You are invited to hear an interview with Ron Leshem who is a celebrated novelist, journalist, and screenwriter for television and films. As a reporter in the West Bank and Gaza, his work appeared in Yediot Ahronot, Ma’ariv, and Le Monde. His first novel, Beaufort, won the Sapir Prize, Israel’s top literary award. The film adaptation of Beaufort, which Leshem co-wrote, earned him an Academy Award nomination in 2007 for Best Foreign Language Film.



Tikva Meroz-Aharoni is the Schusterman Visiting Professor for Israel Studies at the University of Kentucky. She teaches in the Jewish Studies Program. This fall, she is teaching courses in Hebrew language, literature, and film.

Prof. Meroz-Aharoni will interview Mr. Leshem regarding his experiences as a journalist and how those experiences influenced the writing of his novel. The process of adapting a literary text into a film and the ramifications of writing on controversial topics will also be discussed. Attendees are also invited to participate in a Q & A with Mr. Leshem.

Catherine Rottenberg, Assistant Professor, Department of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics and the Gender Studies Program of Ben Gurion University

Lexington, KY native Nora Rose "Rosie" Moosnick is a sociologist by training and has just published her second book, Arab and Jewish Women in Kentucky: Stories of Accommodation and Audacity. Book signing

Lecture: Arab and Jewish Women in Kentucky: Stories of Accommodation and Audacity

Reception to follow

Sponsored in part by Univerisity Press of Kentucky

Rabbi Michael J. Cook, PhD.

Professor of Intertestamental and Early Christian Literatures, and the Sol and Arlene Bronstein Professor in Judaeo-Christian Studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, Ohio.

“Judaism, Christianity, and the Crucifixion: Coexistence versus Anti-Semitism on Parchment”

With reception following sponsored by the Moosnick family

Annual Luckens Prize Lecture in Jewish Studies

Tania Tulcin, Yeshiva University

"Looking Down from the 'Tip of the Yud': Judah Leib Gordon's Critique of Rabbinic Culture in Late Imperial Russia."

Monday, January 28, 2013

7:00 pm

W.T. Young Library, Auditorium

The Mark and Ruth Luckens International Prize for Jewish Thought & Culture: The Luckens Prize is awarded to the best unpublished original essay by a graduate student or recent PhD.  The Luckens Prize is administered by the University of Kentucky Jewish Studies Program and carries a prize of $1000, made possible by a generous gift from the late Dr. Mark Luckens.

Rabbi Michael J. Cook, PhD.

Professor of Intertestamental and Early Christian Literatures, and the Sol and Arlene Bronstein Professor in Judaeo-Christian Studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, Ohio.

“Gospel Dynamics’: When the Jewish Jesus Isn’t Enough”