The Making of a Symposium

Annual Conference on Jews/Judaism Features World Scholars, Unique Topics

By Leonard Greenspoon, Ph.D.,
Philip and Ethel M. Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization,
Professor of Theology

What is it that will be celebrating its 22nd birthday this October, has played host to over 300 scholars from throughout the world, fed dinner to more than 4,000 people, and provided almost 5,000 pages of knowledge?

For the Creighton campus, as well as the larger Omaha community, the answer is no surprise: The Klutznick Symposium. (Note: The official name of our event is now the Klutznick-Harris Symposium, recognizing it as a joint effort of Creighton University and the Harris Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, UNL.)

For 22 years, the holder of the Philip and Ethel M. Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization at Creighton has been sending out calls for papers, inviting experts from near and far, arranging everything from travel to hotels to food — all to provide for two days annually of thoughtful interaction and discussion on a topic of relevance not only to Jews, but to the entire community. It has been my honor to serve as Klutznick Chair since 1995 and to lead a group of dedicated individuals who make each year’s symposium a unique experience.

There is, to my knowledge, nothing else like our symposium anywhere else. First is our decision to chose an entirely different topic each year: Over the past 10 years, we have covered women and Judaism, food and Judaism, Jews and popular Judaism, love in the Jewish tradition, Jewish music, Jews and the environment, and rites of passage, among other topics. No other ongoing symposium or conference has exhibited so much diversity.

And none, so far as I know, has managed to stay just ahead of the curve, as they say. We were, for example, the first ever to hold a conference on food and Judaism; when the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., had a similar event a few years later, they explicitly acknowledged our example. Before us, no one had ever even considered that you could bring together speakers on a topic like love.

But there is more. Almost any professor is comfortable talking to his or her colleagues as a specialist. When the committee meets to select presenters for our annual event, among the first questions is always: Can this person speak knowledgeably, intelligibly and accessibly to a varied audience made up of students, faculty in all areas, and members of Omaha’s Jewish and Catholic communities? We seek out individuals who will talk with and interact with others, not merely read to them.

Whenever possible, we also try to provide our audiences with an array of speakers — from senior scholars to graduate students, from as far away as Israel to faculty members from Creighton and UNL.

In these ways, our symposium has become a model for offspring throughout the country. I have even been asked to write a “how-to” manual for organizing a symposium. Not that I am any sort of expert, at least not on my own.

The very first rule for successfully organizing any major event is to assemble the best people to provide help and advice.

Typically, the smoothest symposia or conferences are undergirded by months, even years, of concentrated work. We are indeed fortunate to be able to draw upon the resources of Creighton University and the Jewish community in this endeavor.

Not that everything runs perfectly – but we try to guard against the inevitable glitch.

First, we schedule the symposium on the last Sunday and Monday of October. While there are, as everyone can attest, no guarantees about weather in Omaha (with the possible exception that there are always surprises!), the weather is usually pretty calm, pretty good then.

More importantly, we treat everyone who comes to the symposium as a guest, making sure that their comfort and their needs come first. We become, for a period of two or three days, a veritable family, sharing our concerns and providing mutual assistance and assurance when needed.

When I attend a meeting of the Association of Jewish Studies (each December) or the Society of Biblical Literature (each November), I am always warmly greeted by participants in past symposia. We exchange information about everything from our academic careers to familial accomplishments.

From such conversations, I have learned, for example, that a talented graduate student who presented at one symposium secured an excellent job at a Midwestern university due, at least in part, to contacts he made at our symposium. I also learned, just recently and much to my delight, that a participant met his wife through our symposium. Although they both lived in the Northeast, it was only by coming to the Midwest that they found each other.

What a thought: Our symposium as job center and matchmaker! I have even considered starting an association for alumni of the Klutznick Symposium. Such an organization would have many Jewish members, it is true, but also a number of non-Jews. This is another “secret” of our success. While the presentations concentrate on developments within Judaism, the topics are widely applicable to members of other religious communities and, beyond them, to society at large. Surely, Jews are not the only ones to enjoy food or to be concerned about the environment.

And such concerns and such enjoyments are not limited to presentations at the symposium itself, as important as they are. At the very first symposium, the decision was taken to publish the proceedings or papers from each symposium in a separate volume. And this process continues to today: Each article is a thoroughly revised version of what was said at the symposium itself, replete with footnotes and other references that are befitting to a scholarly publication. But, even here, we make every effort to make the volume accessible and inviting to a large audience. And, when we consider the number of times articles in our volumes are cited, we know that we have had success here as well.

When the last participant has left, generally late on a Monday afternoon, we can call an official end to the symposium of that year. So it will be on Oct. 26, 2009, when the 22nd annual Symposium comes to an end.

I imagine that this year’s symposium —on Jews and Humor — will be among our best (of course, I think that every year!). But the work doesn’t stop there. It’s just beginning. There are articles to gather, to edit, to proofread; there are bills to be paid, donors to be thanked, and the last few cookies to be eaten. And, not long thereafter, there’s the next symposium with a new title, new proposals and new possibilities.

At graduate school in the 1970s, I wasn’t taught how to plan kosher meals for 200, how to make sure we get the best rates possible at hotels, or how to scour the Internet (which, of course, didn’t exist when I was in graduate school) for the best prices and connections for air travel. These are just things I’ve learned along the way. And along the way I have made wonderful new friendships, learned an enormous amount and had the satisfaction of bringing people together to learn about Jews and Judaism.

Has it been worth it? Absolutely. Will we continue? You can count on it.

I am very grateful that Creighton University has been so supportive in so many ways. Creighton is indeed a Catholic, Jesuit institution that has made this Jewish professor feel very much at home.