Guest post by Editor Man – from Park City, Utah
Things got hot and cold last night, at the after-dinner session. By cold I mean… cold. The first two panel discussions were held outside, against a stunning, mountainous backdrop. In the afternoon it was great, but the temperature drops drops from the mid 80s to mid 50s at night – and most of us weren’t ready for it (so, no, I didn’t need my blazer for dinner, but it sure would have come in handy outside). I was shaking as I asked a few questions at the end (no, I wasn’t fuming, those were shivers).
As for hot … the second panel was also an all-overseas affair, with a British moderator, and participants from Mexico, Belgium and Poland. The key difference was that all four of them had journalistic backgrounds, producing a livelier back-and-forth (of course, as I mentioned yesterday, several of the professors in the group seemed just fine with the theoretical/academic discussions at the earlier session).
The result was a robust conversation about Diaspora identity, the rise of anti-Israel and anti-Zionism in Europe, what Israel owes Diaspora Jews and what Diaspora Jews owe Israel, and whether American Jewish groups are too pushy.
I should be able to post audio from the session, as well as the remarks from Edgar Bronfman that proceeded it.
I’ll file more later, but now I’m off to breakfast and a trip into town for a tour of Adam Bronfman’s recently constructed, supposed-to-be-stunning new shul.
