The National Museum of American Jewish History and Gratz College are presenting “Food For Thought,” an inquiry into the role Jewish food plays in contemporary American Jewish life. The free program is being held Sunday, Dec. 17, 3 p.m. at the Museum, Independence Mall East, 55 North 5th Street, Philadelphia.

Speaking will be Dr. Carol Harris Shapiro, professor of contemporary Jewish studies and department chair of the graduate program in Jewish Communal Service at Gratz College. At Gratz, Harris-Shapiro teaches a course “Foodways in the American Jewish Experience.” Harris-Shapiro will explore how changes in contemporary American Jewish society have affected Jewish cuisine as well as the ways food functions as an important symbol of American Jewish identity.
Harris-Shapiro received her Ph.D. in Religion from Temple University and her rabbinic ordination from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She previously was visiting assistant professor at Temple University in the Religion and Intellectual History departments, on the faculties of St. Joseph's University and Rosemont College, and served as a rabbi of Temple Beth Sholom in Salem, Oregon. She has authored articles on American religion.

The program is being held in conjunction Forshpeis! A Taste of the Peter H. Schweitzer Collection of Jewish Americana. The temporary exhibition reveals flavorful aspects of American Jewish life by looking at food in a range of settings, including in the kitchen and at the deli. The exhibition also explores through the Schweitzer Collection the role food played in helping immigrant Jews adjust to life in the United States and illustrates how Jewish foods, like American Jews themselves, have become a part of the American mainstream.
Admission to the exhibition is free.

The National Museum of American Jewish History’s presents educational programs and experiences that preserve, explore and celebrate the history of Jews in America. Its purpose is to connect Jews more closely to their heritage and to inspire in people of all backgrounds a greater appreciation for the diversity of the American Jewish experience and the freedoms to which all Americans aspire.

Gratz College in Melrose Park, PA, is the first transdenominational Jewish college in the United States. The school has been teaching Jewish studies and training Jewish professionals for more than a century. Today, the college is a dynamic, vibrant Jewish institution with both on campus and online programs in a full spectrum of disciplines. For more information about the program or the Forshpeis! exhibition call 215-923-3811.


FOR ART, PLEASE EMAIL JNACHMAN@NMAJH.ORG.