Jodi Eichler-Levine, What We Talk About When We Talk About Jewish Objects 

Schwartz-Reisman Graduate Student Conference in Jewish Studies
Keynote Lecture: "What We Talk About When We Talk About Jewish Objects"
Jodi Eichler-Levine (Lehigh University)
Description:
Something magical happens when women sit and stitch together,” one woman said to me, years ago, at a convention of the Pomegranate Guild of Judaic Needlework. Jews of all genders make and use innumerable objects: torah scrolls, bourekas, prayer shawls, amulets, mosaics, kugels, cartoons. Both Jews and non-Jews have idealized, critiqued, and imagined these material practices, from ancient midrash about priestly robes to recent craft workshops run by the Jewish Studio Project. Whether we are talking about Jewish food or Jewish embroidery, matter matters. This talk approaches Jewish object creation as both a Jewish ritual practice and, perhaps, as something more capacious, yet hard to name-perhaps “magical,” perhaps not. Most of all, we will think through the senses. How do Jews and Jewish-adjacent people gaze upon, feel, smell, taste, and hear these objects? What concepts of Jews and Judaism do these embodied encounters create?
Dr. Jodi Eichler-Levine is the Berman Professor of Jewish Civilization and a professor of religion studies at Lehigh University, where she also directs the Philip and Muriel Berman Center for Jewish Studies. She is the author, most recently, of Painted Pomegranates and Needlepoint Rabbis: How Jews Craft Resilience and Create Community. Her scholarly writing and public essays at the intersection of Jewish studies, religions of North America, and popular culture have appeared in The Washington Post, American Quarterly, CNN, Shofar, Kveller, Newsweek, and other venues.

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