Rabbi Joseph Asher served Congregation Emanu-El with dignity and distinction from 1968-1985. In 1993, a fund established to honor his memory as a scholar and a humanitarian, sponsors an annual lecture at Temple Emanu-El.

PAST LECTURES INCLUDE:

2007: Gershom Gorenberg, senior editor and columnist of the The Jerusalem Report, Peacemaking and Israel.

2006:Reuven Firestone, Professor of Medieval Judaism and Islam, Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles, How Do We See the Other? Classic and Contemporary Views of Jews and Muslims Toward the Other

2005: Dr. John Stoessinger, political analyst and a prize-winning author, Odyssey to America: Reflections of a Holocaust Survivor

2000: Dr. Andreas Nachama, Director of the Berlin Jewish Community, The German Jewish Community Today

1998: Rabbi Walter Jacob, Retired Rabbi at Rodef Shalom Congregation in Pittsburgh German Jewry: A Glorious Past; Is There A Future?

1997: Dr. Deborah E. Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies, Emory University, Atlanta on Long Armed Women and Nursing Fathers: Leadership in Jewish Tradition

1995: Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut, Editor of The Torah: A Modern Commentary and Rabbi Emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple, Toronto, Canada;

1993: World famous archaeologist Dr. Avraham Biran, on New Discoveries at Biblical Dan