Pollin Chapel, Schnitzer Family Center
Presenter: Rabbi Daniel Isaak

Advance sign-ups requested, please call CBI office at (503) 222-1069

Rabbi Daniel Isaak shares his memorabilia and leads a seminar discussion of the Dreyfus Affair, a fascinating history that raises questions relevant today. 

The French concluded that the Germans had access to French military secrets. Suspicion fell on Captain Alfred Drefus, because he was a Jew and was from Alsace, an area that belonged to Germany 24 years earlier in 1870. The Affair turned on considerations of innocence or guilt, but also on whether Jews could be seen as loyal to France and ultimately whether the life of an innocent man was expendable in order to preserve the honor of the French military. 

Theodore Hertzl, a foreign journalist covering the trial. was so shocked by the blatant anti-Semitism on the streets of liberal Paris that he concluded that only in a country of their own could Jews live as equals. 

An Officer and a Spy, by Robert Harris, a work of historical fiction, will be a helpful introduction or refresher, though not necessary for participating in this seminar. Copies will be available for purchase in January for those who are interested.