October 5 - Con-Con: Is it a Blessing or a Curse?

Speakers: Cook County Commissioner Larry Sufferdin (pro) and former Illinois Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch (con).

October 12 - Idealism in Action: Our Young People Speak
"Where My Parents Grew Up: Tales of Two Witnesses in Israel/Palestine"
Yoram Amit and Miryam Rashid

An Israeli American and a Palestinian-American will discuss their recent journey to Israel and the Palestinian territories, where they met with dozens of Palestinian and Israeli peace and human rights actvists and others from across the political spectrum. They will share their eyewitness accounts of Israeli and Palestinian life and the realities of military operations for both peoples. They will argue that despite the complexities of the situation, the best interests of Israelis and Palestinians are inextricably intertwined and tha tother nations, particularly the United States, play an important role in reaching any resolution

Idealism in Action: Our Young People Speak is a new KAMII Initiative which brings in young men and women who grew up at KAMII and have committed themselves to some form of social action.

October 19 - Broadway meets Friday Night Services:
An Introduction to the New Reform Prayer Book - Mishkan T'filah - Part I
Rabbi Darryl Crystal

Les Miserables is a majestic and complex play; imagine attending the show for the first without a program to guide you! The prayer book spans 2000 years of history, and while passages like the Shema and Adoration are well known, some prayers can seem archaic and repetative.

This workshop will introduce you to the hidden structure of the prayer book and the ways in which the service expresses the most important values of Judaism. This workshop will also provide an introductino to the format and innovations of Mishkan T'filah prayerbook.

October 26 - The Mystery, Majesty and Ecstasy of Prayer:
An Introduction to the New Reform Prayer book - Mishkan T'filah - Part II
Rabbi Darryl Crystal

What is supposed to happen when I pray? Do I talk to God, think about my values or do I simply have a chance to reflect on my life?

This workshop will address the nature of prayer and how it can be meaningful to contemporary Reform Jews. Drawing on insights ranging from the popular author Steven Covey to the Hasidic Master Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav and the poet Ruth Brin. This workshop will continue the introduction of Mishkan T'filah, the innovative new Reform prayer book.

November 2 - Author Talk: For the Thrill of It
Simon Baatz

It was a crime that shocked the nation; a brutal murder of a child in Chicago in 1924 by two wealthy college students who killed solely for the thrill of the experience. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were intellectuals - too smart, they believed, for the police to catch them. But the murder is only half the story. After Leopold and Loeb were arrested, their families hired Clarence Darrow to defend their sons. Darrow aimed to save Leopold and Loeb from the death penalty by showing that the crime was the inevitable consequence of sexual and psychological abuse that each defendant had suffered during childhood at the hands of adults. However, Darrow faced a worthy adversary in his prosecuting attorney: Robert Crowe was clever, cunning and charismatic, with ambitions of becoming Chicago's next mayor.

Simon Baatz is an associate professor of history at John Jay College of Criminal Justice as well as at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He earned his Ph.D in the history of science from the University of Pennsylvania and has taught in the United States and abroad.

November 9 -
"What This Week's Election Tells Us"
Abner Mikva

Abner Mikva, a congregant and former congressman, judge, White House counsel, law lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School and head of the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic, analyzes the results of the 2008 elections.

November 16 -
"What Would an Ideal US Immigration Policy Look Like?"

Part of the Weinstein Weekend of events, please see here for a description.

November 23 -
"A Land of Two Peoples: Martin Buber on the Arab-Israeli Conflict"
Professor Paul Mendes Flohr

A professor of the University of Chicago Divinity School and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, he will kick off the first in a series of lectures that will touch on the connection between theology and politics, in anticipation of the Rabbis for Human Rights convention in New York in December.

November 30 - Thanksgiving Weekend, No Lecture

December 7 -
Idealism in Action: Our Young People Speak. (3rd in the series)
A Trip to the Zambian Bush - Adventures of a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zambia

Hannah Lantos grew up at KAM and graduated from Lab in 2001. After a year studying in Israel she attended Brown University in Providence, RI. At Brown, Hannah studied International Development with a regional focus on the Middle East and studied abroad in Cairo, Egypt studying history and politics and finishing in an intensive Arabic program. After graduation from Brown, Hannah went on to work for Ashoka in Washington DC, looking at a model for investing in social development and how to encourage kids to take responsibility for trying to solve the problems they see in their own communities. After 6 months at Ashoka, she accepted a position with the US Peace Corps in Zambia and in January 2007, she started training near Lusaka, the capital.

December 14 -
"The Power of Kaddish: Text & Music"
Cantor Miriam Eskenasy

Join Cantor Miriam Eskenasy as she present a brief background and history of the Kaddish, the different kind of Kaddishes we recite, the when and why, and some musical explorations of the Kaddish.

January 11 -
"Immigration Policy and the Obama Administration"
Susan Gzesh

In this follow up on the Weinstein Weekend, Susan Gzesh will talk on this interesting and relevant topic. She is a Senior Lecturer and the Director of the Human Rights Program at the University of Chicago She has worked on immigration policy issues and defending the human rights of immigrants and refugees for the past three decades.

January 18 -
"Getting Out and Getting Help: Providing Services to People Released from Cook County Jail"
Rebecca Janowitz

Join Rebecca Janowitz, KAMII member and Director of Re-entry Policy for Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart as she discusses her work. Her office provides referrals and information for people being released from Cook County Jail. There are currently approximately 100,000 releases from the jail every year. She will show a short DVD.

January 25 -
"Reform Judaism's Alphabet Soup: URJ, MRJ, IMPJ, ARZA, RAC - What does it all mean?"
Lenore Mass, Past President of KAMII and current president of the Chicago Federation/Great Lakes Council of the URJ

Find out what all those acronyms and organizations do, here in North America, in Israel and around the world. Lenore Mass serves on the OSRUI Board, the North American Boards of ARZA and the URJ, the Executive Committee of the North American Council of the WUPJ. Get translations and more at this informative lecture.

February 1 -
Introduction to Kabbalah and Zohar
Rabbi Darryl Crystal

February 8 -
"Jews and the African Slave Trades (Atlantic and Trans-Saharan)"
Ralph Austen, Professor Emeritus of African History at University of Chicago

Dr. Austen will discuss both the actual role of Jews in these trades (as far as we know) and the controversies about this topic (should Portuguese converso slave traders be considered Jews?). Can we trust Inquisition records regarding the "Moyel African Company" in Senegal? Did North African Jews actually cross the Sahara? What Rabbi Maslin did not tell us about Curacao.