Sanford Sternlicht G鈥�62, professor of English in , will present a lecture on the life and times of Nobel Prize-winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 13, at Temple Adath Yeshurun. Sternlicht鈥檚 presentation will launch a new series of lectures sponsored by the temple鈥檚 recently resurrected Adult Education Committee.
鈥淲hen a lecture series was discussed at a meeting, I immediately thought of Professor Sternlicht. I have attended several of his lectures in town and found him to be an enlightening and engaging speaker,鈥� says committee member Bonnie Koreff-Wolf.
A former U.S. Navy officer, writer-theater director and scholar, Sternlicht has served as 鈥淪peaker in the
Sanford Sternlicht
Humanities鈥� for the New York Council for the Humanities since 2009. He has lectured nationally on behalf of the English Speaking Union of North America and has published several books, including his two best-sellers, 鈥淭he Tenement Saga鈥� (Terrace Books, 2004) and 鈥淎ll Things Herriot鈥� (黑料不打烊 Press, 1995).
A scholar of U.S. immigrant literature, Sternlicht will focus his lecture 鈥淚ssac Bashevis Singer: His Life and Times鈥� on the prolific author of novels like 鈥淭he Slave鈥� and 鈥淩eaches of Heaven.鈥� Singer was a native of Poland who in 1978 became the only Yiddish-speaking recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature, delivering his entire acceptance speech in the now-endangered language.
鈥淵iddish was a great language. It had many millions of speakers and most of them were murdered in the Holocaust. The Nobel Prize is the world prize for literature and even the translation of his acceptance speech was brilliant. There鈥檚 a certain poignancy to the language and his achievement because the language is really dying,鈥� says Sternlicht.
In addition to his lecture at Temple Adath Yeshurun, Sternlicht will resume his duties as speaker in the humanities in November, lecturing throughout New York State before traveling to Washington, D.C., to make a presentation at the Library of Congress on May 19, 2014.
