Contents
Acknowledgments
The Editors
Preface: Blessing an Illustrious Student: The Scholarship of Michael Berenbaum
Richard L. Rubenstein
Foreword: Giving Thanks for an Amazing Colleague: Michael Berenbaum as an Educator, Museum Builder, and Filmmaker
Jeffrey Herbst
Introduction: Creating a Multi-Focused Festschrift: Michael Berenbaum as a Multi-Talented Bridge-Builder
Edward McGlynn Gaffney
Part One. Expressing Deep Thanks: Personal Tributes from Old Friends
1. Expanding Horizons of Jewish Thought and Modelling Integrity: The Lifelong Impact of a Campus Rabbi on a College Freshman
Jane Eisner
2. Grasping and Expressing Foundational Insights: An Anchor and a Pillar in Holocaust Studies
John K. Roth
3. Creating Living Memorials after the Catastrophe: Michael Berenbaum’s Contribution to Holocaust Education
Irving Greenberg
4. Befriending Our Family, Loving Books, and Building Museums: A Capacious Mind and a Generous Soul
Stuart E. Eizenstat
5. Learning Most from One’s Students: The Highest Standard of Teaching Excellence
Carol Rittner, RSM
6. Learning from a Patient Teacher: My Steady Friend Michael Berenbaum
Jeanette Friedman Sieradski
7. Teaching Teachers of the Shoah: The Recurring Impact of a Mentor and Friend
Harriet Sepinwall
8. Opening Doors of Opportunity for Other Filmmakers: A Better Understanding of Hollywood
Deborah Oppenheimer
Part Two. Searching for Meaning in Ancient Texts: Biblical, Talmudic, and Midrashic Narratives and Theology
Painting: Jacob Wrestling with the Angel
Eugène Delacroix
9. Wrestling with God and Contending with Fire: Jacob at the Jabbok and Moses at the Burning Bush
Henry F. Knight
10. Harvesting the Berry Tree: A Midrash for Michael Berenbaum (on Pirke Rabbi Eliezer 30–31)
Burton L. Visotzky
11. Marking Jewish Identity in a Famous Memoir: Page One of Elie Wiesel’s Night
David Patterson
12. Seeing through the Prism of the Shoah: Biblical, Talmudic, and Hasidic Characters of Elie Wiesel
Joel Rappel
13. Honoring Father and Mother: An Impossible Possibility?
H. Martin Rumscheidt
14. Searching for Wisdom: Ethical Guidance in Proverbs, Psalms, Prophets, and Midrash
Joseph Blenkinsopp
15. Probing Deeply for Common Ground: Jewish Scholarship on Jesus the Jew
Edward Kessler
16. Transforming a Symbol: The Scandal of the Cross
Donald P. Senior, CP
17. Rereading “His Blood Be Upon Us”: The Blessing of the Blood of Life in Matthew’s Gospel
Frederick A. Niedner
18. Arranging Readings in the Lectionary: The Problem of “Troublesome Readings” in the Liturgy
Dianne Bergant, CSA
Part Three. Rebuilding a Culture after a Catastrophe: Rabbinic Thought and Action
Painting: Rosh Hashanah
Arthur Szyk
Photos: Standing in the Need of Prayer: Beth Tefilla and Egalitarian Worship
19. Restoring Credibility and Revelation in a World Still Full of Atrocities: Religion, Ethics, and Culture after the Shoah
Irving Greenberg
Poem: “god”
Robert Krell
20. Rethinking Theology after the Shoah: God as a Universal Force of Transformation and Healing
Michael Lerner
21. Understanding Jewish Law: Fundamental Purposes, Modern Approaches to Its Observance, and Three Psalms in Its Praise
Elliot N. Dorff
22. Acting Justly and Pursuing Peace: The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
David Saperstein
23. Agonizing and Preaching Boldly in the Pulpit: Rabbi Isaac Herzog in Dublin and Jerusalem
Marc Saperstein
24. Discerning a Role for God’s Law and Popular Governance: Rabbi Hayyim David Halevi on the State of Israel and Democracy
David Ellenson
25. Searching Our Souls and Confessing Our Sins: Small and Large Confessions for Yom Kippur
Arik Ascherman
Sculpture: Marble Bas-Relief of Rabbi Maimonides, United States Capitol Building
Brenda Putnam
Photos: Speaking in God’s Name in Public Fora: Rabbis Protesting on the Streets, in Congress, and in a Cemetery against Genocide, Racism, and Modern Warfare, 1943–1968
Part Four. Promoting Growth in Understanding: Jewish Commitment to Education
Sculpture: Rabbi Maimonides, Córdoba, Spain
Amadeo Olmos Ruiz
Photos: Searching for Wisdom Wherever It May Be Found: Images of Jewish Learning
26. Building Edifices of Jewish Knowledge: Michael Berenbaum and the Third Encyclopaedia Judaica
David N. Myers
27. Introducing College Students to Jewish Customs and Beliefs: The Importance of Jewish Studies Programs
Richard Libowitz
Poem: “They Sat in the Back”
Hannah Daniel
28. Searching for Holocaust Insights: Museums as Living Memorials and Dual Narratives in Holocaust Education
Holli Levitsky
29. Trusting and Contending in Jewish Education: Curricular Integration and Interaction
Gordon Bernat-Kunin
30. Sustaining Jewish Commitment to Education as a Central Value: Holocaust Education and Museum Building
Edward Jacobs
31. Celebrating Freedom in the Cradle of Liberty: The National Museum of American Jewish History
Jonathan D. Sarna
32. Illuminating Inclusive Freedom and Equipping Modern Abolitionists: The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
Woodrow Keown, Jr. and Christopher Miller
Appendix: “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (The Black National Anthem)
James Weldon Johnson
33. Helping Teachers to Teach and Students to Learn: Facing History and Ourselves
Margot Stern Strom
Part Five. Reconnecting Abrahamic Collegiality and Building Beautiful Bridges: Interreligious Encounters
Sculpture: Synagoga and Ecclesia in Our Time
Joshua Koffman
Photos: Healing Wounds: Journeys of Friendship—Auschwitz, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Rome
34. Abandoning Ancient Enmity and Seeking Covenantal Partnership: The Relationship between Judaism and Christianity
Irving Greenberg
35. Learning through Dialogue: The Work of the ICCJ from Seelisburg to the Present
John T. Pawlikowski, OSM
Appendix A: An Address to the Churches—Ten Points of Seelisberg
International Conference of Christians and Jews (August 1947)
Appendix B: Address to International Council of Christians and Jews
Pope Francis (June 30, 2015)
36. Replacing the Teaching of Contempt for Jews: Jules Isaac and Historical Truths about Jesus and the Jewish People of His Time
Norman C. Tobias
Appendix A: Eighteen Points to Rectify Christian Teaching about Jews and Judaism (1947)
Jules Isaac
Appendix B: Memorandum on Private Audience of Jules Isaac with Pope John XXIII, June 13, 1966
Cardinal Loris Francesco Capovilla
37. Repenting for Sins against Jews and Harvesting Fruits of Mutual Respect: International Dialogue between Jews and Catholics after Vatican II
Cardinal Kurt Koch
Appendix: Pope Francis to Executive Committee, World Jewish Congress (November 22, 2022)
Pope Francis
38. Repudiating the Teaching of Contempt for Jews and Ending a Catholic Mission to Convert Jews: Nostra Aetate and the Jubilee Statement on Conversion
Noam E. Marans
39. Sustaining a Quiet Revolution: Popes and Jews since the Shoah
Dennis B. McManus
40. Confronting Racial Antisemitism and Rejecting Contempt for Jews: Reform of Catholic Preaching and Teaching about Jews
Eugene J. Fisher
41. Establishing an Enduring Friendship: Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum and Cardinal Johannes Willebrands
Judith Hershcopf Banki
42. Doing the Will of Our Father in Heaven: Orthodox Jewish Statements on Jewish-Christian Relations
David Rosen
43. Rereading Dabru Emet and Its Successors: Jewish Statements on Christians and Christianity
David Fox Sandmel
Appendix: Reading Dabru Emet and Its Successors: Jewish Statements on Christians and Christianity
National Jewish Scholars Project (September 20, 2000)
44. Gathering the Fruits of a Half-Century on Reflection on the Shoah: The Annual Scholars’ Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches
Marcia Sachs Littell
45. Attending to Complicity, Identity, and the Integrity of “And”: The Annual Scholars’ Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches
Henry F. Knight
46. Repairing a Damaged Relationship: A Half-Century of Jewish-Lutheran Dialogue
Darrell Jodock and Emily Soloff
Poem: “Night Voices”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
47. Rethinking the Current Goal of Jewish-Christian Relations: Reconsideration Rather Than Reconciliation
Amy-Jill Levine
48. Moving beyond “Holy Wars”: Interreligious Dialogue as a Tool for Forging Sustainable Peace
Christoffer H. Grundmann
49. Creating Spiritual Remedies for Our Social Pathologies: Reflections of a Religious Peacebuilder
Yehezkel Landau
50. Rejecting Revenge and Preserving Our Humanity: My Journey from the Parents’ Circle to a Treatise on Peace
Yitzhak Frankenthal
Poem: “Mending Wall”
Robert Frost
51. Healing a Mother’s Broken Heart: Letters to My Son and the Family of His Assassin
Robi Damelin
52. Expanding Dialogue among Jews, Christians, and Muslims: A Step Closer to Human Fraternity, World Peace, and Living Together
Cardinal Michael Fitzgerald, M.Afr.
53. Evaluating Jewish-Muslim Relations in the Middle Ages: Golden or Ghastly?
Reuven Firestone
54. Outing White Supremacy as a Threat to Jews and Muslims: Strategies for Confronting a Common Enemy
Salam Al-Marayati
55. Challenging Group Bias: Benefits of Contact and Dialogue among Jews, Christians, and Muslims
Faisal Kutty
56. Educating Muslims about the Shoah: Memory and Meaning in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Mehnaz M. Afridi
57. Knowing a Person by Her Actions to Help Others: The Discovery of the Prophet in His People
Ingrid Mattson
58. Striving for Justice and Protecting Human Life: The Universality of People-Centered Human Rights
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im
Photos: Building and Maintaining Beautiful Bridges: Brooklyn Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge
Stained Glass: Stained Glass: Rainbow Shabbat
The Holocaust Project: From Darkness into Light
Judy Chicago and Donald Woodman
Part Six. Remembering for Our Future: The Shoah
Photos: Piercing the Darkness and Seeing Beyond the Shadows of the Shoah
Judy Glickman Lauder
Yellow Star, Theresienstadt
Railroad Tracks from Warsaw to Treblinka, Poland
Arbeit Macht Frei, Dachau Concentration Camp, Germany
Shoes, Auschwitz
Majdanek Death Camp, Poland
Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland
Chimneys
Poem: “O The Chimneys!”
Nelly Sachs
59. Seeing within and beyond Shadows: A Memoir of a Personal Journey
Judy Glickman Lauder
60. Seeing Darkness and Light through a Camera Lens: Judy Glickman Lauder’s Images of the Shoah
Michael Berenbaum
Multi-Media Art: The Holocaust Project: From Darkness into Light
Judy Chicago and Donald Woodman
Treblinka/Genocide, Detail
Wall of Indifference, Detail
Bones of Treblinka
A. Historical and Scientific Research
61. Studying the Holocaust: Why It Still Matters
Christopher R. Browning
62. Committing Makeshift Murder: The Disorganized Holocaust
Peter Hayes
63. Heeding Warnings from Holocaust History: The Perils of Fake News and Statelessness
Timothy Snyder
64. Resisting Forced Labor in Warthegau and Galicia: A Tale of Two Cemeteries
Martin C. Dean
65. Opposing and Protesting: Forgotten Individual Jewish Resistance in Nazi Germany
Wolf Gruner
66. Meeting Himmler: Norbert Masur’s Negotiation of the Release of Jewish Women from Ravensbrück
Stanley A. Goldman
67. Confronting Evil: Ilya Ehrenburg and the Holocaust
Joshua Rubenstein
Poem: “Kol Nidre”
Abraham Sutzkever
68. Navigating Broad Seas and Difficult Straits: Michael Berenbaum’s Passage from Tikkun Olam to Grey Zones
Jonathan Petropoulos
69. Honoring the Righteous Among the Nations: Yad Vashem’s Department of the Righteous
Irena Steinfeldt
70. Searching for Goodness and Supporting Courage: The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous
Stanlee J. Stahl
71. Saving Jewish Lives with Schutzpasses and Protected Houses: Carl Lutz’s Rescue Operation in Budapest
Susanne M. Reyto
72. Honoring Heroic Courage to Care: Lessons to Learn from Raoul Wallenberg
Irwin Cotler
73. Granting Visas for Life: Courageous and Righteous Diplomats
Eric Saul
74. Confronting a Mixed Record: The Italians and the Holocaust
Susan Zuccotti
75. Heeding Dangers of Holocaust Distortion in Eastern Europe: The Case of Lithuania
Efraim Zuroff
76. Collaborating with Germany in the Final Solution: The Shoah in Bulgarian-Occupied Greece
Paul Isaac Hagouel
77. Remembering an Orphan of Holocaust Studies: The Romaniote Jews of Ioannina
Marcia Haddad Ikonopoulos
78. Listening to Sounds from Silence: Healing the Trauma of Child Holocaust Survivors
Robert Krell
79. Hoping that “A Remnant Shall Return”: Survival of “Displaced Persons”
Abraham J. Peck
80. Discovering Memories My Parents Never Spoke Of: Silence, Nachas, and Resilience in the Life of a Second-Generation Survivor
Rosalie Berger Levinson
81. Healing an On-Going Trauma: Burdens of the Second Generation
Klara Firestone
82. Opening a New Frontier in Holocaust Studies: New Approaches to Geoscience and Archaeology
Richard A. Freund
83. Finding the Mass Graves of Jews Killed by Bullets: The Work of Yahad—In Unum
Patrick Desbois
B. Ethical, Philosophical, and Theological Reflections
84. Clarifying Shoah Historiography: Jewish Religious and Theological Reflections
Zev Garber
85. Comparing Genocides: An Opportunity to Learn to Care about Humanity
Israel W. Charny
86. Defining Genocide and Preventing Future Genocides: Never Again for Any Ethnic Group
Carol Rittner, RSM
87. Holding Important Issues in Tension: Uniqueness, Integration, and Historical Context
Omer Bartov
88. Paying Attention to Antisemitism Today: Are Twenty-Nine Million Reasons Enough?
Yehuda Bauer
89. Taking Alarm at American Nazis in a Virginia College Town: Racist and Antisemitic Ideology, Rhetoric, and Symbols at the Charlottesville Rally
Deborah E. Lipstadt
Poem: “Prayer for the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh”
Alden Solovy
90. Coming to Terms with the Holocaust: Appearances and Truths in Germany
Günther Jikeli
C. Diplomatic, Legal, and Political Issues
91. Abandoning Jewish Refugees from Nazi Germany: Evian, Kristallnacht, and the SS St. Louis
Stuart E. Eizenstat
92. Recalling Nuremberg at Seventy-Five: The Greatest Criminal Trial in Modern History
Michael Bazyler
Poem: A Wagon of Shoes / א פור פון שיכלעך
Abraham Sutzkever
93. Remembering an Elided Ally: Soviet Contributions to the International Military Tribunal
Francine Hirsch
94. Looming Larger Than Life: Benjamin Ferencz and the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials
Hilary Earl
95. Learning from the Nuremberg Trials: Ongoing Lessons for Our World
Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella
96. Seeking Compensation for Slave and Forced Labor in World War II: A History
Deborah Sturman
97. Blocking Claims for Restitution of Nazi-Looted Art: Judicial Abandonment of Federal Policy in World War II
Jennifer Anglim Kreder
98. Finding Hope for Restitution of Nazi-Looted Art?: The Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2016
Raymond J. Dowd
99. Digitizing the Nazi Theft of European Jewish Culture: The Jewish Digital Cultural Recovery Project
Deidre Berger and Wesley Fisher
100. Probing the Provenance of Nazi-Confiscated Art and Achieving Harmonious Resolution of Conflicts: The Washington Principles and the Terezín Declaration
Richard Aronowitz and Eileen Brankovic
D. Memorials and Museums: Research Centers and Archives of Survivor Testimony
Photos: Building a Living Museum, Learning Names, and Inviting Bystanders to Become Upstanders
101. Probing What the Holocaust Has to Do with America: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Chaim Potok
102. Connecting with the Conscience of Museum Visitors: The Ethical Orientation of the USHMM
Ralph Appelbaum and Paul Williams
103. Telling the Story, Getting It Right: The Permanent Exhibition of the USHMM and the Claude Lanzmann Shoah Collection
Raye Farr
104. Constructing Virtual Tombstones: The Photo Archive of the USHMM
Judith Cohen
105. Advancing Study and Teaching of the Holocaust: The Research Center of the USHMM
Wendy Lower
106. Struggling to Preserve Memories: The Creation of the USHMM
Edward Tabor Linenthal
107. Making the “Most Lethal” Nazi Death Camp Unforgettable: The Construction of the Belzec Memorial
Andrew Baker
108. Building a Living Museum in the Balkans: The Memorial of the Jews of North Macedonia
Edward McGlynn Gaffney
Appendix: Museums and Exhibitions Curated, Designed, or Developed by Michael Berenbaum
109. Reflecting on Loss, Memorial Art, and the Spaces in Between: The Berlin Denkmal and New York City’s 9/11 Memorial
James E. Young
110. Giving Voice to Holocaust Survivors: Interviewers of the Shoah Foundation
Karen Jungblut and Ari C. Zev
111. Preserving Survivor Testimony and Expanding Horizons of Holocaust Education: USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive® and Documentary Films
June Beallor
112. Domesticating Holocaust Memory: “House” and “Home” at the USHMM and USC Shoah Foundation
Oren Baruch Stier
113. Thinking Oral Historically: Persons, Places, and Events in Holocaust Testimony
Michael Nutkiewicz
E. Creative Arts: Poetry and Painting
Poets Poems
František Bass “Garden of Roses, Like a Boy in Bloom”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer “Night Voices”
Paul Celan “Deathfugue”
Paul Celan “Nocturnally Pouting”
Hannah Daniel “They Sat in the Back”
Pavel Friedmann “The Butterfly”
Pavel Friedmann “Terezín”
Robert Frost “Mending Wall”
Jacob Glatstein “I Have Never Been Here Before”
Hirsh Glick “Quiet, the Night is Full of Stars”
James Weldon Johnson “Lift Every Voice and Sing”
Robert Krell “god”
Primo Levi “Shema”
Dan Pagis “Written in Pencil in the Sealed Boxcar”
Eva Picková “Fear”
Miklós Radnóti “Root”
Nelly Sachs “Chorus of the Rescued”
Nelly Sachs “O! The Chimneys!”
Nelly Sachs “People of the Earth”
Nelly Sachs “What Secret Cravings of the Blood”
Eva Schulzová “Evening in Terezín”
Alden Solovy “Prayer for the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh”
Abraham Sutzkever “Burnt Pearls”
Abraham Sutzkever “How?”
Abraham Sutzkever “Kol Nidre”
Abraham Sutzkever “A Wagon of Shoes”
Elie Wiesel “Who Are You?”
114. Searching for Language Beyond Words: Holocaust Poetry
Lawrence L. Langer
115. Defying Violence against Children: Poetry and Painting in the Terezín Ghetto
Lori R. Weintrob
116. Embracing Refugees of the Passover, the Shoah, and Our Own Times: Marc Chagall’s Exodus and the Crucified Jesus
Zac Koons
117. Listening with Love: My Father’s Visual and Narrative Memory
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
118. Demanding Action—Not Pity: The Holocaust Art of Arthur Szyk
Irvin Ungar
F. Music
119. Rescuing Music Composed in Concentration Camps: The Institute for Concentrationary Musical Literature (ICML)
Francesco Lotoro
Appendix: Two Songs Composed in Concentration Camps
120. Preserving and Performing Jewish Music: The Los Angeles Jewish Symphony
Noreen Green
Appendix: Dachaulied (Dachau Song), Lyrics by Jura Soyfer, Music and English Translation by Herbert Zipper
G. Cinema and Theater
121. Making Holocaust Films: Michael Berenbaum’s Cinematic Career
Lawrence Baron
Appendix: Filmography of Michael Berenbaum
122. Documenting a Complicated Story: Empty Boxcars and the Shoah in Bulgaria and Its Occupied Territories
Edward McGlynn Gaffney
123. From Cursing Jews for the Death of Jesus to Blessing Our Brothers and Sisters: The Revised Oberammergau Passion Play
Leonard J. Swidler
124. Searching for Ideas with Consequences: Illustrations of Holocaust Insights from Cinema and Theater
John K. Roth
125. Honoring Persons with Courage to Care and Rejoicing in the Survival of the Persons They Rescued: A Photo Essay on Rescuers and Survivors
The Editors
Poem: “Shema”
Primo Levi
Part Seven. Schmoozing with the Mishpacha: Letters from the Family and an Afterword
126. Thanking Our Saba
Jeremy and Hannah Grinblat
127. Wondering How My Abba Does It
Mira Leza Berenbaum
128. Trading Insider Information on Best Dad Ever
Joshua Boaz Berenbaum
129. Honoring My Courageous Father
Philip Lev Bayer-Berenbaum
130. Appreciating My Favorite (and Only) Father-in-Law
Tal Grinblat
131. Sharing Spiritual Lessons from my Father’s Life: Reflections on Parshat Re’eh on Abba’s 75th Birthday
Ilana Berenbaum Grinblat
132. Celebrating Michael
Melissa Patack
133. Rereading an Afterword: Things "The World Must (Still) Know"
Michael Berenbaum
Contributors
Copyright Notices and Permissions
Index
