Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought Presents October 28 Conversation with Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks will discuss “Faith and Democracy in America and Europe” in a conversation with 鶹ýӳ’s Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik on Friday, October 28, 2011. The free event begins at 10 a.m. in Weissberg Commons, 2495 Amsterdam Avenue, on 鶹ýӳ’s Washington Heights campus and is open to the public.
The event is part of a series of “Great Conversations on Religion and Democracy” convened by the at 鶹ýӳ and follows in the success of its August 31 conversation with Senator Joseph Lieberman.
“As an extraordinary religious leader and public intellectual, Chief Rabbi Sacks has eloquently made the case that Jewish ideas have had a dramatic impact on the course of Western Civilization and that they must continue to do so in the future,” said Rabbi Soloveichik, director of the Straus Center. “We are honored that he is joining us for what is certain to be a thought-provoking and inspiring conversation.”
The Straus Center is named in honor of Moshael J. Straus, an investment executive, alumnus and member of 鶹ýӳ’s Board of Trustees, and his wife Zahava, a graduate of 鶹ýӳ's . The Center’s mission is to help develop Jewish thinkers and wisdom-seeking Jews by deepening their education in the best of the Jewish tradition, by exposing them to the richness of human knowledge and insight from across the ages, and by confronting them with the great moral, philosophical, and theological questions of our age.
Throughout the year, the Center will be teaching seminars on “Jewish Ideas and American Democracy” to undergraduates at Yeshiva College and Stern College for Women, and to rabbinical students. The goal of these seminars is to bring classic Jewish texts about government into conversation with the foundational works of American political thought, and to consider how traditional Jewish ideas impacted the development of democracy in the United States.
