JDOV

When Yisrael Campbell sat and thought “what’s the most important thing I have to say?”, he realized that it’s  “the story” that has been the connecting factor of his life. Both the stories of others that have helped guide him as well as the story of his life that has helped ground him.

Yisrael Campbell is a comedian who lives in Jerusalem Israel with his wife and four children

Think all Muslims hate us? Think again. Jews – and most people in the Western world – have let fear mongers and extremists paint a picture of Islam that is out of touch with reality. In fact, our fear, our ignorance, and our arrogance, may be the biggest detriment to peace.

Ilene Prusher is an award-winning journalist and novelist living in Jerusalem

Jonathan Wittenberg is not an atheist. He believes that we are all connected by the one consciousness of God and that God is within and beyond all. In his talk, he speaks of why he holds these beliefs, how God makes him feel accountable and how these sensitivities are the foundation of his moral and spiritual being.

Jonathan Wittenberg is Senior Rabbi of the Assembly of Masorti Synagogues UK and Rabbi of NNLS

It’s often said that Israel faces “an existential threat”, the phrase usually used to refer to the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran.  Without dismissing that fear, here Jonathan Freedland looks at what he regards as the far greater threat to Israel’s existence – the country’s apparently permanent grip on the territories it gained in the year of his birth, 1967.

Jonathan Freedland is an award winning columnist and author

It’s time to take a good look at who Jews today really are and what we want. If we are truly going to embrace the new face of American Jewry and stay relevant, three kinds of walls must come down: The Walls of Hierarchy, Denominations and Institutions. Emergent Jewish communities – those that exist outside of established institutions – embrace this philosophy and are filling the multi-varied needs and interests of Jews in new and dynamic ways.

Beth Finger is the founder of Jewish Without Walls, a grassroots start-up creating communities across denominations

Avraham Infeld’s vision for the Jewish People is to find a way to be unified without being uniform. Listen to this talk to hear his suggestion as to how we can achieve this vision by constructing a “five legged table” which allows each person to choose at least three of the following legs to express their Jewish identity:  memory, family, covenant, Israel and Hebrew.

Avraham Infeld is  President Emeritus of Hillel, the Foundation for Jewish Campus life

The talk proposes that improved relations between Jews and Christians requires mutual knowledge and mutual respect, it corrects several misperceptions that Jews and Christians have of each other, and it provides one answer to Christian missionaries who want to “save” Jews.

Levine is Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies, and Professor of Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School and College of Arts and Science in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.