CJS - Multimedia Gallery

The links below feature photos, video, and audio recordings from events sponsored by the Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union.

The Maternal Divine in our Design Thinking

CJS Director Deena Aranoff presented a lecture in Professor Neil Goldberg’s class on Design Thinking at the Pacific School of Religion. See the lecture below.

Author Book Talks at CJS

The Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies is excited to host a series of webinars featuring conversations with authors about their newly published books--both academic texts and novels--in fields related to Jewish Studies and that engage Jewish culture more broadly.

"German Jews and the Persistence of Jewish Identity in Conversion: Writing the Jewish Self" with Author Angela Botelho and CJS Director Deena Aranoff
"Grief & Magic: A Conversation on Ritual & Loss" with Author Merissa Nathan Gerson & Jessica Lanyadoo
"A Play for the End of the World" | A Conversation with Author Jai Chakrabarti

Inaugural Lecture for the Taube Family Chair in Jewish Studies Presented by Taube Family Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies Sam S.B. Shonkoff

The Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union is proud to present the Inaugural Lecture for the Taube Family Chair in Jewish Studies given by Taube Family Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies Sam S.B. Shonkoff. Dr. Shonkoff's talk is titled “Gender in Martin Buber’s Hasidic Tales” and the event features introductory words by GTU President Uriah Kim and Taube Philanthropies Executive Director Shana Penn, as well as a response by Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at Manhattan College Judith Plaskow.

The GTU is honored to have received a generous endowment gift from Taube Philanthropies to establish the Taube Family Chair in Jewish Studies and support Dr. Shonkoff's faculty position at CJS.

“Gender in Martin Buber’s Hasidic Tales”​ ​​| Inaugural Lecture for the Taube Family Chair in Jewish Studies presented by Taube Family Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies Sam S.B. Shonkoff

conversations@cjs ​| Spring 2021 CJS Series

The Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies at the GTU is excited to present our Spring "conversations@cjs" webinar series on critical topics in the field of Jewish Studies featuring presentations from distinguished scholars and practitioners from the field.

"Dimensions of Time and Space in Rabbinic Literature" featuring Richard Hidary (Yeshiva University), Charlotte Fonrobert (Stanford University), and Deena Aranoff (GTU) in conversation facilitated by Sam Shonkoff (GTU)
"Homeland, Exile, and Diaspora: Contemporary Jewish Reflections" featuring Daniel Boyarin (UC Berkeley), Jill Hammer (Academy for Jewish Religion), and Susannah Heschel (Dartmouth College) in conversation facilitated by Sam Shonkoff (GTU)
"Revelation and Contemporary Jewish Theology" with Distinguished Professor Michael Fishbane

Jews and Race ​| Fall 2020 CJS Series

What is the relationship between Jewishness and whiteness? What particular challenges have Jews of color faced, and how do their experiences shed light on formations of Jewish identity? How might contemporary insights from critical race theory and African American Studies clarify aspects of the Jewish past? During the 2020-2021 academic year, CJS sponsored a series of webinars on "Jews and Race" to explore these questions and more. The series was in collaboration with the Berkeley Center for Jewish Studies, the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion, and the Berkeley Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies.

Yavilah McCoy | Jews and Race: Identity, Community, and History
Marva Shalev Marom | A Second Exodus: Ethiopian Jews in Israel Between Religion, Nation and State

Deena Aranoff, "Household and Halakha" Lecture at the University of Toronto

CJS Director Deena Aranoff gives a talk on "Household and Halakha: A Genealogy of Jewish Practice" on the role of the household in the development of rabbinic halakha at the University of Toronto's Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies. 

Household and Halakha: A Genealogy of Jewish Practice

Reflections During Quarantine

The following video from CJS doctoral student Carrie Sealine was part of our Reflections During Quarantine series during Spring 2020. Other video reflections include:

Olam Ha'Ba

Aharon Tavger Lecture at the Bade Museum

Wanda Nowicka Reports on the October 13 Polish Parliamentary Elections and Their Human Rights/Gender Implications

CJS@50

May 3, 2018

In the spring of 2018, the Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union celebrated 50 years of Jewish Studies.  Click here for a photo gallery from the event and an oral history of the CJS.

Remembering My Father, Abraham Joshua Heschel

Sacred Seasons

September 20, 2015
In 2015, the period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur almost precisely overlapped with the period of the Hajj. Eid al-Adha, the culmination of the Hajj, was the day after Yom Kippur. This public program explored many of the shared themes of the season, including repentance, pilgrimage, and sacrifice.

Introductions by Naomi Seidman

Lynn Gottlieb

Trish Gibbs

Mahan Mirza

Nargis Virani

Breakout Sessions

Sacred Music Introduction

Sacred Music