The JCC of Greater New Haven will launch its 2021-2022 author series with Laura Arnold Leiberman's The Art of the Jewish Family.
When you light candles using the candle sticks your bub-bie brought from eastern Europe do you feel the familial and the Jewish connection? How about when you use the kiddush cup that was presented to your father at his bar mitzvah?
In The Art of the Jewish Family, Laura Arnold Leibman examines five objects owned by a diverse group of Jewish women who all lived in New York in the years between 1750 and 1850: a letter from impoverished Hannah Louzada seeking assistance; a set of silver cups owned by Reyna Levy Moses; an ivory miniature owned by Sarah Brandon Moses, who was born enslaved and became one of the wealthiest Jewish women in New York; a book created by Sarah Ann Hays Mordecai; and a family silhouette owned by Rebbetzin Jane Symons Isaacs. These objects offer intimate and tangible views into the lives of Jewish American women from a range of statuses, beliefs, and lifestyles—both rich and poor, Sephardi and Ashkenazi, slaves and slaveowners.
Join us on Thursday, September 23 at 7:30 p.m. for the first of many events in this intriguing series.