A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller

The event was co-sponsored by Temple Emanuel

About the Event:

In this seminar, we will consider how we’ve arrived at this moment of an outpouring of anti-Jewish venom on campus and what can be done to reintroduce civility and mutual respect between the alienated and offended groups. What is the underlying cause of this explosion of hostility and what is the University’s responsibility to address the issue? A sober and nuanced assessment by a 50-year veteran of the campus wars.

About the Speaker:

Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller is a faculty member at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. He recently celebrated 40 years of working with students and faculty as the Executive Director of the Yitzhak Rabin Hillel Center for Jewish Life at UCLA, where he is now Director Emeritus.

Chaim was ordained at Yeshiva University where he completed a Masters in Rabbinic Literature. He has been a lecturer in the Departments of Sociology and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA and the Department of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University. He is a faculty member of the Wexner Heritage Foundation. Chaim was the founding director of the Hartman Fellowship for Hillel Professionals and a founding member of Americans for Peace Now.

Chaim was a rabbinic consultant to Barbra Streisand while making the film Yentl. He and his wife Dr. Doreen Seidler-Feller, a clinical psychologist, are the parents of two children.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbanit Sharona Halickman

The event was co-sponsored by BMH-BJ

About The Event:

How were women the heroines of the Passover story and what rituals have we taken on to honor them?

Do women traditionally recline at the Seder? What is a Miriam’s cup? Are women obliged to drink the four cups of wine?

About the Speaker:

Sharona holds a BA in Judaic Studies from Stern College and an MS in Jewish Education from Azrieli Graduate School, Yeshiva University. Sharona was the first Orthodox woman to serve as a member of the clergy as the first Congregational Intern and first Madricha Ruchanit at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, NY. After making aliya in 2004, Sharona founded Torat Reva Yerushalayim, a nonprofit organization based in Jerusalem that provides Torah study groups for students of all ages and backgrounds.

A virtual event presentation by Dr. Boris Draznin

The event was co-sponsored by Congregation Or Tzion

About the Event:

Dr. Draznin will discuss How History and Genetics Define Jewish Diversity and Identity, the book he published (Cambridge Scholar Publishing) in 2023. The book and his presentation will reveal current answers to old questions as to how Jewish people might be genetically related. Modern genetic research tackles ingrained convictions about ethnicity and religion, journeying through time and place – from the Twelve Tribes of Israel, through Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and Greco-Roman empires to today’s Ashkenazim and Sephardim, and uncovers how the Jewish gene pool travels through history. With a unique blend of enthusiasm and experience, Dr. Draznin shares a fascinating perspective on the Jewish diaspora then and now.

About The Speaker:

Boris Draznin, MD, Ph.D. is the Celeste and Jack Grynberg Professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, former President of the Western Association of Physicians, and Chair of the Professional Section of the American Diabetes Association. He is a member of the American Association of Physicians and the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He authored or edited over 200 scientific articles, book chapters, and books.