Registration:
Fall Session: North Shore Synagogue, 83 Muttontown Road, Syosset
NY, 921-2282 Opening Lecture: October 27, 2008 at 9 PM. (No classes
scheduled that day.)
Classes begin November 3 running for eight weeks, 7:45 to 8:45
PM preceding each lecture.
Fall Session
Lectures
October 27 –
J.J. Goldberg
Presidential Election 2008: How to Vote the Jewish Way
Editorial director J.J. Goldberg has been with the Forward since
2000. He has served in the past as U.S. bureau chief of the Israeli
newsmagazine The Jerusalem Report, as managing editor of The New
York Jewish Week and as a syndicated columnist in Jewish weeklies
nationwide. Goldberg is the author of three books, including the
critically acclaimed Jewish Power: Inside the American Jewish
Establishment, (1996). His articles have appeared frequently in
The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, and
numerous other journals. He appears regularly as a guest on National
Public Radio and other broadcast media.
November 3 – Rabbi Moshe Meir Weiss
Fascinating Lessons from the Lives of the Righteous
Rabbi Moshe Meir Weiss has served as rabbi of the Agudas Yisroel
of Staten Island for the past twenty years. Since 1978 he has
been diligently disseminating Torah through his thousands of audio
tapes and CDs, as well as his radio appearances and extensive
public lectures. He has attracted audiences throughout the world
by presenting both the practical and passionate sides of Judaism.
His columns can be found in numerous newspapers and magazines.
He has published four books – Passionate Judaism, Meaningful
Living, A Torah Perspective for Our Challenging Times and a text
on the high holy days. Rabbi Weiss is presently working on a fascinating
book about Jewish names and on a Hebrew text on the weekly Torah
portions and all the Jewish Holidays.
November 10 – Professor
Harry Reicher
Discrimination, Ostracism, Dehumanization: The Nazis’ Legislative
Assault on the Jews
Born in Prague, Harry Reicher grew up in Australia where he is
a leading expert in international law. As Barrister of Law, he
has been involved in preparing and arguing landmark cases in international
human rights and environmental law in Australia and England. He
has served as a consultant to the International Monetary Fund
and is currently director of International Affairs and representative
to the United Nations from the Agudath Israel World Organization.
Harry Reicher is also adjunct professor of law at the University
of Pennsylvania Law School where he has pioneered the new academic
discipline of law and the Holocaust which examines how the Nazis
perverted Germany’s legal system and the role of international
law in rectifying the damage.
November 17 – Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb
The Psychology of Effective Leadership: Lessons from Moshe Rabbenu
Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb has been Executive Vice President of
the Orthodox Union since January, 2002. In that role, he heads
the multi-purpose agency which represents and serves Orthodox
Jewry and its network of synagogues from kosher food supervision
to youth, public policy and social action programming. A talented
teacher, writer and orator, Rabbi Weinreb received his rabbinic
ordination from the Rabbi Jacob Joseph Yeshiva in New York. He
received his Masters degree in Psychology from the New School
for Social Research, and earned his PhD from the University of
Maryland. Prior to assuming the pulpit of the Congregation Shomrei
Emunah in 1989, Rabbi Weinreb served as Assistant Supervisor of
Psychological Services for the Prince George’s County Public
Schools, as Chief Psychologist of the Potomac Foundation for Mental
Health, and also maintained a private practice of psychotherapy.
Rabbi Weinreb is Rabbinic Liaison for NEFESH: the North American
Network of Orthodox Mental Health Professionals. He served on
the Rabbinic Cabinet of United Jewish Communities, on the Executive
Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America, and on the boards
of various other organizational and educational institutions.
November 24 – Mark Weston with Sandi Skodnik and
Baz Snider
Harry and Eddie: The Birth of Israel (a dramatic reading)
Mark Weston, actor, playwright, and teacher, is the author of
many critically acclaimed plays, screenplays, and documentaries.
He has also written for daytime TV serials and game shows. He
has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in film, and numerous
TV Soap Operas. Mark has been teaching writing since 1993 at the
Screen Actor’s Guild conservatory in New York in addition
to offering writing/acting workshops for teens. Mark’s new
play, Harry and Eddie: The Birth of Israel has been performed
to critical acclaim in Hollywood, CA and West Palm Beach, FL featuring
Ed Asner as Eddie Jacobson. Eli Jackson performed the role of
Eddie Jacobson opposite Anne Jackson at the John Drew Theater
in East Hampton earlier this summer. This evening, Mark Weston
will read the role of Eddie, accompanied by two very accomplished
actors – Sandi Skodnick (who directed Ed Asner in the Palm
Beach production) and Baz Snider who is reprising the role of
Harry Truman.
December 1 – Professor Jane Gerber
Myths and Realities in Sephardic Jewish History
Jane Gerber is Professor of Jewish History and Director of the
Institute for Sephardic Studies at the Graduate Center of the
City University of New York. She is the author of four books including
The Jews of Spain which won the National Jewish Book Award in
Sephardic Studies in 1993. She is also a two-time recipient of
a CUNY Excellence in Teaching Award and was President of the National
Association for Jewish Studies. She has been a Visiting Professor
at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
and the Jewish Theological Seminary and serves on numerous communal
boards and editorial boards. She earned a B.A. from Wellesley
College, an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard and a
Ph.D. in Jewish and Islamic History from Columbia University.
December 8 – Rabbi Joyce Newmark
Choosing Judaism: Then and Now
Rabbi Joyce Newmark is an experienced congregational rabbi known
for compelling sermons and engaging educational programs. She
is a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary. She previously
served as the rabbi of congregations in Lancaster, PA, and Leonia,
NJ. Currently, she is a columnist for the New Jersey Jewish News,writes
the weekly “Torah Sparks” for the United Synagogue
of Conservative Judaism and lectures on topics of current Jewish
interest.
December 15 – Christopher Williams
Jewish Justices of the Supreme Court and their Impact on American
Law
Christopher Williams, Director of Government Relations at Long
Island University, is a practicing attorney with a wealth of experience
in legal and government affairs. He served as counsel and district
director for Congressman Rick Lazio, running the representative’s
New York Office. In addition, he served Suffolk County for over
13 years, holding executive positions ranging from director of
voter information to chief of staff in the Suffolk County Legislature
to Executive Assistant District Attorney. Most recently, Mr. Williams
served as a special deputy inspector general and senior investigative
attorney for the Office of the New York State MTA Inspector General,
assisting the inspector general with the investigation of fraud,
waste, abuse and criminal conduct within the nation’s largest
public transportation system. He shares his expertise in criminal
law and procedure with the next generation, serving as an adjunct
professor at both Touro and NYIT. The New York State Bar Association
presented him with a Distinguished Service Award in 1999.
December 22 – Mark Levy
Oy, Chanikah!
Mark Levy has performed and taught in the San Francisco bay area
for 25 years at synagogues, JCC's, Workmen's Circle, and other
Jewish groups. He has appeared throughout the country and abroad
singing and lecturing on Yiddish, Hebrew, and Ladino folk music,
Klezmer history and theory, and Jewish music history in general.
He has performed for Yeshiva University’s Sephardic Department
Semana Sepharad in New York, and is a cantorial soloist in California.
He recently released a fourth album of Jewish music entitled Bin
Ikh Mir A Shnayderl: Yiddish Work Songs, in commemoration of the
100th birthday of Workmen's Circle, a fraternal order of Jewish
workers and their families.
Winter Session:
January 5, 12, 19, 26 – Professor Ben Nelson
Yiddish Theater: Tribulation and Triumph; Lunacy and Legend
Session 1: The beginnings of Yiddish theater in America at the
turn of the 20th century
Session 2: The first stars – Adler, Kessler, Thomashevsky
– rivalries, loves and resentments
Session 3: The inheritors – Schwartz, Weisenfreund, Picon
– the clash between Yiddish theater and film and the American
stage and Hollywood
Session 4: The absorption of Yiddish theater into mainstream American
entertainment
Benjamin Nelson is Professor of English and Comparative Literature
at Fairleigh Dickinson University, from which he received the
Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching. He has taught a vast
array of courses, including American Jewish Literature, Israeli
Literature, Literature of the Holocaust, and Ethnic Literature
in America. Professor Nelson is the author of critical biographies
of two leading American dramatists: Tennessee Williams: The Man
& His Work and Arthur Miller: Portrait of a Playwright. He
has also published articles on theatre and film, including an
essay on Hollywood’s treatment of the Holocaust. Professor
Nelson has spoken extensively in the tri-state area and was extremely
well-received as our Winter Session speaker in 2004. Professor
Nelson received his B.A. and M.F.A. from Columbia University.
