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Swarsensky Memorial Weekend Shabbat Worship: Recognizing the Sources of Antisemitism in Lech L’cha

Friday, November 8, 2024 • 7 Cheshvan 5785

7:30 PM - 9:00 PMSanctuary & YouTube

Please join us for this special Shabbat worship to begin our Swarsensky Memorial Weekend, a time of community learning in honor of the memory of Rabbi Manfred Swarsensky, who served as rabbi of Temple Beth El from 1940 to 1976 after escaping Nazi Germany in 1939.

Our Swarsensky scholar, Chad Alan Goldberg, University of Wisconsin–Madison professor of sociology and Jewish studies, will introduce the weekend’s timely topic—antisemitism and our response to it—in his d’var Torah: “‘A Great Darkness Was Falling upon Him’: What Can We Learn from Lech L’cha about the Sources of Antisemitism?”

Under the growing shadow of Nazi persecution in 1939, Sigmund Freud observed, of the reasons for “the popular hatred of Jews,” that some “arise from obvious considerations” and “need no interpretation,” but “others lie deeper and spring from secret sources.”

Indeed, the parashah Lech L’cha, this week’s Torah portion, anticipates the roots of antisemitism, even before Jewish identity was fully defined. “You shall surely know that your seed will be strangers in a land that is not theirs,” God tells Abraham, “and they will enslave them and oppress them” (Genesis 15:13). How do we explain this oppression?

Professor Goldberg will help us understand how Lech L’cha alludes to both kinds of reasons for antisemitism, providing important context for crucial questions addressed throughout the weekend: How can we live in a world with increased antisemitism, and how can we respond, both as individuals and as a community?

Learn more about all the Swarsensky Memorial Weekend events. Please register below for any or all of the weekend's events. 

To view this event on livestream, go to YouTube at http://www.tinyurl.com/TBEYTLivestream.

To follow along in Mishkan T'filah, you can obtain a print or electronic copy here.

Find our accessibility measures and visitor guide on our in-person information page.

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Swarsensky Memorial Weekend Shabbat Worship: Recognizing the Sources of Antisemitism in Lech L’cha
Swarsensky Memorial Weekend Interactive Torah Study: Curses and Blessings: What Can We Learn from Lech L’cha about Responding to the Longest Hatred?
Swarsensky Memorial Weekend Keynote: Antisemitism and American Exceptionalism: Rethinking the Place of the Postwar Era in US History.
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October 7, 2024 5 Tishrei 5785