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Jewish Studies Sunday Book & Discussion Group

Open to the public, join us for wonderful and enlightening book discussions!

Directions to the Hannon Library

The driving instructions to campus are as follows:

 

From the Los Angeles International Airport:
Travel north on Sepulveda Blvd. Remain in either of the left two lanes and merge onto Lincoln Blvd. Follow Lincoln Blvd north past Manchester Blvd. Turn right onto LMU Drive.

From the South:
Travel on 405 North, exit on La Tijera, make a left onto La Tijera. Take La Tijera until Manchester Boulevard and make a right (traveling west).  Stay on Manchester until you reach Lincoln Boulevard and make a right.  On Lincoln Boulevard, proceed for approximately 3/4 of a mile until you arrive at our main entrance on the corner of Lincoln and LMU Drive. 

From the North:
Travel on 405 South, exit on Jefferson Blvd., and turn right. Head west and make a left onto Lincoln Blvd. Head south and turn left into the campus on LMU Drive. 

Just let the guard at the kiosk know that you are coming to the Hannon Library and he will instruct you to keep going up the road to the 3rd stop sign. On the right is the entrance to the Drollinger parking structure.
At this point, if you look to your left, you will see the round-shaped Hannon Library.  Go into the structure and park anywhere you can.  There is no charge for visitor parking on Sundays.

What We Are Reading

      

February 10, 2013: Sunday 2-3:30pm

Elizabeth Drummond, Asst. Professor, Department of History, facilitator

 
 
March 17, 2013: Sunday 2-3:30pm
 

The Sabbath, by Abraham Joshua Heschel
Elegant, passionate, and filled with the love of God's creation, Abraham Joshua Heschel's The Sabbath has been hailed as a classic of Jewish spirituality ever since its original publication-and has been read by thousands of people seeking meaning in modern life. In this brief yet profound meditation on the meaning of the Seventh Day, Heschel introduced the idea of an "architecture of holiness" that appears not in space but in time Judaism, he argues, is a religion of time: it finds meaning not in space and the material things that fill it but in time and the eternity that imbues it, so that "the Sabbaths are our great cathedrals."  A scholarly meditation of the nature and celebration of the Sabbath. 
Linda Yellin, Asst. Professor, Department of Sociology, facilitator 

 

April 21, 2013: Sunday 2-3:30pm

Shanghai Diary, by Ursula Bacon
By the late 1930s, Europe sat on the brink of a world war. As the holocaust approached, many Jewish families in Germany fled to one of the only open port available to them: Shanghai. Once called "the armpit of the world," Shanghai ultimately served as the last resort for tens of thousands of Jews desperate to escape Hitler's "Final Solution." Against this backdrop, 11-year-old Ursula Bacon and her family made the difficult 8,000-mile voyage to Shanghai, with its promise of safety. But instead of a storybook China, they found overcrowded streets teeming with peddlers, beggars, opium dens, and prostitutes. Amid these abysmal conditions, Ursula learned of her own resourcefulness and found within herself the fierce determination to survive.
Elizabeth Drummond, Asst. Professor, Department of History, facilitator

June 23 2013: Sunday 2-3:30pm

Rav Hisda's Daughter, Book 1: Apprentice: A Novel of Love, the Talmud,
and Sorcery by Maggie Anton   
Author, Maggie Anton will be here in person!  Open to the public....
"This is more than a touching story of love and loss, a journey of an independent-minded woman or a tale of magic and witchcraft. Anton’s imagination takes you into the lives of our Talmudic Sages-- as young students and venerated teachers, shy fiancés and strong husbands, devoted sons and caring fathers. She also fills in the blank spaces for us – the rich and important lives of women and girls of those times. Researching her material well, Anton recreates Talmudic times, both the day to day ordinary existence and life fraught with danger and destruction, yet surviving to bring us Jewish law and wisdom unto this very day." --- Blu Greenberg, founding president of JOFA, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance; author of On Women and Judaism: A View from Tradition.

RSVP, Please!

The Sunday Book and Discussion is FREE. However, to make sure we have room, please contact Rhonda Rosen at rrosen@lmu.edu or 310-338-4584.  The bookgroup meets on Level 3 of the William H. Hannon Library.