The Vilna is proud to launch Centered on Culture, a new initiative that introduces Jewish and Israel studies through small group seminars rooted in arts and culture.
No background experience required.
We are grateful to The Covenant Foundation for awarding Centered on Culture a prestigious multiyear Signature Grant for innovation in the field of Jewish education.
Introducing our Spring 2024 Classes
Passover & Poetry: An Exploration with Professor Deborah Leipziger
Wednesdays, April 3-17, 2024, 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
$75.00 (three sessions, including dinner)
Passover has many themes: freedom, springtime, social justice, Jewish history, family, and homeland. Join Professor Deborah Leipziger to explore selections from a wide range of poets including Marge Piercy, Denise Levertov, Ellen Bass, Primo Levi, Rachel Kann, Jennifer Barber, and Rabbi Hara E. Person.
Passover is full of poetry: metaphors, symbols, and allegory. Using the story of Exodus, we will generate new poems and writing.
Israel Through the Filmmaker’s Lens with Dr. Shayna Weiss
Wednesdays, May 1-29, 2024, 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Tickets: $120.00 (five sessions, including dinner)
In this course you’ll explore questions about Israeli life and identity in a global context.
Dr. Shayna Weiss will lead us in examining contemporary Israeli film and what these movies teach about Israel today, covering timely topics including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Mizrahi-Ashkenazi relations, Ultra Orthodoxy, Holocaust memory, and more.
*Approximately $30 materials fee (for film viewing, paid directly to screening platforms, eg, Netflix, etc)*
Explore Israel Through the Filmmaker’s Lens
Meet the Faculty
Deborah Leipziger is an author and poet as well as an advisor for organizations around the world regarding social and environmental issues. Her books on sustainability and human rights include The Corporate Responsibility Code Book and Creating Social Value: A Guide for Leaders and Change Makers, which she co-authored.
In 2024, she launched The Lexicon on Change, a guide to new ways of thinking and acting and addressing the UN Global Goals. Deborah is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Social Innovation at Babson College. She has taught at the Bard MBA program in Sustainability, the Simmons School of Management, and the Hult MBA program.
Her poetry collection, Story & Bone, was published in 2023 by Lily Poetry Review Press. In 2023, she was selected as a Community Creative Fellow by the Jewish Arts Collaborative and as a scholar at Yetzirah’s Inaugural Conference. Her poems have been published in nine countries and in numerous anthologies, including Tree Lines: 21st Century American Poems (2022). Deborah curates the New England Jewish Poetry Festival, now in its 15th year.
Born in Brazil, Deborah has a Master's Degree in public administration from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor’s Degree in economics and international studies from Manhattanville College.
Dr. Shayna Weiss is the Associate Director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University. Previously, she was the inaugural Distinguished Visiting Scholar in Israel Studies at the United States Naval Academy.
Dr. Weiss earned her Ph.D. in Hebrew and Judaic studies from New York University. She completed postdoctoral fellowships in Israel at Bar Ilan University and Tel Aviv University, where she taught courses about Israeli history and society. She has also taught at Brooklyn College and New York University.
Her research interests converge at the intersection of religion and gender in the Israeli public sphere, as well as the politics of Israeli popular culture. She is completing a book on gender segregation in the Israeli public sphere.
Past Courses
American Jewish Women in Television with Samantha Pickette
Let’s discuss how contemporary American television is establishing a new take on Jewish female identity. From Broad City, to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and more, we’ll explore how Jewish women writers and showrunners are challenging stereotypes and telling stories about Jewish women for wider audiences. Who doesn’t love a class where watching TV is part of the syllabus?
Exploring Sephardi Culture with Adam Mahler
Whether your own heritage is Sephardic or this is an entirely new world to you, join us for an exciting cultural journey.
This course traces the long arc of Sephardic art and literature. We’ll explore Old Castilian epigrams, prayerbooks from Amsterdam, Ladino songs of Moroccan Jewry, the periodicals of early 20th-century New York Ladino-speakers, and the masterworks of Jewish-American icons such as Emma Lazarus.
In partnership with:
