Brandeis University Press

Explains the ENACT model of student civic engagement, empowers instructors to implement it, and shows them how to assess its impact.   ENACT: The Educational Network for Active Civic Transformation aims to teach college students about democracy through engagement with the state legislative process. Built on the values of knowledge, cooperation, justice, and integrity, ENACT is a national, intercollegiate nonpartisan network. The program empowers students to be active participants in democratic processes by connecting with policymakers and community organizations, conducting research and analysis, and informing public policy with evidence and expertise.  ENACTing Change introduces teachers to the philosophy and practice of the ENACT model—which includes workshops, courses, an online network, as well as pilot projects and other initiatives—while providing detailed guidance on how to incorporate the model into their courses, regardless of discipline or educational settings. The book offers instructors recommendations for developing and teaching courses that engage in state-level policy advocacy with a focus on learning outcomes. ENACTing Change takes instructors through each step of the course design process, from how to build the relationships needed to teach the class to the next steps for students to work in the community after ENACT.

The literary memoir of a founder of Tel Aviv, now available for the first time in an annotated English translation.   Born in Jaffa in 1870, Yosef Eliyahu Chelouche grew up within a notable Sephardi family in the local Jewish community. He went on to become a prominent entrepreneur; a founder of Tel Aviv; and a fierce critic of the Ashkenazi Zionist leadership, Arab nationalism, and British colonial sectarianism; before emerging, in the last decade of his life, as an anguished public figure struggling to repair Arab-Jewish relations.   His memoir paints an intimate portrait of life in Palestine at the turn of the twentieth century, told from the perspective of a Middle Eastern Jew deeply embedded in local society. By centering on the world and experiences of a native Jew who was an eyewitness to and participant in the unfolding conflict in Palestine, this book shows how the course of Zionist politics and Jewish-Arab relations in pre-state Palestine might have taken alternative pathways. A comprehensive introduction sets the scene in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Jaffa and thoughtful annotations contextualize Chelouche’s story within the modern history of Palestine and Israel. Between Jaffa and Tel Aviv, 1870–1930 tells the fascinating story of a civic leader—and offers a complex view of the various cultural, social, and political forces that forged multilayered Jewish identities in the Middle East. The book includes a family tree and is illustrated with photographs of the family and scenes of Jaffa and early Tel Aviv.

A feminist reading of one of the most troubling tractates of the Talmud.  Beyond Brutality draws on feminist analysis and gender studies to examine tractate Sotah of the Babylonian Talmud as a literary unit. By interrogating how, why, and where women are invisible within Bavli Sotah, Jane Kanarek brings to light a ubiquitous female presence throughout the text. Despite the brutality of the sotah ritual—in which the woman accused of adultery is put through a divine ordeal intended to reveal her innocence or her guilt—this book demonstrates that Bavli Sotah is not primarily concerned with describing the sotah ritual or establishing male control over women. Instead, Bavli Sotah becomes a pedagogical text in which the sotah is secondary to moral and sinning men. As the sotah herself fades into the background, the sotah ritual nevertheless overflows its boundaries and weaves its way through a range of other topics within the tractate. In the process, Bavli Sotah teaches its audience who transmits and how one transmits rabbinic culture.

The story of the German exiles—and cultural titans—who settled in Pacific Palisades and influenced American culture.    In the early twentieth century, Pacific Palisades was home to America’s most modern film studio of the time as well as the proposed site of the world’s largest Christian center. But by the end of the 1920s, the Los Angeles neighborhood had become the refuge of the rich and beautiful as German and Austrian filmmakers, among them Salka and Berthold Viertel, settled there. They were soon followed by cultural and intellectual giants of the Weimar Republic who were fleeing Europe, such as Max Reinhardt, Hanns Eisler, or Max Horkheimer. These great minds turned Pacific Palisades into a “Weimar under the palm trees.” Though many were successful in exile—including Vicki Baum, Thomas Mann, and Lion Feuchtwanger—others felt as if they were in a “sun prison” far from home.   Recounting a story of glamor and great minds, Thomas Blubacher tells of the history of German-speaking exiles that is still alive there today, going on a foray through the film industry, taking us on a journey to this special place that was so recently devastated by fire. Many of the homes in this book have now gone, but Marta Feuchtwanger’s Villa Aurora and the Thomas Mann house still stand as a testament to luck, resilience, and history.

Explains the ENACT model of student civic engagement, empowers instructors to implement it, and shows them how to assess its impact.   ENACT: The Educational Network for Active Civic Transformation aims to teach college students about democracy through engagement with the state legislative process. Built on the values of knowledge, cooperation, justice, and integrity, ENACT is a national, intercollegiate nonpartisan network. The program empowers students to be active participants in democratic processes by connecting with policymakers and community organizations, conducting research and analysis, and informing public policy with evidence and expertise.  ENACTing Change introduces teachers to the philosophy and practice of the ENACT model—which includes workshops, courses, an online network, as well as pilot projects and other initiatives—while providing detailed guidance on how to incorporate the model into their courses, regardless of discipline or educational settings. The book offers instructors recommendations for developing and teaching courses that engage in state-level policy advocacy with a focus on learning outcomes. ENACTing Change takes instructors through each step of the course design process, from how to build the relationships needed to teach the class to the next steps for students to work in the community after ENACT.

A new, updated edition of a beloved guide helps birders spot and identify the hundreds of species that inhabit America’s largest metropolitan area.   Over five hundred species of birds can be seen in New York City’s five boroughs and on Long Island, one of the most densely populated and urbanized regions in North America, which also happens to be situated directly on the Atlantic Flyway. In this fragmented environment where resources are scarce, birds congregate in small spaces—Central Park alone attracts over 225 species of birds (not to mention birders from around the world who flock to the park during spring and fall migration). Beyond Central Park, the five boroughs and Long Island boast numerous wildlife refuges of extraordinary scenic beauty where resident and migratory birds inhabit forests, wetlands, grasslands, and beaches. These places present a unique opportunity to see a wide array of songbirds, endangered nesting shorebirds, raptors, and an unprecedented number and variety of waterfowl.   The fully updated edition of this easy-to-use guide provides year-round information for both popular birding sites as well as those off the beaten path. Precise directions to the best viewing locations within the region’s diverse habitats enable birdwatchers to explore urban and wild birding hot spots. Including the latest information on the seasonal status and distribution of more than four hundred species, and featuring thirty-nine maps and over fifty photographs, this full-color guide offers information essential to locals and visitors alike. This is the go-to book for both longtime birders and those exploring the area for the first time.

Documents the lives of Greek Jews who returned after surviving persecution, combat, and exile during World War II.  Homecoming records the experiences of Greek Jews who returned to their native country after World War II, when many went into hiding, fought in combat, became refugees, or were deported, some to Nazi death camps. Though they wanted more than anything to survive and come home, those who returned to postwar Greece faced isolation, anguish, deprivation, and hostility in the midst of a civil war. Their stories, which rarely feature in discussions of the Holocaust, raise important questions about its aftermath across Europe. Based on exhaustive archival research and new interviews with Holocaust survivors across several continents, Katerina Králová’s new book adds to our understanding of the genocide and its impact.