Past Events

2020

January 22 - Part of the “Screening the Holocaust Film Series” Of Animals and Men

A documentary about the remarkable story of the Warsaw Zoo caretakers who were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations for their heroic rescue of Jews during the Holocaust.

Director Laura Seltzer-Duny will be in attendance to introduce the film and participate in an extended conversation with the audience afterward.

January 26-30, 2020 Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach Presents
Holocaust Education Week
For more information please click  HERE 

Monday, January 27, 2020 2:00PM- 6th Annual Holocaust Remembrance Readings

on International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27),  marking the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. With a special performative reading of A Shayna Maidel Directed by Jeffrey B. Moss, Barbara Lebow’s moving play tells the story of two Jewish, Polish-born sisters who reunite following WWII after being separated as children. 

Scheuer Auditorium, The Jewish Museum New York City

1109 5th Avenue

New York, New York 10128

Tickets: $20 General; $16 Students and Seniors; Free for Museum Members

General Admission tickets are sold at the Museum and online at

www.TheJewishMuseum.org/Tickets 

Wednesday, February 5, 2020 12:30-2:00 PM - Lecture Dr. Vladimir Levin 

The Search for Jewish Architecture – The for Jewish Art at the Hebrew University Center

Born in St. Petersburg, Dr. Levin holds a Ph.D. from the Hebrew University. He authored From Revolution to War: Jewish Politics in Russia, 1907-1914 and co-edited Synagogues in Lithuania: A Catalogue. In 2017, he co-authored Synagogues in Ukraine: Volhynia. Currently he works on a book on Jewish heritage in Siberia. He published 120 articles about social and political aspects of modern Jewish history in Eastern Europe, synagogue architecture and ritual objects, Jewish religious orthodoxy, Jewish-Muslim relations, Jews and Jewish politics in Lithuania, Russian architecture in the Holy Land, and the history of East-European Jewish communities.

Miller Center Auditorium, 105 Merrick Building

5202 University Drive

Coral Gables, Florida 33146

Lunch will be served 11:45-12:30 in the Scharlin Patio

ONLY RSVP’D GUESTS WHO REPLY BY JANUARY 29 WILL RECEIVE LUNCH

RSVP: 305.284.6882 or ccjs@miami.edu

Thursday, February 6, 2020 8:00 PM Presentation by John B. Simon

Strangers in a Stranger Land tells how the first Jews came to Finland: unlike in the rest of the diaspora, they were neither fleeing persecution nor seeking opportunities but were brought as child soldiers by the Russian Imperial Army. Eventually, they made a place for themselves in the remarkably homogeneous Finnish society. Finland's Jewish citizens all survived the holocaust despite the presence of some 200,000 Nazi soldiers on Finnish soil. Meanwhile, Finnish Jewish soldiers - openly Jewish soldiers - were fighting alongside German troops and sometimes under German command. The story of their survival is unique in the annals of WWII.

Books & Books 265 Aragon Avenue Coral Gables, Florida 33134
This event is FREE and open to the public.

Thursday February 13 7:00 PM -Lecture by Professor Ronnie Perelis

Co-sponsored with Temple Moses

Chief Rabbi Dr. Isaac Abraham and Jelena (Rachel) Alcalay Chair and Assistant Professor of Sephardic Studies at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies of Yeshiva University on Crypto-Judaism in the Americas: The Case of Luis de Carvajal, a New World Jewish Thinker (Mexico 1580-1596)

Temple Moses

1200 Normandy Drive Miami Beach

This event is free and open to the public.Seating is limited. First come, first served.

Sunday, March 1, 2020 11:00 AM

Co-sponsored with the 39th Alper JCC Berrin Family Jewish Book Festival

In Celebration of Women’s History Month and Suffrage Centennial

Pamela S. Nadell Winner of the Jewish Book of the Year for America’s Jewish Women

Jewish women have been in the forefront of fighting for suffrage, trade unions, civil rights, feminism, and Jewish rights around the world. 

This groundbreaking history of how Jewish women maintained their identity and influenced social activism, examines the lives of influential American women: Grace Nathan and her great-granddaughter, poet Emma Lazarus; labor organizer Bessie Hillman; Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and many others.

Alper JCC

11155 SW 112 Avenue

Miami, Florida 33176

For tickets and information call 305-271-9000 ext. 268 or visit alperjcc.org

Admission: $10 to benefit the JCC

2019

Janurary 6 - Yiddishkayt Live  What is a Jewish Writer?
Lauren Feldman is a queer, feminist playwright (and circus artist) who pens plays that are wildly theatrical but deeply intimate. Formally ambitious plays that move, take up space. Plays that are questing, wrestling, asking. Plays without answers. Plays about women and queers, plays about outsiders and searchers. Plays grappling with voice and agency, opportunity and access, history and its wake. Plays about the human connection. Plays that seek to be a greater, communal, rare theatrical event in which something transcendent transpires – for those both onstage & off.
A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, Lauren is also a New Georges Affiliated Artist, a devised-work collaborator, a teacher of playwriting (Bryn Mawr College, Lantern Theatre/Jefferson Medical School, PlayPenn), and a freelance dramaturg.

Janurary 7 - Yiddishkayt Live  A FREE staged reading of - A People by Lauren Feldman
A magical, lyrical journey into heritage, tradition, religion and humanity. Through vignettes, music and monologues, Lauren Feldman holds up a mirror to 4000 years of Jewish history, reminding us that we’re all descendants from somewhere, and we choose to embrace our lineage, deny it, or wrestle with it. Hilarious and terrifyingly honest, A People gathers a tight ensemble of ten performers, taking on a mass of old and new world personalities to create snippets of life the way we see it, the way we want it to be, and the way it is.
Featuring: Irene Adjan, Avi Hoffman, Maria Corina Ramirez, Sandi Stock and Pierre Tannous
Special Musical Guests: Lisa Gutkin and Nancy 3. Hoffman

January 17 and 20th - Film: MY SURVIVOR

Through in-depth interviews, dramatic archival and contemporary news footage, and unforgettable site visits, My Survivor tells the story of how the devastating historical realities of the Holocaust are being understood anew by the next generation.

January 28 – Film: DISOBEDIENCE

The true story of Sousa Mendes who sacrificed his career as the Portuguese Consul-General in Bordeaux, France in order to save about 30,000 lives from the Holocaust by issuing visas to refugees without regard to nationality or religion.

A post-screening discussion will be led by Mr. Robert Jacobvitz, Chair of the Sousa Mendes Foundation's Advisory Council.

February 5, 2019 - Lecture by Prof. David Graf
As part of our new course ''Jerusalem: The Politics of Holiness'' We invite you to attend a lecture on. The Mute Stones Speak: Recovering Herodian and Roman Jerusalem.


February 6- Play: INDECENT
By Pulitzer Prize Winner Paula Vogel. Joseph Adler, Producing Artistic Director, GableStage Theatre.
Inspired by the true events surrounding the controversial 1923 Broadway debut of author Sholem Asch’s God of Vengeance—a play seen by some as a seminal work of Jewish culture, and by others as an act of traitorous libel. Set at a time when waves of immigrants were changing the face of America, this play charts the history of an incendiary drama and the path of the artists who risked their careers and lives to perform it.

February 3 & February 17 - Yiddishkayt Live - Sholem Asch
Great Yiddish Author - God of Vengeance
Special Guest: David Mazower, great grandson of Sholem Asch.
David Mazower is the Bibliographer and Editorial Director at the Yiddish Book Center and the co-editor with Aaron Lansky of the Center’s English-language magazine Pakn Treger. He is the author of Yiddish Theatre in London (London, 1996, 2nd ed.), and curated a major exhibition on that subject for London’s Jewish Museum. His articles on Yiddish culture, Yiddish book publishing, British Jewish history and Jewish art have appeared in the BBC News Magazine, History Workshop Online, The Mendele Review, Pakn Treger, Jewish Socialist as well as the Digital Yiddish Theatre Project. He is the great-grandson of the Yiddish writer Sholem Asch, is closely involved with the Szalom Asz Festival in Kutno, Poland and contributed to the volume Sholem Asch Reconsidered, (New Haven, Beinecke Library, 2004). He is a contributing editor to the Jewish Quarterly and co-editor with Aaron Lansky of Pakn treger, the journal of the Yiddish Book Center. Current projects include a biography of the Yiddish actress Feni Vadi-Epshteyn.


February 18  Yiddishkayt Live - A FREE staged reading of God of Vengeance By Sholem Asch

February 27 Short Films: See Award-Winning Israeli Short Films With Filmmakers From Beit Berl College.

August 29  Israel's Forthcoming General Elections By Kasa Bainesay-Harbor

Ms. Kasa Bainesay-Harbor serves as Deputy Consul General at the Israeli Consulate General in Miami. Previously, she served as the Deputy Head of Mission at the Israeli Embassy in Wellington, New Zealand.

September 22 Play: WIESENTHAL By Tom Dugan.

Filled with hope, humanity and humor - this is the riveting true story of Simon Wiesenthal, who devoted his life to bringing more than 1,100 Nazi war criminal to justice. His unbelievable dedication and tenacity over decades is honored in this play.

October 24 Film ''The Voyage of the St. Louis'' Directed by Maziar Bahari

The screening the Holocaust Film Series is a boldy themed cinematic event that presents a fascinating and diverse selection of film premieres exploring events, issues and personal recollections of one of recent history's most defining episodes.

October 29  Naomi Ragen An Unorthodox Match

The new novel by international bestselling author of The Devil in Jerusalem delivers a powerful and moving story of faith, love and acceptance: A California girl decides to seek spirituality and meaning in the insular, ultra-Orthodox enclave of Borough Park, Brooklyn.


October 31  Dr. Hermann Beck

Please join us as we welcome Dr. Hermann Beck, Professor of History at the University of Miami, as he presents The Nazi Takeover in a New Light: A Re-Interpretation of the Seizure of Power in 1933. This talk focuses on the change in the German political climate soon after Hitler became Chancellor on January 30, 1933 and the Nazi regime’s upsurge in popularity, coupled with its use of terror against all opponents.


November 4  ''Screening the Holocaust Film Series'' Dear Fredy

Directed by Rubi Gat Part of the “Screening the Holocaust Film Series”
Using cutting-edge animation, rare photographs, archival footage and witness testimony, D e a r F r e d y is a moving tribute to an unsung Jewish hero who saved hundreds of children at Theresienstadt and Auschwitz. A beloved teacher and Zionist youth leader, Fredy Hirsch used his charisma and connections with SS officers to make life a little easier for the thousands of children he supervised, shielding them, even if only temporarily, from the horrors perpetrated, and fighting until his last breath to maintain their human dignity.


November 14 Dr. Arye Carmon

Please join us as we welcome Dr. Arye Carmon Thursday, November 14, 2019 at 12:45-1:30PM. This lecture is part of Dr. Bradford McGuinn's POL 388 course on ''Politics of Israel.''
Evening lecture will be held at 7:30PM. Dr. Carmon, founding president of the Israel Democracy Institute in Jerusalem, will discuss his new book Building Democracy On Sand.

2018

January 7- Dr. Bernard and Jeanette Gordon Halperin Memorial Lecture. A discussion with Senator George J. Mitchell and Alon Sachar A Path to Peace: A Way Forward in the Middle East. At Temple Israel of Greater Miami, Bertha Abess Sanctuary

January 17- ''Screening the Holocaust''
Co-sponsored with the Miami Jewish Film Festival; The Holocaust Teacher Institute at the University of Miami; The Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach. We are pleased to announce our fourth and final film for the 2nd Annual ‘’Screening the Holocaust’’ Film Series.
Essential Link: The Story of Wildfrid Israel
Directed by Yonatan Nir
Israel 84 minutes 2017
Hebrew with English subtitles.
Florida Premiere! This documentary sheds light on the extraordinary story of one of the great, yet largely overlooked, humanitarians of the 20th century. Despite savings the lives of thousands of Jews, having an integral role in the Kindertransport, and working in partnership with British intelligence, Wilfrid Israel is, for the most part, a forgotten hero. As the plight of the Jewish people in Germany continued to worsen, Wilfried used his wealth and connections to arrange the emigrations of more than 10,000 Jews from Nazi-controlled Berlin and helped create a children settlement in Palestine. Unraveling the elusive mystery behind the Jewish businessman, art collector, and unsung hero is award-winning director Yonatan Nir (MJSS 2017 My Hero Brother).

January 18 -Lecture by Dr. Simon Sebag Montefiore, on “Epic Literature and Epic History in the Jewish Tradition” [Tentative Topic]. Co-sponsored by the Department of History and the Dave and Mary Alper Jewish Community Center Berrin Family Book Festival. A lecture and book signing by Simon Sebag Montefiore. Dr. Montefiore is a Fellow of the British Royal Society of Literature and Visiting Professor at Buckingham University. He is the presenter of several BBC TV series. He was educated at Harrow and Cambridge University. Simon Sebag Montefiore's bestselling, prize-winning books are now published in 48 languages. He has won prizes for both fiction and non-fiction. His latest history book is The Romanovs 1613-1918 (was on the New York Times Bestseller list for over 8 weeks). Dr. Montefiore is the author – among other books - of Jerusalem: The Biography (won the Jewish Book Council Award); Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar (won the History Book of the Year Prize, British Book Awards); and Young Stalin (won the LA Times Book Prize for Biography (USA). His new novel, inspired by the work of Isaac Babel, Red Sky at Noon is set during an epic cavalry ride across the grasslands outside Stalingrad during the darkest times of World War II. It will be published in the USA in January. At the Miller Center on University

January 22 -The Soap Myth By Jeff Cohen
An Adrienne Arsht Center Play Reading Cosponsored by the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach Part of the National Jewish Theater Foundation and Miller Center Holocaust Theater International Initiative. In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Soap Myth By Jeff Cohen.
Seven-time Emmy Award winner, Ed Asner and two-time Tony Award nominee for groundbreaking plays, Johanna Day will star in a reading of Jeff Cohen's play, The Soap Myth. The reading, in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27), is directed by Pam Berlin and also features Ned Eisenberg and Blair Baker. Against the backdrop of deadline reporting and journalistic integrity, Jeff Cohen's The Soap Myth takes place more than a half century after the end of WWII when a young journalist sets out to write an article about a Holocaust survivor and his crusade regarding a Nazi atrocity. The critically acclaimed play dramatically explores survival and questions who has the right to write history - those who have lived it and remember, those who study it, or those who would seek to deny its very existence. And, finally, what is our responsibility once we know the truth?
Join us for the performance and talk back with the playwright, the cast,
Dr. Miriam K. Kassenoff and Dr. Haim Shaked.

January 23 -Professor Miriam Hoffman earned her Masters at Columbia University where she majored in Yiddish folklore and literature. As professor of Yiddish language, literature, Jewish culture, Yiddish humor and Yiddish writers, she taught at Columbia University from 1992 to 2015. Miriam wrote the preeminent 700- page Yiddish textbook key to Yiddish, now taught in many universities. She is a successful Yiddish playwright and the founder of the Joseph Papp Yiddish Theatre. Her plays and translations have been produced to high acclaim worldwide. Miriam has published thousands of articles as a feature writer for the Yiddish Forward since 1982.
On A Breed Apart: Reflections of a Young Refugee
From Siberia to Columbia University, this epic tale of war and survival is seen through the eyes of a young Miriam and her father. This highly personal and historic book brings to light the often ignored five-year history of the D.P. (Displaced Persons) Refugee Camps in Europe from 1946-1951, the struggles of post-war anti-Semitism and Professor Hoffman’s coming of age in America.

March 1-4 Y I Love Yiddishfest a important public project of the Yiddishkayt Initiative, created by Mr. Avi Hoffman and Prof. Miriam Hoffman. The Miller Center and Feldenkreis Program have been collaborating with the Yiddishkayt Initiative from its inception.

March 28 - A Call To Remember 
Film Screening, Q & A, moderated by Dennis Scholl, President and CEO of Art Center South Florida, Reception to follow

May 31-June 2 and Sunday, June 3 
Play: The Album at Colony Theater, Miami Beach, with Miami New Drama.The Album, conceived and written by Moisés Kaufman

October 15 - EVA Screening the Holocaust #1, at Cinematheque. Directed by Ted Green
Eva portrays the remarkable journey of Holocaust survivor Eva Mozes Kor: from the Josef Menge le experiments at Auschwitz, through years of anger and anguish, to starting the largest manhunt in history and, later, a global movement of peace and forgiveness. Fighting off time and failing health, this 83-year­old woman travels the world to promote what her extraordinary life has taught: peace, humanity, and healing. Narrated by Hollywood icon Ed Asner, Eva includes on-camera appearances from CNN's Wolf Blitzer, NBA Hall of Farner Ray Allen, movie star Elliott Gould, and many others who reveal touching accounts of Eva's impact on their lives.

October 20 -Exclusive South Florida Appearance - YI Press Proudly Presents
Professor Miriam Hoffman A Breed Apart: Reflections of a Young Refugee With her son - Award winning act Avi Hoffman.Miriam Hoffman, author, scholar, playwright & survivor, will be reading selections from her new book A Breed Apart: Reflections of a Young Refugee. She will be joined by her son, Avi Hoffman, the award-winning actor & performer. The event will include a multi-media presentation, discussion, Q&A & book signing.Co-sponsored by the University of Miami/Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies, this event will be FREE & open to the public. Published by YI Press (a division of Yiddishkayt Initiative, Inc.), A Breed Apart is an engaging non-fiction tale of war & survival, seen through the eyes of a young Miriam Hoffman & her father. Hoffman’s personal tale captures the beauty & importance of keeping the Yiddish language & Jewish culture alive during the twentieth-century, despite countless attempts to destroy it. A Breed Apart follows Miriam Hoffman’s emotional journey from a young refugee girl growing up in a post-war DP (Displaced Person) camp to her new life in the United States.

October 29– Lecture by Irvin Ungar Arthur Szyk Miller Center

November 5 - Screening the Holocaust Film Series. The Origin of Violence at Cinematheque

November 5 - Braman Miller Center An Evening With Father Patrick Desbois A noted Holocaust and Genocide Researcher ''Were it not for Father Desbois and his team, most of the world would still think the Holocaust was carried out in secret...anyone who cares about humanity will not want to miss this.'' - Lara Logan,

December 3 - Noble Laureate
(Isaac Bashevis Singer & His Demons) A Staged Reading of a new play by Miriam Hoffman​​ and ​Rena Berkowicz Borow Featuring Avi Hoffman ​​as Isaac Bashevis Singer Patti Gardner David Kwiat
Peter Librach Amy London Sabrina Lynn Gore

December 10 - 1945 Directed by Ferenc Torok • Hungary I 91 minutes I 2016 • Hungarian with English subtitles. In this astonishingly haunting film, deep undercurrents run beneath the simple surface in a quaint village that's ultimately forced to face up to its "ill-gotten gains" from the Second World War. On a sweltering August day in 1945, villagers prepare for the wedding of the town clerk's son. Meanwhile, two Orthodox Jews arrive at the village train station with mysterious boxes labeled "fragrances." The town clerk fears the men may be heirs of the village's deported Jews and expects them to demand their illegally acquired property back, originally lost during the Second World War. Other villagers are afraid more survivors will come, posing a threat to the property and possessions they have claimed as their own.

December 17 - Screening the Holocaust # 3, at Cinematheque

December 21-27 EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT ON BEHALF OF AND IN PARTERNSHIP WITH MIAMI DADE COLLEGE’S TOWER THEATER MIAMI AND THE MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL.

The film SHOAH: FOUR SISTERS, a film by the legendary Claude Lanzmann (SHOAH) showcasing the harrowing tales of four women who survived the Holocaust, comes to Tower Theater Miami for a special two-part presentation starting December 21 at 6:30 PM. SHOAH: FOUR SISTERS (RUTH & ADA) and SHOAH: FOUR SISTERS (HANNA & PAULA) reminds audiences of the immense courage it took for these witnesses to return to their past as they share their deeply moving personal tragedies.

2017

January 24- 4th and final film in the Holocaust Film Series - BIG SONIA- A Florida Premiere, directed by Leah Warshawski & Todd Soliday. US | 90 minutes | 2016.
At 4’8”, Sonia Warshawski can barely see over the leopard-skin-patterned steering wheel of her Oldsmobile. But at age 90, Sonia has a personality that towers over her Kansas City community, where she has tirelessly run her late husband’s tailoring business for decades. The shop is the last business left operating in a lonely corner of a dying shopping mall, but for Sonia, it’s the vibrant center of her long, eventful life. Every day she faces the threat of eviction, but Sonia has experience with escaping finality: As one of the last remaining Holocaust survivors in Kansas City, she witnessed the unspeakable horror of her mother disappearing behind the doors of a Nazi gas chamber. Today she still dispenses positive life lessons (known as “Soniaisms”), and speaks to local churches, schools, and prisons about the atrocities she endured as a teenager. Husband-and-wife filmmakers Todd Soliday and Leah Warshawski (Sonia’s granddaughter) tell Sonia’s story in this moving and uplifting documentary that interweaves first-person narratives with memories from family and friends. Directors Leah Warshawski and Todd Soliday were in attendance to introduce the film and participate in an extended conversation afterwards. Opening Remarks by: Dr. Miriam Klein Kassenoff.

January 26-February 3- Holocaust Education Week

January 29- One Day University: Holocaust Seminar. A Day of Culture, Film and Learning.

February 13- Hillel lecture, co-sponsored by CCJS- A Former Skinhead’s fight against prejudice. Frank Meeink became a SkinHead at 13. By 18 he was roaming the country as a SkinHead leader and Neo-Nazi recruiter, with gangs that would beat people indiscriminately. In Illinois he had his own cable-access TV show, “The Reich”. He was finally arrested and convicted of kidnapping and beating a member of a rival SkinHead gang. While in prison he befriended men he used to think he hated, men of different races. After being released from prison, Meeink tried to rejoin his old SkinHead pals but couldn’t bring himself to hate those whom he now knew to be his friends. Now a noted speaker, author and founder of Harmony Through Hockey, Frank’s life stands for tolerance, diversity and mutual understanding in racial, political and all aspects of society. Frank is truly an inspiration in any time of strife and conflict.

February 16- Lecture by Prof. Ronnie Perelis Chief Rabbi and Jelena (Rachel) Alcalay Associate professor of Sephardic Studies Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University. Prof. Ronnie Perelis, Chief Rabbi Dr. Isaac Abraham and Jelena (Rachel) Alcalay Associate Professor of Sephardic Studies, Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, Yeshiva University. Author of Narratives from the Sephardic Atlantic (2016) http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=808329 on The Marrano’s Mask: Indians, Jews and Crypto-Jewish Self-discovery. The lecture will focus on the inquisition and the discovery of the new word, as well as the speaker’s new book that focuses on 3 fascinating figures who wrote about their spiritual adventures within the early modern Atlantic world. Please see: http://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/narratives-from-the-sephardic-atlantic/

February 20-Lecture by Jono David on “The Jews of Africa—A Photographic Journey” tells the story of Jono’s 4-year photographic survey project which took him to 30 countries and territories in 8 trips totaling 60 weeks of travel. This photo project is the largest Jewish Africa photographic survey of its kind. The presentation will include an emphasis on the emerging Black Jewish communities of Africa with a specific focus on communities in Uganda, Ghana, Cameroon and South Africa. Recently, Beit Hatfutsot – The Museum of the Jewish People (in Tel Aviv, Israel) exhibited Jono’s photographic project under the title “The Children of Abraham and Sarah

February 27- Yiddishayt Entertainment Series. Lecture on The Renaissance of Yiddishkayt and Jewish Culture. At the Russell Jewish Community Center.

March 1 –Lecture by Dr. Mordechai Kedar, on The Middle East in Crisis.

March 10- Yiddiskayt Entertainment Series: A Jew Grows in Brooklyn 2.0.

March 20- Yiddiskayt Entertainment Series: Reflection of a Lost Poet. The Life and Works of Itzik Manger.

March 21- Lecture by Dr. Peter Antelyes, on Jews and American Comics. At the Miller Center.

March 23- lecture by Prof. Gerhard Weinberg, on Pope Pius XII in World War II. At the Miller Center.

March 30- A reading of “Address Unknown”. As part of the Yiddishkayt Initiative Entertainment Series.

April 2- Presentation of The Dachau Album: An Interfaith Holocaust Project.April 4- A reading of “A Happy End”, by Avi Hoffman. Part of the Yiddishkayt Initiative Entertainment Series.

April 4- A presentation on Focus on Israel. Presented by the School of Business Administration.

April 12- Presentation of The Dachau Album: An Interfaith Holocaust Project.

April 22- Holocaust Remembrance Day special play reading: Dialogues. At the New York Public Library for Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, NYC.

April 23- Presentation of The Dachau Album: An Interfaith Holocaust Project. VIP reception at the Sheen Center, NYC.

April 23- Holocaust Remembrance Day. An Interfaith Community Gathering in Response to the Rise in Anti-Semitism and Hate. At the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach.

April 24- Holocaust Remembrance Day: Conversation with a Survivor. At Hillel.

April 24- Holocaust Remembrance Day name reading “Six Hours for the Six Million”. At UM Rock Plaza.

April 25- the 3rd Annual Holocaust Remembrance Reading in honor of the late Elie Wiesel. Excerpts from The Trial of God. In partnership with the national Jewish heater Foundation, Gablestage and the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach. At the Miller Center.

April 30- lecture by Max Boot on Israel’s Search for Security: From 1948 to Today. At Temple Israel of Greater Miami.

May 3- World premiere of Broken Snow. Part of the Yiddishkayt Initiative Entertainment Series.

May 22- The Shop on Main Street. A Musical. Part of the Yiddishkayt Entertainment Series.

June 12-16: Holocaust Teacher Institute. In partnership with Miami Dade County Public Schools and UM School of Education.

October 2 - Holocaust Film Series “Screening the Holocaust” #1, featuring: NANA
South Florida Premiere! A transgenerational documentary on tolerance directed by Serena Dykman who documents her journey with her mother retracing her grandmother’s Auschwitz survival story, and investigates how her lifelong fight against intolerance can continue to be taught to new generations, against the backdrop of current events. Director Serena Dykman in attendance! Opening Remarks by Dr. Miriam Klein Kassenoff, Director, Holocaust Studies Summer Institute/ School of Education at UM; District Education Specialist/ Holocaust Education, Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Co-sponsored with the Miami Jewish Film Festival, The Holocaust Teacher Institute at the University of Miami, The Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach and the Miami Beach Cinematheque. At Miami Beach Cinematheque.

November 6 - Holocaust Film Series “Screening the Holocaust” #2, featuring: BUREAU 06
This is the dramatic story of Bureau06, the team of police investigators formed for the purpose of preparing the charges brought by the Jewish people against Adolf Eichmann during the trial that took place in Jerusalem in 1961. This film reveals the unique personal and shared stories of the team of investigators, their hardships, their confessions, and the emotional turmoil they experienced while trying to revive the “act of evil” for the very first time. Opening Remarks by Dr. Miriam Klein Kassenoff, Director, Holocaust Studies Summer Institute/ School of Education at UM; District Education Specialist/ Holocaust Education, Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Co-sponsored with the Miami Jewish Film Festival, The Holocaust Teacher Institute at the University of Miami, The Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach and the Miami Beach Cinematheque. At Miami Beach Cinematheque.

November 29 - Special Theatrical Performance: Becoming Dr. Ruth.
Everyone knows Dr. Ruth Westheimer as America’s most famous sex therapist. Few, however, know the incredible journey that preceded it. From fleeing the Nazis in the Kindertransport and joining the Haganah in Jerusalem as a scout and sniper, to her struggles to succeed as a single mother coming to America, Becoming Dr. Ruth is filled with the humor, honesty and life-affirming spirit of Karola Ruth Siegel, the girl who became “Dr. Ruth”.

December 4 - Holocaust Film Series “Screening the Holocaust” #3, featuring: AFTER AUSCHWITZ
Florida Premiere! An emotionally poignant story that follows six extraordinary women, capturing what it means to move from tragedy and trauma towards life. These women all moved to Los Angeles, married, raised children and became “Americans” but they never truly found a place to call home. What makes the story so much more fascinating is how these women saw, interpreted and interacted with the changing face of America in the second half of the 20th century. They serve as our guides on an unbelievable journey, sometimes celebratory, sometimes heart breaking, but always inspiring. Director Jon Kean will be in attendance! Opening Remarks by Dr. Miriam Klein Kassenoff, Director, Holocaust Studies Summer Institute/ School of Education at UM; District Education Specialist/ Holocaust Education, Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Co-sponsored with the Miami Jewish Film Festival, The Holocaust Teacher Institute at the University of Miami, The Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach and the Miami Beach Cinematheque.

December 5 - Lecture by Ruth Ellen Gruber, on Jewish Heritage in Europe: From ‘Dark Spaces’ to Tourist Attractions?
Ruth Gruber is an award-winning American writer and independent scholar whose areas of expertise include contemporary Jewish heritage issues in Europe.

December 11 - Lecture by Prof. Sam Edelman, on The New Anti-Semitism: Where Christianity, the Right, the Left and Islam Meet.
Today's anti¬-Semitism is a new phenomenon melding Marxism, the new left, the old fascism and the neo-Nazism of David Duke and the KKK, the Islamic Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. It is embodied in the anti-Zionism and anti¬-Israelism expressed on college campuses, in the liberal and conservative press and in the actions of those who support the boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. This presentation will explore what is said in words and images by these various groups that are without question anti¬-Semitic. Co-sponsored with Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education (CAJE).

December 13- Reflections of a Lost Poet. A play on the life and works of Itzik Manger by Miriam Hoffman, starting Avi Hoffman, at the JCC.

December 28-January 21- Theatrical performance “Too Jewish by Avi Hoffman at the PGA Arts Center. In partnership with Yiddishkayt Initiative.

2016

January 24
Sabena Hijacking
With Dr. Haim Shaked giving introduction and remarks before the movie.
A powerfully captivating account of the Sabena Flight 571 hijacking featuring exclusive interviews with the heroes involved with the rescue effort, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and President and Nobel Prize winner Shimon Peres.

 March 14  Dr. David Menrashri Professor Emeritus and presently Senior Research Fellow at the Alliance Center for Iranian Studies, Tel Aviv University.  Leading Israeli academic expert on Iran. Will talk about: Iran vs. Israel in a Changing Middle East at the Miller Center Auditorium, 5202 University Drive, Merrick Building, Coral Gables. 

 March 22  lecture presentation by Daniel F. Wajner Ph.D. Candidate in International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Co-sponsored by: The Consulate General of Israel to Florida and Puerto Rico; The Pearce Chair in Middle East Peace Studies; The Department of International Studies and The International Studies Program. On “Israel and the West”.This lecture is part of Dr. Kubalkova’s INS 201 class: Globalization and Change in World Politics
Free and open to the public. 

 March 28  Co-sponsored with the departments of Geography and The Dr. M. Lee Pearce Chair in Middle East Peace Studies; We invite you to attend the launch of Volume 115 (covering 2015) of the American Jewish Year Book (AJYB) with a presentation by contributing author, Leonard Saxe, PhD, Klutznick Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies and directs the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and the Steinhardt Social Research Institute at Brandeis University. On Birthright Program and its impact on Jewish College Students. Special greetings by AJYB Co-editors: Prof. Ira Sheskin, University of Miami and Prof. Arnold Dashefsky, University of Connecticut. 

April 14  Dr. Hermann Beck as part of The Cooper Lecture Series: “Before the Holocaust: Anti-Semitic Violence during the Nazi Seizure of Power”.-  Contrary to the assumptions of previous historiography, a proliferation of anti-Semitic attacks occurred already weeks after Hitler became chancellor.  We will examine the nature of these attacks and the reaction of German society to Nazi brutality and ask why there was so little opposition to anti-Semitic violence on the part of German society and elites at a time when resistance still seemed possible.

May 2 The Last of The Just by Andre Schwarz-Bart- In partnership with the National Jewish Theater Foundation (NJTF), Holocaust Theater International Initiative (HTTI) and GableStage we present the 2nd annual Holocaust Remembrance Reading. The Last of The Just is a novel by Andre Schwarz-Bart originally published in French in 1959. It was Schwarz-Bart’s first book and won the Prix de Goncourt, France’s highest literary prize. The author was the son of a Polish Jewish Family murdered by the Nazis. He based the story on traditional Jewish legend. The story follows the “Just Men” of the Levy family over eight centuries. Each Just Man is a Lamed Vav, one of thirty six righteous souls whose existence in each generation justifies the purpose of humankind to God. Each one bears the world’s pains beginning with the execution of an ancestor in 12th-century York, England and culminating in the story of a schoolboy, Ernie, the last of the righteous, murdered in Auschwitz. The book has been described as an enduring classic.

The Event: Last year saw the launch of the NJTF/HTTI Holocaust Theater Catalog (www.htc.miami.edu), now part of the Miller Center. With nearly 600 play entries written since 1933 to the present day, it is the most extensive, easily accessible catalog of Holocaust related theatrical titles ever created.
We-The Miller Center and GableStage - now join NJTF/HTTI’s national initiative of holding simultaneous staged readings of Holocaust-related material, on the eve of Yom HaShoah, in numerous locations across the country.

 May 3– Legacy Luncheon for HSSI interns and survivor partners.  .  

September 22 - Dr. Gershon Baskin, Co-founder of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI) Currently Co-Chairman of the IPCRI board of directors on “Facing the absence of peace-Israeli / Palestinian strategic options”. 

 October 10 - Co-sponsored with the Miami Jewish Film Festival; The Holocaust Teacher Institute at the University of Miami; and the Miami Beach Cinemateque.
We are pleased to announce the first of a 4-film series “Screening the Holocaust”. When Day Breaks - Run time: 90 minutes One day retired music professor Misha Brankov receives a letter requesting him to contact the Jewish Museum in Belgrade. There he learns that during an excavation at the city’s Old Fairgrounds (previously the site of an infamous concentration camp where some 7,000 Serbian Jews and Gypsies perished during the Second World War) an iron box was found. The box contains personal documents and an unfinished musical score. It belonged to the composer Isaac Weiss, a concentration camp inmate in1941. The initial shock of the professor’s discovery in WHEN DAY BREAKS gives way to a determination to fulfill the shattered dreams that he has inherited.
Remarks by Dr. Miriam Klein Kassenoff, Director, Holocaust Studies Summer Institute/ School of Education, UM District Education Specialist/ Holocaust Education, Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

October 26 -Ambassador Danny Ayalon on Religion, Human Rights, and Refugees in Israel; Historical outcomes and contemporary challenges. The lecture starts at 7:30 PM with reception at 7:00 PM. It will take place at The School of Communication, International Building room 3053 at The University of Miami. Co-sponsored with Department of Religious Studies, Department of International Studies, The Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies, Sephardi Voices, and The Israeli Consulate. 

 October 27 - lecture by Dr. Ira Sheskin, Professor and Chair, Department of Geography at the University of Miami, Director, Jewish Demography Project, The Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies. Co-sponsored with the Department of Geography and the Masters of Arts in International Administration Program (MAIA)
on “A Look at the Presidential Election How are Jews Voting and Why It Can Make a Difference”

 November 1 - screening of two Sephardic Documentaries co-sponsored with CENTROPA, The Miami Jewish Film Festival and Temple Moses.
The Ladino Ladies’ Club
The Ladino Ladies’ Club is about a gathering of nine Bulgarian Sephardic Jews. They are probably the only people in Bulgaria still able to speak Ladino. Keeping memories and traditions alive, these elderly women - who include a professor of biochemistry, an opera singer and a microbiologist -tell each other stories from their youth and discuss their shared history. The subjects they cover include their religious background, the Second World War, and the inferior status of daughters with respect to sons. The women also sing songs and share their recipe for perfect marzipan…
A Bookstore in Six Chapters
Renee Saltiel and Solon Molho grew up in the Sephardic Jewish community of Salonika, or Thessaloniki, in today’s Greece. 90,000 Jews lived there then but by the time the Nazis had rounded up the city’s Jews during the Second World War, almost none were left. Only a handful returned. This is the story of two Jews who did manage to survive, thanks to a Spanish diplomat and some very brave Greek families.
Special Guest: Edward Serotta, Executive Producer Founder and Director, Centropa.orgEdward Serotta is a journalist, photographer and filmmaker specializing in Jewish life in Central and Eastern Europe.
Opening Performance by The Second Avenue Jewish Chorale 

November 7 - second of a 4-film series: “Screening the Holocaust” 
FIGHTER
Directed by Amir Bar-Lev
US-Czech Republic | 91 minutes | 2000
A unique adventure unfolds as two friends, Arnost Lustig and Jan Wiener, take a risky road trip into their past. Together, the two survivors of Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia who now live in America revisit scenes of romance, humor, and narrow escapes from death in Terezin, a labor camp where Arnost Lustig was interned for five years and Jan’s mother was murdered. Best Documentary Award Winner at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and Audience Award Winner at the Hamptons International Film Festival.
Opening Remarks by Dr. Miriam Klein Kassenoff, Director, Holocaust Studies Summer Institute/ School of Education, UM; District Education Specialist/ Holocaust Education Miami-Dade County Public Schools .

November 17 - We invite you to attend a lecture by Eric Trager the Esther Wagner Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy where his research focuses on Egyptian politics. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.
Co-sponsored with the 36th Annual Alper JCC Berrin Family Jewish Book Festival, on “Egypt’s Relations with Israel, Based on his new book Arab Fall: How the Muslim Brotherhood Won and Lost Egypt in 891 Days”. 

 December 6- Lecture by Prof. Zehavit Gross of Bar Ilan University in Israel- On The Role of the Holocaust in Israel’s Identity and Educational System. The lecture is part of Prof. McGuinn’s Political Science class, titled “The Israeli Polity: identity, legitimacy, security”.

December 12,  Co-sponsored with the Miami Jewish Film Festival; The Holocaust Teacher Institute at the University of Miami; and the Miami Beach Cinemateque. 
the third of a 4-film series: “Screening the Holocaust” : NO ASYLUM: THE UNTOLD CHAPTER OF ANNE FRANK’S STORY – A Documentary Film
Florida Premiere, Directed by Paula Fouce, US | 70 minutes | 2016
In No Asylum, Anne Frank’s only surviving family members relate the emotional story of her family’s frantic search for sanctuary. They share unseen family photographs and letters which reveal Anne Frank’s father, Otto Frank, last letter before going into hiding and shed new light on his struggle for immigration. His letters paint a picture of the world’s failure to respond to the plight of the Jewish refugees and help bring the Franks’ struggle into dramatic focus.
Opening Remarks by Dr. Miriam Klein Kassenoff, Director, Holocaust Studies Summer Institute/ School of Education, UM, District Education Specialist/ Holocaust Education Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

2015

January 25- Co-sponsored with The 18th Annual Miami Jewish Film Festival
We are pleased to present ‘The Sunday Showcase’ at the Cosford Cinema
Introduction and talk-back for each movie by Prof. Haim Shaked, Director of the Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies and the George Feldenkreis Program in Judaic Studies at the University of Miami
1:00pm
OPERATION SUNFLOWER, Miami Premiere 
Directed by Avraham Kushnir 
Israel | 105 minutes | 2014. Hebrew with English subtitles.
A powerful historical drama about the events that led up to Israel’s development of a nuclear option. 
  
3:30pm
ABOVE AND BEYOND, Miami Premiere
Directed by Roberta Grossman
US | 90 Minutes | 2014
Producer Nancy Speilberg wil be in attendance to introduce the film and participate in a conversation after the screening. 
Prof. Eugene Rothman will join Prof. Shaked in the talk back.
  
8:30pm
A PLACE IN HEAVEN, Miami Premiere
Directed by Joseph Madmony
Israel | 117 minutes | 2013. Hebrew with English subtitles.
The fateful contract between a secular Israeli army officer and a devout young Holocaust survivor has profound and unexpected consequences in this decades-spanning epic film.
Presented with the short documentary film GOD IS KIDDING

February 12 - Co-sponsored with the departments of Geography and International Studies, The Dr. M. Lee Pearce Chair in Middle East Peace Studies, UM Hillel and Temple Judea. Ethan Felson, Vice President and General Counsel at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs on Israel, BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions), and the quest for an Israeli-Arab peace. Special greetings by AJYB CO-editors: Prof. Ira Sheskin, University of Miami and Prof . Arnold Dashefsky University of Connecticut. 

February 23 - Co-sponsored with The University of Miami Ethics Program, Edwin Black, New York Times bestselling author of IBM and the Holocaust on American Eugenics - From Long Island to Auschwitz, based on his award winning bestseller War against the Weak: Eugenics and America’s campaign to create a master race.

February 24 - Co-sponsored with the Dr. M. Lee Pearce Chair in Middle East Peace Studies, the Department of International Studies, the Department of Journalism and Media Management and the Robert Russell Memorial Foundation. Ari Shavit, Leading Israeli Columnist and Writer, New York Times bestselling author of My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel on 21st Century Zion: America, Israel and the challenges of a new era.

April 1 - “NEW JERUSALEM”: SPECIAL PERFORMANCE, APRIL 1, 2015. We are pleased to inform you that on April 1, 2015 at 7:00pm, the Miller Center and GableStage will be presenting a special performance of the play “New Jerusalem” by David Ives, exclusively for friends of the Miller Center. “New Jerusalem” deals with the interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation, Amsterdam, July 27, 1656. When the young philosopher Spinoza is accused of atheism, the elders summon him to the synagogue to defend himself.  In this eloquent and masterful drama, Ives opens the synagogue doors and lets us in on a dispute whose philosophical and political echoes still reverberate today.  After the play, Prof. Haim Shaked, Director of the Sue and Leonard Miller Center and the George Feldenkreis Program at UM will moderate a discussion session with the participation of:Rabbi Solomon S. Schiff, the Director Emeritus of The Jewish Chaplaincy Program and Executive Vice President Emeritus of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami. He is also Chair of the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, and continues his long-standing commitment to the Jewish and non-Jewish communities by leading programs that seek to build understanding, tolerance and mutual respect. Dr. Eugene Marshall, Professor at FIU’s Philosophy Department, author of The Spiritual Automaton: Spinoza’s Science of the Mind.  He taught previously at Wellesley and Dartmouth.  His research deals with the history of modern philosophy, focusing on questions of mind and psychology in the 17th Century, with concentration on Spinoza.Joseph Adler, Producing Artistic Director, GableStage Theatre.

April 28 – Legacy Luncheon for HSSI interns and survivor partners.  By invitation only. 

October 29, 2015 at  NOW OR NEVER: The resolution on the partition of Palestine was adopted by the UN on November 29th, 1947. While all Israelis were dancing and celebrating, David Ben Gurion, the leader of the Jewish Yishuv was troubled - after 2000 years in the Diaspora statehood was in reach, yet the threat of Arab armies invading the Jewish lands in Palestine was very real. Nevertheless Ben Gurion was convinced that declaring statehood right after the British terminate the mandate over Palestine, is a must, and will not have any bearing on the Arab countries’ decision to invade Israel - they will invade anyway. The film depicts, step by step, the crucial and dramatic six months before the state of Israel was inaugurated. It shows the decision making process and the fierce debate within the leadership and the political parties and recreates precisely the declaration of the state ceremony. Several important historical figures including Ben Gurion, Golda Meir, Moshe Shertok, General Marshall and King Abdullah of Jordan are feature in this riveting historical film.
This screening is part of a class (JUS 324) by Dr. Shaked and Dr. Edelman on “Israel: The Making of a State, An introduction to the creation of the State of Israel in its historical context”.

 November 2  -  Kenneth Treister, FAIA. Talk and book signing on his new book on Judaic architecture and art THE FUSION OF ARCHITECTURE & ART at the Gumenick Chapel,  Temple Israel of Greater Miami 137 NE 19th St, Miami, FL 33132.  Introductory remarks by Dr. Haim Shaked, Director, The Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies, University of Miami.

ABOUT THE BOOK -  In this rare view of six Jewish works of creation, award-winning Jewish architect, artist and lifetime member of Temple Israel, starting in 1930, Kenneth Treister expresses the importance of uniting architecture and art to create sacred Judaic spaces. His poetic sensibility combines with his vast wingspan of knowledge of Judaism’s architecture to produce exceptional works that will draw those interested in Jewish art to a new level of appreciation.

November 10,  – Michael Bar-Zohar on his new book No Mission is Impossible. At the Miller Center, 5202 University Drive, UM Coral Gables campus. RSVP 305-284-6882. Part of the 35th Annual Alper JCC Jewish Book Festival.

November 13-15- Cosponsored with the Miami Jewish Film Festival. We invite you to attend the screening of an extraordinary new documentary film: WHAT OUR FATHERS DID: A NAZI LEGACY.A poignant, thought-provoking account of friendship and the toll of inherited guilt, WHAT OUR FATHERS DID explores the relationship between two men, each of whom are the children of very high-ranking Nazi officials and possess starkly contrasting attitudes toward their fathers. Eminent human rights lawyer Philippe Sands investigates the complicated connection between the two, and even delves into the story of his own grandfather who escaped from the very town where their fathers carried out mass killings. The three embark on an emotional journey together, as they travel through Europe and converse about the past, examining the sins of their fathers and providing a unique view of the father-son relationship, ultimately coming to some very unexpected and difficult conclusions. November 13 – 15, 2015

December 3, 2015  HILL 24 DOESN’T ANSWER
It is 1948. Israel is fighting not only for its independence, but for its very existence. Jerusalem is under siege. Four young Zionists are assigned to defend strategic Hill 24 outside Jerusalem, in order to maintain access to the besieged city. Through the diverse personal stories of the defenders, we gain a critical perspective on the birth of Israel and those who risked their lives to insure its survival.

This screening is part of a class by Dr. Shaked and Dr. Edelman on “Israel: The Making of a State, An introduction to the creation of the State of Israel in its historical context”.

2014

Jan. 29 – Dr. Jonathan Woocher, Chief Ideas Officer at JESNA, (Jewish Educational Services of North America) Lippman Kanfer Institute on his chapter titled “Jewish Education in a New Century: An Ecosystem in Transition” in Vol. II of the American Jewish Year Book. Co-sponsored with the Rosenfeld Foundation of the School of Education and Human Resources (UM) and the Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.

Jan. 30 – Ambassador from Morocco to the United States, Rachad Bouhlal on . "Morocco, Its Evolving Mediterranean Neighborhood and Its Relations with the U.S". Co-sponsored with the American Jewish Committee and the Miami European Union Center.

Feb. 3 – Screening of “Herzl”, a documentary, as part of Prof. Sam Edelman’s course on Zionism.

Feb. 6 - Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, President of the Rabbinic Cabinet of the Jewish Federations of North America and Founding and Senior Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Tzedek in Potomac, Maryland on “Beyond Gefilte Fish: Jewish Identity in the 21st Century”.

Feb. 9 – “The Last of the Unjust” A Claude Lanzman film . At the Cosford Cinema.

Feb. 13 – Prof. Irwin Cotler, Professor of Human Rights, McGill University; Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Canada. "The Iranian Regime: Some Inconvenient Truths about Anti-Semitism and Human Rights". Co-sponsored with the Institute for the Study of Global Anti-Semitism and Policy (ISGAP).

Feb. 18 – Donor Appreciation Event with Prof Kurt Stone "In the Land of Mink-Lined Pools: An Intimate History of Hollywood and the Jews." BY INVITATION ONLY TO 2012-PRESENT DONORS.

February 24 – Lecture by Prof. Ira Sheskin on “Are You Pewish? A Report on the 2013 Portrait of Jewish Americans by the Pew Research Center”. Co-sponsored with Temple Judea. 7:00pm at Temple Judea, 5500 Granada Blvd., Coral Gables. Free and open to the public.

March 3 – Lecture by Aaron Hughes on Theorizing Judaism and Islam. From 10:10-11:00am as part of Prof. Stephen Sapp‘s REL101 class (Introduction to Religion). Learning Center, room 120, UM, Coral Gables campus.

March 9-11 - Funders Network meeting in Miami. Exhibition of 7-8 panels on Jewish Philanthropy at Miller Center. TBA
Wednesday, March 19 – Lecture by Prof. Benny Morris, Ben Gurion University on "The 1948 War as a Jihad". Co-sponsored with the Institute for the Study of Global Anti-Semitism and Policy (ISGAP). At 8:00 PM at the Miller Center, 5202 University Dr., Merrick Bldg. #105, Coral Gables. RSVP to ccjs@miami.edu or 305-284-6882. Free and open to the public.

March 26 - Lecture by Prof. Gabriel Weimann on Terrorism in Cyberspace: The Next Generation. At 8:00 PM at the Miller Center Auditorium, 5202 University Drive, Merrick Building, Coral Gables. RSVP to ccjs@miami.edu or 305-284-6882. Free and open to the public.

March 31- Lecture by Judge A. Jay Cristol on the "Liberty Incident Revealed", a definite account on the 1967 Israeli attach on the U.S.S. spy ship “Liberty”. At 8:00pm at the Miller Center Auditorium, 5202 University Drive, Merrick Building, Coral Gables. RSVP to ccjs@miami.edu or 305-284-6882. Free and open to the public.

 April 17 – Dr. Louis Kaplan (University of Toronto) and multi-media artist Melissa Shiff, on a fascinating project about a little known episode in American Jewish History. The project, “Mapping Ararat”, is based on Major Mordecai Noah’s attempt in 1825 to create a Jewish homeland in upstate New York. Co-sponsored with UM’s Dept. of History and Dept. of Art and Art History. From 4:00 – 5:30 at the Miller Center, 5202 University Dr., Merrick Bldg. #105.

April 24 – Lecture by Rabbi David Ellenson, President and Chancellor Elect of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion on “Jewish Peoplehood: Judaism’s Response to Modernity”. Co-sponsored with the Association for Jewish Studies and the Robert Russell Memorial Foundation. At 8:00 PM at the Miller Center, 5202 University Drive, Merrick Building, Coral Gables. RSVP to ccjs@miami.edu or 305-284-6882. Free and open to the public.

April 26 – Yom HaShoah program - Explore the rich heritage of music derived from the Holocaust experience - from Jewish composers who perished to musicians who emigrated after the Holocaust and became cultural leaders. This moving performance recovers and rejuvenates music from this tumultuous period of history, and offers attendees a chance for meaningful conversation and quiet reflection.
Guest performers this year will Cellist Jason Calloway and Rachael Calloway , founders of Shir Ami, an organization that is devoted to recovering and rejuvenating Jewish musical culture, a culture that was interrupted by the Holocaust. In their own words:' We give voice to the people of the Jewish Diaspora whose art has been silenced, suppressed, or neglected as a result of their Jewish heritage'. At 7:30 PM at The Betsy Hotel, 1440 Ocean Dr., Miami Beach.

April 29 – Legacy Luncheon for HSSI interns and survivor partners. By invitation only. Noon – 2:00 PM at the Miller Center.

October 7 - Launch of ground breaking Holocaust Theater Catalog (HTC). The National Jewish Theater Foundation (NJTF), Holocaust International Initiative (HTII) have designated the Miller Center as the permanent home for its ground breaking digital Holocaust Theater Catalog. The launch of the HTC website will be celebrated at a special reception and screening of the acclaimed NJTF filmed production" The Soap Myth" on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. Free and open to the public. Light refreshments prior to the event. At The Cosford Cinema 5030 Brunson Dr, Coral Gables, FL 33124 , UM Coral Gables. RSVP to {encode="ccjs@miami.edu" title="ccjs@miami.edu"} or 305-284-6882.

October 21- Presentation and discussion by Mazal Renford, Former Director of the Golda Meir Mount Carmel International Training Center, Haifa, Israel; Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV) Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel on: ISRAEL’S INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION IN LATIN AMERICA: INITIATIVES PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. Location: Hyatt Regency 50 Alhambra Plaza , Coral Gables Venetian Room: Time: 8:00 – 8:15 a.m. - Registration and Continental Breakfast, 8:15 – 9:30 a.m. - Presentations and Discussion. Program Fee: $30; Academics and students – free admission with valid ID. For more information, please call Michael Graybeal at (305) 284-9918, or visit our website at www.miami.edu/chp.

October 21 - Complicit: The St. Louis Story. Film and Discussion with Complicit Directors Ruth Kalish and Robert Karakow will follow the screening. Complicit examines the odyssey of the SS St. Louis, which set sail from Germany in 1939 with hundreds of Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis. Complicit explores the refusal of Cuba, U.S. and Canada to grant safe haven to the Jewish refugees on board the SS St. Louis. This act became a symbol of the world’s indifference. This film’s timeless message demonstrates that wherever anti-Semitism has gone unchecked, the persecution of others has been present or not far behind. Casa Bacardi/Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami, 1531 Brescia Avenue, Coral Gables. RSVP: The Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (305) 284-CUBA (2822) Donation to benefit ICCAS $10.00 .

November 10 - Lecture by Gidi Grinstein, President and Founder of the Reut Institute, Israel, before that Mr. Grinstein served as Secretary and Coordinator of the Israeli negotiation team on the Parliament Status Agreement between Isreal and the PLO, in the Office of Prime Minister Ehud Barak, on Flexigidity: The Secret of Jewish Adaptability. Monday, November 10, 2014 at 7:30 PM at The Miller Center Auditorium, there is a $10 admission to benefit the JCC, Free admission to UM students, staff and donors of the Miller Center. Light refreshments prior to the event on the Scharlin Patio. 105 Merrick Building 5202 University Drive , UM Coral Gables. RSVP to {encode="ccjs@miami.edu" title="ccjs@miami.edu"} or 305-284-6882.

Nov 5– A Conversation with Globetrotting International Journalist Ilene Prusher on, From Daniel Pearl to Steven Sotloff. Cosponsored with Journalism, INS and Politic Science. At 7:30 PM at the Miller Center, 5202 University Dr., Merrick Bldg. #105. Light refreshments prior to the event on the Scharlin Patio. First come, first seated. RSVP to {encode="ccjs@miami.edu" title="ccjs@miami.edu"} or 305-284-6882. Free and open to the public.

2013

January 4-25 – Exhibit: “Let My People Go! The Soviet Jewry Movement 1967-1980”, an exhibit from Beit Hatfutsot which provides an overview of Jewish national activity in the Soviet Union during that period. When Soviet Jews launched their campaign to emigrate, it was almost inconceivable that within little more than two decades the face of history would change beyond recognition, the Soviet Union would disintegrate and the gates of the Iron Curtain would be thrown wide open for Jews to leave. In 50 extraordinary photos, our exhibit traces this process. The exhibit will run from January 4-25 at the Wesley Gallery on the UM campus, with a special reception on January 16.

January 16 – “Let My People Go! The Soviet Jewry Movement 1967-1980” exhibit special reception with comments by Dr. Joel and Adele Sandberg and Rabbi Leonid Feldman.

January 21 - Exhibition, reception and special presentation by Kenneth Treister (F.A.I.A.) on The Eight Days of Creation. at the Betsy Hotel. Mr. Treister is a photographer and the creator of the Holocaust Memorial of Miami Beach, the Gumenick Chapel at Temple Israel and the restoration of Temple Emanu-El.

January 23 – Lecture by Prof. Deborah Dash Moore, Director of the Frenkel Center for Judaic Studies and the Frederick G.L. Huetwell Prof. of History at the University of Michigan on To the Golden City of Miami. Co-sponsored with Temple Judea and The Association for Jewish Studies.

February 8 – Lecture by Edwin Black on IBM's Hidden Role in the Holocaust. Part of "Ethics, Policy and Society" occassional series. 12-2pm at the Miller Center Auditorium, 5202 University Drive,Merrick Building, Coral Gables campus. Co-sponsored with UM's Ethics Programs.

February 12 - American Jewish Yearbook launch. The ‘Official’ Record of the North American Jewish Communities. Reception and briefing by three contributors to the current AJYB volume on The Future of American Jewry by Prof. Ira Sheskin (UM), editor on The Future of the Jewish Population of the United States,
Prof. Arnold Dashefsky (UC), editor on The Legacy of the American Jewish Year Book and Prof. Barry Kosmin (Trinity College) on Jewish Life beyond the Synagogue: American Jewish Secularism.

February 19 - Lecture by Prof. Rachel Tzvi Back on Language, Lies & Truth-telling: An Israeli Poet's Perspective. Co-sponsored by the George Feldenkreis Program in Judaic Studies and the Department of English.

March 20 – Lecture by Prof. David Graf on "Rediscovering the Legendary City of Petra".

April 3 – Lecture by Prof. Ranen Omer-Sherman on Narratives of Dissent: War in Contemporary Israeli Arts and Culture.

September 17 – Philippe Létrillart, Consul General of France on “France Today: its role at the UN and the European Union, relations with the US, recent political developments and the Syrian crisis”. Co-sponsored with the Miami European Union Center.

October 1 – Kevin McGurgan on “The United Kingdom today: role in Europe, relations with the United States, perception of the Syria Crisis and the future of Scotland”. Co-sponsored with the Miami European Union Center.

October 7 – Dr. Vanessa Ochs on “Inventing Jewish Ritual”. Co-sponsored with Temple Judea and the Association for Jewish Studies.

October 8 – Adolfo Barattolo, Consul General of Italy on “Italy Today: role in the European Union and the Mediterranean, recent political developments and relations with the United States”. Co-sponsored with the Miami European Union Center.

October 14 – Lecture by Prof. William Miles of Northeastern University on his book “Jews of Nigeria”. Co-sponsored with UM’s African Studies Program. This lecture is given during Dr. Edmund Abaka’s class.

October 22 - Lecture by Matthew Levitt, Senior Fellow and Director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, on his recently published “Hizbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon’s Party of God”. Co-sponsored with the Dave and Mary Alper Jewish Community Center as part of the 33rd Annual Jewish Book Festival.

October 28 – Lecture by Dr. David Michael Jacobson of Buckinghamshire New University, England on “Herod - The Great Builder: The Jerusalem Temple, Herodium, Masada, Jericho and Caesarea”. Co-sponsored with UM’s Department of Religious Studies and Center forthe Humanities.

October 29 – Prof. Haim Shaked, Director of the Miller Center on “The Mediterranean Basin in History: A meeting place of North, South, East and West”.

November 8 - Lecture by Judge A. Jay Cristol on the updated edition of “The Liberty Incident”. At The Parliament. By Invitation Only.

November 14 – Lecture by Bezalel Porten on “A Jewish Mercenary Colony at Elephantine (Yeb), Ancient Egypt (5th Century BCE)”. Co-sponsored with UM’s Department of Religious Studies.

November 21 – Play: “My Name is Asher Lev”, based on the novel by Chaim Potok. At 8:00 PM at GableStage, 1200 Anastasia Ave., Coral Gables. Co-sponsored with GableStage.

December 5 – Lecture by Yossi Klein Halevi – Senior Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute and Contributing Editor to The New Republic on his new book “Like Dreamers: The Story of the Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem”. Co-sponsored with the Dave and Mary Alper Jewish Community Center as part of the 33rd Annual Jewish Book Festival.

2012

January 6-27 “Window to my World” - photographic exhibition by 63 Arab and Jewish photographers focused on each one’s perspective on the changes taking place now in Israel’s Galilee region and the influence these changes have on the people living there.
Co-sponsored by UM’s Dept. of Art and Art History. At UM’s Wesley Gallery.

January 19
Lecture by Rabbi Adam Chalom on ”Beyond Apikorsut: A Judaism for Secular Jews”.
Co-sponsored by the Dave and Mary Alper Jewish Community Center.

January 23
Lecture by Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, on his recently published Jews and Money.
Co-sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League.

January 25
Closing Reception for “Window to my World” exhibition.

January 30, 31
Musical - “Ghetto Tango” presents the songs and music that were performed in the underground cabarets that sprang up in the Jewish ghettoes in occupied Europe during the Holocaust and became a way in which these beleaguered communities tried to come to terms with and resist the horror around them.
Co-sponsored by Tania and Israel Lapciuc, the Holocaust Memorial of Miami Beach and GableStage.

February 1
Visit by Prof. David Menashri. Co-sponsored by the Institute of Cuban and Cuban American Studies and the Dr. M.Lee Pearce Chair in Middle East Peace Studies. By invitation only.

February 7
Lecture by Prof. Rivka Carmi – President of Ben Gurion University of the Negev. The Presidential Lecture. ”Re-imagining the Ivory Tower: The Responsibility of Academia to Society”.
Co-sponsored by of office of UM President Donna E. Shalala and Ben Gurion University of the Negev.


February 15
Lecture by Rabbi Solomon Schiff on his book Under the Yarmulke: Tales of Faith, Fun and Football.

February 21
Visit by Prof. Uri Dromi, Director General of Mishkenot Sha’ananim Conference Center in Jerusalem and editorial contributor to The Miami Herald on “Israel’s Image in the Media: A New Approach”.
Co-sponsored with the Knight Foundation and Norman H. Lipoff, Esq. By invitation only, at Greenberg Traurig.

February 23
Lecture by Gershon Baskin on “Is Israeli Palestinian Peace Still Possible?”


February 24
Session by Dr. Haim Shaked on the External Dimension at the conference on State of the Union: The Eurozone crisis, comparative regioanl intergration and the EU model. Seminar sponsored and organzied by the Miami-Florida European Union Center of Excellence, a consortium of Florida International University and the University of Miami, the Jean Monnet Chair and the Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies.

February 27
Lecture by Prof. Alfred Tovias of the Dept. of International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on “Israel, the Mediterranean and the European Union”.
Co-sponsored by UM’s European Union Center. From


February 29
Visit by Prof. Uzi Rabi, Director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies and Chair of the Department of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University. Lunch at the Miller Center (by invitation only).

March 1
Lecture by Former President of Spain. José María Aznar on Changes in the Arab World, Implications for Israel and the Western Security. Hosted by Pres. Donna Shalala.

March 13
Lecture by Kher Albaz, Director of Social Services of the Negev Bedouins in the Segev-Shalom Council, on “The Bedouin of the Negev".
Co-sponsored with the Israel and Overseas Committee of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.


March 22
Lecture by Rabbi Uri Regev, President and Founder of Hiddush, on Can Israel Be Both Jewish and Democratic?: Israel's identity crisis.
Cosponsored with Temple Beth Am.

March 26
Lecture by Prof. David Nirenberg, professor of Medieval History and Social Thought at the University of Chicago.
Cosponsored with the Department of History Speakers Series and the Department of Religious Studies.

April 3
Lecture by Prof. Tudor Parfitt on ”Al- Qa'ida, Israel and Judaism”.
Co-sponsored with the Dept. of Religious Studies.

September 24
Lecture by Dr. Yair Mintzker of Princeton University on The Multiple Deaths of Jew Süss: February 4, 1738. Co-sponsored by the George Feldenkreis Program in Judaic Studies, the Departments of History and Religious Studies and the Center for the Humanities. At the Miller Center.

October 16
Lecture by Andrew Tabler on “In the Lion’s Den”. Mr. Tabler is a Senior Fellow with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Co-sponsored with the Dave and Mary Alper JCC as part of the 32nd Annual Jewish Book Festival. At the Miller Center.

October 18
Lecture by Dr. Yoram Hazony, founder and provost of the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, on “The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture: An Introduction”. Co-sponsored with the Dave and Mary Alper JCC as part of the 32nd Annual Jewish Book Festival. At the Miller Center.

October 30 – Lecture by Prof. Ira Sheskin on “A Look at the Presidential Election – How are Jews Voting?” at the Miller Center.

November 7 – Lecture by Amb. Moshe Arens on "Flags Over the Warsaw Ghetto”. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising has become a symbol of heroism throughout the world. On the eve of Passover, April 19, 1943, German forces entered the Warsaw ghetto equipped with tanks, flame-throwers, and machine guns. Against them stood an army of a few hundred young Jewish men and women, armed with pistols and Molotov cocktails. Who were these Jewish fighters who dared oppose the armed might of the SS troops? In this groundbreaking work, Israel’s former Minister of Defense, Professor Moshe Arens, recounts a true tale of daring, courage, and sacrifice. Two young men, Mordechai Anielewicz of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB), and Pawel Frenkel of the Jewish Military Organization (ZZW), rose to lead separate resistance organizations in the ghetto, and made a last-ditch fight for the honor of the Jewish people. Co-sponsored with the Dave and Mary Alper JCC as part of the 32nd Annual Jewish Book Festival at the Miller Center Auditorium.

December 6 – Prof. Norman Stillman, Schusterman/Josey Professor of Judaic History at the University of Oklahoma on “Jews and Muslims: The Historical Encounter”. The 12th Annual Robert Russell Memorial Lecture at the Miller Center.

2011

Jan. 16-18
Conference on Fifty Years of the Special U.S-Israel Relationship. Co-sponsored with Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and Jewish Community Relations of GMJF at the Conrad Hilton Hotel on Brickell Ave., Miami.

Jan. 18
Lecture by Edwin Black on “The Farhud”. At the Miller Center.


Jan. 31
Rebecca Joy Fletcher, “Laughter as Resistance: Performance during the Holocaust”. At the Miller Center. Co-sponsored with the Holocaust Memorial of Miami Beach as part of its Holocaust Education Week.


Feb. 14
“City of Borders”, a documentary on the meeting spaces available to gay and bisexual residents of Jerusalem – both Jews and Muslims. Co-sponsored with the Program for Women’s and Gender Studies. At the Miller Center.

Feb. 15
Zalmen Mlotek, Executive Director of the Folksbiene, New York’s only remaining Yiddish theatre. “100 Years of Yiddish Theater Music: From Shtetl to the Klezmer Revival”. By invitation only to donors to the Miller Center-Feldenkreis Program. At the Miller Center.

Feb. 22 - lecture by Dr. Tudor Parfitt on Searching for the Lost Ark of the Covenant: The Southern African Lemba Tribe, DNA, and the African Ark. Professor of Modern Jewish Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Cosponsored with the Department of Religious Studies and the Africana Studies Program. At the Miller Center Auditorium.

March 1 – Lecture by Ambassador Yehuda Avner on Serving Five Prime Ministers. Lecture to be held at Temple Judea. Co-sponsored with Temple Judea and Books and Books.

March 2 - Lecture by Tal Grinfas-David, on Understanding Zionism Through its Music.
A Century of Israeli Music – Lecture Description
By examining the music and culture of the people, this lecture presents a picture of life in Palestine from the first Aliyah through the founding of the state and ending with mainstream culture in Israel in the present day. The lecture touches upon styles and genres of music as a representation of changes in demographics, historical context, and Zionist endeavors. In addition, the presentation examines the lyrics of several songwriters who memorialized key events in Israel’s history and shaped the nation's heritage. The lecture is a multimedia experience of Israeli life throughout the decades, celebrating the struggles and victories of the people searching for and developing their Israeli identity. At the Miller Center.

March 7 - lecture by Dr. Arnold Dashefsky on Charitable Choices: Philanthropic Decisions of Donors in the American Jewish Community. Cosponsored by the Department of Sociology. At the Miller Center Auditorium, , UM - Coral Gables.

March 7 - lecture by Dr. Arnold Dashefsky on Interfaith Marriage and Jewish Journeys in the United States. Doris and Simon Konover Professor of Sociology and Director, Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, University of Connecticut. Co-sponsored by the Department of Sociology. At the Miller Center Auditorium.

March 24 – Prof. Hillel Frisch on “Israel’s Arab Citizens and Israel’s Security: A Forthcoming Cambridge University Book”.

April 5 - Marc Epstein, Prof. at Vassar College – “Art, Narrative and Religious Imagination in the Passover Haggadah”. Flyer to read “Made possible, in part, through the support of Suzanne and Lawrence Fishman”. At the Miller Center.

April 13 - Mitchell Bard at the Miller Center on “The Arab Lobby”.

May 3 – Legacy Luncheon – by invitation only to students, survivors, Miller and JCS staff.

Fall 2011 - Horowitz, Amy – Mediterranean Israeli Music and the Politics of the Aesthetic. At the Miller Center.

Fall 2011 - Gal Beckerman - When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry. With additional comments by Rabbi Leonid Feldman, the first Russian Jew to be ordained in the Conservative movement. Part of the 31st Annual Jewish Book Festival organized by the Dave and Mary Alper JCC.

2010

Jan. 20-27
Holocaust Education Week at various venues around Miami-Dade County


Jan. 21
Prof. William Scott Green on “The Synagogue as Public Space”. Part of the “Tree of Paradise” exhibition. At the Lowe Museum, 1301 Stanford Dr.

Jan. 27
United Nations Holocaust Memorial Day at UM. Teachers’ Training at the Miller Center.


Feb. 3
Ed Morgan at Greenberg Traurig.


Feb. 15
Prof. Ed Morgan on “A Sovereign Palestine? The Ins and Outs of International Law”. Mr. Morgan is a Professor of Law at the University of Toronto and a former National President (2004-2007) of the Canadian Jewish Congress. At the Miller Center Auditorium.


Feb. 17
Prof. Margalit Bejarano of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on “The Story of Cuban Jewry - Myth and Reality: The 1950s, the Revolution and the History of the Jews under Castro.” At the Miller Center Auditorium.

Apr. 22
“The Quarrel” adapted by Joseph Telushkin and David Brandes at the GableStage, Coral Gables. Co-sponsored by the Futernick and Lapciuc families.

Apr. 20-25
“The Kosher Cheerleader” a one woman show written and performed by Sandy Walshin. Co-sponsored with the National Jewish Theatre. At the Parker Playhouse, Ft. Lauderdale.


Apr. 26
“The Forgotten Exodus” – Jews forced out of their homes in Arab lands. Panel with Prof. Irwin Cotler, former Canadian Attorney General and Minister of Justice and Past President of the Canadian Jewish Congress; Dr. Henry Green, Prof. of Religious Studies, UM; Mr. Stanley Urman, Executive Vice President Justice for Jews from Arab Countries. At the Miller Center Auditorium.

May 4
Annual Legacy Luncheon by invitation only for students, faculty, JCS staff and survivor participants in the HSSI Program at the Miller Center.


Oct. 18
Lecture by Aviva Ben-Ur, Assoc. Prof. of Judaic Studies at University of Mass. at Amherst, on “The Hispanic-Jewish Connection in the United States” at the Miller Center.


Oct. 19
Tenth Annual Robert Russell Lecture by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, on Hillel: If Not Now, When? with co-sponsorship by UM Hillel. Part of the Thirtieth Annual Jewish Book Festival, at the Miller Center.


Nov. 4
Meyerhoff-Katz Lecture by Maina Singh, on “Being Indian, Being Israeli: Migration, Culture and Identity in the Jewish Homeland”. Meyerhoff-Katz Lecture to be introduced by Laura Katz Cutler. Part of the Thirtieth Annual Jewish Book Festival. At the Miller Center.


Nov. 8
Lecture by Prof. Marion Kaplan, Skirball Professor of Modern Jewish History, New York University, on "The Making of the Jewish Middle Class: Women and Family in Imperial Germany, 1871-1918." At the Miller Center. Co-sponsored by the Department of History.


Nov. 9
A FILM UNFINISHED. Hosted by Dr. William Scott Green, Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education at the University of Miami. 7:30 PM at The Betsy Hotel, Miami Beach.

Nov. 9
Lecture by Prof. Pablo Utin, Schusterman Visiting Artist Fellow, on A History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict Through the Lens of Israeli Films. The Arab-Israeli conflict has always been one of the main topics in Israeli films. Starting with examples from pre-state Zionist feature films, this lecture will analyze the representation of the conflict between Jews and Arabs as portrayed through the lenses of Jewish-Israeli filmmakers. After a short survey of the development of the conflict and its cinematic representation in the past, the lecture will then focus on more recent Israeli films dealing with this conflict. These films, which are products of the social psychology generated by the politics of disengagement, are also outstanding cinematic works of art. The lecture will try to portray the relationship between the social and the artistic aspects of this reality. We shall look at the cinematic representation of the conflict and its aesthetic strategies which bring forth complex perspectives, fears and beliefs. The films in question often give an in-depth look at the psychology of a people immersed in a situation full of paradoxes, anxieties and hopes.

The lecture will include the screening of clips from prominent Israeli films such as: Sabra, Hill 24 Doesn't Answer, Beyond the Walls, Avanti Popolo, Walk on Water, The Band's Visit and Ajami. At the Miller Center Auditorium. Co-sponsored with the School of Communications and UM Hillel. R.S.V.P.


Nov. 18
The showing of an Israeli film LEVANON. The first day of the war in Lebanon in 1982. Most of the action takes place within an Israeli tank. Like “Waltz with Bashir”, the movie takes a dim view of war and is critical of both sides. Comments by Israeli film critic Pablo Utin, Schusterman Visiting Artist Fellow at UM. Co-sponsored with the School of Communication and UM Hillel.


Nov. 22
Lecture by Hermann Beck , Professor of History and Interim Chair of the Department of History at UM on "The Reaction of German Society to Anti-Semitism During the Nazi Seizure of Power” – Co-sponsored with the Department of History and the Center for Humanities. At the Miller Center.

2009

Jan. 18
The Art of Dubi Arie The Mission: Under the Wings of God and the Shadow of Amalek Opening Reception. The artist will be present and will be interviewed by Dr. Haim Shaked.at the Dave and Mary Alper JCC
The centerpiece of this amazing exhibit is the seven panels of the 19’ x 7’ long The Mission, which vibrantly illuminate 4,000 years of Jewish history. Having taken twenty years from inception to completion, The Mission radiates with brilliant color and imagery and icons of the Jewish odyssey through the ages. Explanatory texts illuminate each of its panels. With The Mission, Dubi Arie, Holocaust survivor, artist, Israeli soldier and farmer completed a dream that was conceived on June 7, 1967 - the day Jerusalem was united during the Six Day War by Israeli paratroopers, thereby regaining control of the Western Wall. Also included in the exhibit are oils, lithographs and mixed media pieces.
The exhibit runs through February 15, 2009.
Performance of A Jew Grows in Brooklyn in the Russell Theater. A Jew Grows in Brooklyn is a touching, poignant and hilarious new musical comedy about a family and a young boy's quest for the American Dream. The show has been playing to sold out audiences and standing ovations. Join the author/star Jake Ehrenreich as he takes you on a musical journey of his life: from his parents’ survival of the Holocaust, to stickball in Brooklyn, to his career in the Catskills and then onto Broadway.

Feb. 19
Herbert D. Katz Memorial Lecture – Dr. Beth Wenger, Prof. of History, University of Pennsylvania on “The Jewish Americans – Three Centuries of Jewish Voices in America”.

Mar. 5
The Eighth Jack Chester Memorial Lecture by Dr. Jacob Neusner Distinguished Service Professor of the History and Theology of Judaism. Senior Fellow, Institute of Advanced Theology - Bard College, NY on TIME FOR ISLAM: FROM DIALOGUE TO TRIALOGUE IN INTERFAITH RELATIONS. At the Miller Center Auditorium. Cosponsored with the Department of Religion and The Dr. M. Lee Pearce Chair in Middle East Peace Studies.

Nov. 4
Prof. Avivah Zornberg lectures during Prof. Jeffrey Shoulson’s class on her latest book, “Letters from an Unknown Woman: Joseph’s Dream”. Co-sponsored with the College of Arts and Sciences, the Departments of English and Religious Studies and Temple Judea.

Nov. 5
Lecture by Kenneth Treister on “Synagogue Architecture Through Time and Space”. Part of the “Tree of Paradise Exhibition” at the Lowe Museum.

Nov. 10
Unique exhibit of five paintings by Tom Muhl depicting his childhood experiences in the Budapest Ghetto during the Holocaust. Tom was born in Budapest and went on to become a leading art director and artist in Europe and the United States. He is now one of our survivor partners in the University of Miami’s Holocaust Survivors’ Support Internship Program. Tom is going to talk about the paintings and how they provide an adult re-creation of a 10 year-old child’s memory of the events that he witnessed. At the Miller Center Auditorium.

Nov. 11
Allen Wells, Prof. of History at Bowdoin College, on “Tropical Zion: General Trujillo, FDR and the Jews of Sosúa”. Co-sponsored with the Department of History.

Nov. 16
Lecture by Phillip Spiegel on Triumph Over Tyranny, including excerpts from the documentary “Refusnik”. Part of the 29th Annual Jewish Book Festival. At the Miller Center Auditorium.

Dec. 2
The Ninth Annual Jack Chester Memorial Lecture with Prof. Stuart Cohen of Bar-Ilan University on Israel and its Army: From Cohesion to Confusion. At the Miller Center Auditorium.

Dec. 9
The Ninth Annual Robert Russell lecture with architect, sculptor and painter Kenneth Treister on his recent gift to the Miller Center, eight paintings on “The Epic of Creation”. Atthe Miller Center Auditorium.

Oct. 30 - Jan. 24
“Tree of Paradise – Jewish Mosaics from the Roman Empire”. At the Lowe Museum

2008

Jan. 15
Holocaust Education directed by Dr. Miriam Klein Kassenoff. Scott Miller of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will speak on “Refuge Denied – From the St. Louis Ship to the Bad Arolsen Archives”. At the Miller Center.

Jan. 28
Film and talk by Mas'ood Cajee. The film Forgotten Resistance: The Paris Mosque (30 minutes) tells the story of how the Paris Mosque helped prevent hundreds of Jewish families and Resistance fighters from being deported to Nazi concentration camps.
Mr. Cajee will discuss the film and lead a discussion about Muslim rescuers during the Holocaust of WWII. Mas’ood Cajee is a founding board member of the Muslim Peace Fellowship and former vice-chair of Fellowship of Reconciliation national council. He is currently practicing dentistry in Stockton, California, and is working on several books related to human rights, history, the Nazi genocide and Islamic themes.
Cosponsored with MUSUM, The Muslim Students of the University of Miami.

Jan. 28
Lecture by Dr. Mitchell G. Bard, author of “Myths and Facts” on his newly published Will Israel Survive? Books available for purchase and autographing.

Feb. 4
Seventh Annual Robert Russell Memorial Foundation lecture. Newly elected President of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Prof. Arnold Eisen. Topic “Commandment, Community and the Future of American Jewry”.

Feb. 11
Susannah Heschel, daughter of Abraham Joshua Heschel and Prof. of Judaic Studies at Dartmouth College. “Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity – Celebrating the Centennial of Abraham Joshua Heschel”. Co-sponsored by the Citizens Board of UM, Temple Judea and the American Jewish Committee.

Feb. 13
Guest speaker Dr. Mordechai (“Motti”) Aviam, Miller Center Visiting Fellow, as part of Dr. John Fitzgerald's Judaic Studies class REL 314/JUS 314: "The Rise of Judaism" on Galilee (I): Introduction to the Galilee: The Galileans Prior to the Hasmoneans and the Hasmonean Conquest.
Dr. Aviam is the Director of the Institute for Galilean Archaeology as well as of the Galilee Research Center and Lecturer at the Ort Braude College in Karmiel, Israel. He is an accomplished archeologist and scholar. Slides of relevant archeological sites in the Galilee and will be shown during the presentation.


Feb. 14
Dr. Menachem Kellner Prof. of Medieval Jewish History at Haifa University on “Maimonides in Jewish Thought”. At the Miller Center.

Feb. 20
Guest speaker Dr. Mordechai (“Motti”) Aviam, Miller Center Visiting Fellow, as part of Dr. John Fitzgerald's Judaic Studies class REL 314/JUS 314: "The Rise of Judaism" on Galilee (II): Jewish Life in the Galilee in the First Century CE and the Galilee during the First Jewish Revolt.
Dr. Aviam is the Director of the Institute for Galilean Archaeology as well as of the Galilee Research Center and Lecturer at the Ort Braude College in Karmiel, Israel. He is an accomplished archeologist and scholar. Slides of relevant archeological sites in the Galilee and will be shown during the presentation.


Feb. 25
The Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies, cosponsored with the Department of Religious Studies invite you to attend a panel presentation on The Land of Israel as a Crossroads in Antiquity with Dr. Mordechai (“Motti”) Aviam and Dr. David Graf. Dr. Aviam is the director of the Institute for Galilean Archaeology as well as of the Galilee Research Center and lecturer at the Ort Braude College in Karmiel, Israel. Dr. Aviam is an accomplished archaeologist and scholar of the Galilee. He will be at UM as a Miller Center Visiting Fellow. Dr. David Graf is a professor in UM’s Department of Religious Studies and accomplished archaeologist and scholar. Specialist in the Nabataeans of Petra and their role in the international incense trade between Yemen and the Mediterranean via the Petra-Gaza route across Israel. Recently a Lady Davis Fellow at the Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University and presently a Fellow at the School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. Dr. Aviam and Dr. Graf will concentrate on the Galilee and on the Negev, respectively. Aat the Miller Center.

Feb. 27
Guest speaker Dr. Mordechai (“Motti”) Aviam, Miller Center Visiting Fellow, as part of Dr. John Fitzgerald's Judaic Studies class REL 314/JUS 314: "The Rise of Judaism" on Galilee (III): The Galilee During the Time of the Mishnah and the Talmud.
Dr. Aviam is the Director of the Institute for Galilean Archaeology as well as of the Galilee Research Center and Lecturer at the Ort Braude College in Karmiel, Israel. He is an accomplished archeologist and scholar. Slides of relevant archeological sites in the Galilee and will be shown during the presentation.


Feb. 28
Natalie Zemon Davis, Professor Emeritus of History, Princeton University and Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto, on “Jews, Africans and Philosophes”. At the Miller Center. Sponsored by the Dept. of Modern Languages and Literatures and the Dept. of History.

Mar. 4
A special briefing on CRISIS IN THE MIDDLE EAST: BEYOND THE HEADLINES, featuring Yaakov Katz, Military Correspondent and Defense Analyst for The Jerusalem Post at the Miller Center Auditorium. Cosponsored with JCRC and UM Hillel.

Mar. 17
The Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies; The ADL; JCRC; ACJ; and ICCAS invite you to attend a lecture a panel presentation on “The Influence of Iran in Latin America: The Venezuelan and Cuban Connection. Guest Speakers will be Carlos Alberto Montaner, renowned journalist and frequent contributor to El Nuevo Herald, Dr. Patrick Clawson, Deputy Director for research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and author of Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos, and Dr. Jose Azel, Senior research associate at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at UM. The presentation will be moderated by Dr. Jaime Suchlicki, Professor and Director of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at UM. At the Bill Cosford Cinema.

Mar. 18-Apr. 5
Exhibit on The Jews of Cuba with text by Visiting Prof. Ruth Behar and photographs by Humberto Mayol. Co-sponsored with the School of Communication, the Dept. of Art and Art History and the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies. At the Wesley Gallery.

Mar. 21
The Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies; The Taplin Middle East Peace Project; The Dr. M. Lee Pearce Chair in Middle East Peace Studies; Hillel, University of Miami; Muslim Students of UM (MSofUM) and Organization of Arab Students Instituting Solidarity (OASIS) invite you to attend a panel presentation by Dr. Gershon Baskin and Hanna Siniora on Paving the Road for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. Dr. Gershon is the Israeli founder and co-director of the Israel/Palestinian Center for Research and Information (IPCRI), a joint Israeli-Palestinian public policy think-tank. Author of The Future of Jerusalem; How to Conduct Business in the Palestinian Territories; The Future of the Israeli Settlements in Final Status Negotiations, and more. Hanna Siniora is a Palestinian peace activist. Co-director of the Israeli-Palestinian Center for Research and Information (IPCRI). He has been a member of the Palestinian National Council since 1990. His career includes editing and publishing the Palestinian daily Arabic Newspaper Al Fajr and The Jerusalem Times. At the Miller Center.

Mar. 25
Opening event with lecture by Ruth Behar on her recently published book An Island Called Home, about the Jews of Cuba. At the Wesley Gallery.

Apr. 24
“The Accomplices” co-produced with the GableStage The eminent Rabbi Stephen Wise is confronted by an obnoxious young foreigner. The young man, who goes by the name of Peter Bergson, is frustrated by the unwillingness of the most influential American Jew of his era to use his power to speak up to save European Jews slated for death by Hitler’s Nazis. At the GableStage Theatre in the Biltmore Hotel. Sponsored by the Futernick Family Foundation.

May 14
“The Accomplices” co-produced with the GableStage The eminent Rabbi Stephen Wise is confronted by an obnoxious young foreigner. The young man, who goes by the name of Peter Bergson, is frustrated by the unwillingness of the most influential American Jew of his era to use his power to speak up to save European Jews slated for death by Hitler’s Nazis. At the GableStage Theatre in the Biltmore Hotel. Sponsored by the Lapciuc Family.

Oct. 22
Lecture by Prof. Gabi Weiman on “Terrorism in Cyber Space” Dessert reception at UM/Miller Center.