Israel in the American Jewish Imagination

Through the generosity of an anonymous donor, The Park Avenue Synagogue Lecture Series seeks to engage top scholars and notable intellectuals to address the major challenges facing American Jewry and to generate transformative thinking towards the continued revitalization of the Jewish community.

The series will examine the substance and significance of the relationship between American Jewry and the modern State of Israel. How can we create two vibrant and mutually interdependent centers of world Jewry while recognizing the particular challenges and opportunities each faces?

Cost per person:
$36/lecture

Dr. Daniel Gordis

Tuesday | January 10 | 7:00 pm
Dr. Daniel Gordis is Senior Vice President of the Shalem Center, where he is also a senior fellow. The author of numerous books on Jewish thought and currents in Israel, Dr. Gordis was the founding dean of the Ziegler Rabbinical School at the University of Judaism, the first rabbinical college on the West Coast of the United States. Dr. Gordis joined Shalem in 2007 after spending nine years as vice president of the Mandel Foundation in Israel and director of its Leadership Institute. Since moving to Israel in 1998, Dr. Gordis has written and lectured throughout the world on Israeli society and the challenges facing the Jewish state. His writing has appeared in magazines and newspapers including the New York Times, The New Republic, the New York Times Magazine, Moment, Tikkun, and Conservative Judaism. His latest book, Saving Israel: How the Jewish State Can Win a War That May Never End was published in 2009.
Click here to register for Dr. Daniel Gordis’ lecture.
 

Dan Senor

Tuesday | February 7 | 7:00 pm
Dan Senor is an author, investor, and television commentator on global affairs. He is currently a senior advisor to Elliott Management, a New York-based investment fund. He is also adjunct senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Prior to rejoining the investment management business, Dan was one of the longest serving civilian officials in Iraq, where he served in 2003 and 2004 as a Senior Adviser and the Chief Spokesperson for the U.S.-led Coalition. For his service, he was awarded the highest civilian honor by the Pentagon. Dan also served as a Pentagon adviser to Central Command in Qatar. Dan completed his BA at the University of Western Ontario and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; he completed his MBA at Harvard Business School. Dan is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle. He writes frequently for the Wall Street Journal, and has also been published by the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, and Time.
Click here to register for Dan Senor’s lecture.
 

Natan Sharansky

Tuesday | March 13 | 7:00 pm
Natan Sharansky has been an internationally recognized leader in the human rights movement for over three decades. He first came to attention after he was imprisoned in the Soviet Union for nine years on allegations of having collaborated with the CIA. Released in 1986 owing to intense international pressure, he immediately emigrated to Israel. There he became active in the integration of Soviet Jews. In 1994, he co-founded Peace Watch, an independent non-partisan group committed to monitoring the compliance to agreements signed by Israel and the PLO. In 1996, Natan Sharansky founded the political party Yisrael B’Aliya meaning both “Israel on the Rise” and “Israel for Immigration.” From 1996-2005, Natan Sharansky served as Minister, as well as Deputy Prime Minister in all of the successive governments. In November 2006 he resigned from the Knesset and assumed the position of Chairman of the newly-established Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies of the Shalem Center in Jerusalem. In June 2009 Sharansky was appointed Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel. Mr. Sharansky has written Defending Identity: Its Indispensable Role in Protecting Democracy, The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror, and a memoir, Fear No Evil.
Click here to register for Natan Sharansky’s lecture.

Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman

Tuesday | May 8 | 7:00 pm
Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman, Shalom Hartman Institute President, and the Director of the Engaging Israel Project, has a doctorate in Jewish philosophy from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a Master of Arts in political philosophy from New York University, a Master of Arts in religion from Temple University, and rabbinic ordination from the Shalom Hartman Institute. Donniel is the founder of some of the most extensive education, training and enrichment programs for scholars, educators and rabbis in Israel and North America. He is the author of The Boundaries of Judaism and the co-editor of Judaism and the Challenges of Modern Life, both published by Continuum Press. Donniel is the co-author of Spheres of Jewish Identity, a model curriculum in Jewish philosophy for secular Israeli high schools.
Click here to register for Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartmans’s lecture.

- - -

Passover Ritual Object Workshop

Wednesday | March 14 | 9:00 – 10:30 am and 5:00 - 6:30 pm
Ellen Alt
Prepare for the Women’s Seder by creating ritual objects. We will make Miriam’s cups, centerpieces and other items to be used at the Women’s Seder, as well as at your own seder. No prior experience creating art is required. Come to one or both workshops.
RSVP to mglasser@pasyn.org or 212-369-2600, x121.
 

New! Women’s Seder

Monday | April 2 | 6:30 – 8:30 pm | $
Women of PAS are invited to a seder experience developed by and for women. We will celebrate the contributions of women to Judaism, learn about the women of the Passover story and enjoy a festive meal with other women in our congregation. We invite women of all demographics, backgrounds and knowledge levels will attend the seder.
Cost: TBA
RSVP to mglasser@pasyn.org or 212-369-2600, x121.

- - -

Honoring the Memory of Rabbi Judah Nadich on the 100th Anniversary of His Birth

An Evening of Learning with Erica Brown

Master Narratives/Modern Stories: How a Biblical Past Informs a Literary Present

Thursday | May 31 | 7:00 pm

Dr. Erica Brown is the scholar-in-residence for the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and consults for the Jewish Agency and other Jewish non-profits. Dr. Brown is the author of In the Narrow Places; Inspired Jewish Leadership, a National Jewish Book Award finalist; Spiritual Boredom; and Confronting Scandal; and the co-author of The Case for Jewish Peoplehood. Previously a Jerusalem Fellow, Dr. Brown is a faculty member of the Wexner Foundation, an Avi Chai Fellow, winner of the Ted Farber Professional Excellence Award, and the recipient of the 2009 Covenant Award for her work in education. Erica Brown holds degrees from Yeshiva University, University of London, Harvard University, and Baltimore Hebrew University. She has served as an adjunct professor at American University and The George Washington University and lectures widely on subjects of Jewish interest and leadership. She writes a weekly Internet essay called “Weekly Jewish Wisdom” that has appeared on the Newsweek/Washington Post’s “On Faith” website. She lives with her husband and four children in Silver Spring, MD.