Southern Jewish Voices showcases stories about Jewish life in Birmingham and around the South. The program, made possible in part by a grant from the Birmingham Jewish Federation, 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.
All programs run noon-1:30 p.m.; click the links to RSVP for complimentary lunch
- February 18: Orly Henkin, director of Judaics and assistant head of school at N.E. Miles Jewish Day School
- March 18: Jonathan Wiesen, professor of history at the University of Alabama at Birmingham specializing in modern Europe, Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust
- April 15: Sally and Richard Friedman; Sally was longtime director of the Birmingham Jewish Foundation while Richard served as director of the Birmingham Jewish Federation and the Levite JCC
- May 20: Michael Saag is associate dean for global health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and founder of the 1917 Clinic, a comprehensive AIDS treatment and research center at UAB
Click the links below to watch our most recent programs:
- Watch criminal defense attorney and author Richard Jaffe
- Watch Florina Newcomb, CEO of the Birmingham Jewish Federation
- Watch Pizitz family members Richard Sr., Richard Jr., and Andrew
- Watch Holocaust survivor Jack Schniper, who was born during World War II in a work camp in Ukraine before coming to Birmingham, where his refugee family was sponsored by the Jewish community
All programs are noon-1:30 p.m. with complimentary lunch
Catch up on past seasons
- September 18: Michele Forman, documentary filmmaker and director of the Media Studies Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
- November 20: Dr. Robert Levin, retired pediatrician and “Voice of the Million Dollar Band”
- December 18: Ronnie Leet, Selma native and a caretaker of the city’s historic Temple Mishkan
- January 22: Carlie Stein Somerville, faculty member at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine and a third-generation Birminghamian
- February 19: Amy Saag, Birmingham native, teacher, and volunteer extraordinaire
- March 19: Asaf Stein, Birmingham resident and IDF “Lone Soldier” veteran
- April 23: Philanthropist Lisa Engel
- May 21: LJCC President Isa Dorsky
- Rabbi Adam Wright, spiritual leader at Temple Emanu-El (May 22)
- Miriam Friedman, director of the Jo Ann Hess Morrison Chai Tots Preschool (April 17)
- Knesseth Israel leaders Beth Scherer-Smokey and Martin Stein (March 20)
- Interfaith discussion with Maurine Halpern, who is Catholic, and her husband Jacob, who is Jewish (February 28)
- Hal Abroms, philanthropist (January 24)
- Phillip Ensler, civil rights attorney and state representative for District 74 (which includes Montgomery) — and the only Jewish member of the Alabama legislature (November 29)
- Ronne Hess, philanthropist and volunteer (October 25)
Special thanks to funding from the Alabama Humanities Alliance and the Ted and Marjorie Levite LJCC Fund at the Birmingham Jewish Foundation for their support of this program.
