Please join us for Sisterhood Shabbat when our special guest Alexis Lerner will speak on: “From the Maccabees to Putin to Trudeau: Regime Types and their Impact on Religious Pluralism.

Contemporary Russian Jews enjoy the freedom of religious practice, a welcome shift from the anti-Semitic policies and religious persecution of the Soviet Era. But what are the limits of Jewish practice, especially outside of the sanctuary?

Alexis Lerner is a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto in the Department of Policitical Science and at the Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies. She is also a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University's Harriman Institute for Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies. Her research focuses on Authoritarianism, repression, co-optation, and anti-Semitism, primarily in the post-Soviet Region.  Alexis also has a deep connection to Beth Tzedec as her husband is the John and Millie Pollock Rabbinic Intern and their daughter Magda Rose, celebrated her baby naming with the Little Minyan in June 2017.. www.AlexisLerner.com