6:15 pm Kabbalat Shabbat service with sermon by Dr. Rehfeld

7:30 pm Dinner and Discussion

This year’s annual Bernice and Seymour Nordenberg Memorial Scholar-in-Residence will be Dr. Andrew Rehfeld, President of Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion. Dr. Rehfeld will offer a sermon during services on the timely subject of the ethics of war. Following the service, we will have a Shabbat dinner in which Dr. Rehfeld will teach and take questions, an excellent opportunity to engage in discussion with an accessible scholar.

October 7th was a watershed moment for Israel and the Jewish people, unleashing barbaric terror and global antisemitism that stand among the worst tragedies of the Jewish people. The unfolding war against Hamas, however necessary, is unsettling and concerning even if Israel is fighting a just war. How do we make sure our commitment to the security of Israel, and the flourishing of the Jewish people, achieve our aim of justice, even and particularly at a time of war? The answer is suggested by our liturgy that calls on us to commit to our own people as a means to achieving justice, so long as that commitment is limited by the very principles of justice we seek to achieve.

Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D., is the 10th President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), where he leads the four-campus international institution of Jewish higher education and seminary for Reform Judaism. Dr. Rehfeld is an insightful scholar and accessible teacher with a passion for Reform Judaism, Israel, and social justice.