_{A History of Palestine and Israel}

_{Tuesday evenings, January 10 to March 14
8:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 p.m. Central, 5:00 p.m. Pacific}

Join us on Zoom for a 10-week course entitled “A History of Palestine and Israel,” taught by Joel Beinin, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History and Professor of Middle East History, Emeritus at Stanford University. The course will be held on Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 p.m. Central, and 5:00 p.m. Pacific time. Each class is 90 minutes. This will be an opportunity to grapple with the history, engage with difficult ideas, and process complex questions in a respectful environment. Among the questions the course will address are: 

• How did Jews in Eastern Europe come to embrace Zionism in the late 19th century? 
• What was Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel)/Palestine like before the beginnings of modern Zionist settlement? 
• What kind of Jewish state was established in 1948? 
• Why did it find itself in repeated wars with its Arab neighbors? 
• Why haven't efforts to resolve the conflict since the first peace agreement – the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian Peace Treaty – succeeded? 

Before retiring in 2019, Joel taught Middle East history for 35 years at Stanford University. He is one of the organizers of the “Reconstructionist Expanding Our Conversation About Israel-Palestine” and is a member of Havurah Shalom in Portland. He has taught versions of this class several times in congregations in Portland. 

Registration is required. The course fee is sliding scale $36-$72 for the series. Please email office@shamayim.org if you need scholarship money.

When filling out the form, please use the Notes section to let us know which congregation you are affiliated with.  If you are not affiliated with a congregation, please write "None".