The Use and Abuse of Jewish Tradition in Contemporary Political Debates
The Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman Lecture
The Use and Abuse of Jewish Tradition in Contemporary Political Debates
with Rabbi David Saperstein
Thursday, April 12 | 7:00 pm
Congregation Shaare Emeth
11645 Ladue Road, 63141
For 3,000 years, Judaism has developed a powerful religious imperative, for both individuals and societies, to speak truth to power and to strive to transform the world for good. How does the Jewish tradition view religion’s role in shaping political policies, what does it have to say about some of the urgent and vexing moral challenges of our day, and how is it used and abused in the polemics of contemporary political debates?
David Saperstein directed the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, representing the Reform Jewish Movement to Congress and the Administration for decades. For over two years (through January 2017), Rabbi Saperstein served our nation as the US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, carrying out his responsibilities as the country’s chief diplomat on religious freedom issues. He taught seminars on Church/State law and Jewish law for 35 years at Georgetown University Law Center. David currently serves as a Senior Fellow at both the Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs and its School of Foreign Service’s Center for Jewish Civilization, as well as the Senior Advisor for Strategy and Policy for the Union for Reform Judaism.
RSVPs appreciated but not required. Visit www.sestl.org or call Shandi Greve Penrod at 314-569-0010.
This program is funded by the Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman Fund of Congregation Shaare Emeth. Sh’ma: Listen! Speaker Series is generously funded by the Lubin-Green Foundation, a Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, and Hank Webber and Chris Jacobs.
Sh’ma: Listen! Advisory Committee Chair
Rabbi Jeffrey Stiffman
Staff
Rabbi Tracy Nathan, Senior Educator, Center for Jewish Learning
Cyndee Levy, Director, Center for Jewish Learning
Jewish Federation of St. Louis
Gerald P. Greiman, Board Chair
Andrew Rehfeld, President & CEO