Yale Offers Seminar Studying Anti-Semitism

Yale University’s Institution for Social and Policy Studies invites the public to a free seminar series titled “Anti-Semitism in Comparative Perspective” on Thursdays at 4:15 p.m.

“Anti-Semitism is one of the most complex and, at times, perplexing forms of hatred,” says seminar organizer Charles Small, Yale research affiliate. “It spans history, infecting different societies, religious and philosophical movements and even civilizations. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, some contend that anti-Semitism illustrates the limitations of the Enlightenment and modernity itself.”

The seminar series, co-sponsored by the Institute for the Study of Global Anti-Semitism and Policy, explores the subject in an interdisciplinary framework through talks presented by eminent scholars. The Spring Semester schedule includes:

January 19, Benny Morris, professor of history, Ben Gurion University, Israel: “The Failure of Middle East Peacemaking in Historical Perspective,” Luce Hall Auditorium, 34 Hillhouse Ave.

January 26, Michael Oren, senior fellow at the Shalem Center, Jerusalem: “Arab Anti-Semitism: Indigenous Phenomenon or Foreign Import?” Whitney Humanity Center Auditorium, 53 Wall St.

February 2, Irshad Manji, fellow at Yale’s International Security Studies, and author of “The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in her Faith ”: “Muslim Anti-Semitism: Why it’s not about Israel,” Whitney Humanities Center Auditorium, 53 Wall St.

February 16, Dina Porat, director of the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Racism and Anti-Semitism, Tel-Aviv University, “New Anti-Semitism: The Tension Between Its Classical and Political Aspects,” ISPS, 77 Prospect St.

Other speakers in the series are the Reverend Dr. Frederick Streets, Yale Chaplain; Morton Weinfeld, McGill University; Emanuele Ottolenghi, Oxford; Alvin H. Rosenfeld, Indiana University, Bloomington; Martha Nussbaum, University of Chicago; and Deborah Lipstadt, Emory University.

For further information, see Antisemitism In Comparative Perspective.