Serving the religious needs of the Jewish community of
Martha's Vineyard

MVHC Summer Institute
Film and Scholar Series

Plenty to Talk About

The first challenge each winter in organizing the Summer Institute series is always to pull together a heavyweight lineup of speakers from the worlds of politics, science and the arts. That logistical work is in its final stages now for the 2010 season, which opens on July 8.

The second challenge - and it's an enviable one - is to define the topics for our Thursday evening programs. There's no shortage of rich subjects to explore when your speakers include a former U.S. Undersecretary of State;
a former Director of Homeland Security; a former Ambassador to Israel; a 30-year CIA veteran who happens to be an expert on Afghanistan, Pakistan and China; the Wall Street Journal's
longtime film critic, and the award-winning medical correspondent for The New York Times.

We'll be announcing details of the Summer Institute series - which also includes the 10th season of selected films from the Boston Jewish Film Festival - in the April issue of HaGefen. Please set aside your Thursday nights in July and August for this series of stimulating conversations about things that matter in our world today. Remember also to save your Sundays for our wonderful film series. And thanks, as always, to the Donors whose support makes this series possible.

For more information, please contact Program Director,
Leslie J. Stark ( jforjazz@comcast.net)
Or Board Chair, Betsy Sheerr (betsy@sheerrcomm.com)

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Our 2009 SPEAKER SERIES included:

July 9:  Where Has All My Money Gone? A Panel On the Economy
Panel Discussion Moderated By Dr. Joseph Bower
	Nicolas Retsinas is Director of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, which conducts research to examine and address the most critical housing and community development issues in America. Mr. Retsinas is a Lecturer in Housing Studies at the Graduate School of Design and the Harvard Kennedy School, and is also a Lecturer in Real Estate at the Harvard Business School. He has been on the board of the FDIC, and was (among other appointed positions) Federal Housing Commissioner at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
	Robert Solow is an American economist honored with the 1987 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on the theory of economic growth. His studies over the years have focused mainly in the fields of employment and growth policies, and he is a trustee of Economists for Peace and Security. Solow currently is an emeritus Institute Professor in the MIT economics department, and previously taught at Columbia University. Besides his genius, Solow is also renowned for his wit, including his famous quote about a fellow economist: "Everything reminds Milton Friedman of the money supply. Everything reminds me of sex, but I try to keep it out of my papers."
	Robert Kaplan is a Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School, a Senior Director of the Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and a Senior Advisor to Berkshire Partners LLC. He is also the founding Co-Chair of the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center Advisory Board and a member of the Kansas Healthcare Policy Authority Board..
	Moderator Joseph Bower is Baker Foundation President of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
July 16:   How Can You Be A Go-To Parent (or Grandparent)?
	Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair is a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School, co-author of the book, "Full of Ourselves: A Wellness Program Advancing Girl Power, Health and Leadership," and Director of Eating Disorders Education and Prevention at McLean Hospital. She is a world-renowned expert on eating disorders and in particular she works widely within the American Jewish community. In 2006 she was recognized as one of Jewish Women International's "10 Woman to Watch" for her work on raising healthy, confident girls. A former school psychologist who weaves research with real-life stories, Dr. Steiner-Adair's passion for helping adults raise strong, savvy children extends to boys and girls from preschool through college. A must for every parent and grandparent.
July 23:  Can Israel Win A War That May Never End?
	Dr. Rabbi Daniel Gordis is the Senior Vice President of the Shalem Center, as well as founding dean of the Ziegler Rabbinical School at the University of Judaism. He moved to Israel with his family in 1998, and has since written and lectured throughout the world on Israeli society and the challenges facing the Jewish state. His writing has appeared in magazines and newspapers including the New York Times, the New Republic, the New York Times Magazine, Moment, Tikkun, and Conservative Judaism. He is the author of 7 books, including "If a Place Can Make You Cry: Dispatches from an Anxious State" (Crown/Random House, 2002) and most recently, "Will Israel Survive?" (Wiley, 2008). Rabbi Gordis is a passionate commentator on Israel and Jewish life.
July 30: Did Any Arabs Save Any Jews During the Holocaust?
	Robert Satloff has been executive director of The Washington Institute for the past 16 years. An expert on Arab politics as well as U.S. Middle East policy, Dr. Satloff has written and spoken widely on the Arab-Israeli peace process, the Islamist challenge to the growth of democracy in the region, and the need for innovative public diplomacy toward Arabs and Muslims. He has written extensively on ways to inject intelligent urgency into the ideological campaign against radical Islamism. Dr. Satloff's personal research has also focused on unearthing stories of Arab "heroes" and "villains" of the Holocaust. The author or editor of nine books and monographs, Dr. Satloff's views on Middle East issues appear frequently in newspapers such as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and he regularly comments on major TV news programs and NPR. In addition, Dr. Satloff is the only non-Arab to host a program on an Arab satellite television channel..
August 6:  What Can Reel Life Teach Us About Real Life? Lessons From the Movies
	Lawrence Kasdan is a screenwriter/director whose own career could be the subject of a Hollywood movie. As an ad writer without a screenwriting credit to his name, he was tapped by George Lucas to write The Empire Strikes Back, and went on to give eager audiences Raiders of the Lost Ark, among many other hits. He began to direct his own work, beginning with Body Heat, and going on (to name a few) to The Accidental Tourist, Grand Canyon, Silverado, and perhaps most famously, the iconic classic The Big Chill. Over the years, Kasdan has been nominated for 4 Oscars and won numerous other prestigious awards. Yet for all his success, he maintains his integrity as an artist, and regrets the hyper-commercial mentality of the modern movie industry. "I want everything I do to have humor in it, because it seems to me that all of life has (humor)," he said in a recent interview. Come and hear a master storyteller in action!
August 13:  Where Do You Find Lost Jewish Music? (Hear It Here!) An Evening of Performance
	Violinist and conductor Yuval Waldman has been described as both "brilliant" (Musical America) and "spectacular" (The New York Times). Born in Russia, Waldman was educated in Israel, Europe and the United States, making his New York debut at Carnegie Hall. He has earned acclaim both for his playing of the standard repertory and for his thoughtful and stylish interpretations of Baroque music. He gives master classes all over the world. In 2005, Maestro Waldman founded Music Bridges International, Inc., to foster cross-cultural music exchange programs that feature the music of different countries. Bridge is presently working on exchanges with Kazakhstan, Switzerlerland and the Czech Republic. Come and hear the Maestro perform! Maestro Waldman will be accompanied by Delores Stevens, the popular musical director of the Martha's Vineyard Chamber Music Society.
2009 FILM SERIES: SUMMER INSTITUTE PRESENTS THE BEST OF THE 2008 BOSTON JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL
June 21: The Beetle (Israel, 2008)
Director Yishai Orian's wife, pregnant with their first child, insists he scrap his beloved VW Beetle for a safe family car. Yishai¹s comic struggles with his inner Peter Pan take him to Jordan in a last -ditch effort to salvage the relic before his son arrives. Along the way, former owners of his Beetle tell remarkable life stories involving the car. A 2008 HotDocs Film Festival Audience Top Ten choice. View the trailer,
June 28: Four Seasons Lodge (USA, 2008)
With special guest appearance by producer Matthew Lavine. In 1979, nearly 100 German and Polish Jews, survivors of the Nazi death camps, created a sprawling retreat in New York¹s Catskill Mountains, calling it the Four Seasons Lodge. Members of this unique community still gather to celebrate with good food, all-night dancing, raucous poker games, and a toast: L¹chaim. View the trailer.
July 5: No film
July 12: Noodle (Israel, 2007)
Introduced by Rony Yedida, Consulate General of Israel. Mili Avital plays Miri, a twice-widowed El Al flight attendant whose life is upended when her Chinese housekeeper disappears and leaves behind her little boy. Miri¹s efforts to reunite the two take her and the boy, whom she dubs ³Noodle,² on an amazing journey. Ayelet Menahemi directed this irresistible, award-winning feature film with a light hand and a firm touch. View the trailer.
July 19: A Secret (France, 2007)
Adapted from Philippe Grimbert¹s bestselling novel, A Secret is the story of a young teenager uncovering the truth about his parents¹ past passion and guilt in troubled times. Before the war, his father Maxime (Patrick Bruel) was married to Hannah (Ludivine Sagnier) when he fell madly in love with the boy's mother Tania (Cécile de France). As a young Jewish couple living in Nazi-occupied France, Maxime and Tania had to make difficult choices to survive the war and the Holocaust. "A fine drama that stands as Gallic vet Claude Miller's best in at least a decade" (Variety). View the trailer.
July 26: Max Minsky and Me (Germany, 2007)
Introduced by Jaymie Saks, Managing Director of The Boston Jewish Film Festival. Nelly is a brainy 13-year-old Berlin schoolgirl with a gigantic crush on handsome Prince Edouard of Luxembourg. Her only hope for royal romance is to make the school basketball team before it leaves for Luxembourg. And her only hope for making the team is ace Max Minsky, 15. Then there¹s the matter of her approaching bat mitzvahŠBased upon a novel by Holly-Jane Rahlens that earned the prestigious 2003 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis as the best young adult novel published in Germany. View the trailer.
August 2: Phyllis and Harold (USA, 2008)
With special guest, filmmaker Cindy Kleine. Filmmaker Ken Burns ("Jazz") calls Cindy Kleine¹s frank and fearless chronicle of her parents¹ disastrous 59 year marriage "a masterpiece." Drawing on a lifetime of family home movies and 12 years¹ worth of interviews, Kleine uncovers family secrets and tells a story that could not be shown publicly when her father was still alive. The film reflects years of work on Kleine¹s part, beginning with her short film, "Til Death Do Us Part," shown in The Boston Jewish Film Festival in 2001. View the trailer.
August 9: Holy Land Hardball (America, 2008)
ntroduced by Nysselle Clark of The Boston Jewish Film Festival. After 5767 years, is Israel ready for baseball? Bostonian Larry Baras thinks so, certain that if he builds it, they will come. Documenting the formation of Israel¹s first professional baseball league from tryouts to the selection of 120 hardball hopefuls to the scheduled first game in June 2007, the film is marvelously entertaining from the first pitch through the bottom of the ninth. Features a number of figures well-known to Red Sox Nation, including Dan Duquette, the league¹s director of baseball operations and former Red Sox GM and Kevin Youkilis, one of the few Jewish major league players. View the trailer.
August 16: Waves of Freedom (Israel, 2008)
Guest appearance by participant Arthur Bernstein. Recruited in 1947 by the Haganah to break the British naval blockade of Palestine, Paul Kaye and twenty-five other American recruits set sail in a dilapidated ship, pick up 1,500 displaced persons in the dead of night, and engage in a naval battle with three British warships. And that is just the beginning of their astounding true story.