We are thrilled to have Jonathan Tobin join us for the weekend:

Friday, November 1, 2024

• 6:00 p.m. Lively musical T.G.I.S. service
• 7:00 p.m. Shabbat dinner (registration required) 
• 8:00 p.m. Lecture with Jonathan Tobin
  Whitewashing Antisemitism is the Defining Challenge of Jewish Life

  Journalist Jonathan Tobin explains the way 21st-century antisemitism is now predicated on the attempt to flip the script on the Jews and define prejudice against them as not only justified but a righteous cause. The post-Oct. 7 surge in antisemitism throughout the United States and the world shows that the fight to defend Jewish rights is imperiled most by the effort to treat Jew-hatred as a natural and understandable sentiment. The way to defeat it lies in the willingness for Jews not only to refuse to succumb to this insidious canard but to boldly confront it.

Saturday, November 2, 2024

• 9:30 a.m. Shabbat Service Morning D’var Torah with Jonathan Tobin in the sanctuary 

  Contemplating with Courage the Possible End of Our World(s) 
  Journalist Jonathan Tobin probes the way Jewish texts teach how to deal with ever-present threats to the planet, the existence of the Jewish people and everyday living. Whether it is a world-ending flood, a genocidal terrorist war against the Jews or potentially life-ending challenges to personal health, individuals must find a way to live in a world in which their Creator can pull the plug on them and do so in a way that honors the Jewish past, values, faith and posterity.

• 12:00 noon Shabbat lunch (registration required)

• 1:00 p.m. Discussion with Jonathan Tobin
  Should we be Debating the Legitimacy of Zionism?
  In the Bernstein Chapel after lunch and Minchah

  Since ancient times, Jewish life has been diverse. Yet every Jewish locale — whether the State of Israel or individual Diaspora communities — struggles to find a way to maintain a “big tent” in which all Jews may participate and feel included. The problem is not so much rooted in an unwillingness to debate the issues but whether people can survive if it thinks it has to justify its right to exist. Journalist Jonathan Tobin explains how Jewish texts and contemporary arguments point to the illegitimacy, especially in the current context, of the effort to delegitimize Israel’s existence and the rights of its supporters to speak up in the public square.
  
  Children’s activities will be offered during the lecture.

Jonathan S. Tobin is an American journalist. He is Editor in Chief of JNS.org, the Jewish News Syndicate. Tobin is a frequent commentator on domestic politics, Israel, and Jewish affairs. His column "View from America” appeared for many years in The Jerusalem Post. His work has also appeared in Israel Hayom, the Christian Science Monitor, The Forward, Britain's Jewish Chronicle, the New York Sun and many other publications.

Tobin lectures widely across the United States on college campuses and to Jewish organizations and synagogues. He tours North America debating political and Jewish issues with J.J. Goldberg of The Forward and has appeared on CNN, BBC Radio, Fox News, Newsmax, i24News and local network affiliates to discuss politics, foreign policy and Jewish issues.

This program is sponsored by The Morris and Beverly Baker Foundation.