Lecture: Feeling Jewish: Buying and Selling American Jewish Nostalgia

Rachel B. Gross delivers her inaugural lecture as the John and Marcia Goldman Chair in American Jewish Studies. Nostalgia, a sentimental longing a for past that cannot be recovered, is a powerful theme in 21st-century American Jewish culture that is communicated through what American Jews make, buy and sell. This talk examines how American Jews represent eastern European Jewish immigration history and connect to it emotionally through Jewish genealogy, visiting historic synagogues, buying children's books and dolls and eating out at restaurants reimagining Ashkenazi cuisine. Reception: 6 p.m.