Reception to be held prior to lecture at 6:30 PM, Lecture to begin at 7:00 PM

25th Annual Belin Lecture in American Jewish Public Affairs

In modern times, Jews emerged as the consummate urban dwellers. Urbanism imprinted itself upon Jewish political, cultural, economic, and spiritual life, just as Jews imprinted themselves on city space. What happened, then, to cities and to Jews, when Jews joined the droves of Americans who left urban space after World War II? Drawing from her extensive research on Detroit, Lila Corwin Berman suggests that contrary to the history of white flight, the story of Jewish migration away from cities is not one of urban disinvestment. As Jews moved away from cities, they remained invested, even if ambivalently, in urban life. American Jews’ enduring urbanism reflected their historical entanglement with modern urban formation. In recent years, Jews have returned to city spaces once considered inhospitable to Jewish life, helping to set in motion new political and economic structures that are remaking urban life as we know it.