What’s coming up in December

As Hanukkah fills our homes and hearts with light, the Community Scholar Program continues to illuminate our minds with learning and inspiration throughout December. We conclude two beloved series, Shakespeare and the Jews with Dr. Aviva Dautch and The Jews of Rome with Dr. Samuel Gruber. We welcome two exciting new series: Four Jewish Revolutionaries with Prof. Howard Lupovitch, exploring figures who reshaped modern history, and Made in Heaven: The Joyous Art of the Ketubbah through the Ages with Prof. Shalom Sabar, tracing centuries of love and artistry in Jewish life. The month also brings unique one-time events: Dr. Aleksandra Janus uncovers the remarkable transformation of a Holocaust-era home into a hub for art and remembrance and Dr. Tomer Persico launches the English edition of In God’s Image, exploring the ideas that shaped Western civilization. And we have two unique Hanukkah events to strengthen the light – artist Tobi Kahn reflects on the Eloquence of Light in contemporary art and curator Simona Di Nepi unravels the story of a magnificent 18th-century Hanukkah lamp. Join us online for these programs that embody the light of Hanukkah, renewal, creativity, and the enduring brilliance of Jewish thought and culture.

Four Jewish Revolutionaries (Prof. Howard Lupovitch)

Join us for a four-part series exploring the lives and legacies of influential Jewish revolutionaries who helped shape modern history. Each session delves into the beliefs, struggles, and societal impact of Adolph Fischer, Rosa Luxemburg, Béla Kun, and Leon Trotsky. Through compelling storytelling and thoughtful analysis, we’ll uncover how their distinct visions of justice and freedom fueled the revolutionary spirit of their times.

Made in Heaven: The Joyous Art of the Ketubbah through the Ages

Discover the ketubbah—the Jewish marriage contract—as both a legal document and a stunning work of art that reflects centuries of Jewish life, love, and creativity. In this lecture series, Professor Shalom Sabar traces its evolution from its biblical and Talmudic origins, designed to protect women’s rights, to its artistic flourishing across Jewish communities from Italy to India. Through richly illustrated examples, he reveals how the ketubbah serves as a mirror of Jewish identity, faith, and cultural exchange through the ages.

An Amazing Place, Digging into History, Building Community

Join Dr. Aleksandra (Ola) Janus for the extraordinary story of a modest house in the former Będzin Ghetto—once a hideout of the Jewish Combat Organization, now being transformed into a center for art, research, and community. Blending detective work with real-time archaeology, this talk uncovers the site’s hidden past and the new discoveries emerging from ongoing excavations. Through Janus’s lens as an anthropologist and activist, we’ll explore how art, memory, and community engagement can breathe new life into Holocaust history for today’s audiences.

A Feather in Judith’s Cap: unrolling the threads of a newly acquired Hanukkah Menorah’

Join Simona Di Nepi for a special Hanukkah talk exploring one of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston’s most exciting new Judaica acquisitions—a stunning 1760s silver Hanukkah lamp depicting Judith and her servant. Crafted in Breslau by silversmith Johann Ernst Braungart, the lamp sparks fascinating questions about art, symbolism, and the cultural context of its creation. Through comparison with other Hanukkiot, Simona will uncover the artistic and historical stories behind this remarkable menorah and its place in Jewish and European art history.

In G-d’s Image How Western Civilization was Shaped by a Revolutionary Idea

Join Dr. Tomer Persico to celebrate the English release of In God’s Image: How Western Civilization Was Shaped by a Revolutionary Idea, a bold reexamination of how a single theological concept transformed the modern world. The book offers a sweeping narrative that centers ideas—not material forces—as the driving engines of Western history, asking the provocative question: “Why the West?” Acclaimed by leading thinkers and major reviewers, Persico’s work invites readers to rethink the spiritual and philosophical roots of modernity.