Award Winning Author To Speak During Jewish Book Month

MIDDLEBURY — Dr Jack Wertheimer, author of A People Divided: Judaism in Contemporary America, will be a featured speaker during the community’s celebration of Jewish Book Month. A People Divided won the National Jewish Book Award (1993-94) for the best book on contemporary Jewish Life. The program will be held on Saturday evening, November 4 at 7:30 pm at Long Meadow Elementary School, 65 North Benson Road in Middlebury.

This program is sponsored by the Federation: Jewish Communities of Western CT, Inc. It is open to the public and free of charge. Dr Wertheimer’s speech will be entitled “A People Divided – Why Jewish Religious Polarization Has Intensified In Recent Years.”

Dr Wertheimer currently serves as the provost of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in which capacity he acts as its chief academic advisor. He is also a professor of American Jewish History. He serves as the director of the Joseph and Miriam Ratner Center for the Study of Conservative Judaism, which promotes research on the history and the contemporary state of Conservative Judaism.

Among his other books, Dr Wertheimer is the author of Unwelcome Strangers: East European Jews in Imperial Germany and the editor of The American Synagogue: A Sanctuary Transformed. He has also edited several texts, including The Uses of Tradition: Jewish Continuity in the Modern Era and The Modern Jewish Experience – A Reader’s Guide.

A People Divided will be available for purchase during the program. The audience will have an opportunity to meet with Wertheimer during the dessert reception following the program. This program is made possible by a generous grant from The Jewish Federation Foundation of Jewish Communities of Western CT, Inc. For more information, contact Abby Greenwald at the Federation at 203/263-5121, extension 308 or jfedwtby@aol.com.