March 10, 2023
Missed an event this month? All virtual events that were recorded will be featured here.
Laundering Antisemitism: Jews, Identity Politics and the University with Professor Marc Dollinger Thursday, April 27
Professor Dollinger will talk about what it’s like to be called a left-wing Jew while fighting antisemitism on a right-wing campus, only to be called a right-wing Zionist when he fought antisemitism on a left-wing campus. Learn about two campus antisemitism fights that each reached the halls of the federal government, made local, national and international headlines, and offer important insights into the role of the university, the place of identified Jews on campus, and the ways in which identity politics plays out in sometimes surprising ways.
Watch the Recording Here
DR. MARC DOLLINGER holds the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility at San Francisco State University. He has served as a research fellow at Princeton University’s Center for the Study of Religion as well as the Andrew W. Mellon Post-doctoral Fellow and Lecturer in the Humanities at Bryn Mawr College, where he coordinated the program in Jewish Studies.
Professor Dollinger is author of four scholarly books in American Jewish history, most recently Black Power, Jewish Politics: Reinventing The Alliance in the 1960s. He has published entries in the Encyclopedia Judaica, the Encyclopedia of Antisemitism, and the Encyclopedia of African American Education. His next project, Laundering Antisemitism: Jews, Identity Politics and the University traces his experiences as an identified Jewish (and Zionist) professor in the current political climate.
Dr. Dollinger is a past president of both the Jewish Community High School of the Bay and Brandeis Hillel Day School. Dr. Dollinger serves on the boards of the Jewish Community Federation and URJ Camp Newman. He sat on the California advisory committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, was named Volunteer of the Year by the SF Jewish Community Federation, and was awarded the San Francisco JCRC’s Courageous Leader award.
Professor Dollinger has spoken about his research on CNN’s Don Lemon tonight as well as the CNN-podcast “Silence Is Not An Option,” the NFL Network, ESPN, and Germany’s National Public Radio. Just for fun, Dr. Dollinger helped actress Helen Hunt learn about her Jewish roots on the prime-time NBC show, “Who Do You Think You Are?”
Israel at 75: How Far We’ve Come, What We Must Do with Gershom Gorenberg Thursday, April 20
Israel’s creation was a revolution in Jewish life. The country has undergone more transformations since- and needs to choose between radically different paths for its future. On a crucial anniversary, Israeli historian and journalist Gershom Gorenberg looks at how far the country has come, and what it must do next.
This event is co-sponsored by Beth Emet The Free Synagogue, Temple Beth Israel, Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, Congregation Hakafa, and Congregation Sukkat Shalom
GERSHOM GORENBERG is an acclaimed Israeli journalist, historian, and author of several books on Israeli and Middle East history. He is a Washington Post columnist and the author, most recently of War of Shadows: Codebreakers, Spies, and the Secret Struggle to Drive the Nazis from the Middle East.
Gorenberg previously wrote three critically acclaimed books on Israel’s history and politics- The Unmaking of Israel, The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977, and The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount. He co-authored Shalom Friend, a biography of Yitzhak Rabin and winner of the National Jewish Book Award. He has written for The New York Times Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, and The New York Review of Books and in Hebrew for Haaretz.
He lives in Jerusalem, except when he is teaching at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.
Burlington’s “Little Jerusalem” and The Lost Mural, an International Treasure in Vermont with Aaron Goldberg and Jeff Potash Sunday, April 16
The colorful, folk-art style of mural decoration popular in European synagogue interiors in the 18th and 19th centuries exists in only a handful of places today, including the Chai Adam mural in Burlington, Vermont, painted in 1910 by Ben Zion Black, a Lithuanian immigrant to Vermont. Aaron and Jeff will share their historical research and the journey of the Lost Mural. They will discuss the origins of the Burlington, Vermont Jewish Community, its connections to the Lost Mural, and the efforts to preserve, restore, and educate the public about the lost genre of wooden synagogue art.
Watch the recording here
Suggested donation of $10-20. (Scroll down on the Lost Mural website to access their donation page)
Aaron Goldberg and Jeff Potash are archivists of the Burlington, Vermont Jewish Community and co-founders of the Lost Mural Projects.
D’var Torah by Rabbi Arik Ascherman Friday, March 31
Rabbi Arik Ascherman from Torat Tzedek spoke about the message of Passover, human rights in Israel and the current struggle for democracy.
Conversation Between David Graham and Rabbi London about her recent trip to Israel Friday, March 24
Hear her perspective on the proposed judicial reform and the protests, the incendiary statements made by some of the government’s ministers, and the violence in the West Bank.
Current Politics with Professor David Zarefsky Wednesday, March 15
A continuing lecture-discussion class on contemporary public issues of interest to Jews as citizens.
No fee for members
DAVID ZAREFSKY is the Owen L. Coon Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies at Northwestern University, specializing in argumentation and the analysis and criticism of American political discourse. He is a former president of the National Communication Association, the Rhetoric Society of America, and the Central States Communication Association. In 2012 he received the Lifetime Teaching Excellence Award from the National Communication Association. David is a past president of Beth Emet.
AIPAC and the US-Israel Relationship Wednesday, March 8
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is a bipartisan American organization with a long and successful history advocating a strong US- Israel relationship. AIPAC encourages the US government to enact specific policies creating an enduring and mutually beneficial relationship with our ally Israel. AIPAC has evolved, with a newly implemented strategy to ensure Israel remains safe and secure with America by its side.
This event is sponsored by the Israel Committee.
JORDYN HARRIS serves as AIPAC Chicago Associate Area Director, where she is responsible for building and leading AIPAC’s advocacy and political efforts in the Chicago area. She has been instrumental in promoting the US-Israel relationship ensuring AIPAC’s message is heard by lawmakers and community leaders in Chicago and throughout Illinois.
What are the Takeaways for the US from Uruguay’s Transformative Climate Change Measures? Wednesday, March 1
Uruguay is an international Climate Change leader which has transformed its energy sector to 90% renewables, planned relocation of vulnerable coastal communities, built climate resilient infrastructure, and changed agriculture as well as cattle ranching, for sustainability and climate resilience. This transformation provides important examples for changes that are needed in the U.S. And how diplomacy will help build a more climate-resilient future.
Global Americans is a research and analysis organization providing vital information and insights about Latin America and the Caribbean in a global context. We will be joined on zoom by Jackson Mihm, Associate Editor, and Alejandro Trenchi, Research Assistant for their Caribbean Climate Change Project.
This event is co-sponsored by the Beth Emet Dayenu Circle, Interfaith Action Climate Change and Justice Subcommittee, Citizens Climate Lobby Evanston Northshore Chapter, Citizens’ Greener Evanston and Go Green Wilmette
