February 1, 2022
Missed an event this month? All virtual events that were recorded will be featured here.
Abayudaya: Music, Judaism, and Community in Uganda Sunday, February 6
Watch the recording here
Music is central to the Abayudaya, a Jewish community in eastern Uganda, and unites the different synagogues there as it allows them to express their unique voices. Musicologist Amanda Ruppenthal Stein, Ph.D. will offer us a glimpse of the importance of music in ritual and daily life for this flourishing part of klal Yisrael. She will share studio and field recordings, including Psalm singing in Luganda, the Bantu language spoken in the African Great Lakes region; it is the core repertoire of the Abayudaya liturgy.
Amanda Ruppenthal Stein, Ph.D. is lecturer in music at Carroll University in Waukesha, WI and at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is a recent graduate of the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, where she was also the Crown Graduate Fellow of the Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies. In 2019, Amanda traveled twice to Uganda to conduct fieldwork in collaboration with a solidarity mission and recording project of the Cantors Assembly, celebrating 100 Years of the Abayudaya Jewish community in Uganda.
Panel Discussion of Israeli Current Events Wednesday, February 9
Our panel will be J Street, Standwithus, and Partners For Progressive Israel. We will start with two topics: 1. Should the US use military aid to pressure Israel regarding settlements? 2. Should we support the Two-State Solution Act, which would set American policy: (I) For a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (II) The West Back, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza are occupied territories. (III) Israeli settlements in occupied territories violate international law. (IV) Settlement expansion, Palestinian home demolition, revocation of Palestinian residency permits, and forced evictions of Palestinians violate Palestinian human rights and impede a two-state solution
A Book Discussion of Golem Girl: A Memoir by Author Riva Lehrer Sunday, February 17
Author Riva Lehrer will lead us in a discussion of her book, Golem Girl, a vividly told, gloriously illustrated memoir of an artist born with disabilities who searches for freedom and connection in a society afraid of strange bodies. This program will wrap up our February Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month. Although prior reading of the book is not required, we encourage you to read it ahead of time if you are able. Following the presentation, there will be an opportunity for Q+A. Signed copies of Golem Girl are available for purchase at Bookends and Beginnings in Evanston and Women and Children First Bookstore in Chicago.
