The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center

Last night was the 79th Annual Tony Awards, Broadway’s biggest night, and we were thrilled to see several friends of The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center take home theater’s highest honor, including:

🏆 Shoshana Bean, winner of Featured Actress in a Musical for “The Lost Boys,” who most recently serenaded attendees at The BIG Shabbat alongside Tony Award nominee Steven Skybell

🏆 John Lithgow, winner of Lead Actor in a Play for “Giant,” who joined us earlier this season with playwright Mark Rosenblatt to discuss their Tony Award-nominated play tackling antisemitism

🏆 Michael Arden, who took home another Tony Award for “The Lost Boys,” and whom we’ve had the great honor of hosting previously in connection with his Tony Award-winning productions

🏆 Nathan Lane, who accepted the Tony Award on behalf of last night’s Best Revival of a Play winner, “Death of a Salesman,” for which he was also nominated for Lead Actor in a Play, and whom we were honored to host previously alongside the late, great Chita Rivera

Mazel tov to all of this year’s winners and nominees!

REJECTING HATE | Join us on Friday, June 12 at 6pm ET for a special Friday night worship service with Maoz Inon and Aziz Abu Sarah, co-authors of the bestselling book, “The Future Is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land” 📙

The first 500 in-person attendees will receive a free copy of the book.

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In the popular imagination, and should be the bitterest of enemies.

When Aziz was nine years old, his older brother was arrested from their home in a small West Bank town just outside Jerusalem on suspicion of stone throwing. Released a year later, he died within weeks of internal injuries.

On October 7, 2023, Maoz’s parents were killed when their home on a moshav near the Gaza border was struck in a Hamas attack.

Animosity for the “other,” then, would have been easy.
Instead, both men chose another path: trading anger for partnership, and grief for a shared commitment to reconciliation. Their story is a powerful rebuttal to cycles of violence.

In their bestselling book, “The Future Is Peace,” Maoz and Aziz recount a week-long journey across Israel and the West Bank, exploring what connects their peoples. At every stop, they faced the same question: In the face of so much loss, how can hope endure?

During the service, they join us on the bima to discuss their answer that “hope isn’t found, it’s created.”

* * *

This program sponsored by Norman and Sandy Pessin and Robert Siegfried.

In-person and online registration is FREE. Click the link in our bio or visit Streicker.NYC to register today 📲

JUST ANNOUNCED | Israeli actor Michael Aloni will headline the opening night of the 14th Annual Israel Film Center Festival at The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center.

Before the New York Premiere of “Love, Statistically Speaking,” join Aloni, one of Israel’s most acclaimed actors, for a special opening night introduction. Following the screening, there will be a conversation with the film’s director, Amichai Greenberg.

In-person tickets are $36 for general admission and $99 for access to reserved seating and the special pre-screening reception.

Register today: https://streicker.nyc/events/ifcf-love-statistically-speaking

Join us at The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center next week for the start of our new four-part series: “America at 250: Jewish Beginnings in a New Land.”

As we celebrate the Semiquincentennial of the Declaration of Independence, we are proud to highlight and honor the often-overlooked contributions of our Jewish forebears in a program led by Dr. Jonathan Sarna (Brandeis University), Dr. Laura Arnold Leibman (Princeton University), Joseph Weisberg (PhD candidate, Brandeis University), Dr. Shari Rabin (Oberlin College) and Dr. Toni Pitock (Drexel University), some of the foremost experts in early American Jewish history.

Join us next week and mark your calendars now for:

🇺🇸 LECTURE 1: A NEW WORLD, A NEW CHOICE:
JEWS AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Dr. Jonathan Sarna in conversation with Dr. Laura Arnold Leibman
Thursday, June 4, 2026 | 6:30 PM ET
In-Person & Online | FREE

⚓️ LECTURE 2: THE JEWS OF NEWPORT
Dr. Jonathan Sarna in conversation with Joseph Weisberg
Tuesday, October 27, 2026 | 6:30 PM ET
In-Person & Online | FREE

🏛️ LECTURE 3: THE JEWS OF SAVANNAH AND CHARLESTON
Dr. Laura Arnold Leibman in conversation with Dr. Shari Rabin
Tuesday, February 23, 2027 | 6:30 PM ET
In-Person & Online | FREE

🗽 LECTURE 4: THE JEWS OF NEW YORK AND PHILADELPHIA
Dr. Laura Arnold Leibman in conversation with Dr. Toni Pitock
Tuesday, May 18, 2027 | 6:30 PM ET
In-Person & Online | FREE

To learn more about our “America at 250” series, click the link in our bio or visit streicker.nyc/america250 to register for free today 📲

MARK YOUR CALENDAR | Join us at The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center on Wednesday, June 3 at 6:30pm ET for a FREE candidate forum in the final weeks of the Democratic primary race for New York’s highly coveted 12th Congressional District seat.

Hear about the issues Jewish voters care most about from the following candidates:

• Alex Bores
• Laura Dunn
• Micah Lasher
• Jack Schlossberg
• Nina Schwalbe

This candidate forum is proudly presented by the Jewish Democratic Council of America. Halie Soifer, the organization’s Chief Executive Officer, will serve as moderator.

Read each candidate’s extended bios and register today: https://streicker.nyc/events/ny-12-forum-2026

GET YOUR TICKETS TODAY | On Tuesday, June 9 at 7pm ET, the 14th Annual Israel Film Center Festival is celebrating its opening night at The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center with the New York Premiere of “Love, Statistically Speaking.”

In this film, Reuben, an 80-year-old actuary who lives by statistics, loses both his wife and her insurance money at the swimming pool, then is forced into a reluctant partnership with his free-spirited granddaughter. Their bumbling investigation among eccentric pool regulars turns into a funny, heartfelt journey proving that while you can calculate almost anything, you can’t predict love or family.

The screening will be followed by a special discussion with the film’s director Amichai Greenberg.

In-person tickets are $36 for general admission and $99 for access to reserved seating and the special pre-screening reception.

Click the link in our bio or visit Streicker.NYC to register today 📲