr recently worked on a speaking engagement on modern Jewish literature at the 2020 ASEES conference, and an article for a special edition of SHOFAR, ‘The Modern Jewess: Images and Text,’ on the convergence of women’s voices in 21st century Israeli and Palestinian Literature and Film.
Dr. Ori Z. Soltes, Center for Jewish Civilization. Dr. Soltes is the former Director of the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum. As co-founding Director of the Holocaust Art Restitution Project he has spent twenty years focused on the issue of Nazi-plundered art. Soltes has authored and edited 19 books and scores of articles and exhibition catalogue essays.
Rachel Stern, the Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art. Ms. Stern is the Founding Director and CEO of The Fritz Ascher Society. Born and educated in Germany, she worked for ten years in the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. She has also independently organized numerous art exhibitions, and has written extensively about art.
Anke Yael Popper, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany. Ms. Popper has been the Deputy Director of the German Information Center at the German Embassy in Washington D.C. since July 2018. Prior to working as Head of Real Estate Management Europe at the State Department in Berlin, she was the Head of the Economics Department of the German Embassy in Tel Aviv.She has gained experience at embassies in Bucharest and the Hague and has also worked in Berlin as the State Department’s Deputy Gender Equality Representative.
[TBA], Embassy of India.