A Presentation of
the Santa Fe Distinguished Lecture Series and
the Santa Fe Jewish Film Festival.

Just months before the eve of WW II and with Kristallnacht still a fresh memory, Eugenio Pacelli was elected as the new Pope, assuming the name Pius XII. But where was he at this pivotal moment in history? Did he denounce anti-Semitism? Did he provide moral guidance to the 30% of Germany’s population who were Catholic? Did he protect Rome’s Jews from deportation? Or was he silent.

Jews, the Vatican and the Holocaust: When does Silence become Complicity? takes a look at these and other questions in a special three-part program. Following on the heels of the long-awaited opening of the Vatican’s World War II Archives earlier this year, Jews, the Vatican and the Holocaust explores the Holocaust experience, the role of the Church, and takes us on an inside look at the Vatican’s War Archives with one of the handful of researchers who was allowed to view them. “This year is the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and this three-part program is in recognition of that event,” commented Distinguished Lecture Series co-founder Ron Duncan Hart.

At 7 PM MST on November 18, ever popular speaker Jeremy Dauber will present a webinar on Italian writer Primo Levi.

From 4 PM MST December 2 until 4 PM MST December 4, the new documentary Holy Silence will be available for streaming.

At 2 PM on December 9, Pulitzer Prize winning author and Brown University professor Steven Kertzer will be in conversation with Ron Duncan Hart, Ph.D. discussing, among other things, “The Vatican, Forced Baptism, and the Jews“ .

A Presentation of
the Santa Fe Distinguished Lecture Series and
the Santa Fe Jewish Film Festival.

Pulitzer Prize winning author David Kertzer of Brown University wraps up the series Jews, the Vatican, and the Holocaust on December 9 when he joins award winning author and social anthropologist Ron Duncan Hart, Ph.D. in a conversation on “The Vatican, Forced Baptism, and the Jews”. Kertzer’s book The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe, won the Pulitzer Prize and was also a finalist for the National Book Award. Prof. Kertzer is the leading authority on Jews and the Vatican during World War II and was one of the first researchers to be given access to the Vatican’s WW II archives that opened for the first time earlier this year. His groundbreaking research details the role of the Papacy in the rise of Fascism and anti-Semitism in Italy and Germany, and he shares his discoveries with us.

A Presentation of
the Santa Fe Distinguished Lecture Series and
the Santa Fe Jewish Film Festival.

The much sought after lecturer Jeremy Dauber of Columbia University starts our Jews, the Vatican, and the Holocaust series with a webinar talk on the life and work of the Italian Jewish writer Primo Levi who was arrested and deported to Auschwitz in 1944. Levi survived and went on to describe the dehumanization of that genocide with a depth of philosophical understanding of the human condition unmatched by any other writer of the Holocaust. Philip Roth calls Levi’s book, Surviving Auschwitz, the one book from the twentieth century that everyone should read. Rather than recount the horrors of life in the Nazi death camps, which Levi notes have been described by others, he explains what led to the creation of the death camps and the deadly consequences that follow when we believe “every stranger is an enemy”.

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From Hitler to Hollywood – Moguls, Movies and the Plot Against America
In 1930, 80 million Americans or 65% of the population went to the movies every week. In some sense, movies were the entertainment internet of their day. But what did movie goers see? Did the movie moguls, most of whom were Jewish, use the power of film to confront the rise in Fascist regimes abroad or did they take the “don’t rock the boat” attitude of large segments of American Jewry.

Santa Fe Jewish Film Festival Director Marcia Torobin will take a look at the role Hollywood played in confronting (or not confronting) Fascism and the rise of Hitler abroad and in their own backyard.

WATCH NOW until Sep. 3
If you missed our webinar with Ariel Sabar, tickets are now available for the recorded version. THE RECORDING WILL BE AVAILABLE UNTIL SEPT. 3. Sabar tells the story of a remote corner of the world, forgotten for nearly three thousand years, where there was an enclave of Kurdish Jews so isolated that they still spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Mostly illiterate, they were self-made mystics and gifted storytellers and humble peddlers who dwelt in harmony with their Muslim and Christian neighbors in the mountains of northern Iraq. To these descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Yona Sabar was born.

Yona’s son Ariel grew up in Los Angeles, where Yona had become an esteemed professor, dedicating his career to preserving his people’s traditions. Ariel wanted nothing to do with his father’s strange immigrant heritage—until he had a son of his own.

Ariel Sabar brings to life the ancient town of Zakho, discovering his family’s place in the sweeping saga of Middle-Eastern history. This powerful book is an improbable story of tolerance and hope set in what today is the very center of the world’s attention.

This event has been generously sponsored by Archangels Bonnie Ellinger & Paul Golding

The Santa Fe Jewish Film Festival is holding its second “How To” Webinar on Tuesday, September 1 at 5 PM. We will be covering some new topics and reviewing some old ones. If you came to our first “how to” webinar, you may still want to come to this one. In this webinar, you’ll LEARN HOW to:

• Buy & use our new Three Film & Six Film FlexPasses
• Find information about your tickets & passes
• Cast your vote for our films
• Trouble shoot problems with accessing films and events
• Watch our “virtual festival” on your TV

WEBINAR IS FREE

ON SALE NOW!
In a remote corner of the world, forgotten for nearly three thousand years, lived an enclave of Kurdish Jews so isolated that they still spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Mostly illiterate, they were self-made mystics and gifted storytellers and humble peddlers who dwelt in harmony with their Muslim and Christian neighbors in the mountains of northern Iraq. To these descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Yona Sabar was born.

Yona’s son Ariel grew up in Los Angeles, where Yona had become an esteemed professor, dedicating his career to preserving his people’s traditions. Ariel wanted nothing to do with his father’s strange immigrant heritage—until he had a son of his own.

Ariel Sabar brings to life the ancient town of Zakho, discovering his family’s place in the sweeping saga of Middle-Eastern history. This powerful book is an improbable story of tolerance and hope set in what today is the very center of the world’s attention.

Co-presented by the Distinguished Lecture Series

A Co-presentation of the
Santa Fe Distinguished Lecture Series and
Santa Fe Jewish Film Festival
Why are the Jews so funny? What is unique about Jewish humor? Why are so many comedians, satirical novelists, and film directors Jewish? In this short course with Professor Avinoam Patt we will seek to answer these questions by tracing the history of Jewish humor from the nineteenth century to the present.

We will begin with the birth of Jewish humor in the Yiddish-speaking shtetls of nineteenth-century Eastern Europe, where Sholem Aleichem and other writers brought schlemiels, schlimazels, and schnorrers to life through their colorful stories. We will then track the evolution and migration of Jewish humor across the European continent to America, where the Jewish funnyman (and woman) have transformed the cultural landscape. We will also look at how the Jews have used laughter as both a coping mechanism and an instrument of self-defense against pogroms, forced migrations, and even the Holocaust. Finally, we will compare American Jewish humor to Israeli Jewish humor – how much does a Jewish audience influence the nature of Jewish comedy?

Meet Avinoam Patt
Avinoam Patt is the Doris and Simon Konover Chair of Judaic Studies and Director, Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life at the University of Connecticut. He is co-editor of the recently published Laughter After – Humor and the Holocaust and has lectured on Jewish humor, Jewish fiction and post-Holocaust history among other subjects.

REGISTER NOW!
Jews and Jewish life have often been depicted in American television and film. But how do these depictions compare to the historical reality? Do the differences help inform our understanding or create a biased impression?

In this class Prof. Matt Goldish will discuss the historical backdrop for two award-winning films, Hester Street and The Chosen, and explore how these films reflect or distort the periods in which they are set. In the process, we will learn about two periods in American Jewish history in which tradition and change clashed, upending the old order in the age of modernity.

THE CLASS

The class consists of online viewing of the films on your own schedule, selected readings that provide historical context, and two Zoom classes with Prof. Goldish to explore the ideas and themes against the historical backdrop. The films can be streamed on Amazon. Reading material will be provided as PDF files. The class is limited to 15 participants.

THE INSTRUCTOR

Matt Goldish holds the Samuel M. and Esther Melton Professor of History Chair at The Ohio State University, where he is also the director of the Melton Center for Jewish Studies. Goldish has published numerous articles on Jewish history and is a frequently invited guest lecturer. This class, “Tradition and Change: American Jewish Stories in Film”, is a modified version of a class Goldish teaches on Jews in American film.

Presented by Kol BeRamah in assoc. with the Santa Fe JFF.

REGISTRATION CLOSED
For 1,400 years Jews and Arabs have lived side by side and mostly with mutual respect. The Jewish/Arab conflict that started in the twentieth century is an anomaly. These talks will look at the issues that transformed that long history of co-existence into the conflict of today, including the four stages of the current conflict and the new developments that have occurred in recent years.

Learn more about this fascinating history with Professor Ron Duncan Hart in this two lecture class offered by Renesan. for more information and to register, go to RENESAN</a

A SF Distinguished Lecture Series presentation.Moses ben Maimon, better known as MAIMONIDES, lived most of his life in Egypt. He was the physician to the Court of Sultan Saladin, an astronomer, philosopher and, most notably, the preeminent Torah scholar of the Middle Ages. Maimonides views were influenced by Islamic scholars and his writings, in turn, influenced them.

In MAIMONIDES ON GOD, Professor Seeskin will take a look at monotheism and Judaism’s view of God through a Maimonidean lens, exploring such questions as was Abraham the first monotheist? what does “God is one” in the Shema mean? Join us for a stimulating and thought-provoking talk by one of the top U.S. experts on Maimonides.

SOLD OUT!
The Santa Fe Jewish Film Festival and Santa Fe Middle East Watch are pleased to bring to Santa Fe one of Israel’s best known journalists and authors, MATTI FRIEDMAN. Freidman joins HALLEY FAUST for a conversation about the stories behind both Israel’s headlines and her enemies’ lines. Coinciding with Israel’s elections that will determine its next prime minister, the talk could not be more timely. In addition to discussing the Israeli elections that will have taken place the same day, Friedman and Faust will also discuss the influence Jews from Arab countries have had in Israeli politics, their role behind enemy lines when Israel was founded, and AP bias in media coverage of Israel.

A former Associated Press correspondent, Friedman’s work as a reporter has taken him from Israel to Lebanon, Morocco, Moscow, the Caucasus, and Washington, DC, and his writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Tablet Magazine, and elsewhere. His 2016 book Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier’s Story of a Forgotten War was chosen as a New York Times’ Notable Book and as one of Amazon’s 10 best books of the year. His most recent book, Spies of No Country, the story of Israel’s first intelligence agents in 1948, has received the 2018 Natan Book Award. Friedman was born in Toronto and lives in Jerusalem with his family.

Halley Faust, a 15 year resident of Santa Fe, was the founder of Israel’s first international venture capital fund, and he travels there frequently. Faust has been a board member of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Masorti Foundation for Conservative Judaism in Israel, and three Jewish Federations in communities where has lived in the US. He is currently the Chairman of Santa Fe Middle East Watch, and on the National Council of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.