"Walk on Water" Film & Discussion

The Dawn Schuman Institute and Temple Jeremiah's Adult Learning Committee aired the award-winning Israeli film, Walk on Water, which tells the story of an Israeli intelligence agent who, following the suicide of his wife, is assigned to befriend the grandchildren of a Nazi war criminal. The critically acclaimed film looks at how generations of Germans cope with their past while exploring unexpected friendship, betrayals and secrets. This is a courageous and intelligent exploration of one of the most sensitive issues in Israeli society.

Professor Dagmar Lorenz, a Germanic Studies professor and Interim Director of Jewish Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, spoke on the film and shared her personal experiences on the Holocaust and contemporary Israeli life. Dr. Lorenz focuses on Austrian and 19th and 20th century German and German-Jewish literary cultural issues, as well as Holocaust Studies, with an emphasis on history and social thought.

"Supreme Conflict"

Drawing on unprecedented access to the Supreme Court justices and their inner circles, acclaimed ABC News legal correspondent Jan Crawford Greenburg spoke on her new book, Supreme Conflict: An Insider's Look into the Struggle for Control of the U.S. Supreme Court. The book offered an explosive, newsbreaking account of one of the most momentous political watersheds in recent American history.

Over the past decade, one of the country's most bitter culture wars has focused around the composition and direction of the Unites States Supreme Court. Ms. Greenburg draws on her formidable reportorial resources to give a brilliant, vivid, astonishingly unvarnished account of the struggle for the soul of the highest court in the land.

Ms. Greenburg covered law and politics for World News Tonight, Nightline and Good Morning America. She previously served as the Supreme Court analyst for the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS and Face the Nation on CBS and was the chief legal affairs writer for the Chicago Tribune.

Adult Retreat

Congregants joined Rabbi Paul Cohen for a look at "Musar: A Path to Spiritual Insomnia."

JUF Program: "Saving God's Life: Becoming God's Partner in Healing Our World"

Keynote speaker was Rabbi Naomi Levy, founder and spiritual leader of Nashuva, a groundbreaking Jewish outreach organization based in Los Angeles. Nashuva has drawn hundreds of unaffiliated Jews back into a Judaism that is soulful and committed to a social justice that is meaningful, relevant and fun.

A nationally renowned author and speaker, Rabbi Levy was listed by The Jewish Forward as one of the 50 most influential Jewish leaders in the nation. She was the first female Conservative rabbi to head a West Coast pulpit where she helped to revive the congregation there, transforming it into a center of life and learning. Her first book, To Begin Again, is a national bestseller. She has made guest appearances on the Today Show and Oprah and has been featured in such publications as Parade, Redbook, Self, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe and various Los Angeles magazines.

North Shore Community Kallah

This Jewish community adult education program held over three consecutive weeks offered an array of topics by rabbis and educators from the Chicago area.

"Dilemmas in Jewish Art: Restrictions, Originality and Assimilation

Nathan Harpaz, Curator of Oakton Community College's Koehnline Museum, offered a fascinating look into the world of Jewish art in a presentation on how Jewish artists reconcile their art work with religious views, Ten Commandment restrictions against representations of God and other issues.  

The Board of Jewish Education of Metropolitan Chicago - Marshall Jewish Learning Center's Israel Scholar in Residence Program

"Of Exile and Redemption: The Zionist Pendulum between Hope and Despair" with Haim Aronovitz

An engaging and dynamic educator, Mr. Aronovitz looked at the tension between the central ideas of exile and redemption. From classic sources to the present, writers have documented this conflict. By reviewing a series of classic and lesser-known texts and letters, Mr. Aronovitz looked at how Jews living in the Diaspora relate to the state of Israel. He used classic texts, modern literature, maps and narrative to offer unique insights into Israeli culture and identity.

"Raising Resilient Children"

Based on findings from his book, Raising Resilient Children, Dr. Brooks, a clinical psychologist on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, discussed how to help children and adolescents deal more effectively with stress and pressure.

"The Media & Israel: Learn How to Read Between the Lines and Become Media Savvy"

Israel is in the midst of a battle for public opinion, waged primarily via the media. The Dawn Schuman Institute and Temple Jeremiah hosted keynote speaker Gary Kenzer, who taught participants how to read between the lines in what the media says or does not say and its impact on the public policy of Israel in the U.S.

Gary Kenzer is the first national Executive Director of Honest Reporting. Prior to his work with Honest Reporting, he was the National Director for Magen David Adom USA. He has also served with the Jewish Community Centers of Chicago and B'nai B'rith Youth Organization. He has spoken at national and international conferences over the past ten years.

8th Annual Golder Interfaith Lecture

"Jews, Christians & Muslims Partnering for Peace"

As part of the Golder Interfaith Lecture Weekend, Carmi Gillon, mayor of Mevasseret-Zion, a suburb of Jerusalem, and former head of Shabak, the Israeli Secret Service, offered an insider's view of the prospects for peace in the Middle East. Mr. Gillon talked about the Outreach efforts being extended among Muslims and Christians in order to improve security and the quality of life in Israel.

Mr. Gillon headed Shabak in the mid-1990s when rising tension over the Oslo Accords culminated in the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Shabak is one of three principal organizations of the Israeli intelligence community, alongside Mossad and Aman (the military arm of the Israeli Defense Forces). In 2001 he was named ambassador to Denmark.

Mr. Gillon currently is mayor of Mevasseret-Zion, a suburb of Jerusalem. He has written numerous articles on issues of state and security and serves as a television and radio commentator in Israel, the U.S. and Europe. His book, Shabak in Tears, was published in 2000.

8th Annual Golder Interfaith Lecture

"The God Factor"

Keynote speaker was Cathleen Falsani, Sun-Times religion columnist and author of The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People.

"How to Use the URJ's Chai Investment Program"

When you invest your money, do you negate what you donate to charity? The answer is probably yes! Floyd Keene, Vice President of the Chicago Council of the Union of Reform Judaism (URJ), talked about Jewish perspectives on socially responsible investment (SRI) and the URJ's Chai Investment Program. Participants learned how to invest their money in ways that earn a market return while serving their conscience and social goals.

SRI is founded on the concept that investments can effect positive social change. As part of its Chai Investment Program, the URJ invests a percentage of its funds into community development and revitalization, signifying its resolve to bring its financial policies into accord with the moral and ethical values of Judaism.

To learn more on how to invest your money in socially responsible directions, log on to Socially Responsible Investment.

Einstein: His Life and Universe

Acclaimed biographer Walter Isaacson looked at the remarkable life of "science's preeminent poster boy" in his new book, Einstein: His Life and Universe. The book dispels many of the myths associated with the famed scientist, including his dislike for rote learning and love of individual and intellectual freedom. Isaacson weaves his subject's life and work into the context of world and political events, from World Wars I and II to their aftermath in the Cold War. Isaacson explores Einstein's valiant advocacy for peace and justice in view of the anti-Semitism that drove him from Germany. He looks at Einstein's remarkable achievements - four extraordinary papers that introduced the world to special relativity and his work on unified field theory.

Isaacson also offered insights into a series of "painful paradoxes" that marked Einstein's life. Although Einstein believed in an ordered universe of "harmony and beauty," his discoveries often revealed uncertainty, randomness and chance. Einstein spent the second half of his life not only attempting to refute his own revolutionary findings but also witnessing the creation of potential apocalyptic weapons that he helped unveil.

Isaacson's book doesn't just focus on Einstein's scientific work however. He looks at the man - charismatic and passionate, often careless about personal affairs, outspoken and unapologetic about his beliefs on personal freedom. Fifty years after his death, Isaacson reminds us why Einstein remains one of the most celebrated figures of the 20th century.  

Hebrew Refresher Course

With the High Holy Days right around the corner, Cantor Amy Zussman taught this one-morning review program, sponsored by the National Jewish Outreach Program. The course included prayer review sheets and a handy Aleph-Bet chart specifically designed for those who know some Hebrew and wanted to polish their reading skills.

"The New Dynamics in the Middle East"

Former Jerusalem Post editor Carl Schrag addressed the rapidly changing challenges facing Israel on multiple fronts. He looked at mounting concerns regarding internal political scandals, the ongoing threat of Palestinian civil war, the Hezbollah-Hamas-Teheran axis, the Iranian nuclear threat and other front-burner issues. What drives these new dynamics? How can Israel prepare itself to face these new threats? What opportunities do they present? Mr. Schrag and the audience explored the latest news coming out of the Mideast.

Mr. Schrag is currently Senior Mentor of Write On For Israel/Chicago and Associate of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

Parenting Workshop - "No! And You Can't Make Me!"

Temple Jeremiah presented a fun and interactive workshop to provide parents with tools for understanding, preventing and redirecting power struggles. Parents learned how to incorporate these easy-to-implement strategies in their homes.

As co-founders of Parenting Perspectives, Lauren Bondy and Karen Jacobson have presented their interactive workshops and multi-week course to thousands of parents. They speak on a variety of topics including power struggles, self esteem, discipline, bullying and temperament and are passionate about helping parents strengthen their parenting tools to foster healthy development and nurture the unique potential of their children.

"Whose Life Is It Anyway?"

The Dawn Schuman Institute and Temple Jeremiah presented this program exploring major biomedical issues through the perspective of Jewish Halacha and ethics. Rabbi Dr. Joseph Ozarowski, Rabbinic Chaplain for the Jewish Healing Network of Chicago, looked at beginning-of-life issues such as abortion and stem cell research, as well as end-of-life issues such as point of death criteria, transplants, autopsies and end-of-life care.

Rabbi Dr. Ozarowski is considered a leader in the field of pastoral care and Judaism. His first book, To Walk in God's Ways - Jewish Pastoral Perspectives on Illness and Bereavement, sets the standard in the field.

Film - "Live and Become"

The Dawn Schuman Institute and Temple Jeremiah aired this magnificent, epic story of an Ethiopian boy, Shlomo, airlifted from a Sudanese refugee camp to Israel in 1984 during Operation Moses. Shlomo is plagued by two big secrets: He is neither a Jew nor an orphan, just an African boy who survived and wants, somehow, to fulfill his Ethiopian mother’s parting request that he “go, live, and become.” Buoyed by a profound and unfaltering motherly love – both in his memory and in the arms of his adoptive mother – he ultimately finds an identity and a happiness all his own. A family drama drawn against the backdrop of political protests, racial prejudice and air raids, Live and Become gives viewers the experience of living as an Ethiopian refugee in Israel.

Psychiatrist and Jewish activist Dr. Marc Slutsky led a discussion following the film. Dr. Slutsky is President of the Aitz Hayim Center for Jewish Living and Vice President of the Community Foundation for Jewish Education.

"Is the Palestinian Authority Ready for Peace?"

Attendees learned about the latest events in the Middle East from the vantage point of a Palestinian residing in Israel. Award-winning journalist Khaled Abu Toameh has been Palestinian affairs producer for NBC News since 1988 and a writer for U.S. News and World Report on Palestinian issues since 1989. He previously served as a senior writer for the Jerusalem Report, senior Palestinian affairs correspondent for the Jerusalem Post and a correspondent for the independent weekly, Al-Fajr. Mr. Toameh spoke on Hamas and the new Palestinian government, the post-disengagement situation in Gaza and the future of the Middle East.

Mr. Toameh has produced several documentaries for the BBC and Australian, Swedish and Danish TV exposing financial corruption in the Palestinian Authority and connections between former PLO leader Yasser Arafat and payments to the armed wing of Fatah. He has reported for over 20 years from the West Bank and Gaza Strip for both Palestinian and Israeli print publications. Mr. Toameh is the co-author of What Happened to Reform of the Palestinian Authority? He currently lives in Jerusalem with his wife and three children.

JUF Brunch & Book Signing: "How to be a Jewish Novelist Without Really Trying"

Author Dara Horn explained how she went from being forced by her parents to describe her school day at the dinner table in five minutes or less (with a timer so that each of the four siblings could be equally warped) and being dragged to 45 countries around the world (by parents who may or may not have been spies) to publishing two novels that attempt to redefine what American Jewish literature could be. How can the Bible and other religious sources fit into a secular American novel - and why does Dara now get fan mail from religious Christians? Why did American Jews in past generations throw away their Jewish traditions, and why are so many young people today trying to retrieve them? And how can a novel (The World To Come) that starts with the heist of a Chagall painting from a Jewish museum (during a singles mixer) end in the world to come?

All these questions and more were answered by Dara Horn, novelist, Harvard Ph.D., world traveler, National Jewish Book Award winner and one of approximately twelve non-Chassidic people under age 35 in North America who can talk to you in Yiddish. Dara was chosen by Granta magazine as one of the "Best Young American Novelists." She has taught courses in Jewish literature and Israeli history at Harvard and Sarah Lawrence College and lectured at universities and cultural institutions throughout the U.S. and Canada. Her most recent publication is The World to Come.

Shabbat Program with Maggie Anton

Temple Jeremiah hosted a Shabbat dinner followed by an Erev Shabbat Service featuring keynote speaker Maggie Anton, author of the popular series of historical novels, Rashi's Daughters. Intrigued with the famous medieval Talmud scholar, Ms. Anton used the same techniques for tracing her family genealogy to research Rashi's family. Eight years later, in 2005, her first volume, Rashi's Daughters: Joheved, was complete, establishing Ms. Anton's reputation as a Talmud maven and authority on medieval French women.

This accomplishment is especially extraordinary since Ms. Anton was raised in a secular, socialist household with little knowledge of her Jewish religion. As an adult, she embarked on a lifelong quest to enhance her Jewish education, synagogue involvement and ritual observance. In the early 1990's she enrolled in a women's Talmud class. Over the next five years she and six other women met around the instructor's dining room table to study Tractate Berachot, a section of the Talmud dealing with benedictions. She later became intrigued with Rashi and the fact that the famed scholar had three daughters and no sons. Despite the volume of literature on Rashi, Ms. Anton found little had been written about his daughters, although legend had it that they were learned in Talmud at a time when women were forbidden from studying the sacred texts. These forgotten women seemed ripe for discovery and the idea of a book was born.

Ms. Anton has completed the second volume in her trilogy on Rashi's daughter, Miriam, and is currently working on the third volume concerning the life of Rashi's youngest daughter, Rachel. (Rabbi Cohen reviewed her first volume at his "Rabbi's Reading Table" in October, 2007.)

Ms. Anton has lectured extensively at synagogues, Jewish community centers and Jewish women's organizations. Learn more by visiting Maggie Anton and Rashi's Daughters. 

Book Discussion: Finesilver's Gold

Ruth Littman led a discussion of her spell-binding new novel, Finesilver’s Gold. Drawn from her grandmother’s memoirs, Ms. Littman has written a richly descriptive, often dark tale of the love and adventures of Russian Jewish emigrés arriving in America at the turn of the century. The author retraces the life of young Jacob Finesilver as he escapes poverty and conscription into the czar's army in 1894. After an arduous journey from Russia, he makes it to the Klondike where he reunites with his betrothed, Malka.

Ms. Littman inherited Malka's diaries and retraced her grandparents' lives during the Klondike gold rush. Copies of the book were sold during the program.

"The Road to Adulthood: Raising Emotionally Healthy Children"

Dr. Joseph Shoshana, Founder and Director of the Center for Parent Education and a licensed clinical psychologist based in Arlington Heights, discussed parenting strategies for modifying child and adolescent behavior while maintaining a positive relationship and gaining respect. Sisterhood sponsored this program.

Dr. Shoshana has worked with adolescents and their families throughout the north and northwest suburbs as well as at the Jewish Children's Bureau and Josselyn Center for Mental Health. He also worked extensively in Tel Aviv with Israeli children impacted by the 1991 Gulf War. Dr. Shoshana has lectured widely on such topics as diagnosis and treatment of attention deficit disorder, mood disorders and multi-cultural psychology. He also discussed the principle of ROPES (Roadmap to Parent Effectiveness), a system he and his colleagues developed through clinical experience to help children and families dealing with significant issues.

"The Significance of Jewish Historical Memory: What Have We Forgotten?

Jewish tradition calls upon us to remember events - from the Exodus to the destruction of the Temple and, more recently, the Holocaust and Israel's independence. And yet we seem to have forgotten many lessons. What are the major themes of the Bible? What was the Maccabean revolt really about? Avram Stein, a scholar from the Yaacov Herzog Center for Jewish Studies, looked at what we as modern Jews have learned from the past.