Community Events (most recent)
The SJSU Jewish Studies Program is pleased to invite you to a talk by
Avi Melamed
October 29, 2009, 7 PM
Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, Rm 225
The Minaret and the Satellite Dish:
A Geostrategic Analysis of the Middle East
This in-depth analysis unfolds the Middle Eastern fabric and the fascinating dance of characters, events, images, and reality and their impact on the local, regional and global level.
Avi Melamed is an Israeli educator, consultant, and lecturer. At the age of 30 he was appointed the youngest-ever Deputy, and later Senior Advisor on Jerusalemite Arab Affairs to Mayor Teddy Kollek and to his successor, Mayor Ehud Olmert. After leaving the government, Melamed entered the private sector where he founded Mikdam, a strategic consulting company on Arab affairs. His military service was in the IDF’s intelligence and counterterrorism arena in the West Bank.
An educator at heart, Melamed founded IDAN, a non-profit grassroots initiative whose goal is to encourage and empower educators in Israeli society. IDAN is based on Melamed’s belief that educators, once the moral compass for the State of Israel, are the ones to lead the country through its current difficult times.
Mr. Melamed provides a unique perspective on the complications both within Israeli-Jewish society and Israeli-Arab society. His objective as a speaker is to provide tools with which audiences can better understand Israel, both culturally and politically.
Additional information can be found at the following link: http://www.avimelamed.com/Lectures_E.html
Mr. Melamed’s talk is co-sponsored by the Consulate General of Israel, Pacific Northwest Region, the Jewish Community Relations Council, and the Anti-Defamation League.
Recent events
The Jewish Studies Program's Robert Levinson Memorial Lecture brings acclaimed speakers annually:
Award winning Israeli political scientist Guy Ben Porat, addressing "Globalization, Peace and Discontent: Farewell to the New Middle East?"
Father of slain journalist Daniel Pearl, Judea Pearl, speaking on "Fighting the Ideology of Terrorism"
 Working closely with Hillel of Silicon Valley, SJSU devoted two weeks in fall 2007 to the study of terrorism. Featured were Diane Covert's photo exhibit “Inside Terrorism: The X-Ray Project,” the talk by Judea Pearl, a Consuls General panel, and many more events.
The SJSU Jewish Studies Program works with the Consulate General of Northern California, with Hillel of Silicon Valley, and with other SJSU departments to bring internationally recognized speakers to campus; all talks are open to the public.
Award-winning novelist , journalist, Israeli TV station director, and Academy Award Nominee Ron Leshem, discussing his Oscar-nominated film Beaufort, prior to its screening at Cinequest
Award-winning Israeli poet, novelist, and theater director Michal Govrin, reading from her new novel, Snapshots.
Director of the Institute for Global Security Law and Policy Amos Guiora, addressing "A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Counterterrorism”
U.S. Holocaust Museum fellow Alexa Stiller, speaking on the Nazi plan of Germanization
Noted raconteur George Gilbert, telling the story of the "Leica Freedom Train," the German Leitz family's brilliant use of their camera company to save hundreds of Jews from Nazism.
For the past four years, In collaboration with various South Bay public libraries, the ALA, and NextBook, Victoria Harrison, English Professor David Mesher, and several other guest speakers have led the popular Jewish literature series “Let’s Talk About It,” exploring a wide range of topics, closing the series with the discussion of Jewish graphic novels.
Several departments at SJSU worked together with Hillel to host an outstanding week of programming on the Holocaust and other Genocides in April 2007. Together, we received a $25,000 gift from the Jewish Family and Children’s Services’ Zisovich Award for Holocaust Education, which enabled us to learn from Lani Silver, Jonathan Roth, speakers from the and many others. |
