Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Lectures on American Judaism at the Sabes JCC and Congregation Darchei Noam, Minneapolis, Minn. "American Judaism" comes to the Sabes JCC and Congregation Darchei Noam in a series of three free lectures presented by scholar in residence Jonathan Sarna, a recognized leading commentator on American Jewish history, religion and life. The January 25-26, weekend event is presented by Congregation Darchei Noam and the Sabes Jewish Community Center.

January 25: The first lecture in the series, "The Eastern European Conquest of American Jewish Life"is 8 p.m., January 25, at Congregation Darchei Noam, 5224 Minnetonka Blvd. (entrance off Salem Ave. S.), and will address how Eastern European Jews migrated to the "Golden Land" with big dreams of escaping poverty and persecution for a new way of living. In the process, the American Jewish community absorbed a new way of thinking about Judaism whose effects "for better or worse" are still with us today. What is the legacy of this great migration? How have our lives been impacted by shifts that American Jewish culture made in the early twentieth century?

January 26: The second lecture, "Three Paths to American Orthodoxy: Past Answers and Future Directions" takes place Saturday at 11:45 a.m., following the 9 a.m. service at Congregation Darchei Noam and will discuss how after World War II, with the destruction of European Jewry and important centers of study, the United States became the new area of settlement for Orthodox leaders and their followers. What they would do in the coming years would transform the Jewish religious landscape of America. What were their visions and how did they impact the decisions that Orthodoxy Jewry still makes regarding the survival of Judaism? Will the Orthodox of this generation have Orthodox grandchildren? All are welcome to attend both the morning services and the lecture afterwards.

January 26: The series concludes with "New Menu for American Judaism" Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Sabes JCC, 4330 Cedar Lake Road, Minneapolis. A kosher wine and chocolate tasting reception, hosted in cooperation with the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest and the Jewish Singles Collaborative (you don't have to be Jewish to attend!), will be held following Dr. Sarna’s lecture. The event is free and open to the public. During this presentation Dr. Sarna will talk about how the America Jewish past informs the present. The choices of what it means to be Jewish are multiplying some based on the distant past and some based on recent experience in America. Some have turned to secular ways of defining their Judaism; for others, there is a return to education and commitment to religious Judaism. Where are we going and who will be? What will our grandchildren be and what kind of Judaism will be available for them to embrace?

Jonathan Sarna is the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University and Director of its Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program. Dubbed by the Forward newspaper as one of America’s 50 most influential American Jews, he was Chief Historian for the 350th commemoration of the American Jewish community. Copies of Dr. Sarna’s book "American Judaism"will be on sale at the Saturday night lecture.

For more information contact: Ron Krebs, Assistant Professor, McKnight Land-Grant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Minnesota
tel: 612-624-4356
email: rkrebs@umn.edu