Howard Lupovitch is a fourth-generation Detroiter, and a graduate of Hillel Day School, the University of Michigan and Columbia University, where he earned a PhD in History. He is currently Professor of History and Director of the Cohn-Haddow Center at Wayne State.  Before coming to Wayne, he taught at Cornell University, Colby College, the University of Western Ontario, and the University of Michigan, where he was also a fellow at the Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies.  He is the author, most recently, of Transleithanian Paradise: a History of the Budapest Jewish Community, and is currently completing two books: a history of the Jewish Community of Detroit since 1967, and a history of the Neolog Movement in Judaism.

Abstract: 

A frank, open conversation about Israel and Zionism may not be the easiest and surest path to finding common ground and encouraging dialogue.  In fact, engaging the complexities of a contentious topic like this, though challenging, can be an effective way to accomplish this very task.  With this aim in mind, we will use our ability to think critically and historically, and try to look beyond sound-bytes and hash tags toward a more nuanced understanding of this subject in all of its complexity.