February 25, 2005
MHC Newsmakers
Outstanding
Work
Lawrence
Fine’s Physician of the Soul, Healer of the Cosmos:
Isaac Luria and His Kabbalistic Fellowship (2003, Stanford University
Press), has received a 2004 Choice Outstanding Academic Titles
Award from Choice magazine, a publication of the American
Library Association.
The
magazine’s list is highly selective, including
about one in ten of the 6,600 works reviewed in Choice each
year. Selections are based on overall excellence in presentation
and
scholarship, importance relative to other literature in the
field, distinction as a first treatment of a given subject
in book or
electronic form, originality or uniqueness of treatment, value
to undergraduate students, and importance in building undergraduate
library collections.
Physician
of the Soul, Healer of the Cosmos explores late-medieval
and early-modern Jewish mysticism through
the figure of Isaac Luria (1534–1572), one of its most
mysterious and influential figures. The book has received
a number of positive reviews.
“Through masterly synthesis and organization,
the author has produced the first accessible account of Luria
and his kabbalah in English—or any language—that
is also richly detailed and historiographically up to date,” wrote
J. H. Chajes of the University of Haifa in the June 2004
edition of the American Historical Review.
The
book was also a finalist for a 2003–2004 Koret Jewish
Book Award in the philosophy and thought category. Fine is
Irene Kaplan Leiwant Professor
of Jewish Studies, chair of religion, and chair of Jewish
studies.
Passport
to Reality
A J-Term
series of workshops preparing students for the “real
world” was featured in the January 26 Daily Hampshire
Gazette in a story by Ilene Roizman. “College seniors getting ready
to leave the academic nest and go out into the professional world
face many challenges," Roizman wrote in a story headlined “Mount
Holyoke ‘Passport’ Series: Practicing for Future.”
"They have to think about new responsibilities, like managing a personal
budget, investing their money wisely, dressing appropriately for the workplace
and cooking their own meals.
"During
the January Term at Mount Holyoke College, students had a chance
to learn about these skills, and others, during
a weeklong ‘Passport to Reality’ series of workshops.
"On
Jan. 21, as part of the series, about a dozen students had
lunch at the Willits-Hallowell Conference Center on the campus
for ‘A Touch of Class:
Dining Etiquette.’ Jesse Lytle, assistant to the president and secretary
to the college, walked the students through a mock business interview and talked
about techniques to avoid embarrassing faux pas.
"Lytle’s advice was as basic as proper utensil handling. Table manners
vary by culture, he pointed out to the group, which included students from Nepal,
Ghana, Bhutan, and Tanzania. Knowing how things are done here in the ‘host
culture’ means remembering when to put the fork in which hand. ‘All
utensil-into-mouth activity? Right side,’ Lytle said, demonstrating
the switch-off from the left after cutting a bite.”
Other workshops held as part of the series, including sessions on dressing
for interviews, personal finance, and cooking with Chef Jeff, were also
highlighted in the report.
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