Serenade
by Brandywine
W HAT IS D IFFERENT A BOUT S ERENADE L IVING ?
Serenade is a complement of our personal care services and accommodations
boasting newly appointed furnishings, a private Butler, refined décor, comfortable and intimate lounge,
and upgraded luxurious suites. Serenade is meticulously designed to surpass expectations and is inspired
by a lifestyle with an emphasis on luxury, privacy and service. So simply relax and enjoy a cup of coffee
away from the hustle and bustle of community life, have the Butler bring you lunch in your elegant suite,
relax in the lounge or join the gang for a bridge tournament, it’s your choice…with Serenade.

Serenade can be seen by appointment only.

Call Lori or Catherine at 215.591.4000
BRANDYWINE LIVING AT DRESHER ESTATES
1405 North Limekiln Pike | Dresher, PA 19025
Brandywine Living has locations throughout NJ, PA, DE, CT, NY, VA & MD
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6 FEBRUARY 4, 2021
JEWISH EXPONENT
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



H eadlines
Penn Lecture Series Explores Race and Religion
L OCA L
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
STEVEN WEITZMAN THINKS
the story of race and religion in
America goes beyond the Black
and white binary, a narrative
that excludes many Jews of
color. After the racial justice
protests that swept the nation
last summer, the director of
the Herbert D. Katz Center for
Advanced Judaic Studies at
the University of Pennsylvania
decided to create a lecture
series to explore the topic.

“I really wanted to push this
series beyond the two-dimen-
sional approach that a lot of
people bring to the topic, and
to really explore many different
dimensions of a kind of multi-
racial justice,” Weitzman said
of “Jews, Race, and Religion,”
a program he has developed in
partnership with the Center for
Jewish Ethics.

The talks focus on intersec-
tions of race and religion, the
history of anti-Semitism, the
role of Jews in the racialized
culture of the United States and
the role of race in Jewish identity.

The lineup features scholars
from all over the country who
hail from diverse racial and
religious backgrounds.

The program, which features
11 lectures, is offered in
conjunction with the academic
course Religious Studies/
Jewish Studies 207 taught by
Weitzman, but is also a stand-
alone series open to the public.

More than 1,500 viewers regis-
tered for the first lecture.

Weitzman said communi-
ties across the country were
spurred to examine their own
role in the fight for racial
justice after the killing of
George Floyd, and the Jewish
community was no exception.

“Being privy to some of
the conversations, I thought
it would be helpful to learn
more about the intersection of
race and religion and Jewish
identity and how Jews relate to
other people within the United
States, and how it fits into the
larger struggle against racism,”
Weitzman said.

The first installment, “Is the
Talmud Racist?,” took place on
Jan. 28 and featured Rabbi Mira
Wasserman, director of the
Center for Jewish Ethics and
assistant professor of rabbinic
literature at Reconstructionist
Rabbinical College. Her goal
was to challenge both anti-Se-
mitic conceptions of the
Talmud as consistently hostile
to non-Jews and aspects of the
Talmud that perpetuate hateful
ideas among Jewish people
about different groups.

Wasserman argued the
rabbis inherited a diversity of
views on the meaning of Jewish
identity and on the nature of
the boundaries between Jews
and non-Jews. In the Book of
Ruth, the titular character is a
Moabite woman celebrated for
converting and dedicating her
life to the Jewish people.

“Ruth is revered as the
great-grandmother of King
David, which makes her an
ancestor of Messiah, as well.

For the Book of Ruth, bound-
aries between Jews and others
are permeable, and people of
non-Jewish backgrounds are
not only welcome but embraced
and celebrated when they
throw their lot in with Israel,”
Wasserman said. “The Book of
Ezra takes a very different view,
railing against Israelite men
who married women who are
of Moabite or other non-Isra-
elite backgrounds.”
Marc Dollinger, a professor of
Jewish studies at San Francisco
State University, will present
“Black Power, Jewish Politics:
Reinventing the Alliance in the
1960s” on Feb 25.

He said the scale and scope
of the Black Lives Matter
protests are similar to the civil
rights movement, but there are
key differences in how white
liberal Jews perceived racism
then and how they perceive it
now. Whereas activists in the
’50s and ’60s viewed racism as
hateful behavior, segregation
and the violence of the Ku Klux
Klan, today’s activists are more
focused on structural racism,
or systems of oppression that
benefit some while harming
others. Dollinger said white Jewish
leaders actually understood
systemic racism during the civil
rights movement, although it
was not discussed as widely.

“They understood the limits
of their own movement. And
they understood that there was
going to be tension between
white Jews and Blacks around
racial difference,” he said. “So
what we have happening today
is really an even deeper and
more profound understanding
of the fundamental differences
based on race when it comes to
allocating resources on society,
whether it’s education, health
care, criminal justice, all of that.”
Viewers can
register for the lectures at katz.sas.

upenn.edu/resources/blog/ jews-race-and-religion. l
spanzer@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0729
Clockwise from top left: Rabbi Mira Wasserman, Steven Weitzman and Anne Albert participate in a lecture series.

Courtesy of the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania
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FEBRUARY 4, 2021
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