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VISITING SCHOLARS 2008
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Rabbi Nathan Laufer Fri. - Sun. Jan 18 - 20
View the Weekend Details (PDF, 1,063KB)
Scholar in Residence: Journey Through the Desert to the Promised Land with Rabbi Nathan Laufer
Fri. - Sun., Jan. 18 - 20, 2008
Rabbi Nathan Laufer is President Emeritus of the Wexner Heritage Foundation. In his seventeen years of leadership of the Foundation, including nine as President and CEO, Rabbi Laufer developed and brought the Foundation's intensive program to 31 cities across North America. For the past two years Rabbi Laufer has been on Sabbatical in Israel. While in Jerusalem, Rabbi Laufer authored two books, "Leading the Passover Journey," released by Jewish Lights in March of 2005 and "The Torah of Leadership," published by Jewish Lights in the spring of 2006.
Before joining Wexner Heritage in 1986, Rabbi Laufer was Director of East Coast Educational Programs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Director of Legal Affairs for the Coalition to Free Soviet Jews. Rabbi Laufer received his Rabbinic Ordination from Yeshiva University, his Juris Doctor degree from Fordham University, and his Leadership Educator Certificate at Harvard University. Rabbi Laufer, a member of the New York Board of Rabbis and the New York State Bar Association, is married to Sharon Laufer and is the father of four children, including triplets.
Friday, January 18
6:00 p.m. - Patrons Dinner, Feuerstein Family Activity Center
7:30 p.m. - Erev Shabbat Services Followed by Dr. Laufer's Lecture on "The Leader as Healer" - No Fee
Like many other Biblical portions, this weeks Torah reading seems like a hodge-podge of fantastic episodes: Seas splitting, rocks bringing forth water, food falling from the skies. What do all these episodes have to do with the non-miraculous world in which we live? By reframing these episodes of the Israelites journey through the desert through the prism of contemporary leadership we will catch a glimpse of how to deal with our own journeys through life and our community's journey through history.
Saturday, January 19
8:30 a.m. - Torah study, Feuerstein Family Activity Center
10:00 a.m. - Minyan Shabbat worship service, Foster Family Chapel
12:00 p.m. - Lunch Followed by Dr. Laufer's Lecture on "The Why of the Jewish Holidays: A Unified Field Theory of Judaism".
David and Dorothea Garfield Social Hall. $15 members, $25 nonmembers
All of us have sporadic knowledge about how to celebrate the Jewish holidays. But no matter how good our education, we often do not connect the dots between our people's foundational stories, the holidays they are supposed to celebrate and the deep values that are at the center of Judaism. In this original understanding of the holidays, we will discover how each holiday gives expression to the Jewish people's peak experiences in the Bible and provides the ground for the essential values that we call Judaism today.
7:00 p.m. - Evening Lecture - "Israel: The Perils and Promise of Being a Leadership Nation".
Foster Family Chapel. $5 for all in attendance.
Throughout our People's long history in the Diaspora, Jews were often singled out for special enmity by their non-Jewish hosts. Indeed, the long history of anti-Semitism culminating in the Dreyfus trial of 1895 was the transformational moment in Theodore Herzl's life that led him to envision and create the Zionist movement in 1897. Herzl wished to normalize the Jewish People and to remove their physical vulnerability. 110 years later, Israel, the State that he helped found, is itself repeatedly accused like Dreyfus, of "crimes" that, arguably, it does not commit, and under continuous threat of physical attack and even annihilation. What did Herzl, the founding father of Zionism, not understand about the Jewish condition and what can we, with the benefit of hindsight, deduce from Herzl's error that will help us make sense of Israel's and the Jewish People's place in the world?
Sunday, January 20
9:30 a.m. - Brunch and Lecture - "What Moses taught Martin Luther King - and What Can He Teach Us".
David and Dorothea Garfield Social Hall. $15 members, $25 nonmembers
Dr. Martin Luther King was often called "the new Moses." This appellation was not serendipitous: until his dying day (literally) Dr. King consciously modeled himself after the Biblical Moses. By examining Moses leadership in the Bible we will learn what animated Dr. King to pursue historical greatness and what can inspire us to pursue greatness in our own lives as well.
Fees for members indicated in boldface; fees for nonmembers indicated in ( ).
Patrons: Includes All Events and Patrons Dinner $75 ($100)
General admission: All Events $30 ($50)
Saturday morning: Lunch and Lecture $15 ($25)
Saturday evening: Havdalah, Lecture and Dessert Reception $5 ($5)
Sunday morning: Brunch and Lecture $15 ($25)
For more information or to RSVP contact CBI Program Director at 858-535-1111 ext. 3800.
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