Limmud Michigan 10th Annual Event

The event’s theme: “The Condition of the Jewish People.”

The day will begin with a major presentation for the entire audience of attendees by a moderated panel of high‐profile public intellectuals from the United States and Israel. The chosen presenters have all written and/or spoken insightfully about the subject from different points of view, with deep knowledge, wisdom, and passion.

At present, we have commitments from Elliott Abrams, Tal Becker, and David Harris. (Brief biographies appear below.) Negotiations are underway with two extraordinary women to fill the remaining two positions; the names will be announced as soon as confirmed.

The panel will be moderated by Dr. Howard Lupovitch, Professor of History and Director of the Cohn‐Haddow Senter for Judaic Studies at Wayne State University.

The panel portion of the day will last approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes, followed by a catered lunch. The afternoon will consist of a 45‐minute opportunity for participants to interact
with the panelists, followed by two 45‐minute break‐out sessions. These sessions will be led by local/regional presenters who have something to add to the subject from a particular point of view, or based on specific subject matter such as the foundational texts of our tradition.

Elliott Abrams, has served in foreign policy positions for three presidents, is the Chairman of Tikvah, and senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as the U.S. Special Representative for Iran from 2020 to 2021, was appointed by President Joe Biden to the nonpartisan U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. He is the author of the recent book, If You Will It: Rebuilding Jewish Peoplehood for the 21st Century.

Tal Becker is an Australian‐Israeli lawyer, diplomatic advisor, and civil servant. He is recognized as an international law expert. Throughout the 1990s until 2005, Becker was a legal advisor in the Israeli Defense Forces, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Israeli mission to the United Nations. During Tzipi Livni’s tenure as Israeli Foreign Minister from 2006 to 2009, Becker was one of her closest advisors and confidants on diplomatic and legal matters. He was Israel’s lead negotiator at the Annapolis Conference in 2007. In January 2024, Becker was on the legal team defending Israel in the case brought before the International Court of Justice by South Africa accusing Israel of Genocide. Becker currently serves as vice president for the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.

David Harris is an American political activist who was the CEO of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), from 1990 to 2022. During his tenure, AJC became a global organization and began quiet engagement with countries in the Arab world, laying the groundwork for the Abraham Accords. For his role in international diplomacy, former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres called Harris “the foreign minister of the Jewish people.”