From Generation to Generation

Meet Michelle Weinfeld, author of From Generation to Generation.

Six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, but Michelle Weinfeld's grandfather survived.
From Generation to Generation explores the intersection of values, history, and identity. It answers questions such as:

• How are we influenced by the generations that came before us?
• How do we embrace religion and culture in a secular society?
• What is necessary for self-acceptance?
  

Michelle Weinfeld graduated from the University of Maryland with a Masters in Finance and has gone on to work as a CPA. Passionate about Jewish learning, Weinfeld is involved with 3GNY, a nonprofit focused on grandchildren of Holocaust survivors who educate people about the Holocaust through family stories. Weinfeld’s love of history and storytelling drove her to write her debut intergenerational memoir, From Generation to Generation, which interweaves her experiences with antisemitism with the story of her grandfather, a Holocaust survivor.

Major Funding for this program is provided by the Harold Grinspooon Foundation.

Robert Watson is an award-winning author, professor, historian, and analyst for numerous media outlets. He has published over forty books on history and politics, five works of

On October 18, 1945, twenty-two of Nazi Germany's political, military, and economic leaders were brought to trial in Nuremberg for crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. For the first time in history an international tribunal composed of the Allied countries and representatives of Nazi-occupied countries would punish the leaders of a regime and an army who were responsible for crimes committed.

fiction, and hundreds of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, and reference essays.

Story of the Shoah

"I`m Rena Bernstein. I`m a Polish Jew. Out of 30 thousand Jews in our South Eastern area of Poland I am the only Jewish child survivor. Mother, Father and I were the only nuclear family to survive. It is a miracle accomplished by my optimistic and determined Mother who saved us from total despair."

Learn Rena's family story as detailed in the book Bitter Freedom Memoirs of a Holocaust Survivor, authored by her mother, Jafa Wallach.

Major Funding for this program is provided by the Harold Grinspooon Foundation.

In 1943, most of occupied Europe was hunkered down against the Nazis. The people of Denmark—led by their king—dared to stand up for their Jewish countrymen in what is considered to be one of the largest actions of collective resistance to aggression in the countries occupied by Nazi Germany.

On Oct. 1 of that year, Hitler ordered the arrest and deportation of all of Denmark’s 8,200 Jews. The king, political leaders, and ordinary civilians united in their response to prevent such human devastation. Over the course of two weeks, they hid, protected, and then smuggled out of the country—on ships, schooners, fishing boats, and anything else that floated—all but about 450 of the country’s Jewish population. At war’s end, most returned to Denmark to find their homes and businesses in good condition.

Join historian Ralph Nurnberger, retired lecturer in international relations at Georgetown University, returning to Israel Congregation to recount this extraordinary act of courage on the part of an entire nation under severe duress.

Professor Porwancher debunks a string of myths about the origins of the founding father, Alexander Hamilton, to arrive at a startling conclusion: Hamilton, in all likelihood, was born and raised Jewish. For more than two centuries, his youth in the Caribbean has remained shrouded in mystery. Hamilton himself wanted it that way, and most biographers have simply assumed he had a Christian boyhood. With a detective’s persistence and a historian’s rigor, Porwancher upends that assumption and revolutionizes our understanding of an American icon.

This radical reassessment of Hamilton’s religious upbringing gives us a fresh perspective on both his adult years and the country he helped forge. Although he didn’t identify as a Jew in America, Hamilton cultivated a relationship with the Jewish community that made him unique among the founders. As a lawyer, he advocated for Jewish citizens in court. As a financial visionary, he invigorated sectors of the economy that gave Jews their greatest opportunities. As an alumnus of Columbia, he made his alma mater more welcoming to Jewish people. And his efforts are all the more striking given the pernicious antisemitism of the era. In a new nation torn between democratic promises and discriminatory practices, Hamilton fought for a republic in which Jew and Gentile would stand as equals.

A native of Princeton, New Jersey, Andrew Porwancher earned degrees from Brown and Northwestern before completing his PhD in history at Cambridge. Currently, he serves as the Wick Cary Professor at the University of Oklahoma. He is the author of The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton (Princeton University Press), winner of the Journal of the American Revolution Book-of-the-Year Award and the Independent Publisher Book Award (Silver Medal-Biography).

Israel Congregation was very pleased to welcome back our friend, Mark Weitzman, Director of Government Affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Chief Representative of the Center to the United Nations in New York who will discuss  Holocaust Denial and Distortion: The New Face of Antisemitism?

75 years after the end of World War II Holocaust Denial and Distortion is a growing problem, and in some countries has even become official government policy. In this presentation Mark Weitzman traces the roots of denial and distortion and presents an overview of the situation today, focusing on how

Mr. Weitzman has testified in the U.S. Congress, met with world leaders including UN Secretary-Generals Kofi Annan, Ban Ki-moon and Antonio Guterres and been a featured speaker at three UN conferences on antisemitism and extremism. He has lectured and presented at international political and scholarly conferences throughout North America, Europe and Israel, as well as in South America, Africa and Australia and is a frequent media commentator on issues related to antisemitism, extremism and tolerance.

Israel Congregation was pleased to welcome Dr. Robert Watson, an award-winning author, professor, historian, and analyst for numerous media outlets who presented: Truman and Israel: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Statehood in 1948

U.S. President Harry Truman was the first world leader to officially recognize Israel as a legitimate Jewish state on May 14, 1948, only eleven minutes after its creation. His decision came after much

discussion and advice from the White House staff who had differing viewpoints. Some advisors felt that creating a Jewish state was the only proper response to the Holocaust and would benefit American interests. Others took the opposite view, concerned that the creation of a Jewish state would create more conflict in an already tumultuous region.

Having served as a visiting scholar with many organizations including the Truman Presidential Library, Gerald Ford Presidential Museum, Illinois Holocaust Museum, Smithsonian Institution, and National Archives, Robert Watson has received numerous awards for his community service, contributions to the study of the presidency, the civic and history programs he offers schools, and teaching excellence, including several “Professor of the Year” awards from Lynn University and Florida Atlantic University. A frequent media commentator, Dr. Watson has been interviewed thousands of times by news outlets worldwide, including CNN, MSNBC, USA Today, The New York Times, NPR and the BBC. He has also co-founded the annual Truman Legacy Symposium for the Truman Presidential Library.

Enjoy this very fascinating and insightful lecture presented as part of our celebration of Yom HaAtzma'ut—Israeli Independence Day!

A professor of journalism at the State University of New York/College at Old Westbury, Karl Grossman is an award-winning journalist whose focus is on investigative reporting and environmental journalism. He is the author of six books and for 30 years has hosted the nationally-aired TV program Enviro Close-Up with Karl Grossman (www.envirovideo.com). He has a blog on The Times of Israel and writes regularly for the Manhattan Jewish Sentinel, Long Island Jewish World and Jewish Tribune.

We are privileged to welcome guest speaker Karl Grossman to Israel Congregation in observance of Tu Bishvat “The New Year of the Trees.” Tu Bishvat has partially transformed in our time into Jewish Earth Day and is a time when we acknowledge and celebrate our connection with all of God’s creation.

Professor Grossman's lecture is entitled Judaism and the Environment. He discusses the emphasis in Judaism on being stewards of the earth and reflect on the deep involvement of Jews in protecting the environment. 

Faryn Borella is a Jewish educator, ritual leader, community organizer, and rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia. As a child of Israel Congregation, she is excited to provide this offering in the community that raised her and formed her into the Jewish adult she is today.

Koach Baruch Frazier is co-founder of the Tzedek Lab, a network of practitioners working at the intersection of dismantling racism, antisemitism and white supremacy. Koach is also a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia.

Rabbi Marc Margolius is a Senior Programs Director at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, where he directs programming for lay leaders and for alumni of its clergy leadership training program. Rabbi Margolius also directs the Tikkun Middot Project, which integrates Jewish mindfulness with middot practice. Previously he served as Rabbi at West End Synagogue in Manhattan, and conceived and directed the Legacy Heritage Innovation Project, an initiative supporting systemic educational transformation in congregations across North America, Europe and Israel. At Congregation Beth Am Israel (Penn Valley, PA) from 1989-2002, Rabbi Margolius helped develop a national model of the synagogue as a Shabbat-centered community constructed around intergenerational learning. Serving as Student Rabbi at Israel Congregation of Manchester from 1985-1988, he was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinic College in 1989. We are delighted to welcome Rabbi Margolius back home to Manchester!