Speakers
Elie Weisel
 Monday, March 6
Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 8pm (doors open 7:15pm)
Co-sponsored by ACCENT

Boston University Professor Elie Wiesel has worked on behalf of oppressed people for much of his adult life. His personal experience of the Holocaust has led him to use his talents as an author, teacher and storyteller to defend human rights and peace throughout the world. He is the author of over forty books, including Oprah’s Book Club selection for January 2006, “Night.” He has won numerous awards for his writing and efforts for human rights and world peace, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and, in 1986, the Nobel Peace Prize.
 Jamie-Lynn Sigler
 Thursday, March 23
Rion Ballroom, 8pm
Co-sponsored by ACCENT, Women's History Month

On HBO’s hit series The Sopranos, Sigler plays smart but emotionally frustrated mob princess Meadow Soprano. In real life, there is much more to this Jewish Cuban American starlet, and she’s not afraid to communicate her feelings on issues that are important to her. Born with a passion to perform, Long Island native Sigler has been acting and singing since the age of seven. She got her start in New York regional theater, and has since starred in over two dozen theatrical productions. Recently she made her Broadway debut as Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. For her work on The Sopranos, Sigler received the 1999 and 2000 Young Star Award for Best Young Actress in a Dramatic Television Series.
The Moshav Band
 Thursday, March 9
Jewish Student Union's Purim Carnival
Hillel, 7 – 10pm
Co-sponsored by Hillel, Student Government Productions

The Israeli-born Moshav Band grew up on Moshav Meor Modi’im, a musical village located in the hills between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Their home, founded by the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, was and continues to be the birthplace of many Jewish songs enjoyed by the world over. The members of the Moshav Band were under the spiritual guidance of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, while immersed in his musical world, often performing with him at his concerts. Their music is rich with fiery rock/folk/reggae songs, spiced with the flavors of the Middle East. The boys draw you into their own struggles, and leave you pondering your own, but not before they provide you with a huge helping of hope. For more information, visit www.moshavband.com.		 Michael Chabon
 Monday, April 3
Hillel, 8pm (doors open at 7pm)
Check Event Descriptions for numerous co-sponsors

Chabon’s first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, was originally written for his master’s thesis at UC Irvine and became a national bestseller; his second novel, Wonder Boys, was also a bestseller, and was made into a critically-acclaimed film. Chabon’s philosophy behind his success as a novelist is based on three requirements: talent, luck, and discipline. As he says, “Discipline is the one element of those three things that you can control, and so that is the one that you have to focus on controlling, and you just have to hope and trust in the other two.” Chabon’s hope and trust certainly paid off. It was Chabon’s third novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, that catapulted him to literary prominence. An immediate bestseller, it went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001. Chabon has also written articles and essays, and a number of screenplays and teleplays (including the screenplay for the second “Spiderman” film).
Dr. Mike Cohen
 Wednesday, March 1
Hillel, 7:30pm

Cohen, a senior fellow at the Galilee Institute, is a veteran political and security analyst, strategist and commentator. A 22-year veteran IDF reserve officer in an elite special-forces unit, Cohen has been active in Israeli, American and Israel-Diaspora politics in a wide variety of behind-the-scenes capacities since his teen years and has served in a range of advisory positions under five Israeli Prime Ministers dating back to the late Menachem Begin. During Operation Defensive Shield in April/May 2002, Cohen was assigned to the National Emergency Response & Negotiation Team in Bethlehem. Since then, he has been assisting the IDF and the Israel Police in their efforts to depoliticize the nation’s security efforts and concerns, comprehensively briefing visiting diplomats, politicians, dignitaries, security experts and communal missions and trying to help redefine the electronic information distribution systems the official security services use to “get the word out.”		 Scott Bernarde
 Wednesday, April 5
Hillel, 8 – 9:30pm
Co-sponsored by MEISA

Scott served as the pop music columnist for the Fort Lauderdale News/Sun Sentinel from 1982 into 1987 and reprised that role for the Palm Beach Post from 1987 into 1995. His most popular work at both newspapers was his monthly “YNOT” column, a newspaper column that pretended to be a pirate radio station directing “listeners” to worthy new music they weren’t hearing on the radio. In 1996, he began writing about Jewish rock stars for Jewish publications such as the Baltimore Jewish Times, Detroit Jewish News, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, and Atlanta Jewish Times, among others. With Stars of David: Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Jewish Stories, Scott Benarde combined his passion for Judaism, journalism and rock ‘n’ roll. The result: a revealing look at what has been, until now, the “stealth” contribution and influence of Judaism on rock music and the people who make it.
Dr. Peter Hayes
 Friday, April 7
Hillel, 11am
Co-sponsored by Florida Humanities Council

The Theodore Z. Weiss Professor of Holocaust Studies, Hayes specializes in the history of Germany in the 20th century, particularly the Nazi period. He is the author or editor of seven books, including From Cooperation to Complicity: Degussa in the Third Reich (2004) and a prize-winning study of the IG Farben corporation in the Nazi era. He is currently working on two other books: Profits and Persecution: German Big Business and the Holocaust and The Failure of a Generation: German Elites and National Socialism. A recipient of the WCAS Distinguished Teaching Award and the Northwestern Alumni Association’s Excellence in Education Award, he has also held fellowships from the DAAD, the ACLS, and the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. He is a member of the Academic Board of the German Society for Business History and of the Academic Committee of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.