A lecture on American Jewish cooking and cookbooks of the 20th century presented by Dr. Rachel Gross, Professor of American Jewish Studies.   Dr. Gross is a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia Tech. Beginning in August 2106, she will be the John & Marcia Goldman Chair in American Jewish Studies at San Francisco State University's Department of Jewish Studies. She is a scholar of religious studies whose work focuses on the lives, spaces, and objects of twentieth-century and contemporary American Jews. Dr. Gross teaches courses in Jewish studies, American religious history, Jewish foodways and material culture, and public history. She is currently working on a book manuscript, Objects of Affection: The Material Religion of American Jewish Nostalgia.  Dr. Gross received her B.A. and M.A. from the University of Virginia and her Ph.D. in Religion from Princeton University. She grew up at Olam Tikvah, where she attended preschool and religious school, celebrated her bat mitzvah, and was confirmed.  Please R.S.V.P. to sisterhood by May 6th.  Cost is $10; advance payment preferred.