Events

Archived Events

Ben and Louise Klatch Jewish Arts Series

The Jewish Studies Program at Purdue sponsors the Ben and Louise Klatch Jewish Arts Series, which brings to campus notable artists, filmmakers, musicians, writers, and scholars to present their creative work.

  • 2024 (Fall): Emily Matchar (author, novelist), "From the Shtetl to the Holler: Jewish Appalachia in In the Shadow of the Greenbrier"
  • 2024: Amy Grove (Art History, Ivy Tech Community College), “Creating in Hell: Rightful Ownership of Artwork Produced in Nazi Concentration Camps”
  • 2023: Deborah Geis (English, DePauw University), "Art Spiegelman's MAUS as a Banned Book"
  • 2019:  Nathan Abrams (Film Studies, Bangor University, Wales), "Stanley Kubrick: New York Jewish Intellectual"
  • 2018:  Anna Shternshis (University of Toronto) and Psoy Korolenko, "Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II"
  • 2017: Ranen Omer-Sherman (Jewish Studies and Humanities, University of Louisville), “The Crisis of the Individual and the Community in Kibbutz Narrative”
  • 2016: Norman Moses Joseph (technical director, Walt Disney Animation Studios), "From Mumbai to Disney Animation:  A Personal Story of An Indian Jew's Journey to America and Animation"
  • 2014: Ruth Ellen Gruber (writer, photographer), "Holocaust Legacy:  Empty Spaces, Fading First-Hand Memories, New Jewish Realities"
  • 2013: Daniel Asia (composer, University of Arizona), "Breath in a Ram's Horn:  The Jewish Spirit in Classical Music"
  • 2013: Samantha Baskind (art history, Cleveland State University), "Beatified But Not Canonized: Jewish American Artists and the Formation of the American Art Canon"
  • 2012: Edith Pearlman, "Binocular Vision:  New and Selected Stories"
  • 2011: Lafayette Klezmorim, "An Evening of Jewish Music"
  • 2010: Tyagan Miller (photographer, Bloomington), "A Place in the World"

Larry Axel Memorial Lectureship in Religion

From Fall 2008 the Jewish Studies Program and the Religious Studies Program at Purdue award the Larry Axel Memorial Lectureship in Religion, recognizing the achievements of Larry Axel, a former faculty member in the Philosophy Department, chair of Religious Studies, and a founder of the Jewish Studies Program. The Axel Lecture in Religion is presented annually.

  • 2022: Eugene Avrutin (University of Illinois), "Racism in Modern Russia: A Short History"
  • 2019: Gary A. Anderson (Notre Dame), "Atonement in the Bible: The Notion and Its Relationship to Easter and the High Holy Days"
  • 2018: James Loeffler (University of Virginia), "Three Days in December: How Zionism, Human Rights, and Genocide Came Together and Fell Apart in 1948"
  • 2017: Brad Gregory (Notre Dame), "Why the Reformation Matters, Whether We Like It or Not"
  • 2016: Tzvi Novick (Notre Dame), "God in the Lab: Technical Expertise and Rabbinic Authority"
  • 2015: Sigrun Haude (University of Cincinnati), "Religion in Conflict: From Martin Luther to the Thirty Years' War (1500-1650)"
  • 2014: Victoria Aarons (Trinity University), "The Shape of Memory: Post-Holocaust Literary Representation"
  • 2013: Wendy Furman-Adams (Whittier College), "Visualizing Paradise: Artists Representing Eden Before and After Milton's Paradise Lost"
  • 2012: Kenneth Seeskin (Northwestern), "Is Judaism Really Monotheistic? A Maimonidean Inquiry"
  • 2011: Mark Noll (Notre Dame), "The King James Bible and the U.S. Populace"
  • 2010: Michael Satlow (Brown University), "Big Givers: The Origins of Jewish Philanthropy"
  • 2009: Marjorie Suchocki (Claremont School of Theology), "The Promise of Incorporating the Art of Film into Theological Reflection"
  • 2008: Michael Berenbaum (American Jewish University), "Jewish Life Under Attack: The Role of the Synagogue in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1938"