Tag: Past

Shavuot celebrates the giving of Torah at Mount Sinai and invites us to reflect on the sacred stories, teachings, and traditions that continue to root and guide Jewish life.

At Har Zion Temple, we will begin the holiday on Thursday evening with Tikkun Leil Shavuot, a special night of learning and prayer. This year’s theme, Rootedness and Wandering, explores what it means to be grounded in tradition while also moving through the journeys, questions, and changes that shape our lives.

The evening will include Shavuot evening services, and three learning sessions led by Cantor Randy Herman, Dr. Ely Levine, and Rabbi Shawn SimonHazani. Topics will include the music of Lech L’cha, the presence and movement of God, and the meaning of bayit, or home, in Hebrew literature.

Shavuot services will continue on Friday morning and evening, and on Saturday morning with Yizkor recited, followed by Kiddush.

Join us for a powerful discussion of The Prosecutor, as author Jack Fairweather examines the extraordinary effort to bring perpetrators of genocide to justice. Through meticulous reporting and compelling narrative, Fairweather reveals how determination, evidence, and moral courage converge in the fight to uphold international law and historical memory.

The Prosecutor is a gripping work of narrative nonfiction by Jack Fairweather that follows the relentless pursuit of justice in the aftermath of genocide. Centered on a young prosecutor determined to hold perpetrators accountable, the book traces the painstaking investigation, legal battles, and moral urgency behind one of the most significant war crimes cases of the modern era. Fairweather brings readers inside the world of international justice, where evidence is fragile, witnesses are vulnerable, and the stakes are nothing less than historical truth.

Drawing on extensive reporting and archival research, The Prosecutor illuminates the challenges of prosecuting crimes against humanity while exploring larger questions of memory, responsibility, and the limits of the law. The book is both a courtroom drama and a meditation on the enduring struggle to confront evil through justice.

Jack Fairweather is an award-winning journalist and author whose reporting focuses on conflict, human rights, and war crimes. He has covered stories across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, often reporting from areas affected by mass violence and political upheaval.

Fairweather is the author of the Costa Book Award–winning The Volunteer and has received international recognition for his investigative reporting and narrative skill. Known for his immersive storytelling and moral clarity, he brings depth and urgency to the pursuit of accountability explored in The Prosecutor.

Join us at the JCC for an engaging conversation about Happy New Years, as author Maya Arad explores the complexities of identity, community, and reinvention in the modern Jewish experience. Through thoughtful storytelling and sharp observation, Arad offers a window into lives lived between cultures—and the meaning we make along the way.

Location:
Kaiserman JCC
45 Haverford Rd, Penn Wynne, PA 19096

Happy New Years is a poignant and incisive novel by Maya Arad that explores identity, belonging, and the quiet fractures of contemporary life. Set largely within the Israeli expatriate community in the United States, the book follows characters navigating careers, relationships, parenthood, and cultural dislocation. Through moments both intimate and unsettling, Arad captures how people remake themselves across borders—and the emotional costs of starting over.

With sharp insight and psychological depth, Happy New Years examines themes of ambition, loneliness, aging, and the tension between personal desire and communal expectation. Arad’s nuanced storytelling reveals how private struggles reflect broader questions about home, language, and what it means to belong in a globalized world.

Maya Arad is an acclaimed Israeli author and poet whose work spans novels, short stories, and poetry. She is known for her keen observations of Israeli society and for her literary explorations of life in the diaspora. Writing primarily in Hebrew, Arad’s work has been widely praised for its intellectual rigor, emotional subtlety, and social insight.

Arad has lived in the United States for many years, an experience that deeply informs her fiction. She is considered one of the leading voices in contemporary Hebrew literature, particularly on questions of identity, migration, and modern Jewish life.

Join us for a compelling exploration of A Cold War Exodus, as author Shaul Kelner examines the Cold War–era movement to free Soviet Jews from repression and isolation. Drawing on extensive research and firsthand accounts, Kelner traces how grassroots activism, moral urgency, and political strategy converged to challenge a global superpower—and how the struggle reshaped Jewish identity, communal action, and international human rights advocacy.

A Cold War Exodus is a powerful work of narrative nonfiction by Shaul Kelner that chronicles the dramatic struggle of Soviet Jews seeking freedom during the Cold War. Set against the backdrop of geopolitical tension and ideological repression, the book traces the grassroots movement that mobilized American Jews and allies to confront the Soviet Union’s restrictions on emigration. Through protests, political advocacy, and international pressure, activists transformed a humanitarian cause into a defining campaign of modern Jewish history.

Drawing on extensive research, firsthand accounts, and historical analysis, A Cold War Exodus reveals how ordinary citizens influenced global policy and reshaped American Jewish identity. The book explores the moral urgency, strategic debates, and emotional stakes of the movement, illuminating how the fight for Soviet Jewry became a catalyst for lasting political and communal change.

Shaul Kelner is a sociologist, author, and educator whose work focuses on contemporary Jewish life, social movements, and the intersection of culture and politics. He is a professor at Vanderbilt University, where he teaches courses on religion, identity, and collective action, and his scholarship has been widely published in academic journals and books.

Kelner’s research examines how communities mobilize around shared causes and how activism shapes identity across generations. With A Cold Exodus, he brings scholarly rigor and narrative clarity to one of the most significant Jewish human rights movements of the 20th century, offering both historical insight and a deeper understanding of activism’s enduring impact.