The Lawrence Jewish Community Congregation (LJCC) will host guest speaker Dr. Rachel B. Gross, who will present “A Pickle Problem: the Deli Revival and American Jewish Religion.”
The event will be held on Thursday, Feb. 29, at 6 p.m. at the LJCC ( 917 Highland Dr, Lawrence, KS 66044).
“A Pickle Problem: The Deli Revival and American Jewish Religion” will address the ways in which Jewish religious practice is finding new life outside of traditional religious spaces. The talk will be followed by a Q&A session and catered deli-style food.
Guest speaker Dr. Rachel B. Gross is an associate professor at San Francisco State University, serving as the John and Marcia Goldman Chair in American Jewish Studies at the SFSU Department of Jewish Studies. She is a religious studies scholar whose work focuses on 20th and 21st-century American Jews. Her book, “Beyond the Synagogue: Jewish Nostalgia as Religious Practice,” was a 2021 National Jewish Book Award finalist in American Jewish Studies and received an honorable mention for the 2021 Saul Viener Book Prize by the American Jewish Historical Society.
Her presentation will cover the recent nostalgic revival of the Jewish deli menu and how chefs and restaurateurs are deliberately remaking American Jewish food fit for the 21st century by emphasizing sustainability, local produce and a longing for Eastern European family and communal histories. Dr. Gross’ argument is that by selling and consuming a revitalized deli cuisine, American Jews express their longing for authentic Jewish pasts, build community in the present and pass on their values to future generations.
“We’re very excited to host Dr. Gross for this occasion,” LJCC Program and Engagement Director Dr. Lara Giordano said. “Her work is very compelling. Even more so, I think that her topic concerns us all. The decline of American Judaism has become a commonplace, but Dr. Gross’ work challenges that easy assumption and shows us how Judaism is finding new life in a variety of unanticipated domains.”
Dr. Gross visits the LJCC as the featured speaker for the Telling Our Stories Through Food: The Anita Herzfeld-Deborah Sivan Series. The annual series, now in its second year, celebrates food, culture and the power of cooking to connect across generations. Last year’s event featured Kansas Poet Laureate Emeritus and author Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, who facilitated a writing workshop on food as a site of intergenerational storytelling.
Dr. Gross’ visit is cosponsored by the University of Kansas’ Jewish Studies Program and Religious Studies Department. The event is free and open to the public, although the LJCC does require advance registration at https://ljcc.shulcloud.com/events.
