The Holocaust Memorial Program at Oregon State University is proud to present a panel discussion on the evolution of religious rights and their connection with, and impact on, human rights.
How has the promotion of religious rights figured into the larger effort to protect and advance human rights? On the one hand, we find many historical and contemporary declarations of rights coupling freedom of thought, belief, conscience, and religion. However, we likewise see examples of religious freedoms for some being yoked to religious (and other) oppression for others.
Our distinguished panel will explore the historical, philosophical, legal, and experiential dimensions of this complicated question. We welcome your contributions to the discussion that will follow.
Leading our panel will be the 2015 recipient of the Elie Weisel Award, a recognition granted annually by the United States Holocaust Memorial museum, Judge Thomas Buergenthal. Buergenthal will speak to us in a double capacity: first, as a survivor of Auschwitz, whose experiences during the Holocaust are chronicled in his highly acclaimed memoir, A Lucky Child; and second, as a renowned legal scholar who has labored to make international law an ever-more-effective tool in combating human rights abuses. He has also served as a judge on several international tribunals that deal heavily in human rights cases, including the International Court of Justice (a.k.a. “The World Court”).
Also participating in the panel discussion will be:
- Dr. Rena Lauer (specialties in medieval Europe and Jewish history) will speak on minority religions and their legal rights in the medieval Mediterranean.
- Dr. Amy Koehlinger (North American religious history and thought; American Catholicism) will address the issue of religion and human rights in the history of Oregon.
- Dr. Stuart Sarbacker (comparative religion; Indic religions and philosophical traditions) will focus on religious freedom in the context of Eastern faith traditions.
- Dr. Paul Kopperman (war and genocide; chair, Holocaust Memorial Committee) will discuss the value of Holocaust education in promoting respect for diversity.
After their individual statements, the panelists will join audience members in an interactive discussion of the core themes of the evening, Religious Rights and Human Rights.
At the conclusion of this event, copies of the new, expanded edition of A Lucky Child, Thomas Buergenthal’s Holocaust memoir, will be available for purchase courtesy of GrassRoots Books.
This event is sponsored by the OSU Holocaust Memorial Program, the Mittleman Jewish Community Center, the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, the Institute for Judaic Studies, Grass Roots Books and Music, and the Harold and Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation.
Thomas Buergenthal will speak to us in a double capacity: first, as a survivor of Auschwitz, whose experiences during the Holocaust are chronicled in his highly acclaimed memoir, A Lucky Child; and second, as a renowned legal scholar who has throughout his career labored to make international law an ever-more-effective tool in combating human rights abuses. During his academic career, he has held a series of chairs in distinguished schools of law and is currently the Lobingier Professor of Comparative Law and Jurisprudence at the George Washington University School of Law. He has also served as a judge on several international tribunals that deal heavily in human rights cases, including the International Court of Justice (a.k.a. “The World Court”).
Professor Buergenthal is the 2015 recipient of the Elie Wiesel Award, a recognition granted annually by the United States Holocaust Memorial museum to honor “internationally prominent individuals whose actions have advanced the Museum’s vision of a world where people confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity.”
In his talk at Oregon State University, Professor Buergenthal will discuss his experiences during World War II and his perspectives on what international law has done, and what it can be expected to do, to combat persecution and protect human rights. As the conclusion of his talk, copies of the new, expanded edition of A Lucky Child will be available for purchase.
SPECIAL EVENT!
Wendy Liebman & Cathy Ladman,
Fri. Aug. 12 – Sat. Aug. 13
Wendy Liebman has made a career out of making late night audiences laugh. From Carson and Leno to Letterman, Kimmel, Ferguson, and Fallon, Liebman is an icon for stand-up success, even winning the American Comedy Award for best female comedian.
The best way to get inside Cathy Ladman’s head is to see her live. As one of the country’s top comedians, credits include “The Aristocrats”, “Mad Men”, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, and “Everybody Loves Raymond”.
Get $5 off your ticket price online by entering promo code: summer
A Conversation with Professor Steven Wasserstrom, Moe & Izetta Tonkon Professor of Judaic Studies and Humanities, Reed College about Holocaust denial and the limits of free speech.
The OJMCHE series of informal lunchtime conversations with scholars, museum professionals, historians, and others. Bring a lunch or buy a brown bag lunch in Lefty’s Cafe and join us in the museum’s auditorium for a lively give and take as we share and explore ideas, experience, and expertise.
Join photographer Elliot Burg as we discusses his photographs on view in the East Gallery (starting Oct 4). In early 2017, photographer Elliot Burg decided to seek out and capture images of the place in Eastern Europe where his Jewish grandfather and namesake Eli (pronounced “Ellie”) had come from. The exhibition is the story of that journey.
OJMCHE kicks off a series of informal lunchtime conversations with scholars, museum professionals, historians, and others. Bring a lunch or buy a brown bag lunch in Lefty’s Cafe and join us in the museum’s auditorium for a lively give and take as we share and explore ideas, experience, and expertise.
This month featuring Speaker’s Bureau member Rosalyn Kliot, who will share her story, from origins in Vilna and Lodz, to life in Oregon today. This event is part of the 2018 Portland Jewish Book Month series on David Fishman’s The Book Smugglers: Partisans, Poets, and the Race to Save Jewish Treasures from the Nazis.
The OJMCHE series of informal lunchtime conversations. Bring a lunch or buy a brown bag lunch in Lefty’s Cafe and join us in the museum’s auditorium for a lively give and take as we share and explore ideas, experience, and expertise.
The OJMCHE series of informal lunchtime conversations. Bring a lunch or buy a brown bag lunch in Lefty’s Cafe and join us in the museum’s auditorium for a lively give and take as we share and explore ideas, experience, and expertise.
Join Kenneth Helphand, Philip H. Knight Professor of Landscape Architecture Emeritus University of Oregon, for a talk on Ghetto Gardens in conjunction with our current exhibition. The Last Journey of the Jews of Lodz offers an extraordinary rare glimpse of life inside the Lodz Ghetto through the lens of Polish Jewish photojournalist Henryk Ross.
It seems improbable, but gardens were made in the ghettos of Lodz, Warsaw, Kovno and more. Based on research in Poland, Israel and the US this illustrated talk speaks about the creation and meaning of these gardens based on the first person accounts of their creators and witnesses. The talk is based on material in Helphand’s award winning book Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in Wartime. The OJMCHE Brown Bag lunch is a series of informal lunchtime conversations. Bring a lunch or buy a brown bag lunch in Lefty’s Cafe and join us in the museum’s auditorium for a lively give and take as we share and explore ideas, experience, and expertise.
Mel Bochner: Enough Said from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation
Mel Bochner (b.1940) consistently probes the conventions of painting and language. Bochner’s text-based works will be on view.
From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundations, this body of recent works, 2007-2018, challenge audiences to reflect on the nature and structure of everyday language. Curated by Bruce Guenther, adjunct curator for special exhibitions, the exhibition explores language as image and idea through Bochner’s long-held interest in complex printmaking techniques.
“Bochner’s historic use of language and words as both a linguistic system of inquiry and as a formal visual vocabulary of his painting practice has found new focus in the last decade through the artist’s intense engagement with printmaking and his exploration of the relationships of words as image, text, voice and thinking,” says Guenther. “He plumbs English and Yiddish for language’s power to establish identity, to command respect, or to attack in works of unpredictable emotionality and humor.”
“Mel Bochner is one of the most important conceptual artists of our time. His word art makes us smile, laugh, frown and jeer – but always forces us to think,” says Jordan D. Schnitzer. “He seduces us with emotions, words and phrases that we all have used. Whether we laugh or frown experiencing his art, we are forever moved.”
Born in 1940 to an Orthodox family in Pittsburgh, the artist attended Hebrew school and was exposed to art early through his father, who was a sign painter with a workshop in the family’s basement. Displaying an early talent for drawing, Bochner participated in the Carnegie Museum of Art’s innovative children’s art classes, eventually winning a scholarship to Carnegie Melon University.
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