Our friends at Indiana University have alerted us to a conference on “The New Unease: Antisemitism in Europe Today – Variations, Impact, Counter-Strategies,” which will be held in Berlin, Germany on July 7. The event is sponsored in cooperation with The Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism (ISCA) at Indiana University, Indiana University Europe Gateway, the Moses Mendelssohn Center (MMZ) at the University of Potsdam, and the International Institute for Education and Research on Antisemitism (IIBSA). LDB Academic Advisory Board member Professor Alvin Rosenfeld serves as the Director of ISCA, as well as Professor of Jewish Studies and English at Indiana University. For the full list of panels and for more information about the event in English, please click here. For the full list of panels and for more information about the event in German, please click here.
LDB is pleased to once again partner with our friends at The Israel Forever Foundation in co-sponsoring the upcoming Institute for Law and Policy Summer Program for International Students and Attorneys, hosted by The Hebrew University at Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem. The program will span three weeks from June 27 to July 14, and will offer timely and informative courses on topics such as International Economic Law, International Criminal Court, Israel’s Human Rights Challenges, and the Legal aspects of the Middle East Conflict. For more information about this program, or to apply, please click HERE. Or visit the Institute for Law and Policy at their website.
Jonathan Mark New York Jewish Week May 23, 2016 Danit Sibovits, 32, has been on the front lines of helping Jewish students as an attorney, and now supports the State of Israel through the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey. “I grew up in an extremely Zionist home,” says Sibovits, remembering “my mom crying while watching [television when] Israel was at war. I have an innate love for Israel and feel really proud of my heritage.” A graduate of Binghamton University and St. John’s School of Law, where she was president of the Jewish Law Students Association, the Upper West Sider worked with the district attorneys of Brooklyn and the Bronx, and then spent a year in Israel, immersing herself in the culture. Returning to the States, she joined the Louis Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law in Washington, D.C. as a staff attorney, fighting anti-Semitism (and then experienced a “painful” example of it herself. A fellow in her apartment building introduced himself in the elevator and asked her name. “Upon hearing my name was Danit, he asked, ‘What kind of name is that?’ I responded that Danit is an Israeli name. Shockingly, his answer was, ‘Well … I have a lot of things to say about that, but we don’t have enough time.’ I was extremely taken aback.”) At the Brandeis Center, she investigated and managed cases of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activity at federally funded colleges and universities, then taking legal action, if needed, under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She successfully represented students at Brooklyn College who were forcibly removed from an anti-Israel event, “and falsely accused of disruptive behavior.” They were successful, Sibovits says, “because the students were willing to stand up and speak out, which unfortunately is not always what we experience. We have to empower [Jewish students] to have the confidence to speak up for themselves.” Sibovits also earned a spot on AIPAC’s Young Leadership Committee in Washington and New York. In 2014, Sibovits became the director for the Center of Israel Engagement at the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey in Paramus. “We are such a unique community that comes together in times of need,” says Sibovits. “That’s what inspires me — when we rally around our community.” Laugh out loud: Sibovits performs comedy and studies improv at the Washington Improv Theater in D.C., and now at Manhattan’s Upright Citizens Brigade improv and sketch comedy group. Original Article