Past events

You are invited to join in a Casual Conversation sponsored by the Jewish Culture Group, and arranged by Group chair and classmate Bruce Alpert, with Rabbi Micah Greenstein, senior rabbi of Temple Israel in Memphis TN, to be held on Zoom on Monday, January 23, 2023, at 5 pm Eastern Time (US).
 
Our guest is Bruce’s Rabbi.  The topic chosen is:  “The Israel of today is NOT the Israel we knew."
 
The following column was written by Rabbi Greenstein and published in The Daily Memphian on Friday, December 23, 2022:

Time to sharpen our reading skills and get ready to discuss Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.   Classmates David Abbott and Tex Talmadge will be our docents on this tour through history, but as David writes, see below, the goal is to get your views in reacting to the book and at looking at the future of our species.
 
The date is January 17, 2023 and the time is 4:30 pm Eastern.   You have plenty of time to obtain the book and read it.
 

Join us for a casual conversation with Professor Haslam, who will offer us a window into the Soviet Union and, through it, today’s Russia, on Sunday, January 8 at 3 pm Eastern Time (US).  

On Tuesday, December 20 at 4:30 pm Eastern Time (US), Jennifer Rauch will join us for a Casual Conversation.  Ms. Rauch is Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst.   Our Class President Jim Staros asked her to spend time with us, and she has generously agreed.  Here is Jim’s email to me from October 21 placing the importance of her work in a context we can all appreciate:
 

On this Sunday, December 18, at 1 pm Eastern (US) time, the Traveling Troupe, made up of classmates and others, will present a reading on Zoom of classmate Eric Forsythe’s translation and adaptation of A Flea in Her Ear, which is widely believed to be the greatest of all French farces by the greatest of all French farceurs, Georges Feydeau.
 

“Where did I come from?”
 

Getting back on track(s) with a Casual Conversation after a short hiatus, on Sunday, November 20 at 3 pm Eastern Time, Bill Coulson will speak with us about passenger rail in the United States.  Here is Bill’s outline and background.  Get your old Lionels in tip top shape for the discussion and to circle your Thanksgiving turkey, Chanukah menorah, and Christmas tree.

From Bill...

"The Renaissance of Passenger Rail in the US"

Topics for discussion can include -