Navigating Traditional Roles and Modern Demands: Iranian Jewish Women Today

Navigating Traditional Roles and Modern Demands: Iranian Jewish Women Today

Tuesday, 10am-11am PST

Prerequisite Note: Due to the virtual setting of this class, you must have computer capability, including internet access, in order to participate. A camera is also optimal but not required.

Today Iranian Jewish women are constantly juggling social demands, community expectations and contemporary life.

Join Saba Soomekh to explore the lives, histories, challenges and opportunities of Iranian Jewish women, from the time of the Pahlavi Dynasty to emigration to Los Angeles.

By exploring the differences between first and second generation women, hybrid-identities, tradition vs. modernity our learnings will help enable us to reconcile living in both in a secular American society and an insular Jewish community.

ALL SALES FINAL. NO REFUNDS OR EXCHANGES.

Dr. Saba Soomekh is the Associate Director at AJC-LA and a lecturer at The Academy for Jewish Religion-CA, where she teaches Religious Studies and Middle Eastern History courses. She received her BA in Religious Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, her Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, and her Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Dr. Soomekh teaches and writes extensively on World Religions, Women and Religion, intersectionality and its impact on the Jewish community, and the geo-politics of the Middle East. In the summer of 2019, Dr. Soomekh was a Scholar-in-Residence at Oxford University with the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy. Professor Soomekh is the editor of the book Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews in America (Purdue University Press, 2016) and the author of the book From the Shahs to Los Angeles: Three Generations of Iranian Jewish Women between Religion and Culture (SUNY Press, 2012). Her book was awarded the Gold Medal in the 2013 Independent Publisher Book Award in the Religion category. She was the Exhibition Coordinator of the exhibition at the Fowler Museum at UCLA entitled: Light and Shadows: The Story of Iranian Jews and a consultant and participant for PBS’ documentary “Iranian Americans,” which aired on PBS in 2012. Dr. Soomekh is involved in numerous interfaith and intercultural projects and she is a consultant for numerous schools in Los Angeles focusing on creating honest dialogue about cultural issues.