Teaching & Presentations
A thousand years ago, in the sunny medieval world of Muslim and Christian Spain, Hebrew culture produced the greatest body of Jewish poetry since the Bible. In a cosmopolitan Mediterranean world there flourished an urban Jewish society radically different from the shtetl culture of Eastern Europe. In these multicultural warring Islamic and Christian kingdoms, influenced by Greek wisdom texts, Arabic love of poetry and Islamic reverence for the written word, Jewish doctors, merchants and army generals - including stars like Shmuel HaNagid, Ibn Gvirol and Yehuda HaLevi - composed Hebrew poetry of beauty, sensuality and pre-Shulkhan Aruch Judaism. Today in Israel, that same poetry has been enthusiastically set to Israeli popular music. An introduction to the Golden Age of Hebrew poetry in Spain of 1000 – 1200 CE, and a listen to contemporary Israeli renditions of that poetry, a millennium later.
Richly illustrated Powerpoint & Soundtrack. 50-min. session w/Q&A
Previously presented at: Limmud Toronto 2017; Limmud Boston 2018; Limmud Winnipeg 2019; Chaverim University, January 2021;
At the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, a strong musical sun shines at the juncture between Africa, Asia and Europe, between Hebrew and Arabic, between an urbanized Westernized economy, and traditional religious societies, with roots in dozens of lands worldwide. Israeli popular music today is vital and dynamic, and like the 700 million birds that migrate through its airspace, the cultural currents in Israel’s musical airspace are complex, diverse, colourful and beautiful. Using a richly-illustrated PowerPoint presentation, YouTube rock videos and a current playlist of Israel’s leading performing artists, with original English language translations of the lyrics, we will learn how popular music in contemporary Israel both reflects and affects changes in Israeli society. A listen to a dynamic sampling of what’s going on musically in Israel, with social, political and cultural analysis and context.
Richly illustrated Powerpoint & Soundtrack. 50-min. session w/Q&A
Previously presented at: Limmud Vancouver 2018; Limmud Toronto 2018; Limmud Winnipeg 2020; Toronto Jewish Music Week, May 2022;
Are "We the People" at the End of America’s “Andalusian” Golden Age? I find that punning question fascinating, and I have assembled interesting visuals to illustrate my presentation. Most of us are aware that the Jewish presence in Christian Spain ended in 1492 with the Edict of Expulsion, and subsequent Inquisition of those Jews who converted to Christianity. Less well known is how the far MORE golden age of Jews in MUSLIM Spain ended in the 12th century, with the invasion of puritanical Islamic reformers from North Africa, who brought to Andalusia, and its Muslim-Jewish Convivencia, a purist fundamentalist credo that ended conditions under which Arabic-speaking Jews thrived. What parallels are there today that threaten the golden age of North American Jewry?
Richly illustrated Powerpoint & Soundtrack. 50-min. session w/Q&A
Previously presented at: Limmud Boston, January 2022; Limmud North America, March 2022;
Featuring the 2020 Chanuka greetings of VP-elect Kamala Harris, Mel Gibson's Maccabee moment, Caravaggio's "Judith" and Naked Athena, this informed examination of Chanuka also tells a little-known feminist version of the story from 16th century Italy.
View it on YouTube here:
https://youtu.be/EJEph2ON2Wo
Richly illustrated Powerpoint + Soundtrack. 40-min. session w/Q&A
Previously Presented at: Chaverim University, December 2020