Sunday Scholar Series with Uri Feinberg

November mini-mester–Nov. 1, 8, 15, 22  

Pride and Prejudice: When do we get it right, when do we get it wrong, and does context matter? Waves of Immigration, inclusion and success, discrimination and regress.  Join us for four sessions, as we examine the history of the State of Israel through the immigrant lens. Waves of immigration served as the foundation for the birth of the State of Israel, and waves of immigrants who arrived after 1948 allowed the young state to grow. These waves were a miracle orchestrated by the very Rock of Israel mentioned in the concluding line of the Declaration of Independence. This description of entity, deity or people, was chosen in all its ambiguity, for the purpose of allowing the founding generation the freedom to direct the ownership to this miracle that best reflected their ideals. With open arms the founding generations welcomed in their Jewish sisters and brother. This is your home; you face strife; return, we now have a state of our own. We will identify the altruistic and practical reasons behind this call of inclusion, and we will excavate the cracks that represent the failure and the fissure that lead to discrimination and exclusion of the very same sisters and brothers. Through our sessions we will also be witness to those moments in which ‘all of Israel is [indeed] responsible for each other’, and where we sadly still find ’causeless hate’. 

Uri Feinberg’s mini-mester is made possible through the generosity of the Jean and Jesse Wulfe Religious Enhancement Fund.