Conversations About Israel 

Part II: What we talk about when we talk about Israel

Please join us for the second installment in our series of Conversations About Israel. In this Conversation guided by JRC member Todd Hasak-Lowy - part lecture, part group reading, part private reflection, part small-group discussion - we'll all be encouraged to consider the master-plots and deep-seeded beliefs that inform each of our understandings of Israel. The underlying claim of this program is that all of us - knowingly or otherwise - employ such narratives and beliefs as lenses through which we view Israel, its history, and its conflicts. These lenses bring certain facts into sharp focus, distort other facts, and make us blind to yet others. The aim of this program is not to assert that a particular lens is better than others. Rather, participants will learn more about why such lenses are virtually inescapable and will be asked to reflect on the sources of their own. The hope of this program is that as members at JRC grow more self-aware of not just what they think about Israel, but the fundamental beliefs and values that shape how they think about Israel as well, that the conversation about Israel at JRC will grow more nuanced, respectful, and self-aware.

After the presentation, we'll break into small discussion groups with trained facilitators using the Sicha process. Please come to share your stories with an open heart, listen respectfully to fellow congregants and participate in mahloket l'shem shamayim (sacred disagreement).

Please RSVP by Monday, November 10. This program is coordinated by JRC's Israel Programming Committee. Contact us at israel@jrc-evanston.org with any questions.

Please note: This program is for JRC members only.

About Todd Hasak-Lowy
Todd Hasak-Lowy has a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied Hebrew and Arabic Literature. From 2002 to 2010 he was an assistant and later associate professor of Hebrew Language and Literature at the University of Florida. He is the author of Here and Now: History, Nationalism, and Realism in Modern Hebrew Fiction (Syracuse University Press: 2008). Todd moved to Evanston in 2010 in order to focus more on his own fiction writing. He is the author of three works of fiction and will publish two more books in 2015. He also translates Hebrew literature into English.  He teaches courses on literature and creative writing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.