Why Israeli Arabs Are a Jewish Issue

A Conversation with Rabbi Dr. David Ellenson and Rabbi Brian Lurie

Rabbi Dr. David Ellenson, President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) and Rabbi Brian Lurie, Co-Chair, Inter-Agency Task Force on Israeli Arab Issues, will discuss why Israel's treatment of its minority population is an issue of Jewish values and how the work of the North American Jewish community on this issue is making a difference in Israel.

Date: Thursday, October 15, 2009
Time: 6 - 7:30 pm EDT
Location:
Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion
The Brookdale Center
1 West 4th Street
New York, NY 10012

Please RSVP to Nicole Vandestienne at nvandestienne@huc.edu. Photo ID is required for entry.

This event is sponsored by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Israeli Arab Issues, Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, the Union for Reform Judaism, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

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Rabbi Dr. David Ellenson

President, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) and I.H. and Anna Grancell Professor of Jewish Religious Thought

Dr. David Ellenson, President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) and I.H. and Anna Grancell Professor of Jewish Religious Thought, is a distinguished rabbi, scholar, and leader of the Reform Movement. He is internationally recognized for his publications and research in the areas of Jewish religious thought, ethics, and modern Jewish history. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1981 and was ordained by HUC-JIR in 1977. He is a Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of Jerusalem and a Fellow and Lecturer at the Institute of Advanced Studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Rabbi Ellenson's extensive publications include Tradition in Transition: Orthodoxy, Halakhah and the Boundaries of Modern Jewish History (1989), Rabbi Esriel Hildesheimer and the Creation of a Modern Jewish Orthodoxy (1990) (nominated for the National Jewish Book Council's award for outstanding book in Jewish History, 1990), and Between Tradition and Culture: The Dialectics of Jewish Religion and Identity in the Modern World (1994). His latest book, After Emancipation: Jewish Religious Responses to Modernity, a compilation of essays on Jewish values and identity, the challenge of emancipation, denominational responses, modern responsa, and contemporary works of legal and liturgical creativity, was published by Hebrew Union College Press in 2004.

Rabbi Brian Lurie

Co-Chair, Inter-Agency Task Force on Israeli Arab Issues
President, Alfred and Hanna Fromm Fund

Rabbi Brian Lurie served for seventeen years as Executive Director of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties and for five years as President of the San Francisco Jewish Museum. He has worked in Israel and America to promote equality for Israeli Arabs and as Executive Vice President of the United Jewish Appeal (UJA), he was instrumental in launching the second phase of Operation Exodus and provided the vision and strategic direction under which UJA has begun to broaden its mandate. Rabbi Lurie developed the concept of "The Living Bridge", a metaphor which is redefining the broad range of relationships and the partnerships, as equals, of American Jews and Israelis. Both the Israel Experience for teens and Partnership 2000 were created as pillars of the Living Bridge.

Rabbi Lurie received his B.A. from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania and a Masters in Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. He has been granted honorary degrees from both Lafayette College and Hebrew Union College.