SPRINGFIELD, MA– Professor Ilan Troen will share his firsthand account of Israel’s October 7 terrorist attacks in which his daughter and son-in-law were murdered at “From the Heart of Israel: Reflections on Resilience and Strength,” a talk will be held Sunday March 10, 10:30 am, at the Springfield Jewish Community Center, located at 1160 Dickinson Street, Springfield. 

A distinguished historian of Israel and Jewish studies and resident of Beer-Sheva, Professor Troen will contextualize the complications in the aftermath of October 7 for all of us – Jews in Israel and in North America.

Ilan Troen is professor emeritus of the Sam and Anna Lopin Chair of Modern History at Ben-Gurion University (BGU) of the Negev, and of the Stoll Family Chair in Israel Studies at Brandeis University.

He has served as founding dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Nagev, director of the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism in Sde Boqer, director of the Kreitman Foundation Fellowships, and on many key BGU committees between 1975 – 2007. Troen has also served in various capacities in academic associations in Israel and abroad including president of the international Association of Israel Studies. In 2023, he was awarded its Lifetime Achievement Award. Invited by Brandeis to share BGU’s experience in developing the field of Israel Studies, he established the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, the most extensive academic institute outside Israel. Its Summer Institute alone has prepared 350 academics across the world to introduce or enhance Israel Studies at their institutions.

Troen has authored or edited numerous books in American, Jewish, and Israeli history. He is the founding editor of Israel Studies (Indiana University Press), the leading journal in this new field to which more than 3,000 universities worldwide subscribe and 700 individuals contributed at least one essay. Troen was born in Boston, educated at the Latin School, Hebrew College, Brandeis, and Hebrew University in Jerusalem before taking his PhD at the University of Chicago.

Admission is FREE, but pre-registration is required at springfieldjcc.org. Building access is from the entrance off Converse Street, under the green awning.

PHOTO: Prof. Ilan Troen