The last century has seen unprecedented lows and highs when it comes to Jewish power. Today, older Jews may have memory of Jewish vulnerability, such as the Holocaust, and the ecstasy from the Six-Day war. But younger Jews may not recall a time when US and Israeli Jews did not have power.

How does this difference in perspective affect the way each generation approaches Israel, Judaism and Jewish identity? How do past lessons about power inform the new reality in which Jews live today? What narratives from our traditions can help us navigate contemporary dilemmas about power and vulnerability in Israel and the US?

This series of speakers are brought to you through the Courageous Communities initiative. A program designed and facilitated by the Shalom Hartman Institute in partnership with the Jewish Federation of St Louis and the Jewish Community Relations Council of St Louis. Courageous Communities is designed to cultivate serious community discourse with the intention of continuing to build a vibrant St. Louis Jewish community in a way that allows for differences and that strengthens communal resilience.

Rabbi Shoshana Cohen

Rabbi Cohen will speak on Thursday, January 26 from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Jewish Federation of St. Louis.

Rabbi Cohen is a Senior Faculty member at the Shalom Hartman Institute and serves as rabbi and scholar-in-residence for the Hevruta Gap Year Program. Shoshana sits on the Created Equal and Bible research teams at the Kogod Research Center.

Prior to Hartman, Shoshana was a senior faculty member at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem for over a decade where she taught Talmud, Midrash and Gender Studies. She has served as scholar-in-residence in communities across the US. A native of Los Angeles, Shoshana has lived in Jerusalem for almost twenty years.

She is involved many different learning and social justice organizations including Reshut haRabim, the Jerusalem Forum for Jewish Renewal Organizations and TAKUM, a social justice beit midrash for young Israelis. Lecturing in Hebrew and in English, she has been on the faculty of the Drisha Institute, the Hartman Girl’s High School, Yeshivat Talpiot and Yeshivat Hadar.