First Thursdays: Post-Election Wrap-Up: What does it mean for us as Jews?

Post-Election Wrap-Up: What does it mean for us as Jews?
Presented by Rabbi Lance Sussman

This session will be presented via Zoom only.

On Tuesday, November 5, 2024, American’s went to the polls for the 60th time to elect its next president. The two major candidates were former President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Additionally, Americans went to the polls to elect US Senators and members of the US House of Representatives. As of this First Thursday on December 5, we will know who will be filling these positions in 2025. No matter who will have won the election, Jewish Americans will be impacted. On December 5, historian Rabbi Lance J Sussman, Ph.D. will return to First Thursdays to lead a discussion on the impacts of this election.

There is no cost for congregants; $15/person for non-members.
Registration is required and will be available soon.

Lance J. Sussman’s career as Senior Rabbi at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, PA, from 2001–2022, coincided with the tumultuous first two decades of the twenty-first century. His work at KI began shortly after 9/11 and ended in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Between those two momentous bookends, numerous significant developments occurred both in the United States and Israel. Now, as Rabbi Emeritus, he continues to write, teach, and serve the community at large. Rabbi Sussman, Ph.D., has the distinction of being both rabbi and scholar. A specialist in American Jewish History, he authored the seminal biography Isaac Leeser and the Making of American Judaism (1995). He served as an editor of New Essays in American Jewish History (2010). A prolific writer, Sussman has published significant articles on a variety of topics including modern Jewish life and Jewish art. Portrait of… is a proposed trilogy, with Portrait of an American Rabbi: In His Own Words (2023), followed by Portrait of a Reform Rabbi: Continuity and Change (2024), and then Portrait of a Rabbi-Historian: How Did We Get Here? (early 2025). In addition, Sussman currently serves as the Memoirs Section Editor of the Southern Jewish Historical Society’s Journal. In addition to his pulpit work, Sussman has taught at Princeton University, Binghamton (SUNY) University, and Hunter College, among others, and he has also served as Chair of the Board of Governors of Gratz College. A popular speaker, Sussman has been a scholar-in-residence, given hundreds of community lectures, and participated in the creation of television documentaries. He serves as Vice President of the North American Board of Rabbis, Vice President of the Philadelphia Board of Rabbis, and Senior Scholar of Roots of Reform Judaism.