Sunday, April 16, 10:00 AM –
In celebration of Israel’s 75th anniversary, this combined book-and-film series will provide an opportunity to watch short documentary films about prominent Israeli authors, and also to read one of their defining works. Then, via Zoom, engage in insightful discussions with facilitator and educator Rachel Korazim. This amazing opportunity to celebrate Israel through its authors will surely make Israel’s momentous birthday a meaningful one.
We will be discussing Yehoshua’s A Journey to the End of the Millennium. When Ben Attar, a Moroccan Jewish merchant, takes a second wife in the year 999, he commits an act whose unforeseen consequences will forever alter his family, his relationships, his business life. In an attempt to forestall conflict and advance his business interests at the same time, Ben Attar undertakes his annual journey to Europe with both his first wife and his new wife. The trip is the beginning of a profound human drama whose moral conflicts of fidelity and desire resonate with those of our time. Yehoshua renders the medieval world of Jewish and Christian culture and trade with astonishing depth and sensuous detail. Through the trials of a medieval merchant, the renowned author explores the deepest questions about the nature of morality, character, codes of human conduct, and matters of the heart.
Facilitator: Rachel Korazim is a Jewish education consultant specializing in curriculum development for Israel and Holocaust education. Born in Israel, she served as an IDF officer in the central training base for women and was later a member of the IDF delegation to the country of Niger (West Africa). She is a graduate of Haifa University with a Ph.D. in Jewish education. She is involved with Jewish education worldwide. Since 1990, she has invested time and energy in helping emerging Jewish schools of Hungary.
This program is free and open to the public. Pre-registration is required. To register for this film discussion, click here.
Please consider joining us for all of our “Celebrating Israel at 75” book-and-film discussions:
March/April: A. B. Yehoshua (1936 – 2022)
Film: The Last Chapter of A. B. Yehoshua (2021) will be available to stream from February 19 – March 12, 2023.
The discussion will be on Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 10:00 AM. | Click here to register.
Book: A Journey to the End of the Millennium (2000)
The discussion will be on Sunday, April 16, 2023 at 10:00 AM. | Click here to register.
May/June: David Grossman (1954 – )
Film: Grossman (2021) will be available to stream from April 17 – May 7, 2023.
The discussion will be on Sunday, May 7, 2023 at 10:00 AM. | Click here to register.
Book: See Under: Love (2002)
The discussion will be on Sunday, June 4, 2023 at 10:00 AM. | Click here to register.
Co-sponsored by Temple Beth El, Sinai Temple, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, the Jewish Endowment Fund of the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts, and the Springfield JCC