Educational, Cultural,
and Dialogue Programs

We're very proud of the many educational, cultural, and dialogue programs we've sponsored since 1995. Most of our programs are listed below, by year. Follow the links for more detailed information. Or if you're interested in a particular topic, check out our Subject Index.

For information about Shabbat and other religious services, contact Hillel, Chabad or our local synagogues. Links to these and other Jewish resources can be found on our Resources page.

Upcoming Events...

11th annual Freedom Seder
Mark your calendars for next year's eleventh annual multicultural and interfaith celebration.
Tentatively Thursday, April 2, 2009

Chronological Index: 1995-2008

2008

Yom Ha'Atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day)
A celebration of Israel's 60th birthday with live music, dancing, and Israeli food (5/8/08)

Caught in the Crossfire: Hollywood 1947, Communist Conspiracy or Jewish Plot?
Lecture by Village Voice film critic J. Hoberman, about the House Un-American Activities Committee's political purge of the American movie industry, particularly Jewish writers and producers (4/17/08)

Film: "Mechina: A Preparation"
In Israel, military service is mandatory after high school graduation. Living with her cousin Amitai and his five friends as they prepare for army service, director Maital Guttman uncovers the complexity of being young and idealistic in a time of war. Q&A with director (4/14/08)

Tenth Annual Freedom Seder
Our 10th annual celebration of multicultural and inter-faith unity. Some of the alumni who began this tradition (in 1999) and sustained it over the past decade were honored in a special ceremony, followed by an acappella concert of freedom songs in many languages including Zulu, Spanish, Hebrew, and Arabic (4/13/08)

Israeli Film Series:
Understanding the Palestinian and Israeli 'Other'
Hot House
Israeli filmmaker Shimon Dotan's interviews with Palestinian "security prisoners" (whom most Israelis regard as criminals, but most Palestinians regard as freedom fighters) provide insight into the mentality behind terrorism and the ways Israeli prisons have served as virtual universities for future Palestinian political leaders (4/3/08)
Storm of Emotions
An emotional documentary about Israel's evacuation of Jewish settlements in Gaza in 2005, as seen through the eyes of the secular and religious Israeli soldiers and police who carried out the evacuation, and the settlers who were forced to leave their homes (4/7/08)

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)


2007

In Conversation with Tony Kushner
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Angels in America—a landmark play about the politics of AIDS—and the screenplay for Munich, Kushner is one of America's cultural icons, and its conscience. The 2007-2008 Rand Lecture was co-presented by the Theater Department, Stonewall Center and Office of Jewish Affairs (10/9/07)

Wrestling With Angels
A feature-length documentary about Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, shown in conjunction with Kushner's visit to UMass Amherst (10/2/07)

The Environment as a Catalyst for Peace
in the Middle East
Jordanian, Palestinian, and Israeli alumni of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies will discuss their experience living and studying together, in an effort to cooperatively solve the region's environmental challenges (9/24/07)

Israel Independence Day Celebration
Community-wide celebration with live music, dancing, Israeli food, and other activities (4/23/07)

2007 Freedom Seder
Our ninth annual celebration of multicultural unity
and our yearning for universal liberation. We were especially honored this year to be joined by the
Muslim Students Association (4/18/07)

Holocaust Memorial Day (Yom Ha-Shoah)
Vigil and rally to memorialize the six million Jews exterminated by the Nazis during World War II, and
to condemn the phenomenon of Holocaust denial (4/15/07)

Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival
(March 10-31, 2007)

Jewish Film Festival at UMass Amherst:
Walk on Water is the most popular Israeli film ever shown in the U.S. This thriller about a Mossad agent assigned to track down an aging Nazi war criminal challenges our beliefs about sexuality, vengeance, and the morality of killing (3/10/07).
Encounter Point is a compelling documentary about Palestinians and Israelis who risk everything to promote a nonviolent end to the conflict. Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival (3/11/07).
West Bank Story, winner of the 2007 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film, is a musical comedy about dueling falafel stands in the West Bank—
a hilarious parody of West Side Story which makes a serious statement about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict (3/11/07).

The Memory of the Holocaust and the
Israeli-Arab conflict
Lecture by Idith Zertal, one of Israel's "New Historians"; author of From Catastrophe to Power and Israel's Holocaust and the Politics of Nationhood (3/13/07)


2006

Holocaust Denial in America
Lecture by Ephraim Kaye, a researcher from Israel's Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem (11/30/06)

Monday Night in Westerbork
A performance about a cabaret troupe formed by the Jewish inmates of the Westerbork concentration camp in the Netherlands (10/11/06)

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)

Recent Developments in Israel and Palestine
A panel discussion exploring the political landscape after the Israeli disengagement from Gaza and the electoral victories of Hamas and the new Kadima Party (4/4/06)

Multicultural Freedom Seder
Our eighth annual celebration of multicultural unity
and our yearning for universal liberation (4/2/06)

The Search for Identity in a Fractured Society
Films by Israeli and Palestinian women directors: "Paradise Lost" and "Another Road Home"
(March 28-30, 2006)

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

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2005

Blacks and Jews in America
Four films exploring the complex relationship between African Americans and Jews in the U.S.—shown in conjunction with the course "History of Black-Jewish Relations" (Oct-Nov 2005)

History of Black/Jewish Relations in the U.S.
First offered in Fall 1999, this important course was created with the support of the Office of Jewish Affairs, to provide a forum for informed discussion of this contentious issue (Fall 2005)

Tenth Anniversary Celebration (April 2005)

The Klezmatics and Joshua Nelson in Concert
Freedom songs from the African American and Jewish traditions. The culmination of our 10th anniversary celebration (4/20/05)

One by One: Descendants of the Third Reich
and the Holocaust in dialogue
Panel discussion with German and Jewish descendants
of Holocaust survivors and former SS and Nazi Party members (4/13/05)

Multicultural Freedom Seder
Our 7th annual celebration of multicultural unity
and our yearning for universal liberation (4/10/05)

A Land Twice Promised
Israeli storyteller Noa Baum builds bridges of understanding and compassion in this one-woman performance illuminating the complex history and emotions that surround Jerusalem for Israelis and Palestinians alike (4/5/05)

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2004

Defending Palestinian and Israeli Human Rights
Lecture by Rabbi Arik Asherman, the Israeli director of Rabbis for Human Rights (11/21/04)

Struggling Towards Peace in Times of Terror
Lecture by Avraham Burg, former speaker of the Israeli Knesset, prominent peace activist and Geneva Accord negotiator (11/9/04)

Remembering Our Humanity
Forum: Holocaust memorial, hate crimes, and the courage to say "No" to hate (5/5/04)

Multicultural Freedom Seder
Our 6th annual celebration of multicultural unity
and our yearning for universal liberation (3/31/04)

Let Freedom Ring: Black/Jewish Relations
and the UMass Freedom Seder
One-credit course (Spring 2004)

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2003

Missing Peace in the Middle East
Lecture by Ambassador Dennis Ross, the United States' chief envoy in the Middle East during the Reagan, Bush Sr. and Clinton administrations (5/7/03)

Trembling Before God
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)

Multicultural Freedom Seder
Our 5th annual celebration of multicultural unity
and our yearning for universal liberation (4/6/03)

History of Black/Jewish Relations in the U.S.
First offered in Fall 1999, this important course was created with the support of the Office of Jewish Affairs, to provide a forum for informed discussion of this contentious issue (Spring 2003)


2002

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

Promises
Award-winning documentary film exploring the Middle East conflict through the eyes of its children. Discussion with director B.Z. Goldberg following the film (4/30/02)

The Holocaust on Trial
Lecture by historian Deborah Lipstadt about her legal battle and ultimate victory against British Holocaust denier David Irving (4/11/02)

Multicultural Freedom Seder
Our 4th annual celebration of multicultural unity
and our yearning for universal liberation (4/7/02)

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2001

Major Issues in Contemporary Jewish Life
Lecture series exploring some major issues in modern Jewish life including the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, assimilation, and Jewish feminism (Spring 2001)

Boxes and Walls: Museum of Oppression
An interactive exhibition of photos, artwork, posters and other artifacts exploring various forms of oppression including anti-Semitism, racism, and homophobia (Spring 2001)

Multicultural Freedom Seder
Our 3rd annual celebration of multicultural unity
and our yearning for universal liberation (4/22/01)


2000

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)

Multicultural Freedom Seder
Our 2nd annual celebration of multicultural unity
and our yearning for universal liberation (4/17/00)

Friends or Foes?
Newly-published book documenting the complex history of Black/Jewish relations, provides the groundwork for the new course on Black/Jewish relations, which was created with the support of the Office of Jewish Affairs, the Office of Human Relations, the W.E.B. DuBois Department of Afro-American Studies and the Institute for the Advanced Study of the Humanities (3/8/00)

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1999

History of Black/Jewish Relations in the U.S.
A new course, co-taught by African American and Jewish faculty members, which was created with the support of the Office of Jewish Affairs, to provide a forum for informed discussion of this charged issue (Fall 1999)

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)

MotherSON
A one-man play exploring the hilarious and poignant relationship between a Jewish mother and her gay son (10/29/99)

The Affirmative Action Debate
Lecture by Julian Bond, chair of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and long-time civil rights activist, about the legacy of racism and the need for Affirmative Action "until all races are equal" (10/13/99)

Bridges & Boundaries:
African Americans and American Jews
Exhibition of photos, paintings, cartoons, posters and other artifacts exploring the histories of American Jews and African Americans. Created by the Jewish Museum of NYC in collaboration with the NAACP; on display at the University Gallery in the Fine Arts Center (Sept 1999)

Multicultural Freedom Seder
This joyous celebration of multicultural unity, modelled after the Jewish Passover Seder, was the first of what has become an annual tradition at UMass Amherst. A collaboration in the best sense between the Jewish Student Union, the Black Student Union, and the Office of Jewish Affairs (4/22/99)

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1998

Roads to Reconciliation in the Middle East
Panel discussion with Israeli and Palestinian peace activists Zoughbi Zoughbi and Judith Green, discussing their experiences trying to build bridges across "enemy" lines (11/9/98)

Roads to Reconciliation in the Former Yugoslavia
Panel discussion with four peace activists from the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia) about their struggles for reconciliation in the wake of genocide (10/29/98)

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)

Transforming Hatred:
Sowing the Seeds of Peace in the Middle East
Panel discussion with four graduates of the "Seeds of Peace" summer camp—youths from Jerusalem; Ramallah (West Bank); Cairo, Egypt; and Amman, Jordan (3/5/98)

Major Issues in Contemporary Jewish Life
Lecture series exploring some major issues in modern Jewish life including the Arab/Israeli conflict and Jewish identity in the Diaspora (Spring 1998)

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1997

A Palestinian-Jewish Dialogue for Peace
in the Middle East
The cofounders of the Palestinian and Jewish American Women's Dialogue Project discussed Israeli-Palestinian relations and their experience forging a respectful dialogue across a vast cultural/political divide (12/3/97)

One By One: Descendants of the Third Reich
and the Holocaust in dialogue
Panel discussion with German and Jewish descendants
of Holocaust survivors and former SS and Nazi Party members (11/4/97)

Jewish and Muslim Holidays
Workshop for UMass employees exploring the principal Muslim and Jewish holidays (Nov 1997)

Major Issues in Contemporary Jewish Life
A new lecture series exploring some major issues in modern Jewish life including the Arab/Israeli conflict, assimilation, and Jewish feminism (Spring 1997)


1996

Barebones Theater
Student theater troupe which performed educational skits drawn from the life experiences of its diverse cast—scenarios exploring anti-Semitism, racism, sexism, and homophobia (1996-97)

One By One: Descendants of the Third Reich
and the Holocaust in dialogue
Panel discussion with German and Jewish descendants
of Holocaust survivors and former SS and Nazi Party members, who have come together to heal their respective wounds through a process of dialogue (4/29/96)


1995

Hate Groups in America
Public lecture and televised "Town Meeting" with Morris Dees, Jr., director of the Southern Poverty Law Center. The student television station named this program the "Best Show of the Year" (3/5/95)

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