Private Lectures

The phrase “Im eshkakhek Yerushalayim” has echoed through Jewish history as an expression of longing for Jerusalem. But what happens when another homeland feels just as sacred? This lecture explores how Georgian Jews navigated their deep-rooted attachment to Georgia alongside the enduring idea of Zion.

How did local identity, geography, and history shape their understanding of belonging? Through texts, traditions, and lived realities, rethink the concept of the Promised Land, not as a fixed place, but as a layered emotional and cultural landscape.

What does it mean to dream in Yiddish — a language shaped by exile, resilience, and creativity? Enter the literary worlds of Isaac Bashevis Singer and Sholem Aleichem, two of the most influential voices in modern Yiddish literature.

Through a comparative lens, this lecture explores how each writer engages memory, humour, mysticism, and the supernatural. One draws us into haunting, metaphysical landscapes; the other captures the warmth and irony of everyday Jewish life. Together, they invite us to see Yiddish not only as a language, but as a way of dreaming — where past and present, reality and imagination, continually intertwine.

Set in the legendary land of the Argonauts and the Golden Fleece, this lecture explores the rich, multilayered history of Georgia’s Jewish communities. It traces nine distinct communities across the centuries, examining their relationships with neighbouring religions, their unique place within Georgian society, and their ties to the royal court.

The lecture also highlights the role of Jews in the founding of the First Democratic Republic of Georgia, offering a lesser-known perspective on their political and social contributions. Alongside this history, it opens a window into the mystical and linguistic worlds of Georgian Jewry, where traditions are expressed in Yiddish, Juhuri, Judeo-Georgian, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Blending myth, memory, and lived experience, it reveals a Jewish diaspora shaped as much by the Georgian landscape as by enduring traditions.

What does yikhes (meaning lineage and belonging) signify in a Georgian Jewish context? When did it emerge, and how was it understood? This lecture enters the rich world of 19th- and 20th-century Georgian Jewish storytelling, where fairytales, family histories, and communal memory intertwine.

Through these narratives, explore how traditions were preserved, identities shaped, and a distinct Judeo-Georgian vocabulary took form. These stories are more than folklore; they offer a window into how a community understood itself across generations.