Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, president of Shurat Hadin-the Israel Law Center, will speak Friday, Sept. 6 at Chabad of the Shore in Long Branch on “Bankrupting Terrorism One Lawsuit at a Time.” Shabbat services begin at 7 p.m. to be followed by dinner at 7:45 p.m. where Darshan-Leitner will speak.
As an activist attorney, she and her colleagues pioneered the strategy of combating terror financing, the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel and fought against the use of civil lawsuits against Israel. Darshan-Leitner has represented hundreds of terror victims in legal actions against international terrorist organizations and terrorist supporting countries winning millions of dollars on their behalf against such entities as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Iran and Syria in American, Israeli, Canadian and European courts. In recent years she has initiated a legal campaign to block terrorists from using social media such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X, formerly known as Twitter, to spread their message of violence and hate against Jews and Israel. Darshan-Leitner has been chosen twice as one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world by the Jerusalem Post.
The cost is $85 for adults and $40 for children. For information or to RSVP, call
(732) 229-2424 or chabadshore.com.
Learn how about the emergence of Zionism and how it fits into the mosaic of modern Judaism in the 20th and 21st centuries in a free virtual program featuring Joshua Shanes, associate professor and director of the Norman and Gerry Sue Arnold Center for Israel Studies at the College of Charleston. The program, “Zionism: Ancient Dream or Modern Revolution?,” is being presented by the East Brunswick Jewish Center on Thursday, Sept. 12 at 8:30 p.m. Although Zionism is the culmination of thousands of years of Jewish longing, it is also quintessentially modern and a secular revolution that draws selectively on Jewish traditions and texts to make a case for its authenticity.
Shanes has published widely on modern Jewish politics, culture, religion, antisemitism and contemporary politics in academic and poplar outlets, including Slate, the Washington Post, Haaretz and the Forward. His history of Jewish Orthodoxy will be published next year by Rutgers University Press.
After registering at ebjc.org/pjisrael a Zoom link will be sent. Although the program is free and open to all, donations are appreciated.
Yardena Schwartz, an award-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated producer and author of the forthcoming book, Ghosts of a Holy War, will speak on Monday, Sept. 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick about “The 1929 Massacre in Palestine that Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict.” The program will focus on events in Hebron, which in 1929 was governed under the British Mandate of Palestine when there was no occupation, state of Israel, or settlers and Jews and Muslims lived peacefully near the burial place of Abraham, patriarch of the Jewish and Arab nations. Then on one Saturday morning nearly 70 Jewish men, women, and children were slaughtered by their Arab neighbors. The Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis by Hamas that sparked the current war in Gaza demonstrates how little has changed in the last century and how much perspectives need to be revised if peace is ever to come to the region that both people share.
Schwartz has conducted extensive research and wide-ranging interviews with both sides to weave the current war into a historical framework demonstrating how the conflict today cannot be understood without the context of events of the last century.
Cost is $15 for members; $18 for non-members and $10 for students and seniors. To register go to aemt.net or for information (732) 545-6484.
Come hear the stories and dine with Holocaust survivors on Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 6 p.m. at the Bridge Grill, a kosher Turkish restaurant in Highland Park. During the event, sponsored by the Jewish Family Service of Middlesex County, three local survivors—Bill Schrimmer, Helen Gurkov and Lois Slamholz—will speak about their experiences while other survivors will be in attendance. Through its Holocaust Survivor Services program, JFS provides personal care, housekeeping services, home-delivered meals, socialization programs, case management services, transportation and counseling to the approximately 200 survivors in Middlesex County. Once a month it holds a Café Europa, bringing together about 100 survivors for a free lunch and a program of musical entertainment or a guest speaker.
Abby Edley of JFS said the agency is holding the program because it will provide community members with a chance to get to know and speak with a survivor. Those attending will purchase their own food off the menu. JFS is asking for a $10 donation to be earmarked its Holocaust services.
The agency would appreciate an RSVP by Sept. 6. For information or to RSVP contact JFS at 732-777-1940 or office@jfsmiddlesex.org. To view the menu go to bridgerestauaranthp.com.
