During our Erev Shabbat service on November 7, we are pleased to welcome Izabella Tabarovsky, a renowned scholar of Soviet anti-Zionism and contemporary antisemitism. Her talk, From Victimhood to Activism: Reframing Our People's Story for the Next Generation of American Jews, is sponsored by Beth Am’s Jewish and Israel Advocacy Committee (JIAC) and co-sponsored by Beth Am Women.

Much of the American Jewish community’s collective memory in the post-World War II era has been anchored in Holocaust memory. However, Tabarovsky contends that we often overlook critical elements of heroism that also shaped Jewish life during those decades — most notably, the story of Soviet Jewish resistance against oppression and erasure, as well as American Jews’ role in supporting them. Drawing on her forthcoming book Be a Refusenik: A Jewish Student's Survival Guide, Tabarovsky will explore how we can use that history to reframe our collective, story and inspire pride and resilience among American Jews today. 

This topic should be of particular interest to students, parents, and grandparents, while having relevance for all of us who are interested in Jewish identity, history, and perspective when faced with antisemitism.

Following the Erev Shabbat service, Izabella will continue her talk and answer your questions at a home-cooked dinner in her honor to support the Ukrainian Reform Jewish communities in Poltava and Odessa. Dinner registration is now closed.

Izabella Tabarovsky is a Senior Fellow at the Z3 Institute for Jewish Priorities and a Senior Advisor at the Kennan Institute (Wilson Center). She has served as a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism & Policy and the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism.  She’s a contributing writer for Tablet and has been published in Newsweek, The Forward, and The Times of Israel, among others. Tabarovsky will participate in this year’s Z3 Conference at the Oshman Family JCC on Sunday, November 9. Learn more.

If you attend virtually, please join the livestream starting at 6:15 PM. You may follow along in our texts for the Erev (evening) Shabbat service using the digital version (available for purchase) of the Mishkan T'filah: A Reform Siddur.

*This service will be live video-streamed. By entering the Sanctuary, you permit Beth Am to record you.