Acclaimed lecturer educates audience

From the same series that brought James Shapiro and Antony Polonsky to IU, came Professor Elisheva Carlebach of New York's Queens College.\nTitled "Revealing the Secrets of Judaism: Jewish Life in Christian Eyes," Carlebach's lecture focused on the 16th and 17th century Jewish converts to Christianity and the differences between these two major religions of the time. Carlebach said the number of converts is unknown but that number is rather small.\nFifty people gathered Monday night in Lindley Hall Room 102 to hear the presentation, sponsored by The Annual Sol and Arlene Bronstein Lecture Series and The Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program. Carlebach is an associate professor of Jewish history and said she has been "exploring a corner of the past that doesn't interest most Jewish historians."\nCarlebach has been acclaimed for her work on this subject, and her book "The Pursuit of Heresy: Rabbi Moses Haquiz and the Sabbatian Controversies" won the Baron Award of Columbia University and the National Jewish Book Award in Jewish History. She also co-edited "Jewish History and Jewish Memory: Essays in Honor of Yosef Yerushalmi." She is completing "Divided Souls," a book about converts from Judaism in early modern German lands. She is also the recipient of the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching.\nCarlebach showed several drawings from Medieval books written by Jewish converts, depicting the way in which they viewed Jews. The drawings were often of Jewish men and women with veils covering their faces to represent the "blindness" they had to the truth of Christianity. Carlebach said Jewish converts in this time period often considered their views to be the only true Christian beliefs, even above the knowledge of experienced life long Hebraic Priests and Christians.\nCarlebach mentioned and quoted several books from the Medieval period that she said contributed to the importance of and education of the conversion period. A major difference, Carlebach said, that caused disruption between the Christians and Jews of this time were the "arguments about the inequality of gender roles in Judaism." She showed the difference through several comparative drawings by Christians and Jews. In all the Christian drawings, women and children are prevalent while pictures by Jews included only men.\n"There are many individuals of conscientious in every age," Carlebach said, "and if more speak out more forcefully, that's how good triumphs."\nAfter the hour-long lecture, there was a brief question-answer session with audience members about the depth of the matter of the line between Christianity and Judaism.\n"I thought the fact that in (16th century) Judaism, women were considered 'spiritually inferior' to men was the most interesting part of the lecture," said freshman Sarah Franklin, who attended as a part of her religious studies course.\nOther students found other aspects of the contrast in views of Judaism and Christianity in history interesting.\n"I went to the lecture to learn about the differences between Judaism and Christianity," said junior Amber Hammond, "and I thought it was really interesting that some Jews actually believed that a Christian child had to die in order for a Jewish child to be born healthily in a difficult childbirth"