By Nancy B. Greer
President & CEO
Is Israel really the homeland for American Jews?
That and similarly provocative questions will be front and center Monday evening when Dr. Yehuda Kurtzer, President of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America (SHI), speaks at a lecture brought to the community by the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle in partnership with SHI and Temple De Hirsch Sinai.
Dr. Kurtzer’s presentation is the latest event in the Federation’s initiative to provide substantive, immersive Israel education and engagement opportunities to Jewish Puget Sound. The lecture will be held at TDHS on Capitol Hill, starting at 7 pm.
The title of Dr. Kurtzer’s lecture is “A Free People in Our Lands: Judaism & Democracy in Israel & America.” That title encapsulates a world of complex issues that have been uppermost in mind for our community. I encourage you to attend on Monday evening and reflect upon Dr. Kurtzer’s thought-provoking ideas about our relationship with Israel, divergent opinions about Israel within the Jewish community, and Jewish identity.
The Federation invited Dr. Kurtzer to Seattle at a time when we are collaboratively thinking through serious topics like those as part of a broad initiative to build a more cohesive community. Dr. Kurtzer brings an impressive background that can help inform our ideas and perspectives about these complex and at times difficult issues.
He is a well regarded thinker on leadership and change in American Jewish life. As we have learned in communal discussions about cohesiveness, shared experiences in leadership education are essential for encouraging connection and collaboration among diverse sectors of our community. Federation is investing significant resources in providing such experiences, to give lay and professional leaders a foundation for generating visionary ideas for community betterment and developing those ideas into life-changing impact. And thank you to community members like you!
The lecture will be filled with timely and potent content that can serve as a guide for our community to find that sweet spot where diversity is a source of community strength and a fount of creative ideas for advancing Jewish life.
Please join us on Monday, November 18, at Temple De Hirsch Sinai’s Seattle campus. The lecture begins at 7 pm. We hope to see you there!
