AJL podcast

Conservation of the Collections in the Ets Haim Library and Restoration of Over 1500 Items

podcast@jewishlibraries.org (Association of Jewish Libraries) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:50:33 +0000

Avraham Rosenberg presents a report and evaluation of the conservation of the collection and the restoration of over 1,500 items at the Ets Haim Library in Amsterdam. This paper was presented at the 2009 Association of Jewish Libraries convention in Chicago, IL.

28 min 54 sec

2009 Adventures in Book Reviewing: The Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee Tells All

podcast@jewishlibraries.org (Association of Jewish Libraries) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:20:32 +0000

At each year’s AJL convention, members of the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee participate in a panel presentation to discuss the best and worst of recent Jewish literature for children and teens. In this podcast, you can hear members Susan Berson, Barbara Bietz, Kathy Bloomfield, Debbie Colodny, Rachel Kamin, and Kathe Pinchuck sharing their delight and dismay over juvenile Judaica published during 2008, reviewed while seeking the winners of the 2009 Sydney Taylor Book Award.

This panel was presented at the 2009 Association of Jewish Libraries convention in Chicago, IL.

1 hr 33 min 02 sec

Ludwig Rosenberger and Harry Sondheim: A Tale of Two Collectors

podcast@jewishlibraries.org (Association of Jewish Libraries) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:53:54 +0000

Two Judaica collections at the University of Chicago Library illustrate the role of private collectors in developing unique resources for research and teaching in Jewish Studies. Although they never met, Ludwig Rosenberger and Harry Sondheim had much in common: both were born in Germany and immigrated to the United States, each had a successful professional career, and both formed unusual and highly important Judaica collections. The works in both collections are chiefly secular, since the aim of the collectors was to understand their own and their family’s history in the broader context of Jewish history and culture. Lastly, both decided to donate their collections to the University of Chicago’s Special Collections Research Center.

Alice Schreyer is Assistant Director for Special Collections and Preservation and Director of the Special Collections Research Center at the University of Chicago Library. She presented this paper at the 2009 Association of Jewish Libraries convention in Chicago, IL.

19 min 39 sec

As Good As Anybody

podcast@jewishlibraries.org (Association of Jewish Libraries) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:40:30 +0000

Author Richard Michelson and illustrator Raul Colon won the 2009 Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Younger Readers category for As Good As Anybody: Martin Luther King and Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Amazing March Toward Freedom. They had the opportunity to present their book to an appreciative audience at the Association of Jewish Libraries annual convention on July 7, 2009 in Chicago, IL.

46 min 30 sec

A Guided Tour of the Papers of Eisig Silberschlag at Stanford University

podcast@jewishlibraries.org (Association of Jewish Libraries) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:32:42 +0000

Stanford University Libraries acquired the papers of Eisig Silberschlag (1903-1988) in 2003. Silberschlag was recognized as an authority in the field of Hebrew literary criticism and won prizes for his translations of Aristophanes and Menander from Greek into Hebrew as well as for a book of his poems. He was much beloved as a teacher, served as Dean and later President of Hebrew Teachers College in Boston, and ended his career as a visiting professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Texas, Austin.

What makes this collection unique and valuable to researchers? Silberschlag never moved beyond second-tier status in academia nor did he succeed in having his plays produced by any of the leading theater companies in Israel or the U.S. Yet his correspondence files, which comprise the bulk of the collection, reveal that he was highly regarded by many of the literary and academic luminaries in the world of Hebrew letters and scholarship. The collection contains correspondence from writers S.Y. Agnon and David Vogel; historian Salo Baro; and publisher Avraham Stybel, among many others, and offers glimpses of the 20th century Jewish academic experience in Europe, Palestine and post-1948 Israel; and North America. This guided tour, illustrated by slides, includes excerpts from the collection’s many highlights.

Anna Levia is Assistant to the Curator for Judaica & Hebraica Collections at Stanford University. She presented this paper at the 2009 Association of Jewish Libraries convention in Chicago, IL.

24 min 14 sec

Jewish Ethnomusicology

podcast@jewishlibraries.org (Association of Jewish Libraries) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:10:20 +0000

From the beginnings of intensive study of Jewish music over 100 years ago by A.Z. Idelsohn, approaches have changed significantly. Idelsohn provided the first comparative study of Jewish music comparing various traditions in Europe, the Middle East, to Yemen and beyond. His goal was to explain and define the essence of “Jewish music.” As the field of ethnomusicology developed, scholars asked different questions looking more at the complexities of single traditions with less emphasis on larger comparative approaches. This presentation shows how the developments of the field of ethnomusicology, a discipline to look at the connection of music and culture, during the 20th century has impacted studies of Jewish music and offer examples of various approaches. Kligman also shares his research of Syrian Jews in Brooklyn with audio and visual material to demonstrate a particular connection of Jewish culture with Arab music.

Mark Kligman, PhD, is Professor of Jewish Musicology at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.

Click for the text and images from this presentation.

40 min 20 sec

Brooklyn Bridge

podcast@jewishlibraries.org (Association of Jewish Libraries) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:02:55 +0000

Author Karen Hesse won the 2009 Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Older Readers category for Brooklyn Bridge. She had the opportunity to present her book to an appreciative audience at the Association of Jewish Libraries annual convention on July 7, 2009 in Chicago, IL.

29 min 10 sec

Joachim Stutschewsky (1891-1982): Works for Cello and Piano in the Jewish Style

podcast@jewishlibraries.org (Association of Jewish Libraries) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:31:47 +0000

Cellist Joachim Stutschewsky (1891-1982) is perhaps best remembered as a founding member of the Viennese String Quartet, the ensemble that premiered important works by Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg. Stutschewsky was also at the forefront of contemporary Jewish art music. He left behind a rich compositional legacy that has yet to have been explored. His compositions, articles, books, and concert activity represent forms of musical expression that for him were closely connected with his socio-political ideals. In all these media his works chronicle the life of a conscientious Jewish musician creating music during a time of contending ideologies, two World Wars, and the establishment of the State of Israel.

Racheli Galay-Altman is a cellist and conductor, and Assistant Professor of Cello at VanderCook College of Music.

33 min 20 sec

The Dark Side of the Web: Terror on the Internet

podcast@jewishlibraries.org (Association of Jewish Libraries) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:21:14 +0000

This lecture addresses how terrorists use the Internet to carry out their deadly plans on a daily basis and threats posed to our civil liberties by government efforts to constrain cyberterror.

Presented by Dr. Gabriel Weimann at the 2009 Association of Jewish Libraries convention in Chicago, IL.

Click here for Dr. Weiman’s handout on The Dark Side of the Web.

1 hr 6 min 50 sec

Bat Mitzvah & Beyond: Jewish Girls Coming of Age in Fiction

podcast@jewishlibraries.org (Association of Jewish Libraries) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:12:01 +0000

Judaism has a built-in mechanism for coming-of-age, but are there ways that contemporary books for middle and high school readers deal with Jewish girls’ development in addition to or beyond the Bat Mitzvah ceremony? How has the Bat Mitzvah been positively and negatively portrayed in recent books? What are the pressures that Jewish tweens, teens, and young women face and how does the current body of literature address or contribute to the conflicting messages about beauty, body image, and self-esteem that are prevalent in our society?

June Cummins is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at San Diego State University, where she specializes in children’s literature and Jewish-American Literature. She gave this presentation at the 2009 Association of Jewish Libraries convention in Chicago.

32 min 20 sec