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Federation Star
JEWISH FEDERATION
February 2024
2024
The life and death of the Dead Sea
ELLIOTT KATZ LECTURE SERIES
By Professor Shay Rabineau, Department of Judaic Studies, Binghamton University
(January-March)
Co-sponsored by
OF GREATER NAPLES
PRESENTATION SCHEDULE Jan. 12 – The United Nations Blinks, Again
From April 1992 until November 1996 Bosnian Serb soldiers and Serbian Army units conducted a campaign of genocide against Bosnian Muslims. Learn how NATO was useless when handcuffed by the U.N.
Jan. 26 – Very Rich, Very Beautiful, Very Bad
While living in France during WWII, Florence La Caze Gould, wife to the son of one of America’s richest men, befriended and bedded some of the worst Nazi murderers in the country. Investigated by J. Edgar Hoover and F.B.I. for treason after the war, what was her excuse?
Feb. 9 – These Were Not Nice Jewish Boys
During the 1930s, there was an almost unfathomable rise of antisemitism. One man enlisted a group of Jews to stop Jew baiting and harassment. They were known nationwide as Murder, Inc. What did they do?
Feb. 23 – They Said It Couldn’t Happen Here, It Did
19th century America was in turmoil. Mormon immigrants were the subject of an expulsion and extermination order. Later, a Union General, who later became the President of the United States, ordered Jews living in the South to be deported. How could this happen and who did this?
March 8 — The Black Experience Under the Swastika, You Will Be Surprised
Adolf Hitler and National Socialism had only hatred and scorn for black skinned people. Ironically, one black “American Prisoner of War” became a hero to a generation of white concentration camp and labor camp inmates. Hear about Johnny Nicholas and his courage.
Dr. Shay Rabineau will discuss the sea’s past, present and future March 18
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n 1934, 12 Jewish teenagers from In his talk, Dr. Rabineau will discuss British Mandate Palestine walked the sea’s past, present and future, and will around the world’s lowest body of share some insights gained from his effort water during a grueling two-week trek to holistically research the environment of and wrote a Hebrew-language bestseller the Dead Sea through the act of walking. about it. They were the first people in Join us for this talk on Monday, March recorded history to circle the lake on foot. 18, 2 p.m. at the Nina Iser Jewish CulShortly after the 1934 trek, outbreaks of tural Center. Please register for this free violence turned the area around the Jorprogram at www.jewishnaples.org or dan River and Dead Sea into a militarized directly from https://JFGN.regfox.com/ border zone. Treasure hunters scoured dead-sea-presentation nearby caves for scrolls and artifacts. Presented by MCA, WCA, Israel and Israelis and Jordanians exploited the area’s Overseas Committee, and Jewish Federawater and mineral resources, drained tion of Greater Naples. the sea and turned part Professor Rabineau is of the lake into an indusassociate professor of Israel trial wasteland. Even after Studies in the Department Israel and Jordan reached a of Judaic Studies at Bingpeace agreement in 1994, hamton University and few travelers, if any, serithe associate director of ously considered the feasithe Center for Israel Studbility of again circling the ies. He obtained his Ph.D. Dead Sea on foot. from Brandeis University in In 2022, Shay Rabineau 2013, and then did postcompleted the seconddoctoral work at Brandeis ever circumambulation and at the Hebrew Univerof the Dead Sea. It was sity in Jerusalem. He has Professor Shay the first continuous jourworked as a consultant for Rabineau ney around the body of the World Trails Network water since the rise of nation-states and the Abraham Path Initiative, an effort in the Middle East. During the twoto develop hiking trails across the Middle week trek, accompanied by a photograEast. He is the author of “Walking the Land: pher, he examined the origins of one of A History of Israeli Hiking Trails” (Indiana the world’s worst environmental crises, University Press, 2023) and teaches univerencountered the human communities sity courses on Israeli history, politics and affected by it and explored the political environmental issues. His current research paralysis that has thus far forestalled focuses on the history, politics and environpractical solutions. ment of the Dead Sea.
March 22 – The New York Times, It Never Learns
The New York Times reporting on the rise of Fidel Castro, violence in the middle east and Israel’s need to defend itself reaffirms the view that the Sulzberger Dynast, continues to let ideology, politics and prejudices dictate “all the news fit to print.”
March 29 - Saluting America and the American Soldier
81 years ago, the United States Marines captured Iwo Jima, steppingstone to Japan. 6,000 Marines died and 18,500 were injured. Today we tell the story and honor every man and woman serving to protect America.
DETAILS AND TICKETS WHERE: Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center 4720 Pine Ridge Rd. WHEN: 10-11:30 a.m. with Q&A to follow. COST: Series tickets: $150 pp; 4 ticket: $100; Individual tickets $35 pp PURCHASE SERIES OR INDIVIDUAL TICKETS AT WWW.JEWISHNAPLES.ORG. Tickets can be purchased at the door if seats are available.
PLAN TO GO Dr. Shay Rabineau Discussion When: Monday, March 18, 2 p.m. Where: The Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center
