A visit to the local Jewish cemetery taught Timothy McCall ’08 of Lawrenceville, N.J., a timeless lesson in history.

After spending the summer researching the livelihoods of Jewish merchants who arrived in Lewiston-Auburn in the 1870s, first from Germany and then from Eastern Europe, McCall decided to “fully connect with the community” by visiting the graves of individuals whose names he recognized from weeks of primary-source research.

McCall, a double major in History and German, had been comparing the history of the Jewish community to the larger economic story of the twin cities of the Androscoggin. “The Jews were very much dependent on the mills for their livelihood and the solvency of their businesses,” McCall writes. As the area’s once thriving textile and shoe mills disappeared, so too did the Jewish community shrink. “For the Jewish merchants, the closures meant their loyal customers were without jobs and without disposable income.” Read more here.

Judith Plaskow, author of the landmark text Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective (HarperCollins, 1991) and professor of religious studies at Manhattan College, will give a presentation titled Asking the Right Questions: The Development of Jewish Women’s Studies at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5 (snow date: Thursday, Feb., 12), in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Avenue. The public is invited to attend the 2003-04 Zerby Lecture in Contemporary and Religious Thought, sponsored by the chaplain’s office, free of charge.

Like many other areas of women’s studies, Jewish women’s studies emerged out of a concrete sense of women’s exclusion from both Jewish scholarship and Jewish public religious life, says Plaskow. Early feminist work tried to move women from margin to center within the Jewish community. A new generation of feminists has been critical of the notion of studying “women and Judaism,” arguing that such scholarship simply reproduces the marginalization of women. Plaskow’s talk considers the right questions to ask about Judaism, women and gender. She will examine how feminist scholarship relates to the transformation of Judaism as a religious tradition.

Called “one of those exceptional books which is born a classic” by Hadassah Magazine, Standing Again at Sinai brought 20 years of feminist theological reflection to bear on the transformation of Judaism. In the book’s introduction, Plaskow wrote: ”For me, then, feminism is not about attaining equal rights for women in religious or social structures that remain unchanged, but about the thorough ongoing transformation of religion and society…The project of creating a feminist Judaism fits into a larger project of creating a world in which all women, and all people, have both the basic resources they need to survive, and the opportunity to name and shape the structures of meaning that gave substance to their lives.”

Co-editor of such widely respected anthologies as Womanspirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in Religion (Harper San Francisco, 1978) and Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality (HarperCollins, 1989), Plaskow is researching a progressive, constructive sexual ethics and theology written from a Jewish feminist perspective. Her forthcoming book, tentatively titled Just Sex: Judaism, Sexuality and American Culture, will place issues of interpersonal ethics in the borader context of the contradictions surrounding sexuality in Jewish tradition and U.S. society.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Plaskow received her bachelor’s degree from Clark University and her master’s and doctoral degrees from Yale University.  She has taught at a number of colleges and universities, including New York University (1974-75), Wichita State University (1976-79) and Manhattan College (since 1979).  Plaskow is past president of the American Academy of Religion, the disciplinary guide in the field of religion.

The annual Zerby lecture honors the late Rayborn L. Zerby of Lewiston, professor emeritus of religion and dean of the faculty at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½.

Each year, the program brings to campus leading commentators on contemporary religious thought. Previous Zerby lecturers have included Holocaust chronicler Elie Wiesel Harvard University theologian Peter J. Gomes, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ class of 1965.

For more information, call the chaplain’s office at 207-786-8272.

“In a world that is incontrovertibly in shambles, does religious faith make any difference?” asks Dubinsky. “Why bother believing in, let alone praying to, a divinity when things don’t seem to get better?” In this presentation, Dubinsky will share her own spiritual journey through these questions and will explore the Jewish concept of “tikkun olam,” the repair of the world, as a personal and religious practice. Believing that the shards around and within us are “holy fragments,” she pieces together a faith that endures and helps to transform the brokenness of the world.

Before joining Bet Ha’am as its spiritual leader in 2000, Dubinsky served as associate director of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Pacific Southwest Council, in Los Angeles from 1996-99. She also served as associate rabbi at Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco from 1992-96. Dubinsky received her ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion – the academic, spiritual and professional development center for Reform Judaism – and a bachelor of arts in French language and literature from Boston University.

Next in the Spiritual Journeys series is Amy Schmidt, a resident teacher at Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Mass., who will discuss The Transforming Power of Awareness: A Buddhist’s Journey at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, in Skelton Lounge. Call 207-786-8272 for more information.

Goldstein’s book explores specific female characters of the Torah and their interaction with society. Goldstein’s chapters on blood and water discuss the biblical sections on menstruation, challenging women to reappropriate traditional laws concerning the body. Her scholarship on God, goddess, gender and Torah reveals how the traditional masculine image of God has affected women’s spiritual journeys.

Sponsored by the Office of the Chaplain at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, the Spiritual Journeys lecture series features speakers from a variety of traditions who tell the stories of their spiritual awakening and development. Speakers are invited to explore how they experience a sense of the holy in their everyday lives, how their perspectives and disciplines have shaped that sacred experience, and how they understand religion as a resource or an obstacle to the life of the soul.

Next in the Spiritual Journeys series will be John P. Streit, dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, on Faith, Doubt, and Passion: Companions for an Unlikely Spiritual Journey from 4:30 to 6 p.m. March 19, in Skelton Lounge, Chase Hall.

The series will run throughout the academic year and feature individuals who represent an variety of religious traditions, disciplines and professions such as psychology, dance, peace activism and education. Speakers will lead participants through a brief encounter with a spiritual practice or experience which has been important in their own lives.

The next scheduled speaker is Hugh Curran, a member of the humanities department of the University of Maine, Machias, who will discuss A Perspective from Zen and Celtic Spirituality at 4:30 p.m Tuesday, Sept. 30, in Skelton Hall of Chase Hall, 56 Campus Ave. For more information about the series, call 207-786-8272.

The series will run throughout the academic year and feature individuals who represent an variety of religious traditions, disciplines and professions such as psychology, dance, peace activism and education. Speakers will lead participants through a brief encounter with a spiritual practice or experience which has been important in their own lives.

The next scheduled speaker is Hugh Curran, a member of the humanities department of the University of Maine, Machias, who will discuss A Perspective from Zen and Celtic Spirituality Sept. 30 in Skelton Hall of Chase Hall.

For more information about the series, call 207-786-8272.