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Alexandra Pelberg of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., a graduate of Lower Merion High School, traveled throughout Europe with her parents last summer, visiting Budapest, Vienna, Prague and Munich. In each city, the family visited at least one synagogue.
“It was interesting to me that all the synagogues we visited were different in a variety of ways,” Pelberg says. “What was most interesting was that they all looked different on the outside and inside, yet they all served the same purpose.”
Pelberg, a double major in religion and art who is active in the Hillel Society, was so interested in what she saw that she decided to use the visits as the basis for an independent study “capstone” project that is required of all senior religion majors at Lafayette.
Pelberg says the project, titled “The Artistic and Architectural History of the Synagogue from Ancient Synagogues in Israel to Modern American Synagogues,” is helping her relate her two majors and explore her Jewish heritage at the same time.
“I think it’s important for me as a Jew to see these places and support them,” she says, explaining that she has visited a number of American synagogues and is reading about many more synagogues throughout the world. “So far, it’s very interesting to see how each generation has taken what’s architecturally in vogue at the time and incorporated it into the synagogue. For instance, ancient synagogues look like mini-Parthenons.”
At Lafayette’s annual Honors Convocation in April Pelberg received the Reverend J.W. and R.S. Porter Bible Prize, awarded annually to students judged by the religion department to have demonstrated high proficiency in the study of religion in their first and second years.
She is currently working with Robert L. Cohn, Philip and Muriel Berman Chair of Jewish Studies and religion department head.
“Dr. Cohn is a great professor, and I am confident in his knowledge,” she says. “He has known me since freshman year, and has always been available whenever I needed help or guidance.”
In May 2000 Cohn received the College’s Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Award for superior teaching and scholarly contribution to his discipline.
His areas of interest and expertise include biblical studies, the history and literature of Judaism, Jewish-Christian relations, and comparative religion. Among the courses he has taught are Judaism, Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), Jewish Responses to the Holocaust, The Art of Biblical Narrative, and Introduction to Religion.
Cohn is author of 2 Kings, published in 2000 by Liturgical Press in the series Berit Olam: Studies in Hebrew Narrative and Poetry; “1 Samuel,” Harper’s Bible Commentary (Harper and Row, 1988); and The Shape of Sacred Space: Four Biblical Studies (Scholars Press, 1981). He is coauthor of Exploring the Hebrew Bible (Prentice-Hall, 1988).
Cohn is coeditor of The Other in Jewish Thought and History: Constructions of Jewish Culture and Identity (New York University Press, 1994). He has also contributed to many scholarly journals and edited collections.
In 1993 he was the first American Jewish biblical scholar to teach in Roman Catholic seminaries in Poland in a pioneering program conducted by The American Jewish Committee and endorsed by Polish bishops in consultation with the Vatican to promote greater mutual understanding and respect between Catholics and Jews. For several weeks Cohn lectured on “Jewish Interpretations of the Hebrew Bible” at seminaries in Gneizno, Szczecin, Kielce, and Olsztyn.
He also lectured at German universities under the auspices the United States Information Service in cooperation with the American Jewish Committee and the U.S. Embassy in Germany.
A member of the Lafayette faculty since 1987, Cohn holds master’s and doctoral degrees in religious studies and humanities from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree in the history and literature of religions from Northwestern University.
Pelberg adds that she’s grateful for the input of all her professors at Lafayette. “Without them, independent study would be very difficult for students,” she says. “I also think that one of the nicest things about my particular project is that at the end of the semester, all religion majors will share their capstone projects with the whole department. This is a great opportunity for everyone to learn and share and for students to get recognition for their hard work.”
Cohn says he’s pleased with what he’s seen so far of Pelberg’s project. “Although it’s a religion capstone, it combines her interest in her other major,” he says. “I think it fits the bill of capstone very nicely.”
Cohn adds that the project is helping him see things he’s studied in a different light. “I hadn’t thought about it all in quite the same way she’s put it together,” he says. “It’s ambitious.”
Pelberg, who hopes to teach art in a private school and then earn a master’s degree in art, is displaying painting in the inaugural exhibition at the new Underground Gallery in the Office of the Dean of Studies.
“The gallery is dedicated to exhibiting the most current, excellent student work,” says Gladstone A. (Fluney) Hutchinson, acting dean of studies. Pelberg’s two-sided painting was influenced by the book The Nazi Officer’s Wife, about a Jewish woman in Vienna during the Holocaust who was able to escape detection by marrying a Nazi officer.
Pelberg is a member of Alpha Phi sorority.
A National Leader in Undergraduate Research. Alexandra Pelberg ’02 made a presentation on research she did under the guidance of Robert Cohn, professor of religious studies, at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research.