Save the Date:
Gratz College
Annual Gala
April 30th
6:00 p.m.
Har Zion Temple
Featuring
Purchase ads in our virtual ad book
or contact Mindy Cohen at
215 635-7300 x155 or mcohen@gratz.edu. |
Stern Family Institute
for Israel Studies
Lecture
Consul General
Yaron Sideman
"Israel and the Changing Middle East"
March 7, 2013 7:30 pm Reception following lecture Free and open to the public r.s.v.p. Mindy Cohen
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Commemorate a special occasion by making a gift to Gratz College, and we will send out a beautiful tribute card.
Contact: Beth Schonberger
215-635-7300 x 153.
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Shusterman Distingiushed Scholar Lecture
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Professor
Suzanne Last Stone
"The Competing Claims of Law and Religion"
CLE credit available
Reception following lecture
Free and open to the public
r.s.v.p. Mindy Cohen
215 635-7300 x 155
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The Megile of
Itzik Manger
April 21, 2013 - 9:30 am
Contact Rita Ratson,
Yiddish Program Coordinator
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On view in the Kramer Gallery
February and March
Photography
by David Stein
and Rachel Mann
Opening February 24th 1:30-3:00
April and May
Paintings
by Diane Cover
Opening April 14th 1:30-3:30
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Dear Friends,
With Purim approaching, this issue of The Insider comes to you with a hamantashen recipe and a thought-provoking interpretation of the holiday by Professor Joshua Gutoff. Professor Gutoff describes Purim as an opportunity to consider life from different perspectives, a theme that transcends many of the articles in this newsletter.
In the article on Gratz's first doctoral program, for example, Dr. Saul Wachs relishes his students' diverse perspectives on Judaism and Jewish education. In his movie review, Rabbi Lance Sussman analyzes the film Lincoln from a point of view unlikely to have been considered by film critics or members of the Academy. The preview of the Stern Family Institute Lecture references Consul General Yaron Sideman's perspective on the political situation in Israel. Finally, and most dramatically, the article on the Gratz Cuba trip describes a place strikingly different from our world with a small Jewish population striving to do what we don't have to: rekindle their heritage.
By taking time to consider life from different perspectives this Purim, may you enjoy the hidden miracles of the holiday.
Chag Purim Sameach,
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Joy W. Goldstein Bruce H. Holberg
President Chairman, Board of Governors |
 The Gratz Ed.D. program: For Dr. Saul Wachs, a microcosm of the Jewish communityDr. Saul Wachs is director of Gratz College's first doctoral program, the doctorate in Jewish Education (Ed.D.), which is coordinated by Professor Joshua Gutoff. As one of only five such programs in North America, the Gratz Ed.D. has more than tripled in enrollment since its founding in 2007. Delighted with this success, Dr. Wachs is also enthused about a particular aspect of the program: the diversity of the students. For example, there is the Chabad rabbi with the surprising past, the soon-to-be "Dr. Mom," and the perennial student with multiple degrees. Read more.
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 Gratz Goes to CubaThe vintage 1950's cars careening through town, the energetic Latin beat reverberating from every street corner and the juxtaposition of great architecture and dilapidated buildings all combined to remind the group on the second Gratz College trip to Cuba that they were indeed very far from home, perhaps not geographically, but culturally, politically and economically. From Santiago to Guantanamo to Havana, the Gratz travelers experienced the sights and sounds of a vibrant island nation inching tentatively toward the 21st century. Read more and click here to see highlights of the trip.
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 And the Oscar goes to...
Feeling the buzz from Hollywood, The Gratz Insider welcomes the approach of the Academy Awards with a link to a review of the multiple-Oscar-nominated film Lincoln. The review appears in the Jewish Ideas Daily and was written by Rabbi Lance Sussman from his perspective as a Jewish and an American historian. The senior rabbi of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, Rabbi Sussman is also an author, lecturer and adjunct professor of Jewish history. His teaching venues include Gratz, where he is currently teaching an online history course. Given his knowledge of the Jewish community during the Civil War, Rabbi Sussman is well positioned to consider the movie Lincoln from this perspective. Read his review here. |
 The Gratz GourmetWith Purim approaching, "The Gratz Gourmet" is featuring a hamantashen recipe contributed by Joshua Gutoff, who is both an assistant professor of Jewish education at Gratz and the coordinator of the Gratz doctoral program in Jewish education under Dr. Saul Wachs. In this column, Professor Gutoff has decided to feed our minds as well as our bodies by sharing not only his recipe, but also his intriguing perspective on the holiday of Purim. For the recipe and the analysis, read more.
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Israeli Consul General Yaron Sideman to speak at Gratz With the Israeli parliamentary elections behind us, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is struggling to create a coalition government within the Knesset. Given the ideological diversity across Israel's political spectrum, the makeup of this coalition and its implications for the volatile Middle East remain to be seen. For insight into this situation and other current topics, Gratz welcomes Yaron Sideman, Israeli consul general to the Mid-Atlantic Region, as the guest speaker on March 7th for the Stern Family Institute for Israel Studies Lecture. Read more. |
 Judith E. Fellheimer, Esq., joins the Gratz board of governors "I am proud to be the descendent of a people with an ancient tradition of scholarship and commitment to teaching their children. I too am committed to educating the next generation of Jews about the writings, traditions and ethics of their people so that they will be able share my pride and perpetuate Jewish values," says attorney Judith Fellheimer. In June 2012, Fellheimer demonstrated her personal commitment to Jewish education by joining her husband, Alan, as a member of the Gratz board of governors. Fellheimer and her husband are founding partners of the law firm Fellheimer & Eichen LLP. Based in Philadelphia, with offices in New York and New Jersey, the firm specializes in business and commercial litigation, banking and family law. Fellheimer herself practices primarily in the areas of corporate and family law. As a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Temple University Beasley School of Law, she also serves on the Trustees' Council of Penn Women. About her new role on the Gratz board of governors, Fellheimer says, "Gratz is a great institution. I am really thrilled to be on the board and to support the college in its goals of furthering Jewish education." |
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Gratz Youth News in Brief
JCHS student participates in AIPAC's
Saban Leadership Seminar
In January, Seth Harrison, a Gratz Jewish Community High School (JCHS) student, was selected to represent Gratz at the Saban Leadership Seminar. For hundreds of students from across the country, this AIPAC conference in Washington, D.C. offered networking opportunities and lectures by AIPAC representatives and Middle East experts. "For me," said Harrison, who is a high school senior, "the conference served as an initial exposure to the different types of pro-Israel activity available on a college campus and provided interesting insights into the issues that Israel currently faces."
JCHS launches two new programs for teens
Through My Philly Mitzvah Project, 11-to-13-year-old students are invited to participate in a variety of service projects arranged by JCHS. The students also receive support from JCHS staff in preparing presentations about their experiences for their bar/bat mitzvah ceremonies.
In addition, JCHS has launched an innovative program for the post-b'nai mitzvah set: i2i - I'm going to Israel. Funded by the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, i2i offers 8th-grade students an exciting way to continue their Jewish education. The highlight of this program is a ten-day summer trip to Israel, which is sandwiched between interactive learning experiences in the spring of 8th grade and follow-up educational and leadership activities in 9th grade.
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