Franz Kafka Lecture on May 19

Please join us for Irene Shaland’s Zoom lecture, “The Secular Jew Emerges: Understanding Kafka and His World,” on May 19th

Virtual Event Hosted by BZD (Baltimore Zionist District organization)

Date and Time: Tuesday, May 19th at 11:00 AM EST, USA

The Secular Jew Emerges: Understanding Kafka and His World

Franz Kafka stands at the crossroads of one of the most fascinating transformations in modern Jewish history: the rise of the secular, urban, German‑speaking Jew in Central Europe. His life and work illuminate a world where Jewish identity was both ever‑present and almost unspeakable — a tension that shaped an entire generation.

This lecture explores the deep, thousand‑year Jewish presence in the Czech lands — Bohemia, Moravia, and Prague — and the dramatic cultural shift that produced a new kind of Jew at the turn of the 20th century. By the late 1800s, most Czech Jews identified with German culture, lived in cosmopolitan cities, and navigated a complex dual identity that was both empowering and precarious.

At the center of this presentation stands Franz Kafka (1883–1924): born Jewish, raised Jewish, and yet famously silent about Judaism in his fiction. And still, his diaries, letters, and private reflections reveal a man who wrestled intensely with what it meant to be a Jew in modern Europe. He studied Yiddish and Hebrew, immersed himself in Jewish theater, and sensed — with uncanny clarity — the catastrophe that would soon engulf European Jewry.

In this presentation, we will explore:

Kafka in Prague — the Jewish city that shaped him: Prague arts and culture
Prague in Kafka — the shadows of identity, alienation, and belonging that permeate his writing
The paradox of Jewish presence and Jewish silence in his literary world
How Kafka’s Jewishness influenced his imagination, even when unspoken
Why Kafka foresaw the coming destruction of European Jewry long before others did

Together, we will confront the central question: If Kafka had not been born and raised as a Jew, would he have become Kafka?

This is a journey into identity, memory, and the Jewish soul of one of the greatest modern writers — a story as relevant today as it was a century ago.

For ticketing information, please follow the link to the BZD website: https://bzdisrael.org/the-secular-jew-emerges-understanding-kafka-and-his-world/

Or go directly to registration: Meeting Registration – Zoom

Learn about Irene Shaland’s books on the subject: https://amzn.to/3DM6rDk

Learn more about the presenter: Irene Shaland

Image: Alex Shaland and BZD

January 12, 2025January 12, 2025

Virtual Event: Navigating Holocaust Remembrance Across Europe

Join the Baltimore Zionist District on January 28th
at 11:00 AM for a virtual lecture

“Echoes of Memory: Navigating Holocaust Remembrance Across Europe”

Presenter:
Internationally published writer and educator Irene Shaland

Date and Time:
Tuesday, January 28th, 2025 at 11:00 AM EST

Description provided by BZD:

Join the Baltimore Zionist District on January 28th at 11:00 AM for “Echoes of Memory: Navigating Holocaust Remembrance Across Europe,” a powerful virtual event that coincides with International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Hosted by internationally published writer and educator Irene Shaland, this session provides a poignant exploration of four European countries to understand the multifaceted responses to Holocaust remembrance.

Journey Across Four Nations: Austria, Germany, Hungary, and the Soviet Union

Our exploration begins in Vienna, Austria, where the city’s reputation as a beacon of European culture dramatically darkened after the Anschluss. Discover how Vienna transformed from the home of Mahler and Freud into a place marked by profound antisemitism, and trace Austria’s path from initial denial to its current reckoning with the past.

In Germany, witness a nation’s proactive engagement with its painful history. We will virtually visit Berlin’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and Daniel Libeskind’s Jewish Museum, concluding with a discussion on the Stolpersteine project, which personalizes the Holocaust experience across Europe.

Our virtual tour then takes us to Budapest, Hungary, where the haunting “Shoes on the Danube” memorial serves as a stark reminder of Hungarian involvement in the Holocaust. Examine Hungary’s struggle with its history and identity, highlighted by contentious modern memorials that ignite national debate.

Finally, in the former Soviet Union, we visited Minsk, Belarus, home to the deeply moving Yama memorial. Learn about the Soviet suppression of Holocaust recognition and witness how this denial shaped the collective memory of Jews in Soviet territories.

“Echoes of Memory” offers an immersive look at how nations confront or conceal their histories. It’s an essential session for anyone interested in the dynamics of memory, the lessons of the past, and their implications for fighting antisemitism today.

For registration and ticketing information follow the link below:

Link to event on BZD website: https://bzdisrael.org/echoes-of-memory-navigating-holocaust-remembrance-across-europe/

Text above by BZD

Learn more about the presenter, Irene Shaland: https://amzn.to/3DM6rDk

April 24, 2021May 3, 2021

Free Virtual Lecture: Travels in Jewish History – Asia

Adath Shalom Synagogue Presents
Irene Shaland’s Free Virtual Lecture:

Travels in Jewish History

Date: Thursday, May 6^th, 2021 Time: 7:30 PM EST

Join this event on Zoom:

https://zoom.us/j/3393948412?pwd=QjJiVW0yUUtuV01mS0NvUzlyOU9SUT09

Meeting ID: 339 394 8412

Passcode: Israel

For more information follow this link to the announcement on the Adath Shalom website: https://www.adathshalom.net/event/travels-in-jewish-history-india-china-myanmar-cambodia-and-more.html

Travel with Irene Shaland to the continent of Asia in search of little-known Jewish histories. In China, learn the two-fold narrative: the Jews IN China and the Jews OF China while discovering the 2,000-year history of Jewish life there. What are the Jewish secrets of the Gobi Desert and the Silk Road? What do the most anti-Semitic of Russian Tsars and a Russian-Yiddish cultural enclave in the north of China have in common?

In India, discover the most refined beauty and the deepest spirituality of this country while learning the little-known history of the oldest continuously living Jewish community in the world, its myths of origin, and the sense of identity. Hear fascinating stories about the synagogue near the tomb of a Persian emperor, Jewish atheist’s shrine in a mosque, India’s role in the Holocaust, and Muslim youths defending the synagogue of Mumbai.

In Burma/Myanmar, you will be transported to the ancient land of rice fields and countless golden Buddhas and pagodas to discover the little-known narrative of the once-thriving Jewish community there, which was all but decimated during World War II. Understand why this small group of immigrants throughout their history in Asia became so successful commercially and powerful politically only to disappear to almost oblivion after the 1940s and 1960s.

In Cambodia, you will visit a small synagogue near the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh and discover what the Rabbi’s usual day looks like in the country of Angkor Wat.

Irene Shaland is the author of a multitude of magazine articles published in the US, Canada, South Africa, Kenya, the UK, and Israel. She regularly presents at conferences, museums, universities, special-interest group events, and other venues.

Irene’s last book “The Dao of Being Jewish and Other Stories” is available on Amazon.