The Jewish Forum

Welcome to The Jewish Forum, an independent non-profit educational organization for adults, based in metropolitan Detroit, Michigan.

Jewish Forum Events Upcoming in March:

1. The third of a three-lecture series, Jewish Political Life: A Historical Perspective... AND

2. "SRUGIM" - A two-evening event featuring three new episodes of the hit Israeli TV series, with guest Eliezer "Laizy" Shapiro, series creator and director

1. Prof. Zvi Gitelman: “Politics and Perspectives on the Holocaust in Wartime Soviet Union”

Wednesday, March 14th, 2012, 7:30 pm

The Soviet Union was the only Nazi-occupied country where Jews could resist as part of the regular military, as well as in partisan formations. About half a million Soviet Jews fought in the Red Army, and about 150,000 were killed in combat. Their perspectives on the war and the Holocaust differ radically from those of Jews elsewhere, though the Soviet government’s treatment of the Shoah, like that of other allied governments, was driven by political and social considerations. This talk explores how and why Soviet government perspectives, and those of the Jews, differ from their counterparts in the West, and examines how those differences matter today.

Dr. Zvi Gitelman is Professor of Political Science and Preston R. Tisch Professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan, where he has served as Director of the Center for Russian and East European Studies and of the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies. He has been a visiting professor at Tel Aviv and Hebrew Universities, Central European University in Budapest, and the Russian State University for the Humanities, and a Research Fellow at Harvard, Princeton and Oxford. Gitelman received his Master’s and Doctoral degrees at Columbia University. He is the author or editor of fourteen books and over 100 articles in scholarly journals. His acclaimed A Century of Ambivalence: The Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union since 1881 was published in 2001. His most recent edited volume is Ethnicity or Religion? The Evolution of Jewish Identities. In 2012 Cambridge University Press will publish Jewish Identities in Post-Communist Russia and Ukraine: an Uncertain Ethnicity. Among various professional and communal boards, Gitelman serves on the Council of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Venue: Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit
6600 W. Maple Rd., West Bloomfield, Michigan

Fees: $10; $5 for students and Jewish communal professionals.

Registration via check or major credit card.
Three ways to register: call 248.354.6415, or e-mail lectures@thejewishforum.org, or
on-line at jewishdetroit.org/jewsandpolitics.

*This series is co-sponsored by:

2. "SRUGIM" - The hit Israeli TV series, with guest Eliezer "Laizy" Shapiro, series creator and director

The Jewish Forum and The Lenore Marwil Jewish Film Festival present a two-night event, featuring three episodes of the new season, and with a very special live guest: series creator and director Eliezer “Laizy” Shapiro!

Applauded for its true-to-life and nuanced portrayal of the modern-Orthodox community in Jerusalem, Srugim follows five friends looking for love in Jerusalem, while grappling with issues of religious identity and commitment. The title “Srugim” refers to the style of crocheted skullcap (“Kipah Srugah”) that is often worn by modern-Orthodox men in Israel – and to the inter-woven connections among friends dealing with intimate relationships.

Rave reviews describe the series as “groundbreaking” (Israelity.com), “refreshing and clever” (Jerusalem.com), and “hugely popular among religious and secular Israelis alike” (Ynet News). It has acquired a very large and loyal following in the U.S. and Canada as well.

Join us:

Monday, March 19, 7:30 PM, Handleman Hall, the West Bloomfield JCC: Screening of the new season’s episodes 1 and 2, approximately 40 minutes each, with English subtitles. The setting, characters and plot lines will be given a brief introduction by Janice S. Goldfein, MSW, ACSW, a psychotherapist in private practice in Farmington Hills.

Tuesday, March 20, 7:30 PM, Handleman Hall, the West Bloomfield JCC: Screening of the new season’s episode 3, approximately 40 minutes in length, with English subtitles, followed by an extensive Q&A with Laizy Shapiro, series creator and director.

A full episode guide will be provided to all attending.

Tickets are $10 per evening, or $18 for the two-evening series, and may be obtained through the Berman Center box-office, or by calling the Jewish Forum at 248-354-6415, or by e-mailing <programs@thejewishforum.org>.

*This series is co-sponsored by: