Subject Index:
Judaism and interfaith relations

Educating the University community about Judaism and Jewish holidays has been one focus of our work. We've also looked for opportunities for interfaith dialogue, in order to build bridges to other religious communities and to educate each other about our religious and cultural traditions.

Multicultural Freedom Seder
An annual celebration of Black/Jewish and multicultural unity and our yearning for universal liberation (April)

Art exhibition...
NEVER AGAIN: Genocide from Cambodia
to Darfur and Beyond
Three powerful art exhibits bring us face to face with the tragic history of genocide in the 20th and 21st centuries. (November 2-13, 2009; opening reception and artist talks 11/3/09)

Interfaith panel discussion...
Genocide: Reconciliation, Forgiveness, and
the Search for Meaning in the Face of Evil
Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and Native American spiritual leaders discussed how their traditions approach genocide and other crimes against humanity, the process of reconciliation, and the possibility of forgiveness (11/3/09)

Commencement Information for Jewish Families
Helpful information for religiously observant Jewish families who are planning to attend commencement
activities on Friday and Saturday, May 22-23, 2009.

Film: "Constantine's Sword"
James Carroll, a former Catholic priest, is on a journey to confront his past and uncover the roots of religiously inspired violence. This powerful documentary focuses on Christian antisemitism as a prototype of religious intolerance, exposing a long history of violence against Jews, Muslims, and others (3/27/08)

The Afro-Semitic Experience in Concert
Cross-cultural explorations of the sacred and secular music of the African and Jewish diasporas (2/15/06)

Multi-year calendar of Jewish holidays

About the Jewish holidays

University policy on class absence for religious observance

Commencement 2007
Helpful information for religiously observant Jewish families who planned to attend commencement
activities on Friday and Saturday, May 25-26, 2007.

Interfaith calendars

The festival of Sukkot...
What is a sukkah and why do we build it?
by Larry Goldbaum

The Days of Awe: The Birthday of Humanity
by Larry Goldbaum

The Left Hand of God
Lecture by Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun magazine, on fundamentalism in American politics and a progressive spiritual alternative (4/6/06)

Trembling Before G-d
Documentary film about gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews and the dilemma they face reconciling their love of Judaism with the Biblical prohibition against homosexuality (4/7/03)

One Holy Land, Three Holy Peoples
Lecture by Reuven Firestone, professor of medieval Judaism and Islam at Hebrew Union College and an expert on Jewish-Muslim and Jewish-Arab relations (10/20/02)

The true colors of our humanity
by Larry Goldbaum (9/16/01)

Muslim and Jewish Holidays
Workshop for UMass employees exploring the principal Jewish and Muslim holidays. A collaboration of OJA and the Muslim Students Association (Dec 2000)

Genes, 'Lost' Tribes, and Jewish Identity
Is the Lemba community of South Africa a "Lost Tribe" of Israel? Lecture by Dr. Tudor Parfitt on the results of recent genetic research (4/6/00)

Kindle the Fire: An Interfaith Dialogue
Interfaith dialogue on spirituality with Prof. Julius Lester, Sister Eleanor Dooley, and Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, head of the Sufi Order International (11/7/99)

Compassion in Action: The Jews of Sarajevo
Lecture by Dr. Jakob Finci, president of La Benevolencia, a Jewish educational, cultural, and humanitarian society in Sarajevo, and director of Soros Foundation for Bosnia Herzegovina (10/30/98)


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