“Black Power, Jewish Politics”: The Black-Jewish Alliance of the 1950’s and 1960’s and the Fight for Racial Justice Today

Learn how the past can inform the fight for racial justice today. Join The Vilna Shul, Boston’s Center for Jewish Culture and ADL New England for an important exploration of the Black-Jewish Alliance in the 1950s and 1960s. Bringing history and current events together, Marc Dollinger, author of Black Power, Jewish Politics, will participate in a conversation with Rabbi Tiferet Berenbaum and moderated by Susannah Heschel in which they will explore myths and facts about Jewish participation in the Civil Rights Movement and discuss what we, as a community, can do to build more inclusive Jewish communities today. Together, they will disrupt common perceptions about the Jewish community and discuss how white supremacy impacts us all.

Mark Dolinger is the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility at San Francisco State University. He is the author of Quest for Inclusion: Jews and Liberalism in Modern America and Black Power, Jewish Politics, and co-editor of California Jews and American Jewish History: A Primary Source Reader.

Rabbi Tiferet Berenbaum is the Rabbi of Congregational Learning and Programming at Temple Beth Zion in Brookline, MA. She received Rabbinic Ordination and a Master’s in Jewish Education from Hebrew College in 2013.  In her multifaceted career, she has had a front seat at the intersection of race, racism and religion, giving her valuable insights into how different groups of people see the world and refining her powers of empathy.

Susannah Heschel is the Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor and chair of the Jewish Studies Program at Dartmouth College. She is the author of Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus, The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany, and Jüdischer Islam: Islam und jüdisch-deutsche Selbstbestimmung.