“Diaspora Jews and Israel: Challenges of Competing Loyalties”

One of the challenges facing multicultural and immigrant groups in western, liberal societies has been the negotiation of competing ties between a former homeland and the newer host society. Prof. Weinfeld’s talk will examine how Jews have been wrestling with this challenge at least since the Emancipation in the early 1800s, and again in different form after the establishment of Israel.

Morton Weinfeld is a Professor of Sociology at McGill University, where he also holds the Chair in Canadian Ethnic Studies. He has written extensively on matters relating to the sociology of Canadian Jews, and to issues of ethnicity, race, and diversity more generally. He has over the years served as an advisor and consultant to the Canadian government on issues relating to multiculturalism. He was awarded the Marshall Sklare Prize by the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry in 2013.

The event will include a kosher reception honoring Prof. Paul Burstein on the occasion of his retirement. Prof. Paul Burstein was a Professor of Sociology at the UW since 1991 and served as chair of the Stroum Jewish Studies Program for several years.