Temple Sinai Danoff Lecture

Temple Sinai’s Joan Bruder Danoff Lecture Series will present a conversation with Judy Batalion, The New York Times bestselling author of The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos, on Sunday, May 19, 2024 at 4 p.m. The event is free and open to the entire community. 

In 2007, while doing research in the British Library in London on Hungarian poet Hannah Szenes, Batalion accidentally, and serendipitously, came across an obscure Yiddish anthology called Freuen in di Ghettos (Women in the Ghettos), filled with accounts of young Jewish women who fought back against the Nazis, doing everything from distributing fake IDs to tossing molotov cocktails at Nazi officers.  

Thirteen years later, her research journey culminated in a history, created from memoirs, often written in code, first person oral and written testimonies, letters, and diaries, one of which was written on toilet paper, in which she brings to life the rebellion and bravery of Jewish women who acted as couriers, spies, smugglers and saboteurs in the ghettos of Poland, all in spite of mortal danger.

The Light of Days has also been published in a young reader’s version and will be turned into a screenplay, co-written by Batalion and optioned by Steven Spielberg.  Batalion’s essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vogue, and many other publications.  She has also written White Walls: A Memoir about Motherhood, Daughterhood, and the Mess In Between.  Batalion was born and raised in Montreal and earned a bachelor’s degree in the History of Science at Harvard and a PhD in the History of Art from the University of London. She has worked as a museum curator and a university lecturer as well as a stand-up comedian.

Batalion’s expertise in a history largely unknown until she discovered it will create space for conversation on the Jewish past, present, and future with vivid detail sure to leave a lasting impression for attendees of all demographics. The annual Danoff lecture series honors longtime Sinai members Joan and Dr. Stuart Danoff.  It was endowed by their three children, Nancy Danoff, Suzy Poneman, and Will Danoff. To register to attend in person or to view as a webinar, contact Temple Sinai at 203-322-1649 or https://www.templesinaistamford.org/form/joan-bruder-danoff-lecture2024.html.