Jewish Identity / Jewish Diversity
A Photo Exhibition by Zion Ozeri
Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026 | 7 p.m.
William H. Hannon Library, VDA Family Suite (Level 3)
Loyola Marymount University
From Uzbekistan to Tunisia, India to Argentina, Yemen to the United States, this exhibition explores the breadth of Jewish experience through photographs that reveal how Jews have absorbed elements of local cultures while seeking a sense of home, familiarity, and shared identity. By showcasing the diversity and complexity of Jewish life across the globe, Ozeri challenges stereotypes and assumptions about how Jews look, think, and live, while inviting us to consider the connections and commonalities that unite people across cultures. Read the Exhibition + panel full description.pdf.
Kosher reception to follow.
About
Born in Israel to Immigrants from Yemen and currently living in the USA and Israel, Zion Ozeri is one of the world’s leading photographers exploring the Jewish experience. Raised in Israel during a period of mass immigration, he interacted with many diverse cultures. This unique background gives him a cross-culture perspective that suffuses his work. He graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology, as well as Pratt Institute, both in New York City.
His photographs appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, The Jerusalem Report, Moment, the Middle East Insight, The Forward, LA Jewish Journal, The Economist, Ha’aretz, and many other publications. His work has been exhibited in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, ANU, the Museum of The Jewish People in Tel Aviv, (formerly Beit Hatfutsot), The Spertus Museum in Chicago, The Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, Centro Cultural Recoleta in Buenos Aires, The 92nd Street Y in New York, the Skirball Museum in Los Angeles, Berlin Jewish museum, Columbia University in NYC, and many other museums & galleries.
Ozeri published a few books, including The Jewish World Family Haggadah, (Simon & Schuster, 2005), a coffee table book, The Jews of Yemen, The Last Generation, (Keter, Jerusalem, 2005, and a new edition by Gefen, 2024), and Pictures Tell: A Passover Haggadah, (Gefen Publishing, 2022). Ozeri won a Simon Rockower Award for Excellence in Jewish Journalism in 2004. He is the recipient of the Covenant Foundation award for 2013. He founded The Jewish Lens curriculum & project in 2004. In addition, Ozeri is the founder/creative director of the DiverCity Lens, a curriculum and program, implemented since 2012, in NYC public schools.
General Information
The Fischmann Family Distinguished Lecture is an annually held event hosted by the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts and the Jewish Studies Program at Loyola Marymount University, and is made possible by the generosity of the Fischmann family.
Past Events
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2025: The Enduring Wisdom of Judaism
Date: Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025
Location: Ahmanson Auditorium, UNH 1000Featuring:
- Named “The Most Influential Rabbi in America” by Newsweek and one of the “50 Most Influential Jews in the World” by The Jerusalem Post, Rabbi David Wolpe is also a two-time honoree on the Los Angeles Business Journal’s list of the 500 Most Influential People in Los Angeles. Rabbi Wolpe is the Max Webb Emeritus Rabbi of Sinai Temple and the author of eight books, including the national bestseller Making Loss Matter: Creating Meaning in Difficult Times and David, the Divided Heart, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. In this special event, he will offer a lecture and personal reflections drawn from his writing and decades of spiritual leadership.
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2024: Jewish Comedy: A History, in Five Jokes
Date: Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024
Location: VDA Family Suite (Level 3), William H. Hannon LibraryFeaturing:
- What exactly is Jewish humor? When did it start? How has it changed over the centuries? Jeremy Dauber, Columbia University professor and author of Jewish Comedy: A Serious History alongside biographies of Sholem Aleichem and Mel Brooks, will answer these and many other questions in a wide-ranging talk on Jewish comedy's long and wide reach over two millennia—and will tell the greatest Jewish joke in history into the bargain. (At least in his opinion.)
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Jeremy Dauber is the Atran Professor of Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture at Columbia University. He also serves as Director of Columbia University’s Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies and is a member of Columbia University Task Force on Anti-Semitism. Jeremy received his undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Harvard and his doctorate from the University of Oxford, which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar.
Jeremy’s books include: Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew; Jewish Comedy: A Serious History, American Comics: A History; In the Demon's Bedroom: Yiddish Literature and the Early Modern; Antonio's Devils: Writers of the Jewish Enlightenment and the Birth of Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literature; and The Worlds of Sholem Aleichem. Jeremy frequently lectures on topics related to Jewish literature, history, humor, and popular culture.
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2023: Love and the Bible
Date: Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023
Location: VDA Family Suite (Level 3), William H. Hannon LibraryFeaturing:
- How did our modern concept of love evolve? It traveled from classical Greece to chivalry in the Middle Ages, Shakespeare, and the metaphysical poets, but it is solidly grounded in various books of the Bible. Award-winning scholar Ilan Stavans takes us through a historical--and linguistic--tour, grounding his exploration of divine and human love in the Torah.
- Featuring Ilan Stavans, Lewis-Sebring Professor of Humanities, Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College, the publisher of Restless Books, and a consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary. His many books include On Borrowed Words, How Yiddish Changed America and How America Changed Yiddish, Popol Vuh: A Retelling, and The People's Tongue. Translated into twenty languages and the recipient of numerous awards and honors, his work has been adapted into film, TV, theater, and radio.
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2022: The Biggest Threat to the Jewish Future Is Not What You Think
Date: Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022
Location: McIntosh Center, University Hall 3999Featuring:
- Featuring a lecture by David Suissa, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, named best Jewish paper in the country two years in a row by the American Jewish Press Association.
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2019: Tchotchkes: American Yiddish Material Culture After World War II
Date: Monday, Sep. 23, 2019
Location: Von der Ahe Suite, 3rd floor, Hannon LibraryFeaturing:
- Jeffrey Shandler, Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University and author of “Adventures in Yiddishland,” which examines the transformation of Yiddish in the six decades since the Holocaust.
- Response and discussion led by Miri Koral, CEO and founding director of the California Institute for Yiddish Culture and Language.
- Art Exhibition by Silvia Wagensberg, showcasing colorful portraiture of local Yiddishists.
Sponsors:
- California Institute for Yiddish Culture and Language
- The English Department
- The Modern Languages Department
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2018: Left to the Mercy of a Rude Stream: A Son's Memoir
Date: Monday, October 1, 2018
Location: Roski Dining Room, University HallFeaturing:
- Stanley A. Goldman, professor of law and director of the Center for the Study of Law and Genocide at Loyola Law School, reading from his pre-released book, "Left to the Mercy of a Rude Stream: The Bargain That Broke Adolf Hitler and Saved My Mother"
- Response and discussion led by Michael Bazyler, professor of law and legal expert on genocide at Chapman University
Sponsors:
- Loyola Law School
- The Center for the Study of Law and Genocide at Loyola Law School.
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2017: Eduardo Halfon and the Inheritance of Memory
Date: Monday, October 16, 2017
Location: Roski Dining Room, University HallFeaturing:
- Eduardo Halfon, award-winning Guatemalan writer specializing in Jewish fiction, Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, and author of 11 books, reading from his work "The Polish Boxer"
- Response by Victoria Aarons, O.R. & Eva Mitchell Distinguished Professor of Literature, Trinity University
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2016 (Fall): "Freedom of Speech on College Campuses"
Date: Monday, September 19, 2016
Location: Roski Dining Room, University HallFeaturing:
- Erwin Chemerinsky, founding Dean and Distinguished Professor of Law, and Raymond Pryke, Professor of First Amendment Law at the UC Irvine School of Law, with a joint appointment in Political Science
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2016 (Spring): Waiting for America: Stories of Jewish-Russian Emigration
Date: Monday, March 14, 2016
Location: McIntosh Center, University Hall 3999Featuring:
- A reading and discussion with Maxim D. Shrayer, acclaimed Russian-American author, translator, literary scholar, and Professor of Russian, English, and Jewish Studies at Boston College and the author of twelve books in English and Russian, among them the acclaimed memoirs Waiting for America: A Story of Emigration, Leaving Russia: A Jewish Story, and I SAW IT: Ilya Selvinsky and the Legacy of Bearing Witness to the Shoah.
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2014: It's a Scream How Levine Does the Rhumba: The Other History of Jews in America
Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Location: Roski Dining Room, University HallFeaturing:
- Josh Kun, Associate Professor of Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California
- A multimedia exploration of the cultural and Political relationships between U.S. Latinos and U.S. Jews through the sounds of popular music. Highlighting both Jewish artists engaging with Latin music styles and Latino artists engaging with Jewish themes, topics, and audiences, the talk followed the evolution of a musical relationship from early twentieth century novelty songs through 1970's salsa classics
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2013: Jewish Ethics and Western Legal Ethics: The Inextricable Link
Date: Sunday, September 29, 2013
Location: Ahmanson AuditoriumFeaturing:
- Laurie Levenson, Professor of Law and David W. Burcham Chair in Ethical Advocacy, Loyola Law School