The Weintraub Israel Center will screen “Faces of Israel: A Discussion about Marriage, State & Religion in the Jewish Homeland,” a documentary film by director Amy Beth Oppenheimer, on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Oppenheimer will facilitate the interactive program, which includes presentations and dynamic discussion.
Oppenheimer was raised in Leonia, N.J. She attended the Frisch School, a Jewish high school in Paramus, N.J., followed by a year of religious study at Midreshet Lindenbaum in Jerusalem. She is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, where she pursued a degree in international relations and Jewish studies.
Growing up, says Oppenheimer, she experienced two distinct types of Israel programming — one that focused on political advocacy, dialogue groups and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and another that offered falafel and Israeli music on Israel Independence Day — but little in between. She is now touring the country with “Faces of Israel,” which she hopes creates an opportunity to explore the nature of the Jewish state and questions of Jewish identity in a thoughtful way.
The program, which is free, is cosponsored by the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies Shaol Pozez Lectureship Series.
Oppenheimer will also present “Faces of Israel: The Reform Movement” at Congregation Or Chadash on Thursday, Jan. 26 at 6:30 p.m., as part of an adult education series cosponsored by the Weintraub Israel Center and Or Chadash.
For more information go to jewishtucson.org or call 577-9393.
