VIew the Full Program and Attend the Conference
Program Book PDF (schedule of sessions, special events, announcements, ads)
How to Attend the Online Conference
Guidance for: Session Chairs & Moderators | Presenters | Attendees
Sunday Plenary | Tuesday Plenary | Film Festival | AJS Honors Its Authors
Daily Schedule:
Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Watch on Your Schedule
10:15 AM – 10:45 AM EST
10:30 AM – 10:45 AM EST
Brandeis University Press
Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature
A Conversation with Lonnie G. Bunch, III (Smithsonian Institution) and Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (POLIN Museum), moderated by Alice Greenwald (National September 11 Memorial & Museum)
Sunday, December 13, 2020; 10:45 AM – 12:00 PM EST
In this session, three individuals instrumental in the creation of major museums that have opened within the past seven years – each commemorating, documenting and conveying traumatic history where there are conflicting notions of what the story is (or should be) – will discuss the challenges and opportunities of building institutions of public history that tackle contested topics in fraught contemporary contexts.
All museums communicate complex information to wide audiences and are considered among the most highly trusted institutions in their role as centers of informal education grounded in scholarship and historical documentation. As containers of cultural production, museums also promote and reinforce a narrative of national identity. But what happens when there are differing notions of what national identity is? How do museums – and particularly though not exclusively history museums – navigate the expectations of their stakeholders, the politics of history, and the obligation to crystallize complicated human stories into coherent narratives that are historically accurate, broadly accessible, and able to evolve as our understanding of history evolves?
Historian, author, curator, and educator Lonnie G. Bunch, III is the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex.
Alice M. Greenwald is President & CEO of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, where from 2006-2016, she served as Executive Vice President for Exhibitions, Collections, and Education and Director of the Museum.
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett is University Professor Emerita and Professor Emerita of Performance Studies at New York University and Ronald S. Lauder Chief Curator, Core Exhibition, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
12:15 PM – 12:30 PM EST
Association Book Exhibit
Brill
The Posen Library
Project MUSE
University of Toronto Press
Sponsored by the Jewish Theological Seminary
1:45 PM – 2:00 PM EST
Join Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz in conversation as she shares information about JTS, her goals for the upcoming year, and updates about the new campus and the greater JTS community.
3:30 PM – 3:45 PM EST
Academic Studies Press
Brandeis University Press
Princeton University Press
Rutgers University Press,
Stanford University Press
5:00 PM – 5:15 PM EST
NYU Press
Wayne State University Press
5:15 PM – 6:00 PM EST
6:00 PM – 6:45 PM EST
Sponsored by the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature
9:30 AM – 11:00 AM EST
All registered AJS conference attendees are invited to join AJS past president and SRP judge Pamela Nadell for a conversation with this year’s AJS authors about the writing, publishing, and reading of our books.
The event will be moderated by AJS past president and SRP judge Pamela S. Nadell. Dr. Nadell is Professor and Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women's & Gender History and Director of the Jewish Studies Program at American University. Her book, America’s Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today, won the National Jewish Book Awards’ 2019 Jewish Book of the Year.
Distinguished panel participants are:
Warren Hoffman, AJS Executive Director and author of The Great White Way: Race and the Broadway Musical
Marion A. Kaplan, three-time National Jewish Book Award winner and author of Hitler’s Jewish Refugees: Hope and Anxiety in Portugal
Jeffrey Shandler, Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University and author of Yiddish: A Biography of a Language
All AJS members who registered their book titles as part of the 2020 AJS Honors Its Authors program will be invited to participate in the session Q&A.
10:00 AM – 10:45 AM EST
Pre-registration is required.
10:45 AM – 11:00 AM EST
Cambridge University Press
The Jewish Publication Society
The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization
National Museum of American Jewish Military History
University of Toronto Press
12:15 PM – 12:30 PM EST
Academic Studies Press
De Gruyter
The Posen Library
Project MUSE
University of Pennsylvania Press
1:45 PM – 2:00 PM EST
Take a break and check out our Exhibitor Virtual Booths!
1:45 PM – 2:15 PM EST
3:30 PM – 3:45 PM EST
Brill
CCAR Press
Knopf Doubleday
Rutgers University Press
University of Pennsylvania Press
5:00 PM – 5:15 PM EST
Association of Jewish Libraries
Ingram Academic
Princeton University Press
Wayne State University Press
5:15 PM – 6:15 PM EST
5:15 PM – 6:15 PM EST
The Jewish Theological Seminary invites alumni and conference attendees to join us at the annual “JTS Alumni and Friends Reception.” This is an opportunity to hear from Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz and reconnect with one another. Please RSVP to Melissa Friedman at alumni@jtsa.edu.
10:15 AM – 10:45 AM EST
Gender and Sexuality Studies
Jewish History and Culture in Antiquity
Jewish Mysticism
Jews, Film, and the Arts
Pedagogy and Professional Practice
Medieval and Early Modern Jewish History, Literature, and Culture
Sephardi/Mizrahi Studies
Rabbinic Literature and Culture
Yiddish Studies
10:45 AM – 11:00 AM EST
Academic Studies Press
Association Book Exhibit
Brill
Princeton University Press
Rowman & Littlefield / Lexington Books
12:15 PM – 12:30 PM EST
CCAR Press
Knopf Doubleday
The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization
NYU Press
The Posen Library
1:45 PM – 2:00 PM EST
Take a break and check out our Exhibitor Virtual Booths!
3:30 PM – 3:45 PM EST
Association of Jewish Libraries
Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature
Stanford University Press
University of Toronto Press
Barbara Harris Combs (Clark Atlanta University), Jonathan K. Crane (Emory University), Joe Feagin (Texas A&M University), Lewis R. Gordon (University of Connecticut), and Susannah Heschel (Dartmouth College)
Tuesday, December 15, 2020; 3:45 PM – 5:00 PM EST
This plenary addresses how anti-racism efforts can shape Jewish studies pedagogy and research; considers the potential impact of Black Lives Matter on Jewish Studies; and explores the ways in which new research on the intersection of race, gender, and nation informs Jewish studies research and teaching.
Barbara Harris Combs is associate professor of sociology at Clark Atlanta University and a visiting fellow at the James Weldon Johnson Institute at Emory University.
Jonathan K. Crane is the Raymond F. Schinazi Scholar of Bioethics and Jewish Thought at Emory University’s Center for Ethics.
Joe Feagin is Distinguished Professor and Ella C. McFadden Professor in sociology at Texas A&M University.
Lewis R. Gordon is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut.
Susannah Heschel is the Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies and chair of the Jewish Studies Program at Dartmouth College
5:15 PM – 5:45 PM EST
They Ain’t Ready for Me Q&A discussion with director Brad Rothschild; click for film details.
Please watch the film in advance, available to stream December 13, 5:15 PM – December 15, 5:15 PM EST on the conference app.
5:15 PM
Join hosts Saul Hankin and Josh Lambert for our fifth annual AJS trivia competition, where your knowledge of Jewish history and culture will be tested. Meet new people! Win prizes!
10:00 AM – 10:30 AM EST
Incitement/Yamim Noraim Q&A discussion with director Yaron Zilberman; click for film details.
Please watch the film in advance, available to stream December 14, 10:00 AM – December 16, 10:00 AM on the conference app.
10:45 AM – 11:00 AM EST
9/11 Memorial & Museum
Cambridge University Press
The Jewish Publication Society
12:15 PM – 12:30 PM EST
De Gruyter
Rowman & Littlefield / Lexington Books
1:45 PM – 2:00 PM EST
Take a break and check out our Exhibitor Virtual Booths!
3:30 PM – 3:45 PM EST
National Museum of American Jewish Military History
5:00 PM – 5:15 PM EST
Princeton University Press
University of Toronto Press
1:45 PM – 2:00 PM EST
Take a break and check out our Exhibitor Virtual Booths!
Stream the awards presentation on the conference app. Click here for winners, finalists, and other details.
Stream the films on the conference app.
INCITEMENT/YAMIM NORAIM
Available to stream: December 14, 10:00 AM – December 16, 10:00 AM EST
Q&A session with Yaron Zilberman: Wednesday, December 16, 10:00 AM EST
Directed by Yaron Zilberman, Israel 2019, Hebrew with English subtitles, 122 minutes
This acclaimed historical drama follows the Israeli ultranationalist Yigal Amir in the year leading up to his assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. Amir was a law student and Orthodox Jew outraged by Rabin’s announcement of the Oslo Accords. Based on careful historical research, the film masterfully reconstructs the process of Amir’s disturbing radicalization. Nominated for ten Ophir awards in Israel, the film was Israel’s submission to the 2020 Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film.
Distributor: Oded Horowitz oded@odedhorowitzfd.com
THEY AIN'T READY FOR ME
Available to stream: December 13, 5:15 PM – December 15, 5:15 PM EST
Q&A session with Brad Rothschild: Tuesday, December 15, 5:15 PM EST
Directed by Brad Rothschild, USA 2020, English, 89 minutes
Tamar Manasseh, the founder of MASK (Mothers Against Senseless Killings), is a mother and rabbinical student who dreams of becoming a rabbi. She has emerged as an important voice within Chicago’s Black community and a national symbol of grassroots activism. Each day, from the start of summer through Labor Day, she and her fellow MASK volunteers occupy the corner of 75th and South Stewart Streets on Chicago’s South Side to create a safe space for neighborhood children and residents, providing dinner to anyone in need. With her magnetic, self-assured energy, Tamar credits Judaism for instilling in her this sense of civic duty through tikkun olam, carried out through acts of kindness, activism, and charity. Timely and inspirational, this documentary demonstrates the challenges Tamar faces in both her Black and Jewish worlds.
Distributor: Menemsha Films, Neil Friedman neilf@menemshafilms.com