Zionism, Jewish Identity: Still Big Issues a Century Later
How do you lose your identity? One way is when you lose your sense of peoplehood. It happened in the Victorian England of Israel Zangwill, and it happens now.
Zangwill's 1907 short story "The Jewish Trinity," dealing with those issues, will be the focus of a talk by English professor Meri-Jane Rochelson Oct. 20 at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. Her talk is set for at 7 p.m. at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, 301 Washington Ave., Miami Beach.
The story tells of a young artist debating Zionism with an assimilated industrialist in Victorian-era England. Rochelson, associate chair of English at FIU, will discuss the story in a seminar-style setting meant to remind listeners of both the persistence and change in issues facing Jews in modern life.
To read "The Jewish Trinity" online, click here.
Besides her English expertise at FIU, Rochelson is also affiliated with the programs in Jewish and religious studies. She is the author of A Jew in the Public Arena: The Career of Israel Zangwill (Wayne State University Press, 2008), and editor of Zangwill’s 1892 novel Children of the Ghetto (Wayne State UP, 1998).
Rochelson's talk is part of the Mondays at the Museum Series. Admission is $10 for the public, $5 for museum members, free for students with ID.
For tickets or information, e-mail the museum at info@jewishmuseum.com or call 786-972-3175.
