The Robert & Florence Chertkof Endowed
“Live from NY’s 92nd Street Y” Broadcast Series
Spring 2012
Beth El’s presentation of the Live from NY's 92nd Street Y™ is made possible through an endowment from Robert and Florence Chertkof.
Live from NY's 92nd Street Y™ uses satellite technology to simultaneously broadcast the Y's renowned educational and cultural programming to community organizations across America. Our program this year has selected from a series of lectures, interviews, panels and readings featuring newsmakers, political figures, opinion-shapers and authors. Beth El participants will join some of the world's most fascinating people for compelling and thought-provoking interactive discussions on the issues and events that affect our lives. We will also e-mail questions to the presenters for their response in the Q&A as if we were in the New York audience.
Walter Isaacson on Steve Jobs
Rick Stengel, moderator
Tue, Jan 24, 8:00 p.m.
Walter Isaacson, author of a new biography of Steve Jobs, discusses the significance of Jobs’s contributions to the business world and explains his drive as it revolutionized six industries:personal computers, animated movies,music, phones, tablet computing and digital publishing. Jobs stands as the
ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination, and he built a company where leaps of imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering. Isaacson looks at Jobs for important lessons about innovation, character, leadership and values. Walter Isaacson, CEO of the Aspen Institute,
has been chairman of CNN and managing editor of Time magazine. He is the author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life and Kissinger: A Biography and the coauthorof The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made.
Sponsored By: M&T Bank
Lawrence Summers
With Thane Rosenbaum
Thu, Feb 2, 8:00 p.m.
As economic concerns weigh heavily on Americans’ minds, Lawrence Summers shares his thoughts on the debt and housing crisis, the collapse and bailout of Wall Street, the economic stimulus initiatives, free trade, globalization, anti-Semitism and perhaps even the upcoming presidential election. Summers was director of President Obama’s National Economic Council, Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton administration, and former president of Harvard University. Thane Rosenbaum is a novelist and law professor at Fordham University and the director of the Forum on Law
George Mitchell with Howard Gardner
Tue, Mar 13, 8:00 p.m.
George Mitchell was a key player in resolving the Northern Ireland conflict, was chairman of an international fact-finding committee on violence in the Middle East and served as US
Special Envoy for Middle East Peace. As one of the most respected and influential leaders of our times, he discusses the many lessons of his extraordinary political and diplomatic career. Mitchell entered the US Senate in 1980 and served as Senate majority leader from 1989 to 1995. Howard Gardner, whose notable life and work have led to enormous influence in education, psychology, business and other
sectors, asks: What can we learn from what you have achieved? Gardner is the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. In 2001, he received the Prince of Asturias Award in Social Sciences.
Sponsored By: Gershon, Willoughby, Getz, and Smith, LLC.
Madeleine Albright
Thu, May 3, 8 pm ET
In her new and most personal book, Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948,Madeleine Albright looks at her family’s experiences duringthis tumultuous time in history before, during and after WorldWar II. In this conversation, hear Albright’s story along withher interviews with contemporaries and newly available documents about the enormously complex events that took place. Madeleine Albright served as the 64th Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001. Her distinguished career also includes positions on Capitol Hill, the National Security Council and as US Ambassador to the United Nations. She is the author of Madam Secretary, Memo to the President Elect, The Mighty and the Almighty and Read My Pins.
Sponsored by Eileen & Rick Yaffe and Butler Medical Transport
Fall 2011 |
Finding a Lost tribe of Israel:
The Bnei Menashe of India
Michael Freund, moderator
Monday, November 28, 8:15 p.m.
Hear members of the Bnei Menashe community, along with Shavei Israel founder, Michael Freund tell the remarkable story of how this lost tribe is finally coming home. The Bnei Menashe (Hebrew for “sons of Manasseh”) of northeast India trace their roots to the ancient Israelite tribe of Menashe, one of the Ten Lost Tribes exiled by the Assyrian empire more than twenty-seven centuries ago. Despite being cut off from the rest of the Jewish people for generations, they clung to their identity. Michael Freund is the founder and chairman of Shavei Israel, a Jerusalem- based organization that reaches out and assists “lost Jews” seeking to strengthen their connection with Israel and the Jewish people.
Sponsored by Dr. Sheldon and Mrs. Saralynn Glass
Jeremy Ben-Ami and Peter Beinart – A Progressive Vision for Israel
Tuesday, September 20, 8:00 p.m.
Two of the most influential and provocative progressive Jewish voices argue that it is time for true supporters of Israel to face the truth: efforts to secure safe and democratic future for the Jewish homeland are heading dangerously off track. Jeremy Ben-Ami and Peter Beinart discuss what it means to be “pro-Israel,” the creation of a viable Palestinian state and the need for strong US leadership to lead the way to a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict.
Jeremy Ben-Ami is the founder and president of J Street. He is the author of A New Voice for Israel: Fighting for the Survival of the Jewish Nation. Peter Beinhart is senior political writer for The Daily Beast and author of The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris. He is associate professor of journalism and political science at CUNY and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation.
Sponsored by:
Iranium
John R. Bolton, Ethan Bronner, Richard Perle, Nazie Eftekhari and Alex Traiman
Monday, November 7
Iranium, the film, to be shown at 6:15 p.m.
7:30 p.m.
Join a panel of influential and provocative names to discuss the threat of a nuclear Iran, featuring clips from the critically acclaimed documentary Iranium. The documentary is a stinging indictment of the current Iranian regime and highlights the revolutionary efforts within Iran to topple the government.
John R. Bolton is a former US Ambassador to the United Nations. Richard Perle is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and served as chairman of the Defense Policy Board during the Bush administration. Alex Traiman is the director of Iranium and a professional journalist covering breaking events and analysis in the Middle East. Richard Green is the executive director of the Clarion Fund, the nonprofit organization that produced and distributed Iranium as well as other documentary films on threats to international security. Nazie Eftekhari is the director of the Iran Democratic Union. Ethan Bronner is the Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times.
Sponsored by: Solomon Foundation by Joel Matz and Jeffrey Abarbanel