LHI’s Education Committee presents our Spring 2023 Education Series, The War in Ukraine: Where have we been? ~ Where to go from here?, led by Rabbi Julie Greenberg.
The war in Ukraine touches a nerve in the Jewish psyche, not only because of the violence, destruction and overwhelming abuse by a dominant power, but also because so many of our ancestors hail from that part of the world. The great Jewish storyteller Shalom Aleichem came from what is now Ukraine, as did 96% of the Hassidic Rebbes. Even though our ancestors had to navigate a vicious anti-semitic strand of Ukrainian culture, today many of our hearts go out to the Ukrainian people battling for survival against an overwhelming abusive onslaught. But the story is more complicated than what the mainstream news often presents. As someone said recently, “We need a Pentagon papers about Ukraine.” What brought us to this situation and what are possible pathways forward? Framed by Jewish teachings on pursuing peace, we will learn from Noam Chomsky (Public Intellectual, MIT), from leading independent investigative journalists and from top U.S. officials in the military and state department. As citizens of the world, and as a Jewish community, what happens in Ukraine matters to us.
All sessions will be on Zoom and will begin at 12:00 pm. Leyv Ha-Ir members will automatically receive the Zoom info. Guests must register for each session. Zoom links will be sent the day before the program.
There is no charge for these programs. It is suggested that guests make a donation of $18 or an amount of their choice to support Leyv Ha-Ir's programing. Donation information is here.
The recommended book for this series in addition to resources for each session:
War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies
You can also purchase the book from your independent bookstore.
All three sessions will draw on Jewish peace values discussed in two accompanying resources. This article will be used in all three sessions:
Jewish teachings on peace:
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/jewish-teachings-on-peace/
We look forward to connecting in an informed way about this timely topic.
Session 2 - May 7
The second session in our series on Ukraine, will broaden our factual understanding of the current events in Ukraine, drawing on reporting from independent experts who are not always covered in the mainstream news. Some of these perspectives may be disconcerting but will give us a wider lens for considering the situation.
The resource for this session is an hour long video by the leading leftist intellectual Noam Chomsky that gives the recent political history of NATO’s creep towards Russia’s doorstep, breaking NATO’s commitment after the unification of Germany not to move a single foot eastward. The journalist asks Chomsky some of the same questions you might have. Understanding this history is important for seeing the U.S. and NATO’s role in creating the situation that alarms Putin.
Noam Chomsky: A Left Response to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Session 3 will be on May 21. See our calendar for that date for a description.
