Women Head Speakers Roster
At JCCs Of North America Biennial
Hundreds Expected To Gather In Philadelphia
Sunday, May 7-
Wednesday, May 10
NEW YORK, NY, APRIL 12, 2006 –
Spotlighting its commitment to foster leadership roles for
women in Jewish communal service, JCC Association has recruited
three big-name female scholars to deliver keynote addresses
when delegates to the organization’s Biennial gather
at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Sunday, May 7 through
Wednesday, May 10. The convocation’s theme, Leh-atid:
Inspiring Jewish Journeys, Securing Jewish Futures, will be
reflected in the presentations on Jewish history and identity
and leadership development by Drs. Deborah Lipstadt; Jackie
Frieberg; and Rela Mintz Geffen. Ambassador Arye Mekel, Israel’s
Consul General in New York, is also among the speakers scheduled
to address attendees at an Israel Plenary during the week.
Dr. Lipstadt, the keynoter at the Inspiring
Jewish Journeys Plenary on Monday, May 8 at 9:00 a.m., is
JCC Association’s scholar-in-residence. The author of
History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving, an account
of her victory in the libel case against her by Holocaust
denier David Irving, Lipstadt is the renowned Dorot professor
of modern Jewish history and Holocaust studies and director
of the Rabbi Donald A. Tam Institute for Jewish Studies at
Emory University in Atlanta. She writes and lectures widely
on the Holocaust and helped design the section of the United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. that
deals with the American response to this cataclysmic event.
Beyond presenting an overview of the trial,
in this session, Lipstadt will elaborate on the implications
of Holocaust denial in our time. In another, small group discussion,
she will incorporate her keen observations on American Jewish
life and community in an analysis of their impact on future
generations of Jews and the potential of JCCs to help secure
a more vibrant Jewish future.
Dr. Jackie Frieberg, an expert on leadership
development and organizational creativity, wrote NUTS! Southwest
Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success,
which has sold more than half a million copies worldwide.
Frieberg co-founded the Family Business Institute at the University
of San Diego where she was one of the creative forces behind
the development of practical, research-based educational programs
for family businesses. She also worked with MassMutual Life
Insurance Company to design the first-ever CD-ROM training
tool for family businesses. Dr. Frieberg will be the keynote
speaker at the Leadership Plenary, Tuesday, May 8 at 9:00
a.m.
Dr. Rela Mintz Geffen, president of Baltimore
Hebrew University, will be the featured speaker at the Jewish
Peoplehood Plenary on Wednesday, May 10 at 8:30 a.m. Dean
of academic affairs at Philadephia’s Gratz College for
five years prior to assuming her current post at BHU, Geffen
is also a fellow of the Center for Jewish Community Studies
and has taught at the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Jewish
Studies, the University of Capetown, the Jewish Theological
Seminary and Bryn Mawr College. With her research focus on
the sociology of religion, particularly within the American
Jewish community, she has looked extensively at family structures,
the changing roles of men and women, the cost of living Jewishly,
the meaning of citizenship in a voluntary community and the
impact of mixed marriage on the extended Jewish family. She
is co-author (with the late Daniel J. Elazar) of The Conservative
Movement in Judaism (SUNY Press, 2000).
Ambassador Arye Mekel was born to Holocaust
survivors in the former Soviet Union in 1946. Three years
later, the family moved to Israel. He earned bachelor’s
degrees in political science and English language and literature
at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, later receiving a master’s
in mass communication. Mekel also studied at Columbia University
in New York, where he received an M.A. in sociology.
Ambassador Mekel joined Israel’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs in 1984 as a senior researcher at the Center for Political
Research. He went on to serve as foreign policy advisor to
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and director general of the
Israel Broadcasting Authority, responsible for all state television
and radio. Prior to his move to the consul general’s
office in New York, Mekel represented Israel in South Korea
and at the United Nations, as well as in Atlanta, Georgia
and has served as a special government spokesman dealing with
the foreign press. He will headline the Israel Plenary on
Tuesday, May 9 at 2:00 p.m.
Hundreds of JCC presidents, advanced leaders,
board members and committee chairs from the volunteer ranks
of JCCs across North America are expected to attend the Biennial,
where continental programming initiatives are introduced and
individuals and centers are recognized for innovation and
leadership. The gathering also provides an opportunity for
participants to explore issues of management and governance
and examine models of successful fundraising and membership
promotion through sessions designed by the newly established
Mandel Center for Excellence in Leadership and Management
and led by experts in their field. The Florence G. Heller-JCC
Association Research Center will offer seminars on strategic
planning and unveil the latest research findings. JCC Association’s
Mandel Center for Jewish Education will offer in-depth Jewish
learning experiences throughout the Biennial. Highlights on
the schedule include:
• Judaism & The Grateful Dead
• At Play: Teaching Teenagers Theater by actress/playwright
Liz Swados
• Looking at Jewish Film: How to Stimulate Jewish Culture
through Cinema, including a screening of the hot new film,
A Cantor’s Tale, and discussion with director Erik Greenberg
Anjou
• Spirit of New Orleans, a presentation based on a visit
to the city and the New Orleans JCC in the wake of Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita
• Are Contemporary Israeli Writers Still Jewish? New
Voices in Israeli Literature
• Unaffiliated but Engaged? Exploring the Identities
and Connections of Jewish Young Adults
• Award presentations
• Program Showcase
• Reception at the National Constitution Center
• Biennial Auction
Complete information about the JCC Association
Biennial may be found on the JCC Association website at www.jcca.org.
###
JCC Association
is the leadership network of, and central agency for the Jewish
Community Center Movement, which is comprised of 350 JCC,
YM-YWHA and camp sites in the U. S. and Canada. JCC Association
offers a wide range of services and resources to strengthen
the capacity of its affiliates to provide educational, cultural,
social, Jewish identity-building, and recreational programs
to enhance the lives of North American Jews of all ages and
backgrounds. Additionally, the movement fosters and strengthens
connections between North American Jews and Israel as well
as with world Jewry. JCC Association is also the U.S. government
accredited agency for serving the religious and social needs
of Jewish military personnel, their families, and patients
in VA hospitals through JWB Jewish Chaplains Council.
Miriam
Rinn
Communications Manager
JCC Association
15 E. 26 St., NY, NY 10010
212-786-5092
grounds. Additionally, the movement fosters and strengthens
connections between North American Jews and Israel as well
as with world Jewry. JCC Association is also a U.S. government
accredited agency for serving the religious and social needs
of Jewish military personnel, their families, and patients
in VA hospitals through JWB Jewish Chaplains Council.
The NFL Youth Football Fund (YFF) is a 501c3 nonprofit organization
founded by the National Football League and NFL Players Association
in 1998 to use football as a catalyst to promote positive
youth development. Through the YFF, hundreds of thousands
of youngsters have been given the opportunity to learn the
game of football, get physically fit, and stay involved in
productive after-school activities with adult mentors. The
YFF also provides youth football participants with safe and
accessible places to play, as well as programs and initiatives
that address the importance of proper coaching, academics,
health and safety, and life skills development.
fax: 212-481-4174
send an e-mail
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