Second annual ‘Jewish Festival of Learning’ kicks off Thursday
Mark Oppenheimer.
Author, podcaster, and journalist Mark Oppenheimer to keynote
– Last February in San Luis Obispo, one of Cal Poly’s fraternity houses, Alpha Epsilon Pi, was vandalized. Swastikas defaced the fraternity and the community felt the pain of antisemitism. In response, AEPi and the community raised funds to promote education and awareness for Holocaust education, as well as to support this year’s Jewish Festival of Learning. The Jewish Community Center-Federation of San Luis Obispo, along with San Luis Obispo Hillel and Alpha Epsilon Pi, will host the festival at Cal Poly from Thursday, Feb. 24 – Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, for a three-day conference that brings its audience on a journey from the “Axis of Hate to the Nexus of Love.”
Details and registration information can be found on the program website at jewishfestivaloflearningslo.com. The festival’s keynote speaker, set for Thursday evening, is author Mark Oppenheimer. He will discuss his book, Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood. The talk on Squirrel Hill and Oppenheimer’s presentation will take San Luis Obispo from the traumatic hate that was experienced to a nexus of love a community can flourish in.
“Mark’s gentle genius is in the kaleidoscopic view of Squirrel Hill, how a community reflected values far beyond Pittsburgh. His analysis reflects a response that is both local and global in reach,” Rabbi Micah Hyman, executive director of SLO Hillel, explains, “His lessons of that horror is a call to respond and reflect on all subsequent acts of hate, like the one we experienced here.”
In addition to authoring Squirrel Hill, Mark Oppenheimer is known for writing the New York Times “Beliefs” column from 2010-2016, and has written for The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Mother Jones, The Nation, and The Believer, among other publications. The host of Tablet magazine’s podcast Unorthodox, Oppenheimer has taught at Stanford, Wellesley, and Yale, where since 2006 he has directed the Yale Journalism Initiative. He lives in Connecticut and teaches at Yale University. His other publications include Knocking on Heaven’s Door: American Religion in the Age of Counterculture and The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia.
Following Oppenheimer’s presentation on Friday is a full day of panels and discussions from local students and Jewish professionals, covering topics of Antisemitism on campus, Anti-Zionism, and the best way communities can respond to acts of hate. Friday evening will celebrate love for all in a communal celebration on Shabbat, after hearing from Phil Koek, a second-generation Holocaust survivor who shares the story of his father, Joe, and aunts, Eva and Henny, on their recollections during the Shoah.
The final day of the conference will occur in conjunction with Cal Poly’s Change The Status Quo on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. The afternoon will include options for outdoor recreation, Torah study, and a tour of the History Center of SLO County’s local Jewish history exhibit, L’dor Vador. The day will culminate with a community gathering to mark the end of Shabbat with a candle-lighting, songs, and celebration at the Hillel of San Luis Obispo’s Makom space at the JCC-Federation of SLO property.
Other speakers and topics for the Jewish Festival of Learning include:
- Kate Chavez and Lior Berkstein (with StandWithUs) on Combating Antisemitism on Social Media
- A Jewish student panel talks about their experience with Antisemitism on campus
- Tina Malka (Hillel International): Discuss the Antisemitism curriculum that Hillel International created in collaboration with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
- Rabbi Chaim Hilel (Chabad of SLO/Cal Poly): The Kabbalah of Shabbat
- Dr. Cornel Morton (Diversity Coalition of SLO County) and Danya Conn Nunley on Microaggressions
- Stephen Lloyd-Moffett (Religious Studies at Cal Poly): Creating Effective Dialogues about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
- Dr. Adam benShea (Religious Studies at Cal Poly): Anti-Semitism and Conspiracy Theories
- Dr. Deb Donig (English Department at Cal Poly): Likes and Dislikes: Holocaust Analogies in the Age of Social Media
- Ellen November: “Stitching Judaica” – Exploring Fiber Art
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