The Secret of Jewish Resilience
Date and time: Tuesday, July 2, 2020, 7:30 pm Israel Daylight Time (UTC+3) | 5:30 pm British Summer Time (UTC+1)
Register here.
Price: Members NIS 40, Nonmembers NIS 50
In this continuing season of COVID-19, all of us are being asked to show resilience – as individuals, as families, in communities and as a nation. Thankfully, on the whole, we have done quite well.
As American Independence Day approaches, we are mindful that Americans are also exploring the sources of – and limits of – resilience. African American identity is displaying renewed resilience, while some observers of American Jewish life worry that American Jewish resilience may be diminishing.
What are the sources of Jewish resilience?
How have Jews thought and spoken about themselves over the centuries in order to strengthen their resilience?
Is the Judaism emerging among young American Jews capable of sustaining Jewish resilience?
Given how important America’s support for Israel is, what happens across the ocean matters here very much – so we will embark on this exploration on the eve of July 4th.
Daniel Gordis is senior vice president and Koret Distinguished Fellow at Shalem College.
The author of 12 books, Gordis is a regular columnist for Bloomberg Opinion.
Gordis’ history of Israel, Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn, received the 2016 National Jewish Book Award as Book of the Year. Ambassador Dennis Ross, reflecting on the book, wrote, “When I am asked ‘Is there one book to read about Israel?’ I now have an answer.”
Professor Alan Dershowitz has called Gordis “one of Israel’s most thoughtful observers.”
The Forward has called him “one of the most respected Israel analysts around.”
In 2014, The Jerusalem Post listed him as one of the world’s 50 most influential Jews, while Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic has written, “If you asked me, ‘of all the people you know, who cares the most about the physical, moral and spiritual health of Israel?’ I would put the commentator and scholar Daniel Gordis at the top of the list.”
Gordis’ newest book, We Stand Divided: The Rift between American Jews and Israel, was published in 2019.
Gordis and his wife live in Jerusalem.
Pre-payment essential
Pre-registration by email to boxoffice@netanyaaaci.org.il is essential.
Registered participants will receive a link on the day of the lecture to connect to the lecture.
* Picture – credit to Israel Hadari Photography
For those not comfortable with the Zoom format, the lecture will be livestreamed on a big screen at Netanya AACI.
