1948: A Local War With Global Consequences will be the topic of a presentation by Harvard Professor Derek Penslar on Sunday, September 14 at 10:00 am, live at Temple Beth Abraham and on Zoom. The Southern New Hampshire Jewish Men’s Club and the Temple Beth Abraham Programs Committee are cosponsoring this timely and informative presentation. The Men’s Club breakfast will be served at 9:30 am before the speaker begins.

After World War II, the future of British Mandate Palestine became an issue of global concern. While the United Nations and governments throughout the world debated Palestine’s fate, Jews and Arabs fought for control over the land. The results included the creation of the state of Israel and the dispossession of many Palestinian Arabs. This talk will lay out what happened in 1947-1949 and show how events on the ground in what would become Israel and in the halls of power all over the world reinforced each other, creating one of the world’s most intractable conflicts.

Derek Penslar is the William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History and the Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard University. He previously taught at Indiana University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Oxford, where he was in inaugural holder of the Stanley Lewis Chair in Modern Israel Studies. Penslar has published a dozen books, most recently Zionism: An Emotional State (2023). He is currently writing a book titled The War for Palestine, 1947-1949: A Global History. Penslar is a past president of the American Academy for Jewish Research, a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and an Honorary Fellow of St. Anne’s College, Oxford.

Following the presentation there will be a question-and-answer period, moderated by Rabbi Jon Spira-Savett. Please be sure to join us on Sunday, September 14 for Professor Penslar’s timely and informative talk.