Gregg Drinkwater

Know Your Nosh: Exhibition on Jewish food opens at the University Libraries

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 17:12:19 +0000

Know Your Nosh: Exhibition on Jewish food opens at the University Libraries Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/19/2024 - 10:12

A new exhibition, "Know Your Nosh: Food, Jewishness & Identity", is on display in Norlin Library on the third floor outside of the Rare and Distinctive (RaD) Collections classroom (Room N345).

This exhibition is the fifth installment of the Embodied Judaism Series and its development—researching, selecting materials and designing the panels—has occurred over the past year. The series is a long-standing collaboration between RaD and Program in Jewish Studies and focuses on the role of the body in Jewish life, drawing from materials in the Innovations in Jewish Life (IJL) collections housed in RaD.

“We are thrilled to continue our collaboration with Program in Jewish Studies and host this exhibition in Norlin Library,” said Megan Friedel, lead archivist and head of collections management and stewardship for RaD. “We hope this exhibit connects students and other viewers with the unique ways that the IJL collections can be used for research, speak to so many aspects of Jewish identity, and resonate across cultures.”

The exhibition explores the significance of food and agriculture for Jewish religious, cultural, national and political identities, focusing on the United States and Israel/Palestine.

"When I was first asked to search for material related to food and agriculture in the Innovation in Jewish Life (IJL) collections, I didn't expect to find very much. My, was I wrong!” said Gregg Drinkwater, former associate academic director of the IJL collections and curator of the exhibition. “From pamphlets produced by Zionist organizations in the 1940s emphasizing the agricultural aspects of Zionism, to texts emphasizing spiritual connections to food and the land created for Jewish religious festivals, the IJL collections offer significant holdings. I hope this exhibit encourages other scholars to explore the IJL collections and the depth and complexity of the material held here at CU."

The exhibition is on view now in Norlin until May 2024 and also available online. For more information about accessing the IJL collections, please visit the RaD website or contact rad@colorado.edu.

2022 Embodied Judaism: Know Your Nosh: Food, Jewishness, and Identity symposium and exhibit organized and curated by Gregg Drinkwater, Hilary Falb Kalisman, and Samira k. Mehta. Exhibit design and digital exhibit coordination by Maggie Rosenau. The 2022 symposium is part of our ongoing Embodied Judaism and Israel-Palestine Studies series and is supported by the David Shneer Fund for Community Programming, Public Scholarship, and the Arts. The 2023-24 exhibit is hosted by the Program in Jewish Studies and the University Libraries' Rare and Distinctive Collection.

Title image: "Shabbat" by Lynne Feldman.

This article was published by CU January 18, 2024.

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What's New in Jewish Studies, 2022-2023

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 15:11:11 +0000

What's New in Jewish Studies, 2022-2023 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 08/22/2022 - 09:11

As we enter the 2022-2023 academic year, we are pleased to announce a variety of new developments in the Program in Jewish Studies at CU Boulder.

We are very excited to welcome two new members to Jewish Studies, Thomas Pegelow Kaplan, the new Louis P. Singer Endowed Chair in Jewish History, and Angela Watts, our new Manager of Finance and Business Operations.

Gregg Drinkwater has been named one of the inaugural recipients of the Association for Jewish Studies’s new Contingent Faculty and Independent Scholar Research Grants, which will support his project "Prelude to Pinkwashing: Homonationalism, Diaspora, and the Gay Jewish Embrace of Israel.” Prof. Drinkwater has also been appointed Associate Academic Director of the Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections.

The Nonbinary Hebrew Project, co-created by Eyal Rivlin, is increasingly being integrated into university curricula across the U.S., as well as language-learning technology platforms, including Language Drops. Read about the Gender Inclusive Hebrew Language Conference, co-organized by Prof. Rivlin this past spring.

Maggie Rosenau is the new Project Manager for Jews of Color: Histories and Futures.

Rebecca Wartell has been selected to be part of a cohort of faculty at the CU Art Museum focused on developing new modes of object-based teaching and experiential learning.

Beverly Weber has been appointed Chair of Germanic & Slavic Languages & Literatures.

Be sure to register for our first fall event: Yiddish Paris: Creating a Jewish Nation Between Two World Wars.

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Gregg Drinkwater receives new Contingent Faculty and Independent Scholar Research Grant

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 15:59:45 +0000

Gregg Drinkwater receives new Contingent Faculty and Independent Scholar Research Grant Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 08/05/2022 - 09:59

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Gregg Drinkwater's article has been selected to receive the Wasserman Prize for the best article published in last year's volume of American Jewish History

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 18:21:29 +0000

Gregg Drinkwater's article has been selected to receive the Wasserman Prize for the best article published in last year's volume of American Jewish History Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 02/20/2021 - 11:21

The committee noted: "Gregg Drinkwater's article is an extraordinary, moving, and deftly constructed work of historical scholarship. Drawing on crucial interviews, a wide array of primary sources, and queer theory, the article uncovers a fascinating history of liturgical innovation in late 20th-century American Judaism, demonstrating how 'gay and lesbian Jewish leaders and their synagogues have helped reshape the relationship to healing, spirituality, and personal prayer among American Jews."

The Wasserman Essay Prize is awarded for the best article published in a volume (4 issues) of the journal American Jewish History.

https://bildnercenter.rutgers.edu/news/new-and-noteworthy/news/1032-gregg-drinkwater-receives-wasserman-prize

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Gregg Drinkwater Conducted Research on the History of Judaism and Homosexuality

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 18:47:52 +0000

Gregg Drinkwater Conducted Research on the History of Judaism and Homosexuality Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/09/2017 - 12:47

Over the summer, Gregg Drinkwater, a doctoral candidate in history and Jewish studies, conducted dissertation research at archives in Cincinnati, New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Drinkwater is writing a dissertation exploring the social and cultural history of the encounters between American Judaism and homosexuality in the post-World War II era. As the first scholar to undertake such research broadly, his work will help explain how the American Jewish community and gay and lesbian Jews navigated the tension between Judaism’s traditional regulation of gender and sexuality, and the increasingly visible role for gay and lesbian people in American society from the 1960s through the early 1990s. During this era, American Judaism shifted from regarding homosexuality as a taboo topic, to a period notable for its proliferation of gay Jewish institutions, visible gay and lesbian clergy, and widespread Jewish support for LGBT civil rights.

Drinkwater’s research in LA at the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives was supported by a Barry and Sue Baer Graduate Fellowship from the Program in Jewish Studies. In Cincinnati, Drinkwater was the 2016-2017 Herbert R. Bloch Jr. Memorial Fellow at The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives. A Beverly Sears Graduate Student Research Grant helped support his research in NYC at the American Jewish Historical Society, the New York Public Library, the LGBT Community Center National History Archive, and the Lesbian Herstory Archives. And the CU Boulder History Department supported his work in San Francisco at the GLBT Historical Society and in the archives of Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, an LGBT-outreach synagogue founded in 1977.

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Gregg Drinkwater Conducts Research on American Judaism and Homosexuality

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 18:22:59 +0000

Gregg Drinkwater Conducts Research on American Judaism and Homosexuality Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/01/2016 - 12:22

In late January and early February, Jewish studies graduate student Gregg Drinkwater visited two archives in New York City to do research toward his dissertation. Supported by a Barry and Sue Baer Graduate Fellowship, Drinkwater conducted research at the American Jewish Historical Society and the archive of the LGBT Community Center in New York. Drinkwater is a doctoral student in U.S. history writing a dissertation exploring the social and cultural history of the encounters between American Judaism and homosexuality in the post-World War II era. As the first scholar to undertake such research, his work will help explain how the American Jewish community and gay Jews navigated the tension between Judaism’s traditional regulation of sexuality, and the increasingly visible role for gay and lesbian people in American society in the decades after the war.

Drinkwater’s research in New York centered on discussions about gay civil rights found in the records of the American Jewish Congress, along with the institutional records of New York City’s gay synagogue, the world’s largest (founded in 1973) and the records of the World Congress of GLBT Jews, an international umbrella organization founded in 1976. While in New York, Drinkwater also conducted an interview with one of the founders of the World Congress of GLBT Jews.

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Gregg Drinkwater Presents at Annual AAR Conference

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 18:04:45 +0000

Gregg Drinkwater Presents at Annual AAR Conference Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 12/08/2015 - 11:04

Gregg Drinkwater, PhD student in history, presented a paper on Nov. 23 at the annual conference of the American Academy of Religion, held in Atlanta. The paper, “AIDS Was Our Earthquake: American Judaism in the Age of AIDS,” was part of a panel titled: "Regulating Sexuality in Postwar American Jewish Communities: Navigating Queer Bodies, Heteronormativity, and Hegemonic Christianity.” The panel explored the interrelations of Jews, sexuality, and American Jewish history and included Dr. Brett Krutzsch, a visiting assistant professor at the College of Wooster, and Jonathan Jackson, a PhD student in anthropology at Syracuse University.

The panel’s three papers addressed such topics as the ways that Harvey Milk’s gay activism was influenced by Jewish history and culture, liberal Jewish communal responses to AIDS, and ethnographic research on queer Jews within contemporary denominational Judaism. The panel examined the regulation of sexuality within Jewish communities, as well as the ways in which American Jewish attitudes about sexuality have been influenced by the dominant Christian culture. The papers in the panel employed historical, ethnographic, and literary methodologies in order to analyze the multiple ways that American Jews have responded to changing ideas about sexuality. Prof. Laura Levitt of Temple University presided and served as the panel’s respondent.

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Gregg Drinkwater presents at the Center for Jewish Studies at UCLA

Anonymous — Fri, 29 May 2015 17:02:54 +0000

Gregg Drinkwater presents at the Center for Jewish Studies at UCLA Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/29/2015 - 11:02

Gregg Drinkwater, PhD student in history, presented a paper titled “AIDS Was Our Earthquake: An American Jewish Community in the Age of AIDS” at a conference for graduate students and junior scholars hosted in March by the Center for Jewish Studies at UCLA. The conference, “Thinking Beyond the Canon: New Themes and Approaches in Jewish Studies,” featured graduate students and recent PhDs from universities across the country, in conversation with some of the leading Jewish studies faculty in the United States.

Drinkwater’s paper centered on the moment when the American Jewish community began a national conversation on AIDS. In 1985, liberal Jewish leaders began addressing AIDS in public statements and in resolutions at national conferences. These leaders had to decide if they would see AIDS as a disease only striking individuals, or as a spiritual, political, and health crisis affecting the entire Jewish community. Would a Jewish response to AIDS focus narrowly on compassion and care for those with AIDS, or frame AIDS – and by extension, homophobia - broadly as a Jewish problem? The paper involved a close reading of two influential sermons, both delivered simultaneously by Reform rabbis at two different synagogues in San Francisco on Yom Kippur in 1985. One was delivered by Rabbi Yoel Kahn at Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, the city’s gay and lesbian synagogue, and the other by Rabbi Robert Kirschner at Congregation Emanu-el, the city’s largest Reform synagogue. Examining these sermons in detail allowed Drinkwater to return to these early moments in the Jewish conversation on AIDS. The sermons - both widely circulated and discussed nationally at the time - reflected both the narrow and broad possibilities for a Jewish response, illustrating a turning point when two competing visions of how liberal American Jews could respond to AIDS were on offer.

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