The Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies presents The 2023 Weinstein/Minkoff Lecture in Israel Studies, "A Holiday for All? On Celebrations, Collectives, and Israeli Identity" with Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi (Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

About the lecture:
Is there an Israeli holiday, one that can be shared by all? If not, why not? This talk will analyze the Israeli official calendar in light of both the importance of holidays in general for modern societies and the importance of national holidays in particular. Since its beginning, the national Israeli calendar has gone through several changes as new holidays were added over time. In this talk, Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi will analyze these changes and offer a view of Israel through that lens, considering the notion of the current Israeli collective and potential shared spaces and identity for all Israeli citizens.

About the speaker:
Prof. Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi is a sociologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Between the years 2012-2016, she served as the dean of the faculty of social sciences and was the first woman to hold this position. She holds a position as faculty fellow at the Center for Cultural Studies at Yale University. Between 2018-2022, she was the director of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has taught at New York University and the Jewish Theological Seminary. Her major academic interest revolves around issues of collective memory and commemoration, and specifically, the ways in which societies cope with their difficult pasts and shameful histories. She has published books with the University of Chicago Press (on American class reunions), State University of New York Press (on the commemoration of Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination), and Oxford University Press (The Collective Memory Reader with Jeffrey Olick and Daniel Levy). She is currently conducting research—funded by the Israeli Science Foundation—on collective memory of pandemics.

This lecture will also be livestreamed via Zoom for anyone unable to attend in person. To register and receive the Zoom link, visit cjs.wisc.edu/event/weinstein-minkoff2023/