The Diane and Guilford Glazer Institute for Jewish Studies
Conferences and Events
Hosting conferences at Pepperdine and within the Los Angeles community allows the Glazer Institute to reach a wider audience and to attract a diverse and distinguished assembly of speakers to discuss some of the most challenging topics of the day. In the past year, it has sought to identify the common ground among the children of Abraham, sponsored a national conference of the Jewish Law Students Association, sponsored intimate colloquia, and promoted informal guest luncheons. Discussing controversial topics in a respectful atmosphere has allowed audience members not only to better understand the facets of the topic, but also to learn from the example of panelists who respect differences while remaining faithful to their own traditions and ideals. Please see the links to past events for more information on panel topics, speakers, and highlights.
Spring 2012 Events
Art Survives Exhibit
Payson Library
January 13 through February 17
The Glazer Institute is currently sponsoring the exhibit "Art Survives: Expressions from the Holocaust" in the Payson Library Gallery. This exhibit showcases the work of five Holocaust survivors who created work during and following the Holocaust as a response to their experiences. The exhibition was inspired by Hilary Helstein's documentary film, "As Seen Through These Eyes," which will be shown on campus February 1, in partnership with Pepperdine's Center for Entertainment, Media, and Culture.
Inspiring Truth: The Simon Hero Foundation
Kresge Reading Room, Payson Library
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 4:00pm
On Tuesday, January 17, at 4 pm, The Diane and Guilford Glazer Institute honored American heroes and Holocaust survivors Bernd and Judy Simon in a special ceremony at Pepperdine University's Payson Library. "Inspiring Truth: The Simon Hero Foundation" featured Bernd Simon telling his extraordinary life story, as well as a special viewing of the art exhibition "Art Survives: Expressions from the Holocaust." Bernd and July Simon survived the Holocaust and concentration camp internment before marrying and moving to the United States. Bernd then enlisted in the Army and flew on a B-24 crew over Europe during World War II. The Simon Hero Foundation has been created to tell their story through a groundbreaking new social media platform.
"Pepperdine is embracing the Simon's story, which embodies the sort of moral courage our school aspires to," says Dean of Libraries Mark Roosa. "And The Simon Hero Foundation's innovative platform is an exciting new tool that inspires learning and action in communities." The Foundation created in their name tells the story of Bernd and Judy Simon through an advanced "social education platform," accessible online and powered by Marquee Productions. The Simon Foundation goal is to create and distribute customized 3D social education platforms for use in museums, schools, and universities worldwide, providing users with the tools to learn, discover, socialize, and educate, in the hope of inspiring truth, compassion, involvement and action in communities.
Lani Netter, founder of The Simon Hero Foundation, says "We are excited to support the Art Survives program through the eyes of true "global heroes" Bernd and Judy Simon by using both traditional and socialized new media."
"As Seen Through These Eyes" Screening
Elkins Auditorium
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 7:00pm
As Maya Angelou narrates this powerful documentary, she reveals the story of a brave group of people who fought Hitler with the only weapons they had: charcoal, pencil stubs, shreds of paper and memories etched into their minds. These artists took their fate into their own hands to make a compelling statement about the human spirit, enduring unimaginable odds. In a film that the New York Times calls "compelling," director Hillary Helstein presents As Seen Through These Eyes, a story of how art holds the power to heal and sustain in the face of inhumanity. Centering on the work of Holocaust survivors, the film expands on the Art Survives exhibit in Payson Library through February 17. The film will be screened in partnership with Pepperdine's Center for Entertainment, Media, and Culture and University Libraries and will conclude with a conversation with Hilary Helstein.
We Are What We Eat: Interfaith Conversations about Religious Dietary Laws and Prohibitions
Hahn Fireside Room, Tyler Campus Center
Thursday, February 16, 2012 7:00pm
In the second installment of the Glazer Institute's series on religion and food, Pepperdine will welcome representatives of each of the three Abrahamic faiths to hold an academic and personal discussion on religious dietary laws. In addition to Dr. Christopher Doran from the Religion Division, the Glazer Institute will welcome Dr. Jody Myers and Dr. Mustafa Ruzgar to the first gathering of experts in religious dietary laws at Pepperdine. Delving into kosher and halal laws, speakers will also discuss Christian traditions on the heritage of food laws and differing perspectives towards them.
Convocation Credit will be available (although it will not be advertised on the Convocation Schedule).
Surveying Sacred Space: An Interdisciplinary, Interfaith Symposium
Pepperdine University, Malibu
Day 1: Friday, Feb. 17, 2012, 1:30pm-5:30pm, Hahn Fireside Room
Day 2: Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012, 9:00am-3:45pm, CCB 140
On Friday, Feb. 17 and Saturday, Feb. 18, seven specialist scholars of sacred space from universities across the country will engage and collaborate with Pepperdine faculty members and students from different divisions in an interdisciplinary symposium on space, place, and religious meaning in the Abrahamic and other traditions. These visiting scholars will give presentations on a range of topics, including gendered spaces in Judaism, the role of church architecture in modern American faith, and ritual practices in Asia—to name but a few. Approaching from a variety of different disciplines, Pepperdine faculty members will present on such subjects as: the negotiation of Jewish ritual space in Los Angeles; holy places and political geography in 21st-century Israel; and Muslim spaces of the later Ottoman Empire. A group of Pepperdine undergraduates will also present their research or participate in debates on issues of historical and contemporary relevance in the study of ritual space. This unique gathering of Pepperdine faculty members and students with specialist visiting scholars will provide a productive forum for examining theories, research methods, current events, and sites of communal tension and collaboration. In addition, the symposium will permit the audience to participate in discussions about the nature of relations in, and among, communities of faith and about the ways that these encounters inform, or are shaped by, sacred space.
For the full schedule of events and further information, please see the full website here.
The Event is open to the public and co-sponsored by the International Studies and Languages Division, the Office of the Provost, the Center for Faith and Learning, and the Office of Intercultural Affairs. The event would not be possible without their generous support.
The Competing Claims of Law & Religion: Who Should Influence Whom?
School of Law
February 23-25, 2012
The conference at the School of Law, led by the Herbert and Elinor Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics and cosponsored by the Glazer Institute, will address a host of sub-questions all at the forefront of contemporary debates over the respective roles of law and religion. Among them:
• What constitutional restraints, if any, should be placed on the influence of religion on law?
• What constitutional restraints, if any, should be placed on the influence of law on religion?
• If religious faiths do not assert influence on law, will they be dominated by religious or secular traditions that are willing to do so?
• If religious faiths do not assert influence on law, will injustice reign?
• If religious faiths do assert influence on law, will injustice reign?
• Should the goal be autonomy within religious communities, or will that undermine the creation of an integrated and just society?
In many parts of the world, questions like this will engender not only controversy, but also outright hostility and aggression. At this conference, we look forward to a spirited, engaged, and thoughtful conversation that will explore numerous aspects of all of them.
Please see the full list of speakers, panels, and keynote discussions here.
Register for the conference here.
Faculty Book Discussion Group, Sue Fishkoff's Kosher Nation
March 15-29, 2012
The Glazer Institute invites faculty members from all disciplines to a discussion surrounding Sue Fishkoff's Kosher Nation. The book centers around the spirituality of food and the motivations for the sudden surge of interest in eating kosher, or kashrut, certified food. Citing environmental, spiritual, and health-related reasons, Fishkoff elaborates upon why more than 80% of people buying kosher food today aren't Jewish. Combining this phenomenon with a career in journalism, Fishkoff delves into the business and the morality of kashrut foods. Faculty members will have an opportunity to discuss, from both Christian and Jewish perspectives, whether the act of eating should be considered a spiritual action and why. The group will meet once a week over lunch for three weeks, and will be joined for the last meeting by Sue Fishkoff.
Borders of Faith
A Series of Events on the Role of Religion in American Foreign Policy
Payson Library and Stauffer Chapel
March 20-22
No more significant issue may be affecting America today – and be less examined in the American consciousness – than how the shared faiths of America impact our foreign policy. Borders of Faith will draw upon the established strengths of Pepperdine University by bringing together leaders of the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish faiths to explore the ways these faiths impact national relationships in the Middle and Near East. It will unfold over the third week of March, 2012, with a keynote speech, panel discussions, and a concluding presentation.
This effort will be a partnership between the Pepperdine University Libraries, the Diane and Guilford Glazer Institute for Jewish Studies, and the Herbert and Elinor Nootbaar Institute for Law, Religion, and Ethics at the School of Law. This project is part of Pepperdine's work as a member institution of the Blair Institute's Faith and Globalization Initiative through the Office of the Provost.
Ambassador Tony Hall, Keynote Speaker
Stauffer Chapel
Tuesday, March 20, 2012 4:00pm
Tony Hall served in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than 20 years, then was appointed Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food Agriculture. He has subsequently worked on a Middle East peace initiative in collaboration with the Center for the Study of the President. He currently serves as the Director of the Alliance to End Hunger. As a keynote speaker for the Borders of Faith symposium, Ambassador Hall will discuss how religion has impacted his own career, and how the power of religion often transcends political boundaries.
An Interfaith Discussion with the Abrahamic Faiths Peacemaking Initiative
Kresge Reading Room, Payson Library
Wednesday, March 21, 2012 12:00pm
Returning to Pepperdine for the second time, members of the Abrahamic Faiths Peacemaking Initiative (AFPI) will continue this discussion through a panel examining how Abrahamic faiths both interact with each other on an international level and affect American foreign policy. Since 2006, religious leaders representing each of the Abrahamic religions have gathered in Los Angeles and around the world to create meetings in which active laypeople, clergy and religious educators came together to discuss the obligation for peacemaking, conversing both within their own faith traditions and across faith lines.
"America, Faith and the Middle East" with Dr. Arieh Saposnik
Kresge Reading Room, Payson Library
Wednesday, March 21, 2012 4:00pm
America has played a pivotal role in the interactions between Israel and its neighbors, leading dialogue between a Jewish state and Muslim dominated countries. What role has faith within America played in these interactions? To address this issue, we have extended an invitation to Dr. Arieh Saposnik, the Gilbert Chair in Israel Studies at UCLA to chair a panel discussion on this topic. He received his Ph.D. in History and Jewish Studies from New York University, and after holding the Jess Schwartz Chair in Hebrew Culture at Arizona State University, joined the faculty at UCLA in 2009. His research focuses on the history of Zionism and Israel and on the varieties of Jewish nationalism. His book, Becoming Hebrew: The Creation of a Jewish National Culture in Ottoman Palestine was published in 2008.
Borders of Faith in American Military Policy
Kresge Reading Room, Payson Library
Thursday, March 22, 2012 12:00pm
Continuing its discussion on religion and foreign policy, the Glazer Institute will partner again with University Libraries and the Nootbaar Institute to connect this topic to military policy. Two Pepperdine University professors discuss how American military policy in the Middle and Near East is impacted by the differing faiths it encounters. An additional panelist will be an Iraq veteran, offering a valued perspective from the ground on this issue.
Improving Interfaith Relations
Kresge Reading Room, Payson Library
Thursday, March 22, 2012 4:00pm
Moderated by the School of Law Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution on improving interfaith relations, this event will conclude the series by addressing informal efforts at joining religion with the political process in the Middle East and elsewhere. Representatives of the PACIS Project Professor Tim Pownall and Reverend Brian Cox will lead this panel by speaking on their work with the Straus Institute in faith-based reconciliation and Track II diplomacy.
Kosher Nation with Sue Fishkoff
Thursday, March 29, 2012 4:00pm
Continuing the Glazer Institute's series on Religion and Food, Pepperdine welcomes Sue Fishkoff, author of Kosher Nation to Malibu to participate in a discussion on the spirituality of food and the motivations for the sudden surge of interest in eating kosher, or kashrut, certified food. Citing environmental, spiritual, and health-related reasons, Fishkoff elaborates upon why more than 80% of people buying kosher food today aren't Jewish. She will be joined in the discussion by Dr. Christopher Doran, who will provide insight into this topic from a Christian perspective and elaborate upon why Christians need to be more conscious about what they eat.
Passover Seder
Alumni Park
Thursday, April 5, 2012 2:00pm
In coordination with Dr. Andrea Siegel's course on Western Civilization, the Glazer Institute invites students and members of the Pepperdine community to a Passover Seder on April 5th. Weather permitting, the Seder will take place at Alumni Park (in the event that is not possible, the event will be held in the Seaver cafeteria). Featuring presentations from students highlighting Passover traditions from around the world, attendees will also be able to participate in the Seder and eat a full meal prepared by students. This will conclude the Glazer Institute's series on Religion and Food. For more information about this event, or to RSVP, please contact Dr. Siegel at andrea.siegel@pepperdine.edu.
