Speaker: Dr. Geraldine Gudefin
Series: Rabbi Joshua O. Haberman Distinguished Speaker Series
Location: Ohr Kodesh Congregation, Chevy Chase, MD
Date: April 28, 2019

Bordeaux, as most Americans know, is one of the most important wine regions of France. Less known is the fact that for several centuries, Bordeaux and its region hosted a vibrant Jewish community, which made numerous contributions to the history of France. Join us to retrace the history of this unique Jewish community across four centuries. In this talk, Dr. Gudefin presents both a local and a global story — an exploration of a French Jewish community that developed unique traditions, rooted in the culture and the landscape of Southern France, while remaining connected to the Jewish diaspora spanning several continents.

Speaker: Professor Pamela Nadell 
Series: Rabbi Joshua O. Haberman Distinguished Speaker Series
Location: JCC of Northern Virginia
Date: February 6, 2019
This lecture was also given on March 11, 2019 at Kol Shalom in Rockville, Maryland. 

In her groundbreaking new history, Pamela Nadell asks what does it mean to be a Jewish woman in America? Weaving together stories from the colonial era’s matriarch, Grace Nathan, and her great-granddaughter, poet Emma Lazarus, to union organizer, Bessie Hillman, and the eminent Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Professor Nadell shows two threads binding the nation’s Jewish women: a strong sense of self and a resolute commitment to making the world a better place. Informed by the shared values of America’s founding and Jewish identity, America’s Jewish women – the well-known and the scores of activists, workers, wives, and mothers whose names linger on among their communities and families – left deep footprints in the history of the nation they called home.

Speaker: Professor Jonathan D. Sarna
Series: Rabbi Joshua O. Haberman Distinguished Speaker Series
Location: Ohr Kodesh Congregation, Chevy Chase, MD
Date: November 11, 2018

The first U.S. President who actively sought to attract support from Jewish voters was none other than Abraham Lincoln. Renowned historian Jonathan D. Sarna will reveal how Lincoln’s remarkable relationship with American Jews impacted both his path to the presidency and his policy decisions as president. Using recently discovered documents featured in his book (written with collector Benjamin Shapell), Lincoln and the Jews, Professor Sarna will share this new and previously unknown aspect of Abraham Lincoln’s life, one that broadened him, and, as a result, broadened America. 

Speaker: Professor Marsha Rozenblit
Series: Special Event
Location: Washington Hebrew Congregation, Washington, DC
Date: December 9, 2019

Our community came together to honor the legacy of our organization's founder, Rabbi Joshua O. Haberman, z"l.
We learned about the world that influenced Rabbi Haberman's life and teachings through Professor Marsha Rozenblit's lecture, "At Home in the Austian Capital: Viennese Jews Before World War II." Then the President of the Board of Directors, Elaine Amir, shared how the Foundation will recognize Rabbi Haberman's vision and the bright future he inspired. We hope you enjoy this special afternoon!

Speaker: Professor Kenneth Seeskin
Series:Rabbi Joshua O. Haberman Distinguished Speaker Series  
Location: Beth Shalom Congregation, Columbia, MD 
Date: December 10, 2018

The first two commandments of the Decalogue are the primary sources for our Jewish monotheism. How do we understand the commandments? Is belief in one God all that is required to make one a monotheist? If not, what else is needed? Why does the third commandment prohibit us from making images of God? Professor Seeskin, a professor of philosophy and expert in Maimonides, will explain how these issues are more controversial than people might think. In fact, it is far from clear that we observe these laws in the ways that Rambam and other sages understood them. 

Speaker: Professor Hasia Diner
Series: Day of Learning
Location: Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation, Bethesda, MD
Date: September 3, 2018

Immigration is one of the hottest topics in our country today. In this full day program, Professor Diner, one of the foremost historians of American immigration, will delve into the following topics:
• Causes, nature, demographics, and effects of immigration             
• The human dimension: immigrant stories
• The effects of changing government policy                                      • American Jews and Blacks 1915-1935
• Myths vs. facts                                                                              • An exploration of where other immigrants went and why

Speaker: Rabbi Vanessa Ochs, Ph.D.

Series: Rabbi Joshua O. Haberman Distinguished Scholar Series

Location: Congregation Olam Tikvah, Fairfax, VA

Date: November 18, 2018

Derived from Jewish texts, traditions, laws, practices, rituals, and experiences, “Jewish Sensibilities” are ways in which Jews (religious and secular alike) act “Jewishly,” whether consciously or not. Understanding such Jewish sensibilities, rooted in a combination of tradition, law and culture, can help us understand our gut responses and complex motivations when faced with healing and healthcare decisions. In this session, Professor Ochs will share her groundbreaking work on how the most pervasive Jewish sensibilities in our own lives can help us thoughtfully navigate these challenges.

Speaker: Professor Michael Brenner

Series: Rabbi Joshua O. Haberman Distinguished Scholar Series

Location: Adas Israel Congregation

Date: October 23, 2018

The 19th Century German Jewish community was the first to attempt to integrate Jewish traditions into a modern European society. Today, it might appear that this attempt failed as a result of the rise of Nazism, and the tragic events of World War II and the Holocaust. But from a distance of almost 80 years, perhaps this conclusion should be reconsidered, as we look at the extent to which the prewar German Jewish community served as the cultural pioneers and role models for Jewish communities generally, and in particular the American Jewish community.

Speaker: Professor David Kraemer

Program Series: Rabbi Joshua O. Haberman Distinguished Speaker Series 

Location: B'nai Israel Congregation, Rockville, MD

Date: October 7, 2018

In many respects, Islam is Judaism's closest "relative." It is a religion of law, based upon both Judaism and other inherited near eastern traditions. Professor David Kraemer, a prolific author and commentator who oversees the most extensive collection of rare and contemporary Judaica in the Western Hemisphere, will reveal similarities that exist between these two Abrahamic faiths. Professor Kraemer will share how studying parallels between Islam and Judaism can help us gain a better understanding of Jewish concepts and beliefs. 

Speaker:  Professor Arieh Saposnik

Program Series: Jewish Enrichment

Location: Kehilat Shalom, Gaithersburg, Maryland

Date: Monday, April 9, 2018

"If the Jews wish to become a nation of 'Jewish Culture,'" Eliezar Ben-Yehuda wrote in 1904, "they must first become truly a nation."

Throughout the subsequent decade, Ben-Yehuda and other Zionist activists in Palestine attempted to transform a small, divided, economically depressed and demographically declining Yishuv into the foundation of a modern state. The new "Hebrew" culture they sought to create encompassed everything from the way the Yishuv Zionists dressed, the art they created and the literature they read, to the holidays they celebrated, the language they spoke and the accent with which they spoke it. Politics, economics, and even medicine were mobilized to become dynamic parts of a new Jewish identity. 

In this lecture Professor Saposnik sheds new light on this transformation - the origins of Israel and Israeli culture.