Rabbi Dorit Edut
DEARBORN — Henry Ford Community College will host Rabbi Dorit Edut, who will present a lecture titled “An Ancient People in the 21st Century – Who Are The Jews?” from 11:10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday in Room L-14 of the Liberal Arts Building, on the main campus.
This is the latest lecture in the college’s Building Bridges of Understanding Lecture Series, sponsored by HFCC’s Religious Studies Program and the Council of World Cultures.
This series promotes conversation and cooperation among citizens of diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds, and works to generate a healthy and happy American society.
About 3,000 years ago, the Jewish people appeared in world history. Edut’s lecture will focus on several questions:
• Who were the first Jews and how did they evolve?
• What values, customs and beliefs have been preserved from those ancient times?
• How are they still meaningful today?
• What challenges have they faced for survival?
• What do they believe about the future of our world?
Born and raised in Detroit, Edut attended Mumford High School on the city’s northwest side. For more than 40 years, she has been an educator in metropolitan Detroit and New York City.
Edut began her career as a social studies teacher. Later, she became a family crisis counselor, where she worked for various agencies in Detroit and its surrounding suburbs, performing individual therapy and group therapy with a focus on anger management, conflict resolution, resolving grief issues and building self-esteem.
She earned her undergraduate degree from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, her graduate degree from Wayne State University and her rabbinical ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion in Riverdale, N.Y.
From 2006 to 2010, she returned to Michigan and became the congregational rabbi for the Temple Israel (Conservative) of Bay City.
In 2011, Edut brought together a diverse group of clergy and civic leaders in Detroit to find ways to help revitalize the city by focusing on its youth. This resulted in the creation of the Detroit Interfaith Outreach Network, which offers a platform for groups to share projects and gain support from this network, and stimulates the creation of new projects in areas where there is an unfulfilled need.
Under her leadership, the group has begun holding interfaith services and social hours every two months at different religious sites around the city.
“We are honored to have someone of Rabbi Edut’s renown speak at our college,” said Bill Secrest, director of the HFCC Religious Studies program. Given her knowledge of Detroit and rich knowledge of Jewish history, this will be a very meaningful lecture.”
Admission is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. For further information, call Secrest at 313-845-6441.