Combating Antisemitism Berens Program for High School Students

FJMC Combating Antisemitism Initiative
www.fjmc.org
Berens Scholars Program: Awareness and Tools for High School Students to Combat Antisemitism with Rabbi Erez Sherman, Sinai Temple, Los Angeles
Listen and interact with Rabbi Erez Sherman, Sinai Temple, Los Angeles, who has developed a new intensive seminar, described as the “first of its kind” to prepare Jewish high school students to withstand and resist campus antisemitism. Announced in the shadow of the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 massacre across southern Israel, the Berens Scholars Program will educate cohorts of students in the 11th and 12th grade about the history of antisemitism across the ages and its latest manifestation in higher education, steeling them against a wave of hatred that university administrators have failed to stop. The synagogue program is sponsored by Julie Platt, a trustee of the Berens Scholar program, and Chair of the Trustees of the Jewish Federations of North America.
Rabbi Erez Sherman oversees the Sinai Temple Israel Center, which engages the synagogue and the Los Angeles community in Israel advocacy and education through speakers, classes, trips, and programs. He founded the Sinai Temple Israel Center Rabbinical School Fellowship, which trains future Rabbis through seminaries across North America how to engage Israel in a deep and nuanced manner and directs the David and Angella Nazarian Youth Fellowship, inspiring the next generation of Jewish leaders to use their voices in Israel and civic conversations.
Rabbi Sherman is the host of “Rabbi On The Sidelines: a podcast dedicated to the intersection of sports and faith”. He has been featured on Inside the NBA with Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley, and served as an in-studio guest on ESPN’s NBA Today to discuss and educate its viewers following social media posts containing antisemitic content within professional sports. Rabbi Sherman is married to Rabbi Nicole Guzik of Sinai Temple. They work hand-in-hand to foster a warm, welcoming synagogue family, alongside their energetic children Annie, Zachary, and Henry.
Recorded: 12/12/2024