Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - 12:30pm to 1:45pm
Location:
Dr. Elysha Netsarh, Professor of Plant Sciences and leader of the Madagascar Jewish community, will speak about the religious transformation that culminated this past summer when she and 120 other Malagasies (the term for people of Madagascar) converted en masse to Judaism. She will tell her and her community's stories within the larger political and cultural context of this former French colony in East Africa.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Elysha was raised in Antananarivo, Madagascar's capital city. At a young age, she became interested in probing her country's history, as well as the history of her own family, who, in response to colonial pressures, practiced Christianity along with the majority of the country's residents. When her grandfather revealed the family's Jewish origins, she began to study Judaism in earnest. Her formal conversion in May is the culmination of her search for identity, the fulfillment of a "permanent spiritual thirst." As a leader of the Jewish community of 150 people deeply committed to Jewish practice, Elysha is in the process of preparing a Hebrew-Malagasy prayer book and compiling a Hebrew-Malagasy Chumash. She leads a women's chevruta (partnered) study group on Jewish texts. The distinctive headscarf she wears elicits questions from students and colleagues at the University of Antananarivo, allowing her to share her Jewish beliefs.
For your convenience, a map to the event is provided.
Everyone is invited. but seating is limited. Please call (818) 677-4724 or email jewish.studies@csun.edu to reserve a seat.
Co-Sponsored by the College of Humanities Academic Programming Fund, the Religious Studies Department, and Phi Beta Delta. Elysha will be at CSUN as part of her national speaking tour organized by Kulanu (Hebrew for "all of us"), a non-profit organization that works around the world to support isolated and emerging Jewish communities who wish to learn more about Judaism and (re-)connect with the wider Jewish community.