Chancellor Arnold Eisen to Discuss New Possibilities for the Meaning of Zionism

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Nina Jacobson
Office: (212) 678-8950
Email: nijacobson@jtsa.edu

April 21, 2009, Washington DC

Professor Arnold M. Eisen, chancellor of The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), will address "Israel, Zionism, and the Next Generation of American Jews" at the Abraham and Minnie Kay Memorial Lecture at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 13. Sponsored by JTS, the program will take place at Adas Israel Congregation, 2850 Quebec Street NW, Washington DC.

Sixty-one years after the creation of the State of Israel, the country remains besieged from without and divided within. No less serious is the growing gap dividing Israeli Jews from Jewish communities in the Diaspora and especially America. Chancellor Eisen, a passionate advocate of the need to bring Israel and the Diaspora closer together, will discuss what new definitions of Zionism can mean to a generation of American Jews that does not share the commitments of previous generations.

Professor Eisen, one of the world's foremost experts on American Judaism, is the seventh chancellor of JTS. Since his inauguration in 2007, Chancellor Eisen has met with world leaders, engaged in prominent interdenominational and interfaith dialogues, and championed a transformation in the education of the next generation of Conservative leadership.

Before coming to JTS, Chancellor Eisen was the Koshland Professor of Jewish Culture and Religion at Stanford University. The Chancellor's publications include Taking Hold of Torah: Jewish Commitment and Community in America. He is currently writing a book that probes new possibilities for the meaning of Zionism.

The event is open to the community at no charge. For further information, please contact Adas Israel Congregation at (202) 362-4433 or Carol.Ansell@adasisrael.org.

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