ETZ JIAC Talk

Etz Chayim’s Jewish and Israel Action Committee (Etz JIAC) invites you to join us at 11am on Sunday October 17, 2021 for an important and impactful discussion with Rabbi Serena Eisenberg, of the American Jewish Committee.

Ethnic Studies courses will soon be required in every California high school and Cal State University. It seems like an important educational movement to combat racism and counter discrimination. So why is this controversial? What does this have to do with Critical Race Theory? And how concerned should you be?

This year - after a five-year process, four drafts, and tens of thousands of community complaints- the California State Board of Education approved a final version of an Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum. And now, a California bill is close to final passage (AB101) and will require students to take an Ethnic Studies course for high school graduation. But the annual cost to the State taxpayers to implement AB101 is a quarter of a billion dollars a year. (Yes, you read that right.) Moreover, school districts are free to develop or adopt alternative ethnic studies courses, not only teach from the state approved curriculum. Many schools are adopting materials and training teachers with consultants from an activist organization, called “Liberated Ethnic Studies,” which promote a more radical curriculum, with a focus on teaching about Palestinian liberation. How can parents learn more and get involved?

Speaker: Rabbi Serena Eisenberg, Northern California Director, AJC

Rabbi Eisenberg will address these issues and concerns and suggest how parents and the Jewish community can advocate for safeguards in our children’s education. How might we stay vigilant against antisemitism and anti-Israel bias in classrooms and on campuses, while promoting understanding about California’s ethnic, racial and religious diversity?

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is the leading global Jewish advocacy organization. From city halls to Capitol Hill, at the UN and in world capitals, AJC works to impact policy and opinion on some of the most important issues facing the Jewish people: fighting antisemitism and all forms of hate, strengthening Israel’s place in the world, and defending democratic values.

For more info on the American Jewish Committee (AJC), click here.

Rabbi Serena Eisenberg has been Northern California Director of AJC since February 2018. She served as the President of the Northern California Board of Rabbis and worked for Jewish organizations in the Bay Area for over 25 years. Previously Eisenberg was the Executive Director of Hillels at Stanford University and Brown University. She is a member of both the Reform and Reconstructionist Rabbinical Assemblies and is an alumnus of several fellowships, including Wexner, Mandel Jerusalem Fellows, CLAL Rabbis without Borders, the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, Chautauqua Interfaith Clergy, and AJWS Global Justice Rabbis. Before entering the rabbinate, she received a JD/MSW from UC Berkeley and a B.A. from Brown University and worked for a decade as child-welfare advocate in the Bronx, Oakland, and in Africa. Serena is married and is now the shortest one in her family of five sons.

To join, please register here. Participation is free.

Even if you’re not sure if you can make it, please register to help us understand our potential participants.

The Zoom link is here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88044572258?pwd=b2tQQ3Z5TXpPSmZQSERFSU1ZUkZlUT09