On the centenary of the writer's birth, by a resolution of the City Council of Lodz, Chava Rosenfarb became one of the patrons of the Year 2023. The Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Lodz, together with its partners, has prepared a year-long program of celebrations: numerous workshops, walks, readings, artistic actions, a concert inspired by the writer's poetry and in October a scientific conference, organized by the University of Lodz, devoted to Chava Rosenfarb's work honoring her family.
THE CENTER FOR JEWISH CULTURE RESEARCH at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Lodz and the MAREK EDELMAN DIALOGUE CENTER IN LODZ invite you to participate in the International Scientific Conference CHAVA ROSENFARB AND JEWISH WRITERS OF THE 20th CENTURY.
The centenary of the birth of Chava Rosenfarb (1923-2011), a native of Lodz, but writing after the war, mainly in Canada, who is considered the most outstanding contemporary Yiddish writer, is an opportunity to subject to scholarly reflection not only her novels, poems and essays, but also to look at the work of other twentieth-century Jewish women writers who articulated their Jewish, female and gender experience in similar or precisely different ways. We want to broaden the field of our attention, even though Rosenfarb's texts themselves are already very interesting material for the study of autobiographical themes in literature, fictional representations of the Holocaust, records of the ghetto experience, attempts at literary reconstruction of the lost worlds of the shtetl and Jewish Lodz, or the "gender traces" that mark all these worlds. We want to make the subject of reflection the works of Jewish women authors, writing in the 20th century not only in Yiddish - such as Chava Rosenfarb - or Polish and Hebrew, but also in the languages of the countries in which these authors lived and worked, or with which they felt connected.
Jewish women's writing vs:
- cultural traditions (religious and moral, artistic and literary, etc.),
- modernization processes,
- anti-Semitism,
- social and political movements,
- Holocaust experiences: the ghetto, life in hiding, concentration camp (fictions and egodocumentaries),
- Diaspora experience,
- assimilation-identity issues;
Genres and styles of works by Jewish women writers in the 20th century;
Mame loszn and other languages of their expression;
The work of women writers of Jewish Lodz, in particular - Chava Rosenfarb.
For not exceeding 2500 characters abstracts of speeches on the above issues
(but also others related to the theme of the conference), along with a short bio,
are waiting until March 1, 2023 at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Planned date of the conference: October 18-20, 2023
Languages of the proceedings: Polish and English
Conference fee: 450 PLN / 100 €.
The organizers will provide two nights' accommodation with breakfasts (October 18/19 and October 19/20, 2023) at the Hotel UŁ, participation in the gala banquet and accompanying events, organized as part of the Year of Chava Rosenfarb.
ORGANIZERS:
Dr. hab. Małgorzata Domagalska, prof. of the University of Lodz (IFP UŁ)
Dr. hab. Danuta Szajnert, prof. UŁ (IKW UŁ)
Dr. Joanna Podolska (IFP UŁ and Marek Edelman Dialogue Center in Lodz)
SECRETARY OF THE CONFERENCE
Dr. Julia Dynkowska (IKW UŁ)
We also invite you to read reports on events that have already taken place.
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We would like to invite you to a holiday reading of Chava Rosenfarb's prose at the Marek Edelman Dialogue Center.
The weekly meetings with the works of the Patroness of the Year 2023 will be an excellent opportunity to learn excerpts from successive volumes of Chava Rosenfarb's novels. Each reading will be preceded by a short introduction.
We always meet on Tuesdays, always at 17:00.
27.06, 5:00 pm - "Storks. A Tale of the Shtetl"
04.07, 5 pm - "Between the town and Lodz. A Tale of Love"
11.07, at 17.00 - "The Tree of Life vol. I"
18.07, 5.00 pm - "The Tree of Life vol. II"
25.07, at 17.00 - "The Tree of Life vol. III"
NOTE: PREMIERE!
Each meeting will also feature an excerpt from Chava Rosenfarb's latest novel "Letters to Abraha", which will be published in the second half of 2023 in the Dialogue Center Library series.
Admission is free!
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Day of the tree
The Marek Edelman Dialogue Center has prepared further events related to restoring the memory of Chava Rosenfarb's work. On Friday, April 28 at 12:00 the Dialogue Center invites you to the Day of the Tree, referring to an important symbol in the writer's work.
On that day, a cherry tree will be unveiled in front of the Mark Edelman Dialogue Center building, which will be given the symbolic name of tree of life. Then the actress and performer from Lodz, Anita Tomczak, will read excerpts from Chava Rosenfarb's poetry and novels. The final item on Friday's program is a film screening of an interview with the writer titled. "Chava Rosenfarb: That Bubble of Being," conducted as part of the "Worlds in the World: Conversations with Yiddish Writers" series.
Admission to all events is free.
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A series of May walks
We invite you to a series of Tuesday walks under the slogan "Lodz traces of Chava Rosenfarb". The walks will be dedicated to the Patroness of the Year 2023. During the walking tours we will learn about important places connected with the biography of the writer and poet - the neighborhoods where she grew up, studied and lived. We will start each of the walks in a different place.
Leading: Joanna Podolska, editor of Chava Rosenfarb's books.
May 9, 5 pm (Tuesday) - start 1 Sieradzka Street,
May 16, 5 pm (Tuesday) - start 75 Zeromskiego Street,
May 23, 5 pm (Tuesday) - start Lagiewnicka 8 street.
Free admission.
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"Ramblings through Inner Continents: About Chava Rosenfarb on her Hundredth Anniversary" - conversation with Goldie Morgentaler (professor of literature at the University of Lethbridge, translator into English of Rosenfarb's works) and Abraham Morgentaler (retired physician) - children of the writer and Adele Reihartz.
Hosting: Joanna Podolska.
On February 9, 2023, we invite you to the Inauguration of the Year of Chava Rosenfarb - the Year of the Tree of Life. We will meet at the MeMo Library, 5 S. Moniuszki St.
On the 100th anniversary of Chava Rosenfarb's birth, we would like to introduce one of the most important symbols in culture - the Tree of Life, which is an essential element of the writer's work.
12.00 - 13.15 lecture "Symbolism of the Tree of Life" - conducted by Monika Krajewska.
Where: Mediateka MeMo, Moniuszki 5
Monika Krajewska - a Polish artist who for years has been exploring various areas of Jewish art and studying the speech of symbols. In her works she combines image with text, verses from the Torah, midrash and liturgy, and Hebrew letters. In 1982, she published a photo album, Time of the Stones, which depicted Jewish gravestone art mainly from eastern Poland. For many years she has been involved in cutout art, which she combines with collage, frotage and photography. She conducts workshops in cut-outs and Hebrew calligraphy. She is a member of The Guild of American Papercutters. The Tree of Life is one of the most important symbols that appears in her works.
Free admission
13.30 - 15.00 - workshops for adults "Jewish papercutting: the Tree of Life". - conducted by Monika Krajewska
Where: Mediateka MeMo, Moniuszki 5
Registration required: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (in the title of the email please state the topic of the meeting) Participants of the workshop should also attend the lecture, tel. 42 636 38 21, 506 155 911
15.00 - 18.00 - "The Tree of Life" volume III (read by Kamila Selwerowicz) - listening to excerpts from Chava Rosenfarb's novel produced in cooperation between the Marek Edelman Dialogue Center and Radio Lodz (200 min.).
Where: Mediateka MeMo, Moniuszki 5
Free admission.
"The Tree of Life" - is a monumental novel about Lodz, and above all about the Lodz Ghetto, which Chava Rosenfarb herself lived through. It is also a story about the people the author knew and the events she witnessed. The trilogy covers the years 1939-1944. The recording is from the final, third volume, and zooms in on the period from 1942 to the liquidation of the ghetto in 1944. Although Rosenfarb depicts a time of hatred, contempt and death, the book carries a message of peace and love.
18.00 - Inauguration of the Year of Chava Rosenfarb in Lodz. "Chava Rosenfarb and other Yiddish writers". - lecture by Prof. Joanna Degler (University of Wroclaw)
Where: Mediateka MeMo, Moniuszki 5
Joanna Degler - literary scholar, Yiddish translator affiliated with the Department of Jewish Studies at the University of Wroclaw. She deals mainly with Jewish poetry and women's works. In 2005 she published the book "Jung Wilne - a Jewish artistic group". In 2010, she published the edited volume "Silent Souls. Women in Yiddish culture". Since 2015, she has been part of the team of editors and translators of Rosenfarb novels published by the Marek Edelman Dialogue Center.
18.00 - Inauguration of the Year of Chava Rosenfarb in Lodz. "Chava Rosenfarb and other Yiddish writers". - lecture by Prof. Joanna Degler (University of Wroclaw)
Where: Mediateka MeMo, Moniuszki 5
Joanna Degler - literary scholar, Yiddish translator affiliated with the Department of Jewish Studies at the University of Wroclaw. She deals mainly with Jewish poetry and women's works. In 2005 she published the book "Jung Wilne - a Jewish artistic group". In 2010, she published the edited volume "Silent Souls. Women in Yiddish culture". Since 2015, she has been part of the team of editors and translators of Rosenfarb novels published by the Marek Edelman Dialogue Center.
February 9, 9 p.m. - "Ramblings through Inner Continents: About Chava Rosenfarb on her Hundredth Anniversary" - a conversation with Goldie Morgentaler (professor of literature at the University of Lethbridge, translator into English of Rosenfarb's works) and Abraham Morgentaler (retired physician) - children of the writer. Hosting: Joanna Podolska, John Crust.
Conversation in English in an online format. Registration: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Facebook, Zoom
February 10, 11 am
Place: State Archive in Lodz, 1 Wolności Square (conference room)
"The Tree of Life, or the ABCs of genealogical research" - genealogical workshop conducted in cooperation with the State Archive in Lodz and the Genealogical Club of the Dialogue Center "The Tree of Life".
The workshop is directed to adults. Registration is required: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (please specify the topic of the meeting in the title of the email), tel. 42 636 38 21, 506 155 911
Duration: 2 h.
February 12, 11.00 am
Start: 4 Kilińskiego St.
"The city of Lodz looked like a ship with a thousand chimneys. A walk in the footsteps of Chava Rosenfarb".
Led by the Lodz Women's Trail.
The walk, during which we will visit places related to the biography of Chava Rosenfarb, will start at the place that was the first Lodz address of the writer's father, Abraham Rozenfarb.