Jews and the America to Come

The year 2020 has been a transformative one for American society, but what is America becoming? And what role do Jews play in the changes underway?

Even as the country struggles with a pandemic and massive unemployment, many Americans have at the same time been newly awakened to racial injustice and economic inequality. Much of the change now underway has been tragic; some of it is hopeful; and the combination may yet produce a very different America.

The aim of this online series is to draw on the insights of scholarship to explore the implications of all these changes for American Jews— their role in the changes underway, and/or the stake they have in them as a community. Through presentations by experts from the fields of Jewish Studies, Religious Studies and Political Theory, the series will address the implications for Jews of the #Metoo movement, the continuing struggle against racism, the prospects for freedom of speech, the fight against economic injustice, and the future of America’s relationship with Israel.

Jewish Life and Open Expression on Campus
DR. SIGAL BEN-PORATH
October 13, 2020
7:30–9:00 pm

#MeToo and American Jewish Life
DR. KEREN R. MCGINITY
October 20, 2020
7:30–9:00 pm

Caught in-between: Jews, Power, Powerlessness, and Intersectional Movements
RABBI JILL JACOBS
October 29, 2020
7:30–9:00 pm

American Jews and the Future of US Support for Israel
DR. DOV WAXMAN
November 9, 2020
7:30–9:00 pm

Then and Now: Black-Jewish Relations in the Civil Rights Movement
DR. ANTHEA BUTLER
November 17, 2020
7:30–9:00 pm