Oxford University Chabad Society
Summer Term Card, 2008
Sponsored by www.JustKosher.co.uk, Flaggs - The Old Campus Store, Mattancherry Kosher Restaurant, Seaflight Travel
Week 0
Welcome Back Shabbat Dinner
Fri, week 0, 18 Apr, 7:30pm
At Chabad House, 75-75A Cowley Road
Passover Seder
Explanatory, warm & easy-to-follow, led by Rabbi Eli Brackman
Handbaked Shmurah Matza, four cups of wine, traditional foods & delicious festival dinner
Sat, week 0, 19 Apr, 9pm * Sun, week 1, 20 Apr, 9pm
At David Slager centre, 61 George St
Passover Website
If there is anything you would like to know about Passover, please click here for our interactive Passover website, which includes how-to, Seder guide, study and history, stories, recipes and multimedia.
Week 1
Professor Avraham Faust
Prof. Avraham (Avi) Faust is the director of the Institute of Archaeology, Martin (Szusz) department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University, Israel, and is currently Kennedy Leigh fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. He participated in a number of excavations and surveys in Israel and abroad, and is currently directing the excavations at Tel Eton (usually identified with Biblical Eglon). He is the author of Israelite Society in the Period of the Monarchy: An Archaeological Perspective (Jerusalem: Yad Ben Zvi) and Israel's Ethnogenesis: Settlement, Interaction, Expansion and Resistance (London: Equinox), as well as numerous articles, covering various aspects of Israel's archaeology from the Early Bronze Age to the Byzantine period, with a special focus on the Israelite society in the Iron Age.
"Archaeology & Social Justice in Biblical Israel"
Wed, week 1, 23 Apr, 8pm
At David Slager centre, 61 George St
Seventh-Night-of-Pesach Shabbat Dinner
Jewish Graduates Dinner
Celebrating the splitting of the sea
4th Birthday of Chanale (Lala) Brackman
Fri, Week 1, 25 Apr, 7:30pm
At David Slager centre, 61 George St
Week 2
Seudat - Feast of Mashiach
It’s a tradition to celebrate with a “Feast of Messiah” (Seudat Moshiach) on the final day of Passover. This was introduced by the founder of the Hasidic movement Rabbi Israel Ba’al Shem Tov (1698-1760). Rabbi Eli Brackman will present the Jewish view on Messiah & its relevance, together with heart-warming Hasidic tales.
Sun, week 2, 27 Apr, 8pm
At David Slager Centre, 61 George St
St John’s College Hebrew Manuscript Viewing
St John's holds around 450 different printed works containing Hebrew script, in more than 600 physical volumes. There will be a display of 10 titles from among our c. 50 "proper" early printed Hebraica during the visit.
Mon, week 2, 28 Apr, 1pm
Meet at St John’s College lodge—RSVP only info@oxfordchabad.org
Professor Peter Pulzer
Prof. Pulzer is Emeritus Gladstone Professor of Government, Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, Honourary Vice-President of the Association for the Study of German Politics, and Chairman of the Centre for German-Jewish Studies. He is author of Jews and the German State 1848-1933: The political history of a minority, 2003.
"German & Israeli Relations"
Fri, week 2, 2 May, Shabbat dinner at 7:30pm
At David Slager centre, 61 George St
Week 3
"Where are the Ten Lost Tribes?"
Professor Tudor Parfitt
Tudor Parfitt is Professor of Modern Jewish Studies at the School of African and Oriental Studies at the University of London. He received his D.Phil from Oxford University and specializes in the history of the Jews in Africa and Asia, Judaizing movements, and Modern Hebrew language and literature. The subject of the 2000 NOVA documentary “Lost Tribes of Israel”, which documented his search for the lost tribes across Africa and the Middle East as he used genetic research to investigate Jewish history, Professor Parfitt’s interests include Jewish life, Jewish diasporas, and DNA analysis for historical purposes. Known as the “British Indiana Jones”, he is the author of several books, including Journey to the Vanished City: The Search for a Lost Tribe of Israel (2000), The Road to Redemption: The Jews of Yemen 1900-1950 (1996), Genetics, Mass Media, and Identity: A Case Study of the Genetic Research on the Lemba and Bene Israel (2005).
Mon, week 3, 5 May, 8pm
At David Slager centre, 61 George St
Robert Lloyd George
Robert Lloyd George, great-grandson of the former British prime minister David Lloyd George, is Chairman and CEO of Lloyd George Management, which has offices in Hong Kong, London, Singapore, Bombay and Japan. He was educated at Eton College and won an open Exhibition to read English Literature at University College, Oxford.He has published several books including A Guide to Asian Stock Markets, 1989, The East West Pendulum 1991, North South - A Global Emerging Market Handbook, 1994, ‘David and Winston: How a Friendship Changed History’ and The East West Pendulum Revisited both in 2005.
"Lloyd George, Churchill & the Jews"
Tues, week 3, 6 May, 8pm
At David Slager Centre, 61 George St
Professor Robert Service
Professor of Russian History, University of Oxford. He is the biographer of both Lenin & Stalin as well as authoring , among others, The Russian Revolution 1900-1927,and A History of Modern Russia. From Nicholas II to Putin. Service's most recent work is Comrades: A World History of Communism.
"Soviet Russia, Zionism & the Foundation of the State of Israel"
Fri, week 3, 9 May, Shabbat dinner at 7:30pm
At David Slager Centre, 61 George St
Week 4
Tour of Jewish Oxford
With professional tour guide Marcus Roberts
Director of National Anglo-Jewish Heritage Trail (J-Trails) & Former Oxford tour guide
Sun, week 4, 11 May, 3pm
Meet at Oxford University Botanic Gardens
"Debating Techniques of the Talmud"
Study and debate the Talmud led by Talmudist,
Rabbi Leibish Heller
Lecturer, Rabbinical College, London
Tues, week 4, 13 May, 8pm
At David Slager centre, 61 George St
Haggadot Manuscript Treasures of the Bodleian
Dr. Piet Van Boxel
Curator of Hebraica & Judaica, Bodleian Library
Wed, week 4, 14 May, 5pm
Seminar Room, the New Bodleian Library, Broad St
RSVP only info@oxfordchabad.org
Philosophy Shabbat Dinner
Please join us to celebrate the retirement of
Professor Gerald "Jerry" Cohen
Gerald Allan "Jerry" Cohen, born 1941, is a marxist political philosopher, presently the Cichele Professor of Social & Political Theory, All Souls College, Oxford. Born into a communist Jewish family in Montreal, Cohen was educated at McGill University, Canada and the University of Oxford where he studied under Sir Isaiah Berlin and Gilbert Ryle. Cohen was formerly lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at UCL, before being appointed to the Chichele chair at Oxford in 1985. Several of his former students, such as Alan Carter, Will Kymlicka, John McMurtry, Michael Otsuka, Seana Shiffrin and Jonathan Wolff have gone on to be important political philosophers in their own right.
Known as a proponent of Analytical Marxism and a founding member of the September Group, Cohen's 1978 work Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence defends an old-fashioned interpretation of Marx's historical materialism. In Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality, Cohen offers an extensive moral argument in favour of socialism. In If You're an Egalitarian, How Come You're So Rich? Cohen addresses the question of what egalitarian political principles imply for the personal behavior of those who subscribe to them.
Fri, week 4, 16 May, 7:30pm
At David Slager Centre, 61 George St
Week 5
Punting on the Isis
Sun, week 5, 18 May, 3pm
Meet at Magdalen Bridge
RSVP melissa.friedman@sjc.ox.ac.uk
Kabbalah Book Launch & reception
Inward Bound: A Guide to the Understanding of Kabbalah
Rabbi Nissan Dovid Dubov
Rabbi of South London Jewish Community, author of seven books on Judaism and authority and teacher of the Kabbalah
Wed, week 5, 19 May, 8pm
At David Slager Centre, 61 George St
Lag B'omer BBQ
Bonfire & Bar-B-Q...with all the trimmings…
...bring your musical instrument and jam around the fire…
Thurs, week 5, 22 May, 8pm
At Chabad House Garden, 75 Cowley Rd
Week 6
Balliol College Hebrew Manuscript Viewing
Oxford's oldest College, founded in 1262
The viewing will include, amongst others, a rare document of conveyance of land in Hebrew of a land in Gamlingay, a village half way between Oxford and Cambridge, from Merton College to Balliol.
Mon, week 6, 26 May, 1pm
Meet at Balliol College lodge
RSVP only info@oxfordchabad.org
Professor Niall Ferguson
Niall Ferguson, who Time magazine named one of the world’s hundred most influential people, is Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, Senior Fellow at Oxford University, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
He is author of The History of the House of Rothschild (Penguin); Paper and Iron: Hamburg Business and German Politics in the Era of Inflation 1897-1927; The Pity of War: Explaining World War One and his latest book is The War of the World: Twentieth Century Conflict and the Descent of the West, which was published to critical acclaim in September 2006.
"The Rothschilds & British Jewish Emancipation"
Tues, week 6, 27 May, 8pm
At David Slager Centre, 61 George St
In honour of 150 years since the election of the first British Jewish Member of Parliament, Lionel Nathan Rothchild
Israel & the British Media
Daphna Vardi
Journalist for Maariv and Kol Yisrael—Israel Radio
Fri, week 6, 30 May, Shabbat dinner at 7:30pm
At David Slager Centre, 61 George St
Week 7
Professor Leszek Kolakowski
Leszek Kołakowski, born 1927 in Radom, Poland, is the most distinguished living Polish philosopher and historian of ideas. He is best known for his critical analysis of Marxist thought, especially his acclaimed three-volume history, Main Currents of Marxism. The Library of Congress named Kołakowski the first winner of the John W. Kluge Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Humanities in 2003. In Poland, Kołakowski is revered as an icon for opponents of communism.
"Jewish & Polish relations during the Second World War"
Tues, week 7, 3 June, 8pm
At David Slager Centre, 61 George St
NEW Sefer Torah Dedication Ceremony
Oxford Chabad Society will be celebrating the dedication of a brand new Sefer Torah scroll, written in Israel, for the David Slager Chabad Centre
Thurs, week 7, 5 June, 7pm
Completion of the writing of the Torah and dancing
At David Slager Centre, 61 George St
Week 8
Shavuot Festival Dinner
Cheese cake buffet, followed by Shavuot festival dinner
Tikkun Leyl Lectures by Rabbi Eli Brackman
1) Does Jewish teaching permit "Land for Peace"?
2) A Jewish view on feminism
Sun, week 8, 8 June, 8pm
At David Sager Centre, 61 George St
Grand Opening Ceremony of the Oxford
"David & Lara Slager" Mikvah
Guest of Honour David Slager
Guest Speaker Rebbetzin Rivkah Slonim
Rivkah Slonim, an internationally renowned lecturer and 'Hassidic Feminist', addresses the intersection of Jewish observance and contemporary life with a special focus on Jewish women. Over the past two decades, she has appeared before audiences in hundreds of locations across the world and served as a consultant to educators and outreach professionals. Slonim is the editor of Total Immersion: A Mikvah Anthology (Jason Aronson, 1996; Urim, 2006), and Bread and Fire: Jewish women find G-d in the everyday.
At Oxford Chabad House, 75-75A Cowley Rd
Date to be announced
Classes & Courses
Lunch 'n' Learn
Maimonides
By Rabbi Eli Brackman
Every Mon, 1pm
At David Slager centre, 61 George St
Judaism for Beginners
Rabbi Eli Brackman
This weekly class will explore how the eternal values of Judaism apply to a changing and modern world
Every Wednesday, 8pm
At David Slager centre, 61 George St
Kabbalah Course for Beginners
Dr. Naftali Loewenthal
Lecturer on Jewish Spirituality, University College London
Mon, week 3, 5 May, 6pm
Mon, week 4, 12 May, 6pm
At David Slager Centre, 61 George St
RSVP info@oxfordchabad@aol.com
Hebrew for Beginners
Esteban Hubner and Baruch Gurevich
At David Slager centre, 61 George St
To register, email: info@oxfordchabad.org
