Smol Emuni US Conference

Sunday, March 30, 2025

Co-sponsored by the Wasserman Jewish Studies Centera
The Baruch Performing Arts Center
55 Lexington Avenue, New York City

Registration

Register
$36 + service fee
$18 for students
Kosher lunch included
Space is limited, pre-registration required

Livestream sign-up, plenaries only

Volunteer we would love your help!

About the Conference

The last two years have challenged our American Jewish communities with pressing questions about democracy and justice both here and in Israel. In this conference we will explore our responsibility in the present moment as observant Jews in North America.

Recent events have raised questions about Jewish power, Messianism, the occupation, U.S. support for Israel and the conduct of war. We watch in dismay as our Orthodox and observant communities have avoided these discussions and remained indifferent to the staggering Palestinian civilian death toll in Gaza and the ongoing occupation of 5 million people.

This conference will explore our Jewish tradition’s values and teachings about peace, equality, dignity, co-existence and self-determination for Israelis, Palestinians and all people.

11:00-11:30 Registration

11:30-1:00 Morning Plenary:

Am Segula and B’Tzelem Elokim – Observant Jewish Identities in an Unjust World

This session will focus on the existing tensions between two Jewish principles, the particularist idea of Jewish chosen-ness and the universalist notion that all of humanity is created in the divine image. What obligations flow from the principle of B’Tzelem Elokim (the idea that all human beings are created in the image of God)? Does Am Segula (the idea of the Chosen People) imply entitlement or obligation? How have the Jewish people navigated chosen-ness in the diaspora and in the State of Israel? How does this affect others, especially Palestinians? What should be the religious response to violence by Jews and have we discharged that duty?

1:00-2:00 Kosher Lunch and Mincha

2:00-3:00 Brakeout Sessions

Rabbanit Dasi Fruchter
In today’s polarized climate, Orthodox kehillot are struggling with fundamental questions about ideological diversity, communal boundaries, and the integration of differing perspectives on Israel within our batei midrash and tefillah spaces. How do we uphold communal achdut while addressing deep-seated disagreements, including over what is just? We will explore halachic and hashkafic sources that can help guide our communities through these tensions, using Tefillah L'Shlom HaMedina as a case study.
Yasmeen Abu Fraiha, Tirza Leibowitz, Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, David Myers
This session will examine the ongoing relevance of an essay by the powerful and iconoclastic Israeli Jewish scholar Yeshayahu Leibowitz called "After Kibiyeh." This essay discusses a massacre of residents of the Palestinian village of Kibiyeh in 1953 during a reprisal raid by the IDF that followed a terrorist attack on a Jewish family. Leibowitz's concern about the ascription of holiness to acts of state, including that of the army, remains keenly relevant—and compels us to reflect on the exercise of power by Jews in Israel today.
Halachic Left, Rabbi Jill Jacobs, Rav Avraham Oriah Kelman
Activists from the religious world talk about choice points in organizing, especially since October 7. Should we work directly on Israel-Palestine, or should we support Israel unilaterally while putting effort toward other justice issues? Which community should we focus on, the internal Jewish community, or the broader American community? Come to hear more.
Adi Mahalel, Miriam Udel, Sahar Bostock
The flourishing of Modern Hebrew in Israel is a miracle—but one that came at a cost. To promote Hebrew, languages like Yiddish and Arabic were suppressed, sometimes violently. This panel explores the political value of diasporic Jewish languages and the dual role of Arabic as both a language of self and a bridge to a shared future for Israelis and Palestinians.
Dr. Michelle Friedman, Hanin Majadli, Mikhael Manekin
Join us for a 20-minute screening of a powerful clip from the Oscar-winning film No Other Land. Following the screening, a Palestinian Israeli journalist and a Jewish Israeli anti-occupation activist will share their personal reflections on the film's themes. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions about and share their reactions to the movie.

3:00-3:15 Break

3:15-5:00 Afternoon Plenary:

Nationalism, Religion, and Social Democracy - Religious Identity in Relation to Israel

Israel was founded as a national homeland for the Jewish people. Is support of Israel a part of Jewish religious identity? Is commitment to democratic values a part of one’s religious identity, or separate from it? What are the risks of making religious identity contingent on a particular national-political reality? What are the dangers of attributing religious significance to a state and its institutions? In light of recent events, is it time for a course correction?

Plenary Speakers

Rabbi Yosef Blau

Rabbi Yosef Blau has served as Mashgiach Ruchani at Yeshiva University for forty eight years. He is a former president of the Religious Zionists of America.
Dr. Yasmeen Abu Fraiha

Dr. Yasmeen Abu Fraiha, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, specializes in internal medicine and is currently completing both a clinical fellowship in critical care at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and a research fellowship at the Middle East Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School. She serves on the board of the New Israel Fund.
Sofia Freudenstein

Sofia Freudenstein is completing her studies at Yeshivat Maharat while simultaneously finishing an MA in Jewish Philosophy at Bernard Revel Graduate School. Last year, while attending Yeshivat Drisha in Kfar Etzion, she was active in Smol Emuni and Standing Together.
Rav Avraham Oriah Kelman

Avraham Oriah Kelman grew up in Israel, where he studied and taught in several yeshivot. He is currently a PhD candidate in Religious Studies at Stanford University and an activist with the Bnei Abraham group.
MK Naama Lazimi

Naama Lazimi is a Member of Knesset, representing The Democrat Party. She is the chair of the Youth Committee and a member of the Finance and Education Committee. A social democrat, she is a peace activist who believes in justice and equality.
Hanin Majadli

Hanin Majadli is a journalist, publicist and editor at Haaretz and a participant in the Haaretz 21 initiative, which aims to amplify voices and stories from Israel's Arab community. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Middle-Eastern Studies and Arabic and Islamic Studies from Tel Aviv University. Originally from Baka al-Garbiyeh, she now resides in Tel Aviv.
Mikhael Manekin

Mikhael is the director of the Alliance Fellowship Program and an activist in the Israeli Faithful Left. He previously led the progressive think tank Molad and, before that, directed the veterans' organization Breaking the Silence. His book, End of Days: Tradition and Power in Israel, was translated into English in 2023. Most recently, he published a Hebrew collection titled Sermons from the Abyss. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Yael, and their three children, Ruth, Sarai, and Noach.
Ruth Messinger

Ruth W. Messinger had a 20-year career in public service that included roles as a New York City Council member and Manhattan Borough President. She also served from 1998 to 2016 as president of American Jewish World Service and is now the organization’s inaugural Global Ambassador. Her work has focused on a range of issues, including social justice advocacy, public education, campaign finance reform, LGBTQ+ rights, neighborhood development, and small.
Prof. David Myers

David N. Myers is Distinguished Professor of History and the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at UCLA. He is the author or editor of many books, including, with Nomi Stolzenberg, American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York (Princeton, 2022) – winner of a National Jewish Book Award – and, with Nechumi Malovicki-Yaffe, New Trends in the Study of Haredi Culture and Society (Purdue, 2024). From 2018-2023, David served as president of the New Israel Fund.
Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller

Ordained at Yeshiva University in 1971, Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller served for forty years as the Executive Director of the Yitzhak Rabin Hillel Center for Jewish Life at UCLA. A founding member of Americans for Peace Now, he currently is a faculty member of the Shalom Hartman Institute, North America and of the Wexner Heritage Foundation.
Rabbanit Leah Shakdiel

Leah Shakdiel is an Orthodox rabbi and teacher of Torah and democracy. Through teaching, interfaith dialogue and continued activist work with Israeli human rights NGOs like Machsom Watch, Mirkam Azori, Darom4Peace, and Rabbis for Human Rights, Shakdiel works to bring the values of peace, equality, human rights, civil rights, feminism and social justice to the next generation of Israelis.