Avishai Margalit is one of the foremost thinkers and commentators on the contemporary human condition and moral issues of our time. While trained as a philosopher, Margalit is highly regarded for his profound and cogent observations about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the broader struggle between Islam and the West. As the author of Idolatry (with Moshe Halbertal, 1992), The Decent Society (1996), Views in Reviews: Politics and Culture in the State of the Jews (1998), The Ethics of Memory (2002) and Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies (with Ian Buruma, 2004), Margalit has transformed philosophical perspectives on a range of political and societal issues.

Professor Margalit will also conduct a seminar for faculty and staff on Thursday, March 20, at 10 AM in 321 Linton Hall.

Rabin Lecture on the Holocaust 2008

Elliot B. Caplan, Filmmaker, Professor-Media Studies, and Director, The Center for the Moving Image, University of Buffalo, will deliver the 16th Annual David and Sarah Rabin Holocaust Memorial Lecture on Thursday, April 10, 2008, 7:00 pm, Kellogg Center – Lincoln Room.

Caplan will also give the kickoff presentation at the 10th Michigan Teacher's Holocaust Workshop, Friday, April 11, which will focus on Children and the Holocaust..

Elliott Caplan will speak on “Hidden Things: A Children’s Story,” a film he is preparing in association with the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture and Yad Vashem.

Caplan, Emmy award-winning producer/director who is known for his performance films of famous artists, will lecture and show excerpts of his film Hidden Things, which explores the experiences of children during the Holocaust by examining the objects – toys, pictures, family heirlooms – they carried. The filmmaker’s aim is to create a powerful visual poem that will illuminate the lives of Jewish children who experienced the Holocaust.

10th ANNUAL MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY TEACHERS WORKSHOP ON HOLOCAUST EDUCATION

Hosted by the MSU Jewish Studies Program

All interested teachers are invited to submit applications to participate in the 10th Annual Teachers Workshop on Holocaust Education hosted by Jewish Studies at MSU. The subject for this spring’s workshop, scheduled Friday, April 11, 2008, will be “Children and the Holocaust.”

Download the 2008 Workshop flyer.

This all-day workshop will bring MSU faculty and middle- and secondary-school teachers together to explore strategies for teaching effectively about the Holocaust. Our workshops offer opportunities to exchange ideas, explore challenges, and learn about new views and new materials related to teaching about some aspect of the Holocaust. MSU Jewish Studies faculty members lead the workshop assisted by a special guest.

Please contact the Jewish Studies Program at jewishst@msu.edu for more information.

To apply, either

1. download, fill out the e-mail version of the application, and send in as an e-mail attachment, or
2. print out and send the printable version of the application by physical mail.