Yohanan petrovsky-shtern

INVITED LECTURES

The Golden Age Shtetl, more than twenty lecture talks and book presentations at Hebrew College, Boston; Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass; The YIVO Institute, NY; The Shevchenko Scientific Society of America, NY; University of Alberta, Edmonton; University of Toronto; National Library of Israel, Jerusalem (all in March-June, 2014); Leopold Maximilian University, Munich, July, 2014; Beth Emet Synagogue, Evanston; Hadassah Society, Skokie, July, 2014; University of Vienna, November, 2014; Spertus Institute, Chicago, February, 2015; Galicia Jewish Museum, Krakow, April 2015; Jewish Cultural Center, Krakow, May 2015; POLIN: Warsaw Museum of the Jewish People, May, 2015; Nakoma Club and JSS Madison, Wisconsin, June 2015
“Kafka and Kabbalah,” University “Kyiv Mohyla Academy,” Kyiv, December 18, 2015
“Cultural Anthropology: workshop on primary sources,” Center of Urban History, Lviv, July 28, 2015
“Great War and the Occupation of Galicia,” Center of Urban History, Lviv, July 30, 2015
“Jews and Ukrainians: Myths and Beyond,” Lviv City Hall, July 29, 2015
“Jewish Experience in the Tsarist Army,” Jagiellonian University, Krakow, March, 2015
“The Spread of Hasidism at the Turn of the Eighteenth Century,” Jagiellonian University, Krakow, March, 2015
“Pharmacy, Natural Medicine, and practical Kabbalists,” lecture at the Center for Urban History, Lviv,

December 11, 2014

“Exorcism of the Evil Spirit: practical Kabbalists in East Europe,” Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Jewish and early

Modern Studies seminar, December 4, 2014

Scholar-in-residence, Oak Street Synagogue, Chicago, three presentations, October 24-25, 2014

Inaugural Lecture at the investiture ceremony conferring the National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”

doctor honoris causa degree, January 20, 2014
“Crime and Punishment in the Shtetl,” University College London, April 23, 2012
“What did They Read? The Shtetl and Its Book Culture,” Yarnton Center for Hebrew and Judaic Studies,

University of Oxford, April 25, 2012

“The Anti-Imperial Choice,” Center for Ukrainian Studies, University of Cambridge, UK, April 26, 2012
“Drafting into the Tsar’s Army: Russian expectations, Jewish experiences,” December 11, 2011, the Jewish

Genealogical Society of Massachusetts and Hebrew College, Boston

“Lenin, Jews, and Communism,” December 5, 2010, Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, Chicago
“Lenin’s Jewish Question,” October, 22, 2010, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, New York
“Crime and Violence in the Shtetl,” October 31, 2010, Charleston College, Charleston, SC
“A Poet in Exile: the Case of Moisei Fishbein,” March 11, 2010, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
“What did They Read: the Shtetl Jews and their Books,” March 11, 2010, University of Alberta, Edmonton,

Canada
“Between Nationalism and Communism: adventures of Ivan Kulyk in Ukraine and Canada,” March 10, 2010,

University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
“Between Science and magic: Practical Kabbalah and Polular Medicine in Early Modern east Europe,” March

9, 2010, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

“Between Nationalism and Communism: adventures of Ivan Kulyk in Ukraine and Canada,” March 8, 2010,

Ukrainian Labor Temple, Winnipeg, Canada

“Historical Methodologies: personal approach,” presentation for graduate students, Jacyk Center, University of

Toronto, January 11, 2010, Toronto, Canada

“Between Nationalism and Communism: Adventures of Ivan Kulyk in Ukraine and Canada,” Jacyk Center,

University of Toronto, January 11, 2010, Toronto, Canada

“Power, Victims, and Poetry,” presentation at Miami University, October 12, 2009, Oxford, OH
“The Anti-Imperial Choice: Jews and Ukrainian Culture,” presentation at the Free Ukrainian University,

June 4, 2009, Munich, Germany

“Ukraine’s Anti-Imperial Choice: the case of Leonid Pervomais’kyi,” Shevchenko Scientific Society, New

York, January 25, 2009

“Statistics and Calculus in Historical Analysis,” paper presented at Wisconsin American Business College in

Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, October 16, 2008

“The Anti-Imperial Choice: the case of the 20^th century Ukrainian-Jewish writers,” Ivan Ohienko University,

Kam’ianets’-Podils’k, Ukraine, September 26

“Ukraine’s Anti-Imperial Choice: the Case of Leonid Pervomais’kyi,” Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute,

Harvard University, July 28, 2008

“Stanovlennia ukrains’ko-ievreis’koi literatury,” guest presentation at the Department of Philology and

Journalism, Ivan Ohienko University in Kamianets’-Podil’sk, September 26, 2008

Scholar-in-residence (three presentations), Beth Israel Congregation, Skokie, Il, March 14-15, 2008
“Marranos in Early Modern Spain, 16-17^th centuries” and “Franz Kafka and Kabbalah,” two invited lectures,

July 16, 2007, Summer School, SEFER Center for Judaica Teaching, Moscow, Russia

Congregation Beth Israel (Skokie, Il), Presentation on Benedict Spinoza: comments of Rebbeca Gladstein’s

book Betraying Spinoza, January 20, 2007

Scholar in Residence (three presentations), Egalitarian Congregation of West Rogers Park, February 11-12,

2006, Chicago, Il

“The Jewish Immigration Experience: Why, when, and how did your ancestors come to America?”

Congregation Or Torah, Skokie, Il, December 4, 2005

“Archival Challenges to Jewish Historical Memory,” guest presentation at Spertus College, Chicago, Il, August

7, 2005
“Jews in Ukraine: Now and Then,” presentation at Evanston Public Library sponsored by the YIVO Institute,

Chicago Branch, June 15, 2005
“Drafted into Modernity: Jews in the Russian Army, 1827—1914,” lecture at the Davis Center for Russian and

Eurasian Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, October 14, 2004

“The Construction of the Ukrainian-Jewish Identity: the Case of Hryt’sko Kernerenko,” lecture at the

Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, October 13, 2004

“Jews, Ukraine, and National Bolshevism: the case of Ivan Kulyk,” lecture at the Near Eastern and Judaic

Studies Department, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, October 12, 2004

“The 18^th century Practical Kabbalah: Hillel Ba’al Shem and his Sefer ha-Heshek,” lecture at The Hassidic Text

Institute, Hebrew College, Newton, MA, October 13, 2004

“The Making of a Russian Jew: Literary Images of the Jewish Soldiers, 1860s—1920s,” lecture at the Ecole des

Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, June 22, 2003

“The Laughter of Gabriel García Márquez,” lecture at Spanish Language and Literature Department, Florida

Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Fl, October, 2002

“Observations on Jews in Modern Ukraine,” presentation at the Meeting of the Representatives of the Ukrainian

and Jewish Organizations, Union League, Philadelphia, December 5, 1999

“Ukrainian Jews and Ukrainian Independence,” Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University,

Cambridge, MA, May 4, 1998

“Jewish Sites of Ukraine, slide presentation,” Harriman Institute, Columbia University, December, 1995
“Ansky and Harkavy Archive in Kiev,” Paris, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, February 6, 1995
“Jews in Contemporary Ukraine,” Harriman Institute, Columbia University, December 6, 1994
“Hope Dies Last: Ukrainian Jews and Ukrainian Independence, 1991-1994,” Toronto, Center for Russian and

East European Studies, University of Toronto, November 24, 1994

“Rediscovered Jewish Literary Treasures in Kiev,” Montreal, Department of Jewish Studies at McGill

University, November 23, 1994

“Newly Discovered Jewish Materials in the Archives of the Vernadsky Library of the Academy of Sciences of

Ukraine, Kiev,” Harvard, Centre for European Studies, Harvard University, November 21, 1994

“Newly Discovered Pinkasim in Kiev,” the YIVO Institute, New York, November 29, 1993
“The Kiev Genizah: Collection of Jewish Manuscripts and Historical Documents of the Vernadsky Library,

Kiev,” New York, The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, November 22, 1993

“A New Judeo-Hellenic Mythology in Thomas Mann’s Joseph and his Brothers,” Toronto, Department of Near

Eastern Studies, University of Toronto, November 17, 1993

“Jewish Languages in a Slavic Milieu,” Toronto, The Centre for Russian and Eastern European Studies,

University of Toronto, November 12, 1993

“A Dialogue of Cultures in Joyce's Ulysses: Celts and Jews,” Toronto, Department for the Study of Religion,

University of Toronto November 11, 1993

“The Hebrew Department of the Vernadsky Library in Kiev: Hebrew and Yiddish Books and Manuscripts

from the Firkovich, Harkavy and Ansky Collections,” Jerusalem, Hebrew University, Jewish National

and University Library, August 15, 1993
GUIDED TOURS
NU Alumni trip to Spain, 2015

(lecturing on medieval and early modern Jewish history in Toledo, Ubeda, jaen, Granada, Cordoba,

Segovia, Barcelona, Gerona, Besalu)

NU Alumni trip to Poland, 2014

(lecturing in/about urban and Jewish history of Zamosc, Helm, Lejaisk, Radom, Kielce, Lublin,

Sandomierz, Rzeszow, Lancut, Jaroslaw)

NU Alumni trip to East Europe, 2010

(lecturing in/about urban and Jewish history of Prague, Krakow, Warsaw, Tykoczyn, Bialystok,

Trakai, Vilnius)

NU Alumni trip to Ukraine, 2007

(lecturing in/about urban history of Lviv, Bakhchisarai, Yalta, Odessa, Kyiv), 2007
OUTREACH
Hasidism and Hasidim: origins and spread of the movement, series of presentations, Temple Emanuel, Chicago,

October-November, 2014

Three lectures on the Origins of Zionism, Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, Evanston, October-

November, 2013

“Tales, Myths, and Nightmares: the making of East European Jewish Art,” presentation at Spertus Museum

Gallery, December 9, 2012

Chicago Foundation for Jewish Education, “Paradoxical History of the Hanukah Sources,” December 6, 2012
Congregation JRC, Evanston, Il: four presentations on the Jewish liturgical year, 2011-2012
Congregation Skokie Valley: Scholar-in-residence presentation on Marranos and Judaism, March 26, 2010,

presentation on Shavuot and the Book of Ruth, May 26, 2010

Congregation Ohr Torah, Skokie, Il: on-going presentations on the Book of Esther, Winter, 2006

Temple Beth Israel (Skokie, Il): series of presentations on the Making of the Shtetl, February-March, 2005, on Jewish Communities: Venice, Amsterdam, Safed, Summer, 2009

Evanston Reconstructionist Congregation, series of presentations on Conversos, May, 2009; four presentations

on Jewish calendar, Fall 2011—Spring 2012

Congregation Beth Emet (Evanston, Il): series of presentations on series of presentations on Medieval Spanish

Jewry, 2005—2006, on the East European Shtetl, 2006—2007, on Jewish Literature, Winter-Spring, 2009, on Jews in the Russian Army, October—November, 2009, on Jews in the Literature of European Modernism, February—March, 2010, February—March, 2011, on Jewish sects and sectarians, Spring, 2012

Spertus College, Chicago: “Kafka and Kabbalah,” five public presentations, February—March, 2008 “The

Making of Hanukah,” four public presentations, December, 2008

Temple Jeremiah, Northfolk, Il: series of presentations on the Book of Job, March—April, 2005, on-going

presentations on the History of Hanukah, Fall, 2005, Introduction to Jewish Liturgy, series of presentations, Winter, 2007

Congregation Hakafah (Glencoe, Il): on-going series of presentations on the Book of Ruth, February—April,

2004, and four presentations on the Book of Esther, December, 2004—January 2005, on Jewish Ethics, 2005—2006, on Spanish Jews, 2006—2007, mini-course on Jewish Venice, Winter-Spring, 2009

Central Avenue Synagogue (Highland Park, Il): Presentation on the Jewish Shtetls, Hasidic Masters, and Polish

Magnates, February 12, 2005

Chicago Down Schumann Institute of Jewish Education, Jewish Young Leadership seminar: Presentation on

Sukkot (Holiday of Booths) and Environment, October 12, 2004

Ner Tamid Ezra ha-Bonim Synagogue Men’s Club: Presentation on the Shtetl in History and Memory,

Chicago, March 14, 2004

Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston: Presentation “Jewish Migrations within and out of

Russian Empire, 1850—1914,” August 20, 2003, Wellesley, MA

SHOW BUSINESS AND MASS MEDIA
Appearance on Extention 720 with Melt Rosenberg at WGN Radio: discussion of Matt Goldish’s The Sabbatean

Prophets (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2004), March 25, 2004 at

http://wgnradio.com/shows/ex720/list200403.htm
Appearance on Associated Press Radio with a commentary on the elections fraud in Ukraine,

November 23, 2004, http://newsobserver.com/24hour/world/story/1864333p-9772217c.html

Appearance on Chicago Public Radio “Worldview” with a commentary on fraudulent elections in Ukraine

And tensions between the European Union, and Russia; November 24, 2004, available at

http://www.wbez.org/audio_library/wv_ranov04.asp
Appearance on the WBUR “Here and Now” program with a commentary on mass protests and demonstrations

in Ukraine, November 26, 2004.

Interview to The Chicago Tribune on the situation in Ukraine, November 26, 2004
Appearance on the NPR “On Point” with Eric Weiner, November 29, 2004, available at

http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2004/11/20041129_a_main.asp
Appearance on Chicago Public Radio “Worldview” with a commentary on revolution in Ukraine, November

30, 2004, available at http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/audio_library/wv_ranov04.asp

Commentary on Ukrainian elections for Northwestern University Newsfeed, available at

http://www.northwestern.edu/univ-relations/broadcast/2004/12/yohanan.html

Appearance on the NPR “The Conversation” with Ross Reynolds commenting on the preliminary results of the

“Orange” revolution in Ukraine, December 8, 2004, available at

http://www.kuow.org/theconversation.asp?Archive=12-08

Interview to the Yiddish Forward: “Revolutsie in Ukraina; gut far di yidn?” (Revolution in Ukraine: Good for

the Jews?), Forverts, vol. CV, no. 31,527 (Dec. 10, 2004), available at http://yiddish.forward.com/

Editorial “Ukraine: A Rebellion Turns to Rule of Law,” Chicago Tribune (Sunday Dec. 12, 2004), pp. 1 and 4

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/printedition/chi-0412120019dec12,1,37886.storyR(e)volution

reprinted: “THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT: An International Newsletter,” no. 263 (2004)

Appearance on Chicago Public Radio “Worldview” with a commentary on the result of the run-off elections in

Ukraine, December 27, 2004, available at http://www.wbez.org/audio_library/wv_radec04.asp#27

Appearance on the TV show Chicago Tonight (WTTW) with Elisabeth Brackett with a commentary

on the results of the victory of the opposition leader in Ukraine (December 27, 2004)

Appearance on Associated Press Radio with a commentary on the resignation of the Ukrainian

Prime-minister Viktor Yanukovych, Dec., 31, 2004, available at

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/89-12312004-425261.htmland

and http://www.adn.com/24hours/front/story/1963105p-9969406c.htmland

“A perceptive analysis of the events of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine by Prof. Y. Petrovsky-Shtern

of Northwestern University, USA,” publication in Welcome to Ukraine, no. 1 (2005), 22—24, available at http://www.wumag.kiev.ua/index2.php?param=pgs20051/22

reprinted: THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT: An International Newsletter,” no. 465 (April 19, 2005)
“Anniversary of the Orange Revolution,” Interview with Jerome McDonnell for Chicago Public Radio,

Worldview, Friday, December 2, 2005, available at:

http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/audio_library/wv_radec05.asp#02
“Ukraine—Legislative Elections,” interview with Jerome McDonnel for Chicago Public Radio, Worldview,

Friday, March 24, 2006, available at:

http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/audio_library/wv_ramar06.asp
Interview to the Yiddish Forward (Forverts) and publication of an excerpt from the forthcoming book on

Ukrainian—Jewish rapprochement: “Dos pintele yid: Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern” and “Yisroel Kulik—Ivan Kulik—Vasyl Rolenko,” September 29, 2006/Tishri 7, 5767

Commentary on Radio Freedom/Free Europe on the 1919 Jewish pogroms in Russia (Dokumenty proshlogo

Program), November 25, 2006, available at:

http://www.svobodanews.ru/Transcript/2006/11/25/20061125230322257.html

Commentary on Radio Freedom Free Europe (Raznitsa vo vremeni Program) on the book by Joshua

Rubenstein and Vladimir Naumov Stalin’s Secret Pogrom (2006), January 29, 2007, available at

http://www.svobodanews.ru/Transcript/2007/01/27/20070127112221673.html
Commentary on Radio Freedom Free Europe (Raznitsa vo vremeni program) on the book by Marina Sidorova

ed., Rossiia pod nadzorom: otchety III otdeleniia, 1827-1869 (2006), March 31, 2007 available at

http://www.svobodanews.ru/Transcript/2007/03/31/20070331140830457.html
Commentary on Radio Freedom Free Europe (Dokumenty proshlogo program) on Alexander III’s

marginal notes on the Humble petition of Baron Guentsburg, July 29, 2007 available at

http://www.svobodanews.ru/Transcript/2007/07/28/20070728110626427.html
Commentary on Radio Freedom Free Europe (Raznitsa vo vremeni program) on Gabriel Garcia Marques’s 1957

visit to the USSR and his reflections on Stalin and dictatorship, available at:

http://www.svobodanews.ru/Transcript/2007/09/29/20070929174105847.html
Appearance on Foods of Chicago: A Delicious History with Geoffrey Baer and Dan Protess with commentaries

on Slavic contexts of the traditional Jewish food, WTTW, Channel 11, November 27, 2007

Commentary on Radio Freedom Free Europe on the denunciations by Moshko Blank, Lenin’s great-

grandfather, “Skorost stuka. Donosy. Zhaloby Predka Lenina,” November 22, 2008, available at

http://www.svobodanews.ru/Transcript/2008/11/22/20081122115137417.html

Commentary on Radio Freedom Free Europe on the scandalous relations of Starokonstantinov local

administration and Jews in the 1860s, “Skorost stuka. Donosy. Starokonstantinovskaia idilliia v vek Velikikh reform,” November 1, 2008, available at: http://www.svobodanews.ru/Transcript/2008/11/01/20081101112814607.html
Marti Zeilig, “History professor gives lecture on fascinating Ukrainian Jewish communist-nationalist poet,” a

full-page article/interview, The Jewish Post and News, Winnipeg, March 24, 2010.

Pauline Dubkin Yearwood, “The real 'Fiddler': A Northwestern University professor says the truth about shtetls

is not what we think,” Chicago Jewish News interview, April 2, 2010: http://www.chicagojewishnews.com/story.htm?sid=1&id=25372

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yohanan_Petrovsky-Shtern
“Writers Read”: http://whatarewritersreading.blogspot.com/2009/04/yohanan-petrovsky-shtern.html
Interview for the “New Books in History:” http://newbooksinhistory.com/?p=343 (Jews in the Russian Army)
Interview for the “New Books in History:” http://newbooksinhistory.com/?p=2241 (The Anti-Imperial Choice)
Interview for the “Chicago Jewish News:” http://www.chicagojewishnews.com/story.htm?sid=1&id=253722
Interview for the Russian weekly “Ogoniok:” http://www.kommersant.ru/ogoniok/?date=20101101 (Lenin’s

Jewish Question)

Appearance on Chicago Public Radio “Worldview” program with a commentary on Russian drinking tradition,

December 30, 2010:

http://www.wbez.org/episode-segments/here-there-russia%E2%80%99s-alcoholism-result-years-oppression-state-control-vodka-industry
Appearance on Chicago Public Radio “Worldview” with a commentary on current situation in Ukraine,

September 19, 2011:

http://www.wbez.org/episode-segments/2011-09-19/politics-ukraine-over-tymoshenko-trial-and-education-reform-92166
Interview for Rabbi Doug Chicago TV show during my first solo art show at the Spertus Institute

Museum Gallery, December 16, 2012, available on the YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mALV_PtmVUk
Interview for the My zdes, Persona program (in Russian), available at:

http://newswe.com/index.php?go=Pages&in=view&id=6397
Appearance on Chicago Tonight with Phil Ponce with a commentary on the Maidan revolution,

political crisis and current situation in Ukraine, February 24, 2014, available at:

http://video.wttw.com/video/2365187175/

Appearance on CBS Local with Dereck Blakley with a commentary on the Russia’s aggression against

Ukraine, March 3, 2014:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/03/03/northwestern-professor-fears-russias-appetite-for-territory-will-grow/
Interview with Detroit Public Radio Rabbi Herschel Finman on July 6, 2014 about the Shtetl, available at:

http://jcastnetwork.org/jhour/yohanan-petrovsky-shtern-golden-age-schtetel/
Interview for Tel-Aviv Radio Station TLV-1 about the Shtetl culture on July 4, 2014, available at:

http://tlv1.fm/full-show/2014/07/04/the-golden-age-of-the-shtetl-the-tel-aviv-review/
Interview with Ostap Drozdov for the ZIKt TV Lviv Channel on the situation in Ukraine, available at:

http://zik.ua/tv/video/15522/
ON-CAMPUS SERVICE

Fulbright Fellowship Selection and Advisory Committee, member, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2009/10, 2011, 2014

Jewish Studies Cluster Selection Committee, 2016

Israel Studies post doc Search committee, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

Israel Studies Professor Search Committee, 2014-2015

Ad hoc tenure and promotion committee member, WCAS, 2011

Scholar-on-the-move, NU Alumni Tour, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, August, 2010

Central and East European History and Culture Faculty Reading Group, organizer, 2006-present

The Crown Family for Jewish Studies search committee in Medieval Jewish Studies, 2009/10

History Department Undergraduate students Fellowship committee, member, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

Humanities Residential College (Chapin Hall), fellow, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009

History Department, Search Committee for Visiting lecturer in German History, 2009

Political Science and Spanish Departments Search Committee, adviser, 2006

Scholar-on-the-move, NU Alumni Tour in Ukraine, June, 2007

Post-doc in Israeli Studies Search Committee, member, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012

History Department Colloquia, head, 2005/06

Liebmann Fellowship Selection Committee, member, 2006

Search Committee on Jewish Religion, member, 2005/06

Fellow of the Humanities Residential College, 2005--present

Search Committee on Jewish Literature and/or Philosophy, member, 2004/05

History Department Graduate School Committee, member, 2004-present

History Department Major/Minor Committee Adviser, 2003/04, 2004/05, 2005/06, 2009

Jewish Studies Committee, member, 2004/06, 2007/08, 2008/09

Religion Department Search Committee, adviser, February, 2005

Slavic Department Search Committee, adviser, February, 2005