A Jewish Theologian Speaks Out

On Tuesday, November 17, at 7 P.M. Dr. Marc Ellis will be speaking in room 219, of the Leacock building of McGill University.
"Marc Ellis shows that the voice of prophecy has not been silenced in the Jewish community."
Desmond Tutu

When one community’s redemption means the suffering of another, it cannot be redemption for either. —FROM "JUDAISM DOES NOT EQUAL ISRAEL"

In this poignant, powerful volume, the influential Jewish thinker and critic Marc H. Ellis takes on the hard moral questions about Jewish support for the state of Israel. Reviewing the historical record of the past sixty years and envisioning the prospects for a just and lasting peace, Ellis makes an unyielding case—based on the most cherished Jewish values—that the present policies of the Israeli state cannot reasonably be defended. The future not only of Judaism but of Israel itself, he argues, hinges on a fundamental shift in Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and on a completely new direction in the peace process.

He also has a powerful message to Christians, urging them to break the false "ecumenical deal" which post-Holocaust has required them to unquestioningly support Israeli human rights abuses and violations of international law out of fear of being called anti-Semitic. At a time when critics of Israeli policies are silenced with the charge of anti-Semitism, Ellis offers a prophetic Jewish alternative to the blind acceptance of Zionism, demonstrating “great courage, integrity, and insight,” according to Noam Chomsky.

Sure to be the subject of fervent debate, Judaism Does Not Equal Israel marks a major effort by a leading American Jewish thinker to make the case that condemning current Israeli policies is fully consonant with being a good Jew.

Marc H. Ellis is a leading authority on contemporary Judaism and is widely recognizes as one of the most influential Jewish thinkers of his generation. A University Professor of American and Jewish Studies (see his bio here) he is the Founding Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at Baylor University, he is the author of fifteen books and has written articles published in the International Herald Tribune, Christian Century and Ha'aretz. Ellis regularly provides commentary and analysis on NPR and the BBC and has been inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College.

Here is the full schedule:

Sponsored and coordinated by Independent Jewish Voices

Some of the books by Marc H. Ellis
Unholy Alliance: Religion and Atrocity in Our Time - 1997 - 214 pages
O, Jerusalem! The Contested Future of the Jewish Covenant - 1999 - 212 pages
Israel and Palestine Out of the Ashes: the search for Jewish identity in the twenty-first century - 2002 - 208 pages
Toward a Jewish theology of liberation: the challenge of the 21st century - 2004 - 276 pages
Reading the Torah Out Loud: A Journey of Lament and Hope - 2007 - 202 pages