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Lunch ‘n’ Learn programs are offered on the third Thursday of each month, in the Atrium. Each program is a self-contained course of study from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. A cold buffet lunch is available, starting at 11:45 a.m. Pre-registration is not required. Shir Ami members are asked to contribute $7.50 and non-members to contribute $10.00 to defray the cost of food and drink.
Join us for study and food as we continue our “Lunch & Learn” series every 3rd Thursday at 12:15 P.M.
THURSDAY, MAY 15 @ 12 noon with Rabbi Strom—Atrium
ISRAEL AT 60: A LIGHT TO THE NATIONS OR A NATION LIKE ANY OTHER?
The debate is as old as the Jewish people, as old as the biblical prophets and the early Zionist dreamers: should the Jewish state be some kind of moral exemplar, a beacon of light to all the world, or, should it be a normal state, like any other, not crippling itself with unreasonable moral expectations?
By now, of course, we all know that Israel, at the age of 60, is a pretty normal state. It has its share of corruption, of criminals, of venal politics. There are scandals in the educational system, in the military, in the courts and the prisons. There are drugs in the streets and immigrants forced to live as second-class citizens. Israel has all of this and more; we all know her warts and
But Israel is not just any state. It is a Jewish state, the only Jewish state in the world today and for the last two thousand years. As such, it aspires to a higher moral ideal. It wishes to be a state that lives out the timeless values of equity, democracy and compassion. For many, it is not enough that Israel be governed by realpolitik; rather, it must be guided by the timeless wisdom of the torah and the prophets and Jewish tradition.
So what does Israel do? Because Israel must survive in the real world and yet we want it to be a cut above the rest. Join us
as we take up this timeless conundrum, this age-old question – as we celebrate together Israel’s 60th birthday during this month of May 2008.
June 19 - Israel Sings! presented by Rabbi Paula Goldberg
Come learn and sing familiar and not-so-familiar songs as we take a musical history tour of Israel. Israeli music is a fusion
of Zionist settlement songs based on Eastern European folktunes; youth, labor and kibbutz movement music from before and after
the establishment of the State in 1948; and Turkish, Greek and Moroccan sounds brought by waves of immigrants. At sixty, Israel
is still developing its own unique blend of sounds in popular, classical and liturgical music.
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