Public Education Classes

The ALEPH Institute for Jewish Culture public education classes are designed to meet the needs of busy community members and high school students wanting to engage in a university course as well as DU students who are interested in additional study. The not-for-credit courses grew out of overwhelming demand to audit the Center for Judaic Studies academic courses. As part of the University of Denver’s commitment to the public good, the Center for Judaic Studies designed classes that are of the highest level of Jewish Studies and available to students of all ages.

New this year – we are excited to be offering ALEPH classes through University of Denver’s University College program. We are also excited to be able to offer Yiddish with a “for credit option” for students interested in earning college credit. Registration is open now.
Please call 303.871.2291 for more information or click here for the non-credit Enrichment Classes.

DU Students can also earn credit for ALEPH courses. Please contact Sarah Pessin at spessin@du.edu.

The Ethics of Memory: Portraying the Holocaust Janet Rumfelt
Five Sessions, $205
Wednesdays, 7-9 pm, April 16, 30, May 7, 14, 21, 2008

Artists and survivors memorialize the Holocaust by depicting the event in a variety of artistic mediums. But memorializing is complicated, and these depictions pose ethical challenges. Join Janet Rumfelt, adjunct instructor of religion and philosophy, to explore the ethical questions raised by and in Holocaust portrayals. Consider questions relating to form: Are some mediums more appropriate than others? Do comedic portrayals minimize the tragedy of the Holocaust? How do memoirs and cinematic retellings challenge the distinctions between fiction and history, and what are the implications of this blurred boundary? What political issues do public memorials raise? Should the Holocaust be depicted in a cartoon format? Discuss ethical questons posed by the artists and survivors themselves in their retelling. In what ways do their accounts challenge ethical assumptions about society, civilization, and the nature of humanity? Explore these questions by analyzing survivor memoirs, oral testimonies, film clips, public memorials, as well as literature offering varying perspectives on these issues. Course highlights: Class visits by CJS’s Sarah Pessin and artist Lawrence Argent to discuss the creation and design of a Holocaust Memorial at DU, and by artist Deborah Howard to view and discuss her series of portraits of Holocaust child surivivors.

Janet Rumfelt is currently the Scholar in Residence for the Holocaust Awareness Institute at the Center for Judaic Studies. She is a PhD candidate in Religion, Ethics, and Philosophy at Florida State University. Her dissertation is on religious identity in modern Jewish and Christian thought. In 2004, she was accepted into the Center for Advanced Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and her paper on Holocaust representation won the graduate student award at the southeastern meeting for the American Academy of Religion.