BADIL

MARC H. ELLIS:

Judaism Does Not Equal Israel

BOOK LAUNCH AND LECTURE

Saturday 14 November 2009
4:30 PM OISE: Room 2-214
252 Bloor Street West -- St. George Subway Stop

When one community’s redemption means the suffering of another, it cannot be redemption for either. —FROM "JUDAISM DOES NOT EQUAL ISRAEL" In this poignant, powerful volume, the influential Jewish thinker and critic Marc H. Ellis takes on the hard moral questions about Jewish support for the state of Israel. Reviewing the historical record of the past sixty years and envisioning the prospects for a just and lasting peace, Ellis makes an unyielding case—based on the most cherished Jewish values—that the present policies of the Israeli state cannot reasonably be defended. The future not only of Judaism but of Israel itself, he argues, hinges on a fundamental shift in Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and on a completely new direction in the peace process.

At a time when critics of Israeli policies are silenced with the charge of anti-Semitism, Ellis offers a prophetic Jewish alternative to the blind acceptance of Zionism, demonstrating “great courage, integrity, and insight,” according to Noam Chomsky.

Sure to be the subject of fervent debate, Judaism Does Not Equal Israel marks a major effort by a leading American Jewish thinker to make the case that condemning current Israeli policies is fully consonant with being a good Jew.

Marc H. Ellis is a leading authority on contemporary Judaism and is widely recognized as one of the most influential Jewish thinkers of his generation. A University Professor of American and Jewish Studies and the founding director of the Center for Jewish Studies at Baylor University, he is the author of fifteen books and has written articles published in the International Herald Tribune, Christian Century, and Ha’aretz. Ellis regularly provides commentary and analysis on NPR and the BBC and has been inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College. He lives in Waco, Texas.

Sponsored by:
Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education @ OISE
Independent Jewish Voices (Canada)
Canadian Friends of Sabeel
Near East Cultural and Educational Foundation (NECEF)

Suggested Donation: $10 ($5 for students, low income)
For donations of $25 or more, tax receipts are available. Please make cheques out to NECEF (Near East Cultural and Educational Foundation) and put "Ellis" as the subject heading