The Mandelbaum Trust supports scholars from around the world to visit Sydney. Guest scholars typically give public lectures at Mandelbaum House and offer teaching and tutoring at the University of Sydney through the Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies and other relevant departments.
Calendar of Events
August 21, 2022
Dr Sharon Kangisser Cohen – The Experience of Jewish Family during Shoah
Kangisser Cohen on Yehuda Bacon 21 Aug 22
Hitler’s intention and regime was the destruction of the Jewish people. Intrinsic to their murderous policy, the Nazis separated Jews from their families and friends. The Nazi ghetto was the “last place” in which the traditional structure of the family was preserved. This lecture will examine the experience of the Jewish family during this period of extreme suffering: separation, expulsion and death of its members. The presentation will focus on survival strategies – planned and unplanned that each member of the family adopted in order to survive. This lecture will be based on the post-war diaries of Holocaust survivor Yehuda Bacon.
“I no longer had my own bed, my cupboard, my books, my family couldn’t take care of me as much, a new life began for me.”
Yehuda Bacon, July 23, 1945
March 16, 2022
Prof Ron Zweig: German Reparations and the Jewish World
No description has been entered for this event.
March 9, 2022
Donna Robinson Divine: A Place To Call Home – How a TV Series Stirred Passions and Connections
Set in 1953, A Place to Call Home describes the social changes sweeping Australia in the aftermath of a devastaing world war that endangered the homeland and opened the continent to new trends that challenged hierachies based on class, ethnicity, and sexual identification. Prof Donna Robinson Divine talks about the worldwide impact of this series as a Jewish and Australian story.
September 15, 2019
Rabbinic Creativity in the 21st Century
Jewish law was transmitted from God to Moses on Mt. Sinai and through Moses to the leaders and rabbis of every generation. Yet, the realities of the twenty-first century are not the realities of Mt. Sinai. How have the rabbis utilized the basic tenets of Jewish law to adopt and adapt to the changing realities of each generation? In this lecture Rabbi Mintz will focus primary on the development of the community eruv which reflects this tension and its resolution through the centuries. Mintz’s – Mandelbaum New York Encounters
September 8, 2019
Judaica Treasures at Sotherby’s: Tales from the Auction Floor
Based on her experience at Sotheby’s for more than 20 years, Sharon Liberman Mintz will explore some of the most exciting Judaica discoveries and auctions of the last decade. The intriguing stories behind the magnificently illuminated Hebrew manuscripts, rare printed books, exceptional silver and paintings as well as the collectors who vie for these treasures will be presented. Mintz’s – Mandelbaum New York Encounters
August 28, 2019
The Art of Matrimony: The History of Decorated Ketubot
Sumptuously decorated marriage contracts have been integral to Jewish weddings for centuries and represent a magnificent expression of tradition in Jewish art. This lecture with expert Sharon Liberman Mintz examines ketubbot dating from the 12th through 21st centuries as microcosms of Jewish culture and testimony to the creativity and artistic heritage of the Jewish people.Mintz’s – Mandelbaum New York Encounters
August 25, 2019
Migrations & Milestones: The Jews of New York
Jews first arrived in New York in 1654. How did the community develop over the centuries? what were the challenges for the Jews of New York as they struggled to maintain their Jewish traditions while also integrating into the economic and social framework of this growing metropolis? Rabbi Adam Mintz will utilize primary and secondary sources to explore this fascinating topic. Mintz’s – Mandelbaum New York Encounters
April 14, 2019
England as a Custodian of the Jewish Past
Gary A. Rendsburg
England as a Custodian of the Jewish Past
Most people are well aware of England’s role as a center of antiquarianism, and most are equally aware of England’s abiding interest in all matters biblical (witness Wycliffe, Tyndale, Authorized Version, etc.). Much less well known is England’s role as the custodian of the Jewish past. To put it plainly: No other country in the world possesses both the quality and the quantity of Hebrew manuscripts in its library collections – almost all of which were collected by Christian scholars (and not Jews): Thomas Bodley, John Selden, Edward Pococke, Robert Huntington, Benjamin Kennicott, et al. Why is this so? And how did it happen? This lecture will survey all of this material, and more, as it proceeds through the centuries, commencing with the Middle Ages and then crafting the narrative from Tudor times to the Victorian age.