February 21, 2000
Campus and community events celebrate Jewish culture
By Barbara McKenna
Several exciting events are planned in celebration of the third annual Jewish Culture
Week, which takes place through February 27. Among the upcoming events are a lecture
and exhibition on the Holocaust by an internationally acclaimed artist, a theater
performance, films, and special Shabbat services.
Jewish Culture week is a collaborative celebration, sponsored by Santa Cruz Hillel,
UCSC's Neufeld-Levin Endowed Chair in Holocaust Studies and the Helen and Sanford
Diller Family Endowment in Jewish Studies, Metro Santa Cruz, and many other
campus and community organizations.
Below is the schedule of events. For more information, call (831) 426-3332, email
info@santacruzhillel.org, or visit the Hillel
Web site.
Kitty Klaidman The Past Purged: Hidden Memories of the Holocaust
UCSC Porter College Hall Gallery
Through February 27
Exhibition Hours: Monday through Friday: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 4 p.m.-7 p.m.
Kitty Klaidman has been exhibiting her work since the mid-1960s in New York, London,
Paris, Los Angeles, Washington, and other cities in Europe and the U.S. She currently
has work in a traveling exhibition called "Witness and Legacy," which is
touring museums throughout the country. Much of her work has been concerned with
depicting physical fragments that prod us to remember the best and the worst of our
history and culture. The UCSC exhibit draws on Klaidman's own history as a child
in wartime Czechoslovakia, when she and her family were forced to hide in a dark,
confined space for a year, but from which they emerged alive thanks to courageous
Slovak farmers who hid them at the risk of their own lives. A later group of paintings
in this exhibition commemorates the American dead at Normandy.
"Love": Jewish student art show
UCSC Porter College Bridge Gallery
Through February 27
Exhibition Hours: Monday through Friday: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 4 p.m.-7 p.m.
Santa Cruz Hillel presents it first collaborative Jewish student art exhibition.
Ten UCSC students have come together to present their artistic interpretations on
the theme of Love. Artwork ranges from installation and performance to traditional
mediums such as printmaking, painting, and photography. The interpretations on the
theme of love vary from personal relationships to the love of creating art itself.
The students come from a variety of academic disciplines and years of study with
two things in common: their connection to Judaism and their love for art.
"Contemporary Jewish Art: 1960-Present"
Nancy Berman, Director and Curator of the Skirball Museum in Los Angeles
Tuesday, February 22, 7 p.m., Baskin Arts Seminar Room
In 1969, Berman was named assistant curator of the Judaica Department of the Jewish
Museum in New York, a position she held until 1972. While at the Jewish Museum she
participated in the excavation of the sixth-century Beth Sh'ean Synagogue in Israel,
acting as liaison between the archeologists and student volunteers. When the Hebrew
Union College relocated its collection of artwork, Judaica, and antiquities to the
Los Angeles campus in 1972, Berman accepted the position of curator of the new Hebrew
Union College Skirball Museum. In 1977 she was named director for the museum. Since
1989 she has been a member of the steering committee of the Arts Consortium, a seven-member
group representing multicultural arts organizations in Los Angeles.
Fifth Annual Santa Cruz Alternative Jewish Film Festival
Nickelodeon Theater, Capitola Theater, UCSC
February 23, 24, 26, 27
The Fifth Annual Santa Cruz Alternative Jewish Film Festival explores different aspects
of Jewish culture through short and feature films, director talks, and panel discussions.
For details on screenings, contact Hillel at (831) 426-3332 or see a listing
of events.
Traditional Egalitarian Shabbat Services and Dinner
GLBT Resource Center, UCSC
Friday, February 25, 6 p.m.
$5 general/$3 students
RSVP: (831) 426-3332
Shabbat is the Jewish day of rest. This period from sunset on Friday to sunset on
Saturday provides an opportunity for participants to appreciate things that
may slip by during the hectic moments of the week. Join Shalom Bochner and Hillel
students and staff for a spirited evening of song and stories including a veggie
organic dinner.
