Recently, four CJS undergraduate students went on a week-long study excursion to Germany. The excursion, focusing on "The Return of Jewish Life to Germany," was lead by CJS' Undergraduate Director, Yiftach J. H. Fehige. During their time in Berlin, the students visited the Jüdisches Museum Berlin | Jewish Museum Berlin. In this video, the four of them traverse "The Memory Void." This zig-zagging hall designed by Daniel Libeskind houses the installation "Shalekhet" (Fallen Leaves) by Menashe Kadishman. In this exhibit, over 10,000 open-mouthed iron faces lay on the floor and clang with each step, echoing loudly, demanding the full attention and contemplation of all those who cross the hall." Among many powerful and thought-provoking experiences, the walk across this "void" stuck out as particularly poignant.

Vardit Lightstone is the first PhD student in the JEP program with the University of Toronto and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Click here to read her profile.

Join us for a lecture by LISA LEFF, author of The Archive Thief, Professor of History at American University, and Director of the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The event will be moderated by Doris Bergen, with responses by Eric Jennings and Sara R. Horowitz.