A Virtual Tour of the Har Herzl Military Cemetery
TBA
Come with me to learn the stories of some of those buried, or memorialized on Har Herzl. Experience the arc of Israel's wars as we also follow the multiple identities in the State of Israel, and how they have changed over the decades of Israel's existence.
Is There a Connection Between the Shoah and the Creation of the State of Israel? A More Nuanced View
TBA
Conventional Wisdom claims that the Shoah led to the creation of the State of Israel. We will examine the ways in which this is true, untrue, and the ways in which WWII actually set back the march toward Jewish statehood.
The World That Was:
A Virtual Tour of the Warsaw Jewish Cemetery
TBA
Join me as we "visit" the cemetery of what was (except for NYC) the largest Jewish community in the world in 1939. We will tell the stories of important rabbis, Yiddish writers and actors, and communal leaders who reflect the vibrancy and diversity of what was interwar Polish Jewry.
How Did We Get Here? Emancipation and Denominations
TBA
During the French Revolution, Jews became – for the first time in European history -- equal citizens in France. Using primary sources, we will read both the arguments of those who favored equality for the Jews, and those who opposed it, as well as Jewish reaction to it – all leading to the development of denominations in Jewish life.
Kristallnacht and American Jewish Reaction
TBA
Kristallnacht marked the beginning of sustained violence against the Jews by the Nazi regime. The nation-wide pogrom was widely reported in the American press. How did the organized Jewish community react? What were the factors influencing their decisions?
The Pen and the Sword in the Warsaw Ghetto
TBA
Mordechai Anilewicz was one of the leaders of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in the spring of 1943. Yet alongside him in the ghetto was another Jewish leader, Emmanuel Ringleblum, who chose the pen over the sword. Comparing and contrasting their two approaches may give us greater insight into both of them, and beyond.
The 6-Day War: Turning Point in Jewish History
TBA
Anyone who lived through the dramatic weeks preceding the 1967 war knows that it not only changed Israel, but affected the Jewish people as a whole very significantly. We will focus not on the war itself, but rather on its short and longer-term impact.
The “Ever-Dying” People: What's the Problem? What's the Solution?
TBA
Theodor Herzl and Achad Ha’Am were two of the most influential leaders in the history of modern Zionism. Yet they had radically different understandings of which crisis (Anti-Semitism or Assimilation) the Jewish people faced about a century ago. ("The more things change, the more they stay the same.")
We will compare and contrast their approaches, and see how their approaches relate to our current situation, both in the State of Israel and in the world.
The World that Was: Polish Jewry Between the Wars
TBA
Some think that East European Jewry before the Shoah was a series of characters from the film “Fiddler on the Roof.” The truth goes far beyond that. We will study the Polish Jewish community of 3.3 million people, and learn about how they were different – and similar – to our own communities today.
The Fight for Soviet Jewry: American Jewry's finest hour
TBA
Soviet Jewish activists energized a world-wide campaign on behalf of the "Refuseniks," beginning in the late 1960's and lasting until the fall of the Soviet Union a couple of decades later. While Israel and global Jewry played an important role in the struggle, American Jews were leading players. How did the movement begin? Why were American Jews galvanized to act? What led to what might be the last example of an almost totally unified Jewish community-wide campaign?