2012 Yom Limmud Presenters
 Denotes Workshop for Educators
Keynote Speaker: Ambassador Dennis Ross
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Challenges Ahead: America & the Middle East in 2012
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Ambassador Dennis Ross rejoined the Institute as counselor in December 2011 after serving two years as special assistant to President Obama as well as National Security Council senior director for the Central Region, and a year as special advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, focusing on Iran.
For more than twelve years, Ambassador Ross played a leading role in shaping U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process and dealing directly with the parties in negotiations. A highly skilled diplomat, Ambassador Ross was U.S. point man on the peace process in both the George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations. He was instrumental in assisting Israelis and Palestinians to reach the 1995 Interim Agreement; he also successfully brokered the 1997 Hebron Accord, facilitated the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty, and intensively worked to bring Israel and Syria together.
Ross is the author of several influential books on the peace process, most recently Myths, Illusions, and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East, coauthored with Institute peace process expert David Makovsky. An earlier study, The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2004), offers comprehensive analytical and personal insight into the Middle East peace process. The New York Times praised his 2007 publication, Statecraft, And How to Restore America's Standing in the World (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007), as "important and illuminating."
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Maggie Anton
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Rav Hisda's Daughter - A Novel of Love, the Talmud, and Sorcery
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Hisdadukh, both beautiful and learned, is the youngest child of Talmudic sage Rav Hisda. Her story unfolds in third-century Babylonia, in the household of her father, one of a handful of beleaguered rabbis struggling to establish new Jewish traditions after the destruction of Jerusalem’s Holy Temple.
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Maggie Anton is the award-winning author of Rashi’s Daughters, historical novels set in the household of the great medieval Jewish scholar, whose daughters studied Talmud when these scared texts were forbidden to women. Her new series, Rav Hisda’s Daughter, takes place in third-century Babylonia as the Talmud is being created. A native of Los Angles, Maggie worked for over 30 years as a clinical chemist for Kaiser Permanente before becoming an author.
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Matt Biers-Ariel
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The Bar Mitzvah and the Beast - One Family's Cross-Country Ride of Passage by Bike
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Yonah, the son of a well-known Bay Area Jewish educator Matt Biers-Ariel, announced that as an atheist he would not have a Bar Mitzvah. His parents accepted his decision but insisted her undergo an alternative rite of passage. In lieu of spending a single Saturday morning chanting twelve lines of Torah, reciting a few prayers, and dancing with his grandmother at a party in his honor, Yonah would attempt to ride a bicycle from San Francisco to Washington DC with his parents and little brother in tow.
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A Wexner Graduate Fellow, Matt received his MAJE from Hebrew Union College and taught Jewish studies for 15 years. He ran a rite of passage program for teens which led to the publication of his first book: Spirit in Nature: Teaching Judaism and Ecology on the Trail. His children’s book, Solomon and the Trees is read on Tu B’shvat in synagogues and day schools across the country. Matt lives in Davis, California.
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Peter Blair
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Are You Inspired?
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We will explore the work that we do with young children and families, seeking to look internally and see if we are truly "inspired". We will delve into the ideas of Early Childhood Theory and Philosophy from the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy and contrast these ideas with the richness of Judaic culture and traditions. Teachers will delve into ideas such as image of the child, documentation and observation, use of artistic media to deepen learning, and other ideas inspired by Judaism and the programs of Reggio Emilia, Italy. Peter Blair, has been a Director of Jewish ECE programs for over 10 years and has studied with the educators from Reggio Emilia for the past 12 years, both in Reggio as well as here in the United States.
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From Administrator to Innovator
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From Administrator to Innovator will explore how leaders of early childhood programs can transform their organizations to be learning communities for children, families and teachers. Using the lens of Jewish values, we will explore Leadership through programs who were transformed to create schools that foster intellectual vitality, collaborative relationships, and exemplary programs for children.
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Peter has been the Director of Early Childhood Education at the Merage Jewish Community Center of Orange County for the past two years. Peter began working in the field of early childhood education at the Stroum JCC in Seattle, WA. in the fall of 1997. He began working in ECE as a teacher, held several administrative positions, and served as the Director of Early Childhood Education at the Stroum JCC of Greater Seattle from 2004-2010.
He has worked with children and youth in a variety of settings and ages since his days as a camp counselor at Camp Nebagamon starting in 1992. He led wilderness camping trips for youth in the American West and Canada; worked with at-risk high school students in Seattle, led political action campaigns at local universities and taught early childhood education for four years. He holds a degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and has received training in Reggio-Emilia practice from Reggio Children of Italy, St. Louis Reggio Collaborative, and studied at the early childhood schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy.
Peter has also served as a faculty member at Bellevue College in their Early Childhood Education Department. He completed two Fellowships in Jewish Early Childhood Education, one funded by the Covenant Foundation and another with JECEI; receiving development and education in the field of ECE and Leadership development. Peter was also a member of the Executive Board of Kidsquest Children’s Museum in Bellevue, WA.
He frequently travels to local, national, and international conferences to speak about Reggio Emilia inspired practice and the Merage JCC’s ECE program. He has been the author of several grants to raise the level of early education throughout the United States through professional development of teachers and leadership development.
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David Brog
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Is Supporting Israel Still in America's Best Interests?
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The answer is "yes." In a time of fiscal austerity, more and more people are questioning aid to Israel. In a time of Islamic terror, more and more people are questioning a close alliance with Israel. We need to reframe the case for supporting Israel for a new era.
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David Brog is the executive director of Christians United for Israel (CUFI). Before CUFI, Brog worked in the United States Senate for seven years, rising to be chief of staff to Senator Arlen Specter and staff director of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He has also served as an executive at America Online and practiced corporate law in Tel Aviv, Israel and Philadelphia, PA. Brog is the author of Standing with Israel: Why Christians Support the Jewish State (2006) and In Defense of Faith: the Judeo-Christian Idea and the Struggle for Humanity (2010). In 2007, the Forward newspaper listed Brog in its "Forward 50" most influential Jews in America. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School.
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Kyle Chambers &
Rabbi Yael Ridberg
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Taboo Talks: Jews & Tattoos
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Where is the prohibition of tattooing found in the Torah? Are tattoos kosher? Can someone with a tattoo be buried in a Jewish cemetery? These questions and more at this panel featuring Rabbi Yael Ridberg and Kyle Chambers (a Jew with tattoos).
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Kyle Chambers was born and raised in Orange County, California. He attended California State University of Long Beach and is a long-time member of Temple Beth Tikvah in Fullerton, CA. He is currently working as the Repairs Operations Manager for a hardware manufacturer in Orange County. He teaches for the Orange County Bureau of Jewish Education and Congregation Shir Ha-Ma’alot in Irvine. He is happily married and has two beautiful children.
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Rabbi Yael Ridberg is the spiritual leader of Congregation Dor Hadash. A 1997 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Rabbi Ridberg served for two years as the first Marshall T. Meyer Rabbinic Fellow at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun in New York. Yael received her BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1990 in Communication Arts and Women's Studies.
Rabbi Ridberg served as the President of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, as a member of the Rabbinic Council of the New Israel Fund, the Board of Plaza Jewish Community Chapel, and has led a bereavement support group through the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services and the Jewish Healing Center. In 2007, Rabbi Ridberg became certified as a yoga instructor with Yogaworks. Rabbi Ridberg serves as a commentator and advisory board member for the forthcoming "Guide to Jewish Reconstructionist Practice" to be published by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and is a chapter author for the 2007 URJ publication, Life, Faith and Cancer.
Rabbi Ridberg has been invited to speak, teach, lead workshops and services for many organizations including The Jewish Funder's Network, UJA Task Force on the Jewish Woman, AIDS Interfaith New York, Planned Parenthood of NYC, URJ Commission on Synagogue Affiliation, Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, Ma'yan: The Jewish Women's Project of the JCC in Manhattan, The Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, Rabbis for Human Rights - North America, and the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation. In 2003 she was named by Jewish Women International as one of 10 Women to Watch.
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Rabbi David Dalin
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Baseball's Greatest Jewish Superstars: Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax
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In this lecture, Rabbi David Dalin will discuss the lives and legacies of the two greatest Jewish players in the history of baseball, and the only two Jews to have been elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame, Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax. For many Jewish baseball fans, Greenberg is best remembered for his decision during the 1934 pennant race, not to play on Yom Kippur. Greenberg was widely applauded throughout the Jewish community for this decision, which established a precedent for Jewish baseball players like Sandy Koufax, who followed Greenberg's example and refused to play on Yom Kippur.
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Was he "Hitler's Pope"? Pope Pius XII and the Jews
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For many years, Pius XII, who became Pope in 1939, has been the target of great criticism for his alleged failure to speak out against Hitler during the Holocaust. Some critics have accused him of being a Nazi sympathizer or an anti-Semite, while others have vilified him as being "Hitler's Pope". His defenders claim that he repeatedly spoke out against Hitler and that he was responsible for saving thousands of Jewish lives during the Holocaust. Rabbi David Dalin, who has written a book about Pius XII and the Jews, will evaluate the role of Pius XII during the Holocaust, and whether he truly deserves the title of "Hitler's Pope".
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Rabbi David Dalin, a widely-published scholar of American Jewish History and Jewish-Christian Relations, has taught Jewish History at several universities, and has been a Visiting Fellow at the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He received his B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Brandeis University, and his Rabbinical Ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He is the author, co-author or editor of ten books, including The Presidents of the United States and the Jews and John Paul II and the Jewish People: A Jewish-Christian Dialogue. His book on Pope Pius XII has been translated into French, Spanish and Italian. Rabbi Dalin has lectured and written extensively about the history of Jews and Baseball, and is the author of major articles about Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax.
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Ilana DeLaney
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Motivating Students to Learn Hebrew
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The bulk of our classroom Hebrew-related efforts is directed at mastering cognitive functions: decoding, chanting, learning vocabulary, translation…Does it work? How successful are we in teaching Hebrew? What does it mean when we say that we “teach Hebrew?” This workshop will explore various ways to increase students’ motivation to learn, share methods that activate creativity and curiosity, and discuss meaningful and relevant learning experiences in the classroom.
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Dr. Ilana DeLaney has been the founder and the Executive Director of the Bureau of Jewish Education in Stamford Connecticut. She has taught teachers and students of all ages at schools, community centers, conferences and universities. Ilana is now the Executive Director of Congregation Beth Am in Del Mar.
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Rabbi Ed Feinstein
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A Brief History of Chutzpah
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Chutzpah is more than “nerve” or “audacity.” Chutzpah is the critical element in Jewish character, faith, and history. It is our insistence that the world can be repaired, no matter how broken it appears. So we argue with God. We challenge the way the whole world thinks. And despite centuries of persecution, pogrom and Holocaust, we maintain that human life has purpose.
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A Curriculum of Wonder: The Spiritual Genius of Abraham Joshua Heschel
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Abraham Heschel taught that wonder is the chief characteristic of a religious person’s approach to life. But where is wonder in our classrooms and curriculum? Where are mystery, awe, insight? Heschel opened a radical way to understand Judaism’s spirituality. His works are treasures of insight for the seeking Jew and his life a testimony of God’s closeness. Heschel provides a unique perspective on the tasks of Jewish education and community leadership.
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Rabbi Ed Feinstein is senior rabbi of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California. He teaches at the Ziegler Rabbinical School of the American Jewish University and the Wexner Heritage Foundation. He is the author of Tough Questions Jews Ask – A Young Adult’s Guide to Building a Jewish Life, and Jews and Judaism in the 21st Century, and Capturing the Moon.. Ed shares life with his wife, Nina, and three college-age kids. Every Friday afternoon, he bakes brownies from a recipe revealed to his ancestors at Mount Sinai.
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Rabbi Jim Goodman
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Guided Meditation
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The First Song - Who wrote it, who found it, what does it mean, I teach it to you. |
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Knots: Tying un-tying our life in knots: Four Images in Preparation for the Days of Awe
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Images of Teshuvah and Change, Distance and Connection As Derived From Kabbalah Chassidut and other Sources of Abstract Truth with Music, Poetry, Sacred Story, Silence. "Find your silence and let the truth rise before you."
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A Second Golden Age
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Music, poetry, and sacred stories from a little known intersection of Jewish and Muslim culture in the Balkans. Featuring the mystery tale of the Sarajevo Haggadah.
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James Stone Goodman serves as rabbi and poet in residence at Congregation Neve Shalom and the Central Reform Congregation, in St. Louis, Missouri.
He is a writer and musician who integrates story, poetry, and music in an performance art form, producing six CDs to date, the most recent “Eight Nights.”
He recently finished an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Missouri – St. Louis. His work can be sampled through two websites: www.stonegoodman.com and www.neveshalom.org as well as many publications.
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Glenda Kacev & Sylvia Roth
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Bal Yoga for Kids
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In this workshop we will introduce you to a teacher and child friendly yoga program. Through the use of whimsical illustrations, songs and the letters of the alphabet, this program introduces the children to yoga poses, attention to breath, movement, music and literacy. No yoga experience necessary. Please join us for a fun and relaxing yoga workshop. Bal Yoga for Kids is a Winner of The San Diego Book Awards 2012!
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Glenda Kacev and Sylvia Roth are both Early Childhood Education Specialists, having each had 30 years hands on classroom experience. Throughout their years of teaching, each has been responsible for creating age appropriate curriculum, promoting self-worth, imagination and discovering the joy of learning! It is their dedication to teaching young children that inspired them to create the Bal Yoga for Kids program.
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Sylvia has been practicing and teaching Yoga to adults and children for many years. It is her passion for yoga that has endeared her to the children she has taught. She has studied andpractices Ashtanga yoga with Tim Miller in Encinitas, California.
Glenda and Sylvia reside with their husbands and families in San Diego, California. Their many interests include outdoor activities, fitness, cooking, gardening and the arts.
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Michelle Levine
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Israel's Natural Treasures
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This presentation including film clips will review Israel’s natural treasures, the status of recent environmental issues and projects from Israel’s northern to southern borders, and will focus on great achievements in Israel's environmental history.
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Israel’s Natural Treasures: Environmental Curriculum Development
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This presentation including film clips will review Israel’s natural treasures and environmental issues, in the context of building an environmental curriculum that focuses on Israel, and reviewing sample lesson plans. Detailed environmental lesson plans will be provided. These lesson plans are currently being used with schoolchildren all over Israel, in Hebrew, yet are equally relevant to American Jewish kids.
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As the English Spokesperson and Marketing Director for the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel for the last 8 years, Michelle has covered is uniquely qualified to comment about environmental issues across Israel. She published SPNI News, the largest distribution English-language publication on Israel’s environment and wrote SPNI’s 60 projects, referred to within the organization as Israel’s environmental bible. Michelle is now ASPNI’s Outreach Director. Michelle and her family lived in Israel for over 10 years and Michelle has an MA in American Indian literature and language from the University of Arizona.
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Shalom Sabar
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"The Binding of Isaac in Jewish, Christian and Islamic Art "
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The story of the Akeda has been central in the theology and writings of leading theologians representing the three monotheistic religions. In the lecture, selected Jewish, Christian and Muslim works of art created from Late Antiquity onwards will be examined to reveal how they treat the same biblical text in totally different ways, revealing the deep beliefs and concepts of their creators and their audiences.
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"Rembrandt, Amsterdam's Jews and the Bible"
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Unlike his predecessors, Rembrandt interpreted known and less known biblical stories from an innovative, personal point of view. In his attempt to improve the message of his work and set it in “authentic” background, he made sophisticated use of Hebrew inscriptions in some of his major paintings, which demonstrate his interest in Judaism and close contacts with intellectuals among the former Marranos of Amsterdam’s Portuguese-Jewish community.
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Shalom Sabar is Professor of Jewish Art and Folklore at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Sabar is the last Jewish baby born and circumcised in the ages old neo-Aramaic speaking Kurdish-Jewish community of Zakho. He earned his PhD in Art History from UCLA (1987), writing on the illustrated marriage contracts of the Jews in Renaissance and Baroque Italy. His research joins together the disciplines of art history and folklore, highlighting issues pertaining to the folk nature of Jewish art and Jewish material culture, visual materials and objects associated with rituals in the life and year cycles, and the evidence these materials provide about the relationships between the Jewish minorities and the societies that hosted them in Christian Europe and the Islamic East.
Among his books are: Ketubbah: Jewish Marriage Contracts of the Hebrew Union College Skirball Museum and Klau Library (1990); Mazal Tov: Illuminated Jewish Marriage Contracts from the Israel Museum Collection, Jerusalem (1994); Jerusalem - Stone and Spirit: 3000 Years of History and Art (with Dan Bahat; 1997); The Life Cycle [of the Jews in the Lands of Islam; 2006]. Sabar served as editor of Rimonim (a Hebrew periodical of Jewish art), co-editor of Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Folklore, and is on the editorial board of the periodical Pe’amim and a multi-volume series dedicated to the Jewish communities in the lands of Islam (both published by Ben Zvi institute).
He serves as a visiting professor and lectures widely in universities, museums, and public institutions in Israel, Europe and the US. Prof. Sabar additionally guides travelling seminars to Jewish sites in Europe, North Africa and Central Asia.
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Mirabai Starr
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God of Love - A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity and Islam
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God of Love is Mirabai Starr’s passionate and personal exploration of the interconnected wisdom of the three Abrahamic faiths. She shares an overview of essential teachings, stories of saints and spiritual matters, prophetic calls for peace and justice and for the first time in print, deeply engaging narratives from her own personal experiences as a Jew who embraces multiple spiritual traditions. She guides readers to recognize the teachings and practices that unify rather than divide the three religions, and sheds lights on the interspiritual perspective, which celebrates the Divine in all paths. It is Mirabai’s hope that this book will serve as a reminder that a dedication to knowledge is the highest expression of faith for all three religions.
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Mirabai Starr is an adjuct professor of philosophy and world religions at the University of new Mexico-Taos. Daughter of secular Jews with a commitment to social justice, Starr lived at the Lama Foundation, an intentional spiritual community that has honored all the world’s faith traditions since its inception in 1967. At Lama she encountered many of the leading teachers and timeless traditions of diverse spiritual paths. This ecumenical experience was formative in the universal quality that has infused her work ever since.
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Ron Wolfson
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Empowering Cheshbon ha-Nefesh (Spiritual Accounting) for High Holy Days: Asking the Seven Questions You're Asked in Heaven
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Based on the classic rabbinic text imagining what we are asked when we reach heaven, this workshop will explore how to use "The Seven Questions You're Asked in Heaven: Reviewing and Renewing Your Life on Earth" as a High Holy Days teaching resource.
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Be Like God: Teaching Kids (and Families) How to Be Superheroes - God's Partners on Earth
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Ron's newest book - "Be Like God: God's To-Do List for Kids" - encourages 8-12 year olds to use the "superpowers" God gives everyone to do the work of creation and repair. Torah texts and stories of real kids encourages students to develop a relationship with God.
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Ron Wolfson is a visionary Jewish educator whose enthusiasm for bringing Judaism alive in homes and synagogues has shaped his work in the community. He is the author most recently of The Seven Questions You’re Asked in Heaven: Reviewing and Renewing Your Life on Earth, The Spirituality of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation Into a Sacred Community, God's To-Do List: 103 Ways to Be an Angel and Do God's Work on Earth, and Be Like God: God’s To-Do List for Kids (Jewish Lights Publishing). A pioneer in the field of Jewish family education, Ron has authored The Art of Jewish Living series of books (Jewish Lights Publishing): Three of the titles (Shabbat, Passover, Hanukkah) are designed to enrich the celebration of Jewish holidays, and one (A Time to Mourn, A Time to Comfort) provides a guide to Jewish bereavement and comfort. He is a member of the Shevet: Jewish Family Education Exchange and President of the Kripke (KRIP-kee) Institute for Jewish Family Literacy.
Ron is currently the Fingerhut Professor of Education at the American Jewish University (formerly the University of Judaism) in Los Angeles where he has been a member of the faculty since 1975. He has also served as Dean of the Fingerhut School of Education, Vice President and Founding Director of the Whizin Center for the Jewish Future and the Whizin Institute for Jewish Family Life. The book, First Fruit: A Whizin Anthology of Jewish Family Education, which he co-edited with Adrianne Bank, won the 1999 Jewish Book Award.
Ron's interest in synagogues dates back to his involvement in a Conservative congregation, Beth El, in his home town of Omaha, Nebraska. Over the years, he has visited hundreds of synagogues across North America and around the world as a consultant, teacher and scholar-in-residence widely recognized for his passionate, insightful and often humorous presentations. Ron is a co-founder of Synagogue 2000 (with Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman) and currently serves as Co-President of Synagogue 3000, a catalyst for excellence, empowering congregations and communities to create synagogues that are sacred and vital centers of Jewish life.
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ADMISSION:
Adult: $32.00; Non-member/$38.00
Teen: $14.00; Non-member/$18.00
VIP: $100/person. Reserved parking, access to the VIP lounge, Priority Seating in the first 2 rows of all sessions held in the David & Dorothea Garfield Theatre and donor recognition.
Group rates available!
Includes a kosher bagel lunch bar
Help others attend Yom Limmud! Ask about sponsoring a teen, college student, or Jewish Community Educator
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