We are pleased to offer a series of events this spring to facilitate engagement with Israel. We will talk about the war in Gaza and our complex and emotional relationships with the ongoing conflict. We will explore the possibility of travel. We will also meet with Israelis and Palestinians who are working together to build a shared society.
Curated by Rabbi Karen Levine and Rabbi Emeritus Jonathan Kligler, this series supports our hope that we can bring our community closer together while respecting different points of view. Times demand that we look at old problems in new ways.
Seeking Sparks of Light: Planning a Trip to Israel in Late 2025, led by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler
Tuesday, April 8, 7:30-8:30pm ET
ONLINE ONLY
REGISTER HERE for Zoom link
In these difficult and dangerous times, there are still good people everywhere steadfastly shining their light into the encroaching darkness. In Israel, Jews and Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians, religious and secular folks, artists and doctors and activists from all walks of life courageously continue to reach out across barriers of mistrust and support each other. Their efforts do not make the headlines, but their work continues.
As our focus on this trip to Israel, we will meet some of these organizations, offer our interest and support, and make some new friends and be inspired in return.
We will also meet with survivors of October 7, and bear witness to the suffering of this war. We will meet with leaders of Israel’s pro-democracy movement. We will be briefed on current events by trustworthy experts, and hear from multiple points of view. We will celebrate Shabbat in Israel. We will enjoy the gorgeous sights and delicious food of the region. We will show up, because we care.
Before we firm up any plans, we want to gauge if there is sufficient interest to make this happen. If you are excited, interested, or just curious, we invite you to attend this exploratory Zoom meeting on Tuesday evening, April 8 at 7pm. We understand that you might feel hesitant or frightened about traveling to an area currently engaged in sporadic armed conflict. Rabbi Jonathan has traveled to Israel twice in recent months, and will be able to address your concerns. Your input will help us determine the best dates and length for this trip, and influence our planned itinerary as well.
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Preparing for Our Conversation with Peter Beinart
Tuesday, May 6, 7pm ET
IN PERSON AND ONLINE
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Rabbi Karen and Rabbi Jonathan invite you to join a conversation to discuss the major themes in Peter Beinart’s recent book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza, in preparation for his visit to Woodstock on Tuesday, May 13 (see details below).
Please let us know that you are coming so that we can best prepare for this conversation.
REGISTER HERE for this evening discussion.
Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: Peter Beinart in Conversation with Rabbi Jonathan Kligler
Tuesday, May 13, 7–8:30pm ET
IN PERSON AND ONLINE
REGISTER HERE
Please join us as we welcome author Peter Beinart to Woodstock to discuss the themes of his latest book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning, with Rabbi Emeritus Jonathan Kligler.
In Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza, Beinart considers how a story of persecution and victimhood has come to dominate contemporary Jewish life, even as Israel is decimating the conditions of life for millions. That narrative, Beinart argues, both warps our understanding of Israel and Palestine and erases much of the nuance of Jewish religious tradition. After more than a year of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza—and the deployment of Jewish text and history to justify mass slaughter and starvation—Beinart insists that Jews must tell a new story. After this war, whose horror will echo for generations, they must offer a new answer to the question: What does it mean to be a Jew?
We want to discuss these very difficult questions and the WJC is pleased to host this conversation between Peter Beinart and our rabbi emeritus Jonathan Kligler. We will welcome all questions, including the most challenging, while modeling respectful and civil discourse.
Peter Beinart teaches national reporting and opinion writing at the Newmark J-School and political science at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is the editor-at-large of Jewish Currents, an MSNBC political commentator, author of The Beinart Notebook on Substack, a fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace, and the author of Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza. https://peterbeinart.substack.com/
Rabbi Jonathan Kligler is rabbi emeritus of Kehillat Lev Shalem, the Woodstock Jewish Congregation. He is a renowned and beloved teacher of Torah, and is the author of Turn It and Turn It, for Everything Is in It: Essays on the Weekly Torah Portion. He is now devoting himself to writing, teaching, and sharing the joy of music. You can read his latest essays on his Substack publication: “Turn It and Turn It,” https://jonathankligler.substack.com/
Co-sponsored with Jewish Currents. www.jewishcurrents.org
Books are available at the Golden Notebook in Woodstock and on their website: https://goldennotebook.com/book/9780593803899
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REPORTS FROM PEACEMAKERS IN ISRAEL
A Three-part series, Your Questions Encouraged and Welcomed
Making Peace in a Time of War:
Rabbi Michael Cohen on the work of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies
Tuesday, June 10, 7-8:30pm ET
IN PERSON AND ONLINE
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Rabbi Michael Cohen has long divided his time between Israel and the US. In Israel Rabbi Cohen teaches for the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, a remarkable organization that, following its maxim that “nature knows no borders,” trains Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian and international environmental activists who work together across national boundaries for sustainable environmental practices and policies. When stateside Rabbi Cohen teaches Conflict Resolution at Bennington College and advocates for coexistence. He is a frequent columnist for the Jerusalem Post.
Rabbi Cohen recently returned to his Vermont home after being in Israel for much of the current war. In conversation with Rabbi Jonathan, Michael will discuss the efforts of the Arava Institute during the current war, including their initiative “Jumpstarting Hope in Gaza.” Michael will also describe life during wartime on Kibbutz Ketura, the desert kibbutz that houses the Arava Institute, and share his perspectives on the urgent matters facing Israel and the international Jewish community.
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Galilee Dreamers: Building a Shared Society in Israel
With Dr. Roberta Bell-Kligler, Founder, Dr. Rachel Ravid, Director and Dr. Malik Hujeirat, Co-Director
Tuesday, June 17, 12-1:30pm ET
ONLINE ONLY
REGISTER HERE
Galilee Dreamers is a program of Oranim International at Oranim College that unites Jewish and Arab high school students, teachers, and teachers-in-training from Israel to work towards a shared society. A Galilee Dreamer delegation of Arab and Jewish teens came to the Woodstock Jewish Congregation for an unforgettable and uplifting visit in 2020. Since that time, despite the pandemic and now the war, Galilee Dreamers has continued to grow. Rabbi Jonathan serves on their Advisory Board, and will moderate the conversation.
Here is what our speakers will offer us:
“The situation in Israel is complex, upsetting and in flux. Many people outside of Israel are interested to learn more, to ask questions and to engage in frank and open conversation with those living in Israel.
“We are Galilee Dreamers – a group of Jews and Arabs living in the Galilee – who have been working together for a decade trying to make Israel a better country. Our mission seems especially urgent now.
“We offer an opportunity to get to know us and to share ideas with us, as we continue to live in the daily battleground of our country. We can open our hearts and minds as we reveal our experiences, concerns and hopes.”
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The Sulha Peace Project, and the View from Jerusalem
With Dr. Melila Hellner-Eshed
Tuesday, June 24, 12-1:30 ET
ONLINE ONLY
REGISTER HERE
Melila Hellner-Eshed is a world-renowned scholar of Jewish mysticism, an influential teacher of rabbis and Jewish leaders from across the religious spectrum, a fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, a native Jerusalemite, and the Chair of the Board of the Sulha Peace Project. The WJC has had the privilege of hosting Melila in years past as our scholar-in-residence.
As their website explains, “Sulha is a grassroots organization working to heal and reconcile Israelis and Palestinians. Inspired by the traditional Middle Eastern process of mediation, Sulha, our programs rebuild trust, restore dignity, and build the foundation for peace and reconciliation. Conflicts engender erasure of the human faces of the Other. We seek to strengthen humanity and restore the faces of the human beings that live on both sides of the conflict.” Since October 7 Sulha has persisted in its mission, and also provided crucial material support to its Palestinian members whose livelihoods were deeply impacted by the war.
Melila will describe the current work of Sulha, and also share with us about the tenor of life in Jerusalem and Israel at large. Among her many gifts, Melila can straddle the realities of Israelis and of Americans, and can translate her experiences for us in a way that news media cannot. Rabbi Jonathan will moderate, and all questions will be welcome.