Oxford University Chabad Society
HILARY TERMCARD 2022
Welcome to Oxford University Chabad Society HILARY Termcard '22! This term promises to be an exciting programme at the OU Chabad Society, offering a wide variety of high profile and stimulating events, including world renowned speakers, delicious Friday night Shabbat dinners and lunch weekly, stimulating classes, seminars and plenty of opportunities to meet other students and make new friends. Whether you’re looking for challenging discussions, classes in Judaism or a warm environment to hang out with friends, the Oxford University Chabad Society has something to offer everyone. Looking forward to meeting you over the coming term!
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Weekly Friday Night SHABBAT DINNER & LUNCH
Oxford Chabad is delighted to offer Jewish students and community weekly delicious Shabbat Dinners and Lunch every Shabbat throughout the year:
Friday night Shabbat dinner, at 7pm (Kabbalat Shabbat, followed by dinner) at Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Shabbat Lunch at 1.30pm at Chabad House, 75 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1HR
RSVP: [email protected]
All are welcome!
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Week 1
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Welcome Back shawarma and drinks evening
We're delighted to invite you to join us for a welcome back shawarma and drinks celebrating Tu B'shvat - Jewish New Year for Trees
Monday, 17 Jan, 7pm-9pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
All are welcome!
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Week 2
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Holocaust Memorial Lecture
Holocaust Survivor George Schwab
'Odyssey of a Child Holocaust Survivor: From Latvia Through the Camps to the United States'
George D. Schwab is a Holocaust survivor from Latvia and founder and president of the non-partisan think tank National Committee on American Foreign Policy. For the past thirty seven years he has been the editor of American Foreign Policy Interests, and in 2001 the National Committee received a private endowment designed to honor the work of Professor Schwab which led to the creation of the George D. Schwab Foreign Policy Briefings. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Professor Schwab received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in May 1998. In 2002 he received the Order of the Three Stars, Latvia’s highest honor, in a ceremony held in Riga. He recently published his memoirs 'Odyssey of a Child Holocaust Survivor: From Latvia Through the Camps to the United States' (2021).
Tues, 25 Jan, 8pm
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82960245297?pwd=b1B4OVU2eVRyVFhBNEwrSzlFcllCZz09
Meeting ID: 829 6024 5297
Passcode: 536966
All are welcome!
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Oxford University Chabad Society invites you to a
Holocaust Memorial Lecture
Ilana Ivanova
'How my father, Holocaust survivor David Zivcon, uncovered in Liepaja, Latvia some of the very rare Holocaust pictures'
Ilana Ivanova is the daughter of David Zivcon, one of 11 Jews, who survived the Second World War in a cellar, hidden by Latvian righteous gentiles Robert and Johanna Seduls. Ilana is also the president of the Liepaja Jewish community in Latvia.
Wed, 26 Jan, 8pm
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82692069359?pwd=RGpQWHZqQWRtMC9QTWhLazd4aVFYQT09
Meeting ID: 826 9206 9359
Passcode: 373465
All are welcome!
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Week 3
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Professor Emeritus Meron Medzini
‘Golda Meir and the Yom Kippur War: A reassessment’
Jerusalem born, Meron Medzini obtained his Ph.D. at Harvard in Asian Studies. Between 1962 and 1978 he was Director of the Israel Government Press Office. In that capacity he was Golda Meir's spokesman during the Yom Kippur War. He later taught at the Hebrew University Israeli and Asian studies and is now a Professor Emeritus.
Tuesday, 1 Feb, 8pm
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86249774902?pwd=M292bnF5dytFaVpabVdvV3VKTnhUdz09
Meeting ID: 862 4977 4902
Passcode: 989722
All are welcome!
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Week 4
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Isaac Meyers Memorial Lecture
Daniel Johnson
‘Freedom of Speech and Religion’
Daniel Johnson attended state schools and Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating with a First in Modern History in 1978. As a foreign correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, covering Germany and Eastern Europe, he participated in the fall of the Berlin Wall and is an acknowledged expert on German history and culture. At The Times he was Literary Editor and Comment Editor, then Associate Editor of the Telegraph. In 2008 he founded the monthly magazine Standpoint and edited it for 11 years. He is now Editor and co-founder of the online platform The Article, for which he has written some 800 leading articles in the past three years. He has contributed to many publications on both sides of the Atlantic and is the author of White King and Red Queen: How the Cold War was fought on the Chessboard (2007). As a speaker he has lectured in the US, Europe, Australia and Israel, including seminars for the Tikvah Foundation in New York. A regular broadcaster for the BBC, he has spoken at the Oxford and Cambridge Union Societies. His father is the writer and historian Paul Johnson, author of A History of the Jews. With his wife Sarah he has four children and two grandchildren.
Tues, 8 Feb, 8pm
Buffet reception 7pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Join Meeting on Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88928430905?pwd=N2orNE5MSlFncG9VZTBIOFJpcThodz09
Meeting ID: 889 2843 0905
Passcode: 493193
All are welcome!
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Week 5
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Exploring Jewish philosophy, ethics and law in the work of Maimonides - one of Judaism's most prolific and influential thinkers
Programme:
1pm Buffet lunch
2pm Rabbi Dr. Aaron Adler, Harvard University
'Ashkenazic Versions of Prayers and Blessings in Maimonides' Codes’
2.15pm Professor James A. Diamond, University of Waterloo
'The inexhaustible metaphor of light: Crescas vs. Maimonides'
Prof. Diamond holds the Joseph & Wolf Lebovic Chair in Jewish Studies, University of Waterloo.
2.30pm Professor Paul B. Fenton, Université Paris-Sorbonne
'Why did Maimonides write his Guide for the Perplexed in Arabic and how was it translated into Hebrew?'
Paul B. Fenton is Professor of Hebrew and Co-Director of the Department of Arabic and Hebrew Studies at the Université Paris-Sorbonne. After Rabbinical studies, he majored in Semitics at Strasbourg University and St. Joseph University in Beirut, going on to complete his PhD in Medieval Jewish philosophy and Judaeo-Arabic literature under Georges Vajda (Sorbonne, 1976). From 1978-1983, he was Research Assistant at the University of Cambridge, prior to his appointment as Assistant Professor of Hebrew at Lyons University (1983-1991) and then Full Professor of Hebrew at Strasbourg University (1992-1997).
3pm Dr. Israel Sandman, University College London
'Suprarationalism in the Lubavitcher Rebbe's Reading of Maimonides'
Israel Sandman is a Fellow at the Hebrew & Jewish Studies Department at University College London and an expert on medieval Jewish philosophy and manuscripts.
‘The commentary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe on Maimonides and Rashi: a common approach’
3.30pm Dr. Ros Abramsky, Oxford
'Testing Times'
Ros Abramsky is an Oxford researcher who studied Crystallography at Birkbeck, where she taught Science Communication, as well as at Imperial College. She completed her PhD in Information Science from Loughborough University.
3.45pm Dr Naftali Loewenthal, UCL
'Comparing Maimonidean and Habad Approaches to Contemplation of the Divine'
Many have noted that the Habad systems of contemplation, developed from the late 18th till 20th centuries, owe a clear debt to Maimonides. This paper seeks to examine the question in more detail.
Naftali Loewenthal is a Lecturer (Teaching) at the Dept of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, UCL. He is author of Communicating the Infinite: the Emergence of the Habad School (Chicago, 1990) and his most recent book is Hasidism beyond Modernity, Studies in Habad Thought and History (Littmann Library).
4pm Mason Mandell, Somerville College, Oxford
'Maimonides in Leo Strauss' Thought'
4.15pm Dr. Ann Giletti, University of Oxford
'Understanding Creation: Maimonides's Answer to a Faith-Reason Problem and Medieval Christian Use of His Solution'
4.30pm Dr. Elad Uzan, Faculty of Philosophy, Oxford
'W ars and sovereignty in the Bible'
Elad completed his Ph.D. on the law and ethics of war at Tel Aviv University, and is currently a Marie Curie Fellow, at Corpus Christi College, and the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford
4.45pm Michael Kay, Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford
'Maimonides and the holiday of Purim'
The seminar will take place in person at:
Join the seminar also via Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 830 4580 0389
Passcode: 132700
Participants are welcome to attend all or any part of the programme.
RSVP for buffet lunch and/or handouts: info@oxfordchabad.
All are welcome!
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Rabbi Joseph Dweck
Rabbi Dweck is the Senior Rabbi of the S&P Sephardi Community of the United Kingdom. Rabbi Dweck. He studied in Jerusalem at Yeshiva Hazon Ovadia under the tutelage of former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef z”l. He also studied psychology and philosophy at Santa Monica College in California and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Studies from Excelsior College. Rabbi Dweck received his Semikha (rabbinic ordination) from Rabbi Ovadia Yosef under the auspices of the Sephardic Rabbinical College of Brooklyn, New York. He received a Master of Arts Degree in Jewish Education from Middlesex University at The London School of Jewish Studies. In his capacity as Senior Rabbi, Rabbi Dweck has the honour of being the Deputy President of the LSJS; a President of The Council of Christians and Jews and Ecclesiastical Authority of The Board of Deputies of British Jews.
Tues, 15 Feb, 8pm
Buffet reception 7pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
RSVP for buffet: [email protected]
All are welcome!
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Ofir Akunis MK
Ofir Akunis is an Israeli politician. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Likud. He has previously held the posts of Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services, Minister of Science and Technology and Minister of Regional Cooperation.
Rob Greenway
Robert Greenway is an adjunct fellow at Hudson Institute and executive director of the Abraham Accords Institute of Peace. Robert Greenway has more than 30 years’ experience in public service culminating as the senior U.S. government official responsible for developing, coordinating and implementing U.S. government policy for all of the Middle East and North Africa on the National Security Council. Prior to service on the NSC he served as a Senior Intelligence Officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency, and a combat veteran of the United States Army Special Forces.
Thurs, 17 Feb, 6.30pm
Christ Church, St Aldate's
Buffet dinner reception at 8pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
RSVP for dinner: [email protected]
All are welcome!
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Week 6
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Emeritus Professor James Connelly
'Samuel Alexander: a philosopher in time and space'
In honour of 150 years since the Universities Tests Act 1871 that abolished religious 'Tests,' allowing the appointment of the first Jewish Fellow at the University of Oxford, at Lincoln College, in 1882 - Professor Samuel Alexander.
James Connelly is Emeritus Professor of Political Theory at the University of Hull. After taking his PhD at the University of Southampton and several years running a secondhand book shop he taught at Southampton Solent University until 2006. He then moved to the University of Hull where he taught political theory, electoral systems, and environmental politics. His research focusses on environmental politics and ethics, and the philosophy of the British Idealists. He is a co-author of three editions of Politics and the Environment: From Theory to Practice. He has written many articles and chapters on British Idealism and the philosophy of R.G. Collingwood, and is co-author of R. G. Collingwood: a Research Companion (2014). He is currently writing a biography of R.G. Collingwood and co-editing the Elgar Research Handbook of Environmentalism. He recently co-edited British Idealism: Language, aesthetics and emotions (2019), Making the Military Moral (2018), and Still Taking the Lead. The European Union in International Climate Change Politics (2016). He is a co-convenor of the Philosophy of History seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London and Executive Editor of the International Journal of Social Economics.
Tuesday, 22 Feb, 8pm
Buffet reception 7pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
RSVP for buffet: [email protected]
All are welcome!
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Week 7
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With gratitude to the Al-mighty Rabbi Eli & Freidy warmly invite you to join us for the
WEDDING
of our dear daughter
Musia Brackman and (Rabbi) Menachem Latowicz
Wednesday, 2 March
Pre-Chuppah reception and canapes: at 3pm at the Assembly Room, Oxford Town Hall, St Aldates, Oxford, OX1 1BX
Chuppah wedding ceremony: at 4.30pm at the Quad of the Examination Schools of the University of Oxford, 75-81 High Street, Oxford, OX1 4BG (entrance on Merton St)
RSVP: [email protected]
We greatly look forward to welcoming you at our simchah.
All welcome!
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Week 8
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Samantha (Tzivia) Lish Art Exhibition
Samantha (Tzivia) Lish is a visual artist and current DPhil candidate in Theoretical Physics at Oxford University’s Physics Department. She is a graduate of the Macaulay Honors Program at Hunter College of the City University of New York, where she received a degree with a double major in Physics and Studio Art, and a minor in Mathematics.
Tues, 8 March, 7-9pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
All welcome!
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Week 9
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PURIM Celebration
Megillah reading and party
Wed, 16 March, 8pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
All are welcome!
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Megillah - Scroll of Esther - reading:
Wed, 16 March, 7pm, 9pm, 11pm
Thurs, 17 March: 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm
At the Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
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Future events
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Professor Paul Fenton
'What has Maimonides have to say about Islam?'
Paul B. Fenton is Professor of Hebrew and Co-Director of the Department of Arabic and Hebrew Studies at the Université Paris-Sorbonne. After Rabbinical studies, he majored in Semitics at Strasbourg University and St. Joseph University in Beirut, going on to complete his PhD in Medieval Jewish philosophy and Judaeo-Arabic literature under Georges Vajda (Sorbonne, 1976). From 1978-1983, he was Research Assistant at the University of Cambridge, prior to his appointment as Assistant Professor of Hebrew at Lyons University (1983-1991) and then Full Professor of Hebrew at Strasbourg University (1992-1997).
Tues, 3 May, 8pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
All welcome!
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Professor Andrei Zorin
'Russian Jewish Literature'
Andrei Zorin is Professor of Russian at the University of Oxford and fellow of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. His research includes Russian Literature and Cultural History of XVIII to early XIX centuries in European Context, Russian Literature and Ideology, Cultural History of Emotions and Late Soviet and Post Soviet Literature.
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Rabbi Na ḥum Ben-Yehuda
Bar Ilan University, Land of Israel Studies
July, 2022
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CLASSES AND COURSES
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Lecture Series on the Talmud by
Rabbi Chaim Rapoport
'Conversion in Jewish Law and Ethics'
Chaim Rapoport is former Rabbi of the Birmingham Central Synagogue, and served as a member of the Chief Rabbi's Cabinet advising former Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks on issues of Jewish medical ethics. He is author of many rabbinic works in Jewish law and an expert on the Talmud.
1. Sunday, 16 Jan, 7pm. 2. Sunday, 30 Jan, 7pm. 3. Sunday, 20 Feb, 7pm. 4. Sunday, 27 Feb, 7pm
At the Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Dinner served from 6.30pm
RSVP for dinner: [email protected]
All welcome!
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Sinai Scholars Course – ‘Think Jewish: Jewish Wisdom for Modern Life’
Explore the foundations of Judaism in 8 interactive sessions
Stipend offered by Sinai Scholars Society: $350 / £260
To apply: click here.
For more info, email [email protected]
The course covers the following topics: 1. Perspectives on Jewish Identity in the Modern World, 2. Foundational Elements of the Jewish Ethos, 3. Significance and Meaning of Jewish Observances, 4. An Oasis in Time: The Gift of Shabbat, 5. The Jewish secrets of Love and Marriage, 6. Jewish Ethics: Ancient System, Modern Applications, 7. An Overview of Jewish Mysticism, Kabbalah, and Chasidism, and 8. Forward Thinking: Examining Our Past to Forge Our Personal and Collective Future.
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Talmud Class
Join us to study subjects in Judaism's all-important 6th century legal work of the Talmud that shapes Jewish law and thought up until today.
Every Sunday, 7pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
All are welcome!
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Lunch 'n' Learn
Join us for a weekly delicious Lunch & Learn on a variety of contemporary stimulating topics in ethics and philosophy.
Every Monday, 1pm
Brasenose College, LRVII
RSVP for lunch: [email protected]
All are welcome!
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Lunch & Learn at Brookes University
Every Wednesday, 12pm
The Forum
RSVP: [email protected]
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Pizza and Parsha
Join us for an in-depth study of the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Eli while enjoying some delicious fresh home-baked Pizza.
Wednesdays, 7pm
At Chabad House, 75 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1HR or on Zoom
All are welcome!
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Hebrew for Beginners Course
For 6 consecutive weeks
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Course: £36 for the course / non students £40
Booking: [email protected]
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The Tajtelbaum Jewish Study Hall
The Tajtelbaum Jewish Study Hall is open daily for you to study with a fully stocked Judaica library, wireless internet and FREE coffee and refreshments on offer.
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
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Oxford Kosher Cafe
Enjoy a full menu of delicious Kosher food, which is situated in our spacious lounge with internet wireless connection, Wii, Jewish newspaper and satellite TV, in addition to our well stocked and diverse Judaica library with over 2000 interesting titles. Drop by for soups, deluxe sandwiches, bagels, salads, schnitzel, soft drinks and a range of delicious pastries.
OPEN daily: 12.30pm-2pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
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Sign Up
If you or a friend would like to sign up to the Chabad Society, please email:
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Oxford Chabad Society Committee
Michelle Rapoport (University) - President, Uri Shine (University) - Treasurer, Isabella Heinmann (St Hildas) - Secretary, Jozef Kosc (Green Templeton), Marthe Goudsmit (Law), Avi Blumgart (St John's), Jonathan Sheinman (Queens), Dario Val Nure (Brookes), Pamela Brenner (Kellogg), David Frisch (St Cross).
Senior Member: Prof. Nir Vulkan (Worcester)
To join the committee, email: [email protected].
Directors
Rabbi Eli & Freidy Brackman
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Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Www.oxfordchabad.org