Longtime volunteer and philanthropist Ronne Hess will launch the second season of Southern Jewish Voices on October 25 at noon, when she takes center stage to be interviewed by Margaret Norman.
Tickets for the event are free, and lunch will be provided.
Ronne grew up just northwest of Birmingham in Jasper, Alabama, where her grandfather was a peddler who sold his wares in area coal mines. “Growing up in Jasper with its 15-18 well-integrated Jewish families and one synagogue was all I knew,” she says. Moving to Birmingham provided her with a different perspective on Jewish life.
In light of current events, after touching on Ronne’s early life, the interview will focus on Ronne’s love for and work on behalf of Israel.
About SJV
“Oral histories can help us understand through first-person experiences how and why communities develop as they do,” says Elizabeth Patton, program director at The J. “Southern Jewish Voices shares and celebrates with a wide audience stories of being Jewish in the South.”
SJV is a collaborative effort between the Levite Jewish Community Center and Temple Beth-El. The program is presented through a series of interviews conducted in front of a live audience and includes a complimentary lunch. Videos of all sessions are archived online.
Southern Jewish Voices is made possible by a grant from the Ted and Marjorie Levite LJCC Fund of the Birmingham Jewish Foundation.
Join us again on November 29, when we sit down with Phillip Ensler, civil rights attorney and state representative for District 74 (which includes Montgomery) — and the only Jewish member of the Alabama legislature.