This past Friday evening (May 20, 2022), I delivered the first Rabbi Martin Weiner Memorial Lecture at Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco where I served during my first 7 years as a rabbi (1979-1986) with Rabbi Marty Weiner, my senior rabbi, mentor, and life-long friend.

Marty invited me before Covid to speak about my 2019 book Why Israel [and its Future] Matters – Letters of a Liberal Rabbi to his Children and the Millennial Generation with an Afterword by my sons Daniel and David Rosove (New Jersey: Ben Yehuda Press), but the event was delayed until Marty called me this past October (2021) and we set the date for May 20. Sadly, Marty died at the beginning of March.

In my talk (with a Q and A period following my talk – also recorded) I address in as concise, clear, and nuanced way as possible, as I did in my book, our American liberal Jewish relationship to Israel. I knew that if I hoped to penetrate the thinking of younger generations of Jews (and older Jews too), I had to speak honestly to their questions, doubts, struggles, and need to understand why our relationship with Israel matters for our future and the future of the Jewish people.

For those interested, you can watch on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fHEmDRayWo