Professor Mordechai Zalkin Lecture

Professor Emeritus Mordechai (Motti) Zalkin returns to the Balzekas Museum at 6500 S. Pulaski Rd., Chicago, following his October 2024 presentation at the Museum’s new satellite location. An internationally recognized scholar of modern Jewish history, Prof. Zalkin specializes in the cultural, social, educational, and religious history of East European Jewry, particularly within the Baltic region. His groundbreaking scholarship has reshaped contemporary understanding of Lithuanian Jewish history and modern Jewish life in Eastern Europe.

Attendees will have the opportunity to tour the Museum’s acclaimed beLONGING exhibition, now extended through September 2026. This special exhibition-related program offers visitors a deeper exploration of Jewish identity, culture, and historical memory through both visual art and scholarly discussion.

Prof. Zalkin is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Jewish History at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. His publications include The Jewish Enlightenment in the Russian Empire – Social Aspects (2000), Lithuanian Jewish History – New Perspectives (2009), Modernizing Jewish Education in Nineteenth Century Eastern Europe (2016), and Rabbi and Community in the Pale (2017), along with numerous articles on Lithuanian Jewish history. In 2022, he received an honorary award from the President of Lithuania in recognition of his contributions to the study of Lithuanian Jewry.

His current research examines the role of the Vilnius-based Romm Printing and Publishing House in the dissemination of traditional and modern Jewish culture, as well as the experiences of Jewish medical professionals in Lithuania between the two World Wars.

A livestream of the lecture will also be available via Vimeo for registered participants. Registration is $10; Museum members may attend free of charge. A confirmation email with the livestream link will be provided.

This beLONGING-related program is sponsored in part by the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Illinois Arts Council, CityArts, and the Museum’s members and private donors.

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