Dear Program Organizer:
As the
son of Holocaust survivors, I well know the underlying courage of the Jewish people
and the lessons that our heritage offers humanity. I have spent the past several
years writing of their experiences and their lessons for us on my website and book, “The Courage of the Spirit". It is the story of
Europe's Jewry in the 20th
Century, from family accounts and documents. ( http://www.courageofspirit.com). I
I offer
my services to your organization as a speaker on the lessons that I have
learned from them. Your members will enjoy my presentation, delivered with
video and rare images of the period.
My
father, Rabbi Dr. Wilhelm Weinberg, who served as the first State Rabbi of Hesse, Germany, after
the Holocaust, was a Zionist activist and Rabbinical student in Austria and
Germany in the years before the rise of
Nazism. He was imprisoned twice by the
Nazis and escaped to the Soviet Union. My
mother, Irene Weinberg, enjoyed
childhood with her Ukrainian and Polish neighbors, survived under the Nazis
under the camouflage of an Aryan identity in Lwow and Warsaw, Poland, and then
escaped Poland with the Bricha.
My
themes are:
Nazi
Jail and Communist Exile—The account of my father’s education in Vienna,
Rabbinic studies in Berlin ( which included arranging for the last lecture of
Albert Einstein in Berlin), imprisonment under trumped up charges in Nazi jail, his escape to Czechoslovakia and
imprisonment again, and again escape and survival inside the Soviet Union.
The
Safest Place to be a Jew- Inside Nazi Officers Quarters—the account of my mother’s
childhood in Lwow, Poland, living under the Soviet occupation and then Nazi
occupation, surviving the Nazi hunt for Jews by passing as a Pole of German
origins, escaping from Lwow to Warsaw and getting a room in quarters housing
Nazi officers –where she hid her aunt in a closet.
Where Judaism Differed --An examination of the key ideologies of
the 20th Century—Psychoanalysis. Marxism, Racism, and the
Celebration of Unbridled Passion. What
were the great ideologies of the 20th century ( and their 21st
century variations) and what did Judaism have to offer in contrast. A look at
key themes that still affect us today from the perspective of a young Rabbi
writing in 1937.
From
the Shtetl to the Cosmopolis- A look at the great transition that overtook
Judaism in modern times, from the realm of the Shtetl of Dolina, where the
souls of the dead went to shule to daven at midnight, to the Cosmopolitan Vienna of Freud and the Socialist and Fascist Revolutions.
You are welcome to visit my site at www.courageofspirit.com . You can also see me in action at this brief
clip from a wedding: http://youtu.be/nxSB9KGQT_I
Lecture fees depend on location, and travel and lodging expenses.
Lecture fees depend on location, and travel and lodging expenses.
I can be reached by email at norofra@sbcglobal.net or by phone at
323-428-9817. I have added a brief resume for your reference at the end of this
letter.
Shalom,
Rabbi Norbert Weinberg
***************************************************************************
Rabbi Dr. Norbert Weinberg has had a distinguished career
in the Rabbinate and in education and was
awarded the degree of Doctor of
Divinities, honoris causa, by his alma mater, the Jewish Theological
Seminary, in recognition of his service.
He and
his wife, Ofra, ran the Huntington Learning Center School Services in Encino,
where they work with children in providing supplementary education for children
under the Federal No Child Left Behind Act.
He is currently working on
historical research on the Jews of 20th Century Europe, “The Courage
of the Spirit: The story of Europe's Jewry in the 20th Century, from family accounts and documents”.
His work is posted on line at www.courageofspirit.com.
He is advisor to www.Liv360.com and www.EcareID.com ,new social media services
for health and wellness.
He has now returned to served as Rabbi to Hollywood Temple Beth El
in Los Angeles, where he also served from 1990 to 1996,where his main focus was the integration
of the new wave of Russian Jewish immigrants into American Jewish life. Prior
to that, he directed the Central Institute for Jewish Studies at Bet Berl,
Israel, under the auspices of Israel’s Federation of Labor. His mandate was to
help bridge the gap between the secular
and religious Jews within the labor movement and to emphasize Jewish societal
values. He has also served as Rabbi in
Whittier, California, Newport-News , Virginia, and Houston, Texas. .
He was
ordained as Rabbi and received his MA from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and
his BA from New York University. He has also studied at the Hebrew University
in Jerusalem.
He and
Ofra have three children, Danit, Adi, and Eran, and four grandchildren.
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