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In celebration of Rabbi Panken’s Inauguration, distinguished
HUC-JIR faculty, leading guest scholars, and alumni thought
leaders offered interactive TED-style talks in which they addressed
the reimagining of Jewish life and envisioned a vibrant, innovative,
and achievable Reform Jewish future.
These video presentations are posted on the HUC-JIR website and are being shared
with congregations to support learning across the entire Reform Movement.
O
ne of the most interesting
relationships in world politics
today is the unusual alliance
between the United States and the
State of Israel – the superpower and
the regional pariah, the vast nation that
often thinks of itself as a shining city
on a hill and a small nation that has
endured siege and strife. While there
have always been bonds of friendship
between the U.S. and Israel, going
back to President Truman’s recognition
of Israel just minutes after it declared
its independence, those bonds have
been tested and tried in a relationship
enmeshed in webs of overlapping
conflicts – including not just the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict but also
disputes between Israel and neighboring
states as well as the surrounding global
political environment, from the Cold
War to today’s post-9/11 security
environment. The special relationship
between Washington and Jerusalem
came not from immaculate conception
but from a complex mix of calculations
mixing both ideals and interests –
evolving from the indecision of
Truman to the outright hostility of
the unsympathetic Eisenhower to the
pivotal president of Kennedy (whose
administration created the alliance as
we know it) to the full-blown 21st-
century alliance.
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Warren Bass, Ph.D., Senior Editor, The Wall Street Journal
AcAdemic SympoSium:
imAgining the JewiSh Future