Rabbi Joel Oseran, D.D., vice president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, will present “The ‘New’ Jews Face the ‘New’ Anti-Semitism in the ‘New’ Europe — Implications for Reform Jews in Europe and Around the World,” at Temple Emanu-El’s Shabbat evening service, Friday, Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m. Oseran will explore the social fabric of the Progressive Judaism movement in Europe and how conversion is impacting the growth of Jewish communities in Eastern Europe. He will address the impact of Islam in Europe and on anti-Semitism, and the challenge of the migration crisis in Europe.
The World Union for Progressive Judaism is the international umbrella organization of the Reform, Liberal, Progressive and Reconstructionist movements, serving 1,200 congregations with over 1.8 million members in almost 50 countries. Oseran is the World Union’s vice president of international development. He directed the Progressive movement’s educational and religious programs in the former Soviet Union, helping, he explains, to “create a Reform movement where it did not exist.” He also played a leading role in directing Progressive Judaism’s support for the Jewish community in Argentina during its times of crisis and in revitalizing Reform Judaism across Latin America.
After being ordained in 1976 by Hebrew Union College, Oseran served as director of student affairs at the Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem, then as rabbi-educator at University Synagogue in Los Angeles. In 1986, he immigrated to Israel with his wife and three sons, joining the World Union Jerusalem headquarters as director of education. He received his Doctor of Divinity degree from HUC-JIR, Jerusalem in 2001.
For more information, call Temple Emanu-El at 327-4501.
