UCLA Bunche Hall, Rm. 10383
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Organized by the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. Co-sponsored by the UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies.
About the Talk
The current antagonistic political climate has all but shut down any constructive engagement with Zionist ideology and its redemptive possibilities. By referencing a range of foundational texts promulgated by Zionist thinkers such as Ahad Ha’am, Martin Buber and, Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv(1935-46) Moshe Avigdor Amiel, Rabbi Seidler-Feller will attempt to frame a Zionism of values that has the potential to inspire a new generation. He will argue for reclaiming the spirit of the Zionist revolution that has been eclipsed by political interests and formulate an inclusive and principled Jewish national vision.
About the Speakers
Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller is a faculty member at Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. He was executive director of the Yitzhak Rabin Hillel Center for Jewish Life at UCLA for 40 years, and currently is director emeritus and also director of the Hartman Fellowship for Campus Professionals. He is a lecturer in the Departments of Sociology and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA and in the Department of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University. He is also a faculty member of the Wexner Heritage Foundation and was a founding member of Americans for Peace Now. In 2014 he initiated a fact-finding mission for non-Jewish student leaders to Israel and the Palestine Authority which is now offered on 60 campuses across the country. The International Hillel Center granted him the Hillel Professional Recognition Award for "blending the love of Jewish tradition with the modern intellectual approach of the university." Rabbi Seidler-Feller was ordained at Yeshiva University where he completed a master's in rabbinic literature. Seidler-Feller was a rabbinic consultant to Barbra Streisand during the making of the film Yentl.
Mira Sucharov is Professor of Political Science at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, where she specializes in international relations and the politics of Israel/Palestine. A ten-time teaching award winner, she is the author or editor of five books, including Borders and Belonging: A Memoir (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021); Public Influence: A Guide to Op-Ed Writing and Social Media Engagement (University of Toronto Press, 2019); Social Justice and Israel/Palestine: Foundational & Contemporary Debates (University of Toronto Press, 2019, co-edited with Aaron J. Hahn Tapper). She is currently writing a book with Omar M. Dajani on equality and attachment in Israel-Palestine.
DISCLAIMER: The views or opinions of our guest speakers and the content of their presentations do not necessarily reflect the views of the UCLA Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. Hosting speakers does not constitute an endorsement of the speaker's views or opinions.
Sponsor(s): UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies
