Life

Sex and Shtetls for Californians

By Dan Friedman November 16, 2009

UC Berkeley’s “Sex and Shtetl” Yiddish conference got off to a hot start last night with bawdy Yiddish folksongs expertly performed by Cantor Sharon Bernstein. This was followed by Dr. Ada Rapoport-Albert’s juicy lecture on illicit sexual practices among the followers of the false Jewish messiah, Jacob Frank. Monday’s fare expects to be just as hot, with all manner of Yiddish gender-bending and sexual activity. Terrific films like “Mamele” and “Mizrekh un mayrev” have been chosen to accompany the conference. It doesn’t seem like this is going to be your typically dry academic conference. As Berkeley Professor Naomi Seidman told JWeekly, “I hope it’s a little damp.”

Dan Friedman is the former executive editor and whisky correspondent of the Forward, and is the author of a book about Tears for Fears, the ’80s emo rock band.

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