“Jewish Renaissance and Revival in America”

A Conference in Memory of Leah Levitz Fishbane, z"l (1974–2007)

Sunday, March 16, 2008, 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.

The Jewish Theological Seminary, 3080 Broadway (at 122nd Street), New York City

Speakers (in order of presentation):

Dr. Eitan Fishbane, Assistant Professor of Jewish Thought, JTS

Dr. Jonathan Sarna, Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, and Director, Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program, Brandeis University (keynote address)

Dr. Arthur Kiron, Schottenstein-Jesselson Curator of Judaica Collections, University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Lance J. Sussman, Senior Rabbi, Congregation Keneseth Israel, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania

Dr. Shuly Rubin Schwartz, Irving Lehrman Research Associate Professor of American Jewish History, and Dean, Albert A. List College of Jewish Studies, JTS

Rabbi Sharon Brous, Spiritual Leader, IKAR, Los Angeles, California

Dr. Riv-Ellen Prell, Professor and Chair of American Studies, University of Minnesota

Dr. David Kaufman, Associate Professor of Contemporary American Jewish Studies, Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion

Dr. Eugene Sheppard, Associate Professor of Modern Jewish History and Thought, and Associate Director, Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry, Brandeis University

Dr. Arthur Green, Irving Brudnick Professor of Jewish Religion and Philosophy, and Rector of the Rabbinical School, Hebrew College

Chancellor Arnold M. Eisen, JTS


This conference will explore aspects of religious and cultural renaissance among American Jews in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with attention to how these historical models might be inspirational to the contemporary project of revival and renaissance in the Jewish community.

The conference theme is a tribute to the work and promise of Leah Levitz Fishbane, z”l (1974–2007), whose research was devoted to the early religious, creative, and social projects of the circle of American Jews who went on to found major American Jewish institutions, including The Jewish Theological Seminary, in their more mature years.

Sponsored by the Leah Levitz Fishbane Memorial Fund at JTS, The Jewish Theological Seminary, the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University, the University of Pennsylvania Libraries, and the Deanne & Arnold Kaplan Foundation.

Registration fee: $36 ($10 for full-time students with ID) includes the cost of the conference, a buffet lunch, and refreshments. For further information or to register, click on the relevant links located in the right hand panel of this page.

Please register and pay the fee by Thursday, March 13.

For general inquiries, email publicevents@jtsa.edu or call (212) 280-6093.