Jewish Reproduction Working Group

Over the past four decades legal scholars, ethicists, historians, anthropologists, sociologists, and demographers have laid bare the centrality of reproduction to social life, power, and politics. At this convening, we will think together about how Jewish reproduction shapes kinship structures, ritual life, imaginations of Jewish pasts and futures, concepts of personhood, and communal boundaries.

Schedule:

Wednesday, May 7

11:30 AM - 1:00 PM - Session 1: Bodies of Knowledge
Panelists: Ben Kasstan and Laura Yares

2:30 - 4:00 PM - Session 2: Futurity
Moderator: Lauren Gwin
Panelists: Mara Benjamin and Tiarra Maznick

4:30 - 6:00 PM - Session 3: Repro Images and Imaginaries
Moderator: Deborah Dash Moore
Panelists: Gabriel Chazan, Sara Fein, and Sara Ronis


Thursday, May 8

9:00 - 10:30 AM - Session 4: Bio-Theologies of Reproduction
Moderator: Seda Saluk
Panelists: Cara Rock-Singer and Lea Taragin-Zeller

11:00 AM - 12:30 PM - Session 5: Making Jewish Families
Moderator: Iris Rachamamov
Panelists: Cassandra Euphrat Weston, Jordan Katz, and Lilach Rosenberg-Friedman (virtual)

2:00 - 3:30 PM - Session 6: Rituals, Rites, and Rights
Moderator: Karla Goldman
Panelists: Vanessa Paloma Elba and Rachel Kranson

4:00- 5:30 PM - Session 7: (Re)producing Judaism through Activism
Moderator: Melynda Price
Panelists: Lisa Fishbayne-Joffe and Alice Mishkin