The 2010 Naamani Memorial Lecture is only a week and a half away, and many people are looking forward to this year’s talk, to be delivered by Professor Paula Hyman of Yale University. Professor Hyman’s lecture, entitled “When Gendered Divisions Empowered Jewish Women” will be presented in the Chao Auditorium of the Ekstrom Library on the University of Louisville campus at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 11.
The talk will examine the experience of women social activists, and especially public health nurses, in early 20th century America and Palestine.
“Professor Hyman is a very highly regarded scholar and teacher,” said Lee Shai Weissbach, U of L professor of History and chair of the Naamani Memorial Lecture Committee, “and her various books in the field of Jewish history, and especially Jewish women’s history, have been extremely influential for several decades.” Paula Hyman is Professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale and holds the Lucy Moses chair in Modern Jewish History there. Her many works include Gender and Assimilation in Modern Jewish History and The Jews of Modern France. She also co-edited the two-volume encyclopedia Jewish Women in America.
The Naamani Memorial Lecture Series is supported by donations to the Naamani Memorial Lecture Fund. The series was established in 1979 to honor the memory of Professor Israel T. Naamani, long a beloved member of both the university community and the Louisville Jewish community.
Dr. Naamani first came to Louisville in 1948 to head the city’s Bureau of Jewish Education, and he remained a key figure in local educational efforts throughout his life. He also taught in the Department of Political Science at the University of Louisville for many years.
Ten years of Dr. Naamani’s early life were spent in Palestine, and he was recognized as an expert on Middle East politics and particularly on Israel, having published widely on these subjects. His interests also included Hebrew language, Jewish studies in general and Islamic culture.
The Naamani Memorial Lecture is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served following Professor Hyman’s talk. Pay parking for the lecture will be available in the Speed Museum parking garage.
Those interested in contributing to the Naamani Memorial Lecture Fund or in more information about the Naamani Lecture may contact Professor Lee Shai Weissbach in the History Department at the University of Louisville at 852-3755 or by e-mail at weissbach@louisville.edu.