Dr. Jack Wertheimer

WEST HARTFORD – Dr. Jack Wertheimer will be keynote speaker at the 95th anniversary commemoration of The Emanuel Synagogue’s Community of Life-long Learning on Sunday, Oct. 26. One of the foremost scholars on North American synagogues and contemporary Jewish communal life in contemporary life today, Wertheimer will discuss “Renewing American Jewish Life: Fresh Perspectives on What Works.”

A professor of American Jewish History at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), Wertheimer’s area of specialization is modern Jewish history, with a particular focus on trends in the religious, educational, and organizational sectors of American Jewish life since World War II. He is the author or editor of more than a dozen volumes, including A People Divided: Judaism in Contemporary America (Basic Books), which won the National Jewish Book Award for the best study on contemporary Jewish life from 1993 to 1994, and was reissued by the University Press of New England in September 1997.

His edited volume, Learning and Community: Jewish Supplementary Schools in the 21st Century, published in June 2009, contains portraits of ten Jewish supplementary schools that work. His latest book is an edited volume titled, The New Jewish Leaders: Reshaping the American Jewish Landscape. Most recently, Dr. Wertheimer has written a number of studies about the rapidly evolving field of Jewish education.

Community of Lifelong Learning is one of five “communities” that form Emanuel’s mission and purpose. The five are our core values: Lifelong learning, caring/chesed, tikkun olam, participatory prayer, and ahavat Yisrael (love of Israel and the Jewish people).

The Emanuel Synagogue is located at 160 Mohegan Dr., West Hartford. For information call (860) 236-1275.