Connections Cocktail hour with Professor Donna Robinson Divine

Join us for a special Connections Cocktail Hour, where community member Professor Donna Robinson Divine will present on the topic, “The Jewish State: Promises Fulfilled and Promises Broken.”

When Israel declared its independence in May 1948, it generated two narratives: one of a Jewish prophetic message of righteousness, and another connecting Israel’s founding to colonialism and to the devastations of imperial conquest and exploitation. Professor Divine will bring to light the story of Israel’s establishment and development, offering an accounting of Israel’s achievements and failures, with a particular focus on its regional confrontations and on its still-to-be resolved conflicts with Palestinians.

Donna Robinson Divine is the Morningstar Family Professor of Jewish Studies and Professor of Government at Smith College. She is the author of the book Exiled in the Homeland, a study of the experience of Jewish immigration to Palestine during the early years of the British Mandate.