Near the beginning of every calendar year, possibly when people still can make another New Year's resolution, the Agency for Jewish Education sponsors the Festival of Jewish Learning in the hope that a potpourri of lectures, panel discussions and entertainment will entice more of us into lives of active Jewish learning.

Not knowing exactly what will motivate each of us toward educational growth, the AJE hopes to tempt us with an intellectual smorgasbord. Among other topics, we will be able to learn this year about Jewish ethics, history, the current situation in Israel, and about how Jews relate to people from other backgrounds.

Last year, Jewish learners filled approximately 1,800 chairs over the course of a fortnight. There were lunchtime lectures that routinely attracted an average of 30 students, a Jewish-interest concert that drew 600 people (many of them parents anxious to video their children), and evening presentations that drew a couple of hundred persons.

An increase in these numbers would be one mark of success for this year's 14th Annual AJE Festival of Jewish Learning, suggest Dr. Cecile Jordan and Noah Hadas, respectively AJE¹s executive director and director of adult education. But there also is an educational corollary to the saying that "to save one life is to save the world": Inspire even a single mind to serious Jewish study, and there's no telling how many other persons will be influenced by that mind.

No specific topic was highlighted as the official "theme" of this year's festival, but one theme that has been generating perhaps more excitement than the others has been the relationship between Jews and Blacks, both in the United States and in Africa.

This year's festival stretches over the Jan. 20 celebration of the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King. The memory of the slain civil rights leader will be evoked on Sunday, Jan. 5, when Rabbi Ed Feinstein of Valley Beth Shalom of Encino lectures at Congregation Beth Israel on a man who walked at King's side during the civil rights marches: Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.

Although Feinstein will focus primarily on Heschel's spiritual legacy — what he calls Heschel¹s insistence that we should "save Jewish people by saving the Jewish person" — social activism was one ingredient in Heschel's prescription for leading a meaningful life. Thus, he warmly embraced both the civil rights movement and the anti-Vietnam War movement, to the point
that his daughter Susannah later would recall that it was not a surprise to wake up in the morning and find King sleeping on the living room couch in their New York home, nor to find such well-known protesters at their Shabbat table as Daniel Berrigan or the Rev. William Sloane Coffin.

(During AJE¹s concurrent Mid-Winter Educators' Conference, an additional duty for Feinstein will be to present teacher service awards for reaching 10-, 15- and 20-year milestones in San Diego. He will give another talk, "Questions of Meaning and the Meaning of Questions: A Vision of Jewish Education for the New Century," at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 5. at Congregation Beth Israel.)

The Black and Jewish theme also will find expression on Monday, Jan. 13, when Rabbi Arthur Zuckerman of Congregation Beth Am gives a noontime lecture at Temple Solel on "The Relationship Between Israel and Eritrea," and again at 7 p.m., on Tuesday, Jan. 14, when Ed Samiljan, who has participated in Jewish-sponsored missions to both countries, delivers a lecture at the Agency for Jewish Education¹s offices on "The New and Ancient Jews of Uganda
and Ethiopia."

On Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, an unusual presentation will be made, melding the words of "Chad Gadya," an old Jewish song from the Passover seder, with African-American rap rhythms and step dancing. The Exodus from Egypt, which is commemorated during the Passover seder, also served as a religious metaphor for the civil rights movement. Jewish students coached by Cantor Alisa Pomerantz-Boro of Tifereth Israel Synagogue and coordinated by Heather Maio will join African-American students from Lincoln High School, under the music direction of Louise Pearson, in a concert at 2 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 20, in the Shiley Theatre on the University of San Diego campus.

Starring Jewish singer Peri Smilow, the concert also will include emotion-laden songs from the civil rights movement performed by the joint choir as part of the Freedom Music Project, designed to foster good relations between the Jewish and African-American communities...
 
The presence of Ed Samiljan in the lineup of speakers indicates another new trend for the Festival of Jewish Learning, moving away from an almost exclusive reliance on professors, communal professionals and members of the clergy to include more lay leaders.

Samiljan served as a volunteer assistant in a program to formally convert members of the Abayudaya people of Uganda to Judaism. Practicing Judaism for 80 years since their leader decided to adopt it as his religion, members of the Abayudaya originally did not undergo any formal conversion ceremonies.

Samiljan last year assisted rabbinical courts that questioned members of the Abayudaya about their knowledge of Judaism and supervised their immersion in a mikvah.

He also traveled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to learn about the status of people who were not brought to Israel by the famous airlifts. In some cases, the people left behind previously had converted to Christianity or were children of a Christian parent. Nevertheless, they all identify as Jews and want to be part of the community.

Other "lay" speakers at the festival will include Carol Davidson Baird, a Jewish genealogist whose own efforts to learn more about her family have been the subject of several "cover" stories in Heritage. One recent article focused on her decision to renew her wedding vows with her husband in a German synagogue where her family had worshiped prior to the nazi era.
Baird will discuss "Jewish Genealogy: Where Can I Start?" at noon on Monday, Jan. 13, at Ohr Shalom Synagogue. Her husband, Dr. Stephen M. Baird, will speak on "Evolving Technologies: Evolving Ethics?" at noon on Wednesday, Jan.15, at the UCSD Medical Center-Hillcrest.

Other "lay" speakers will include:
• Singer Trudie Richman, who will make a presentation on "Women in Jewish Folksong," 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14, at Jewish Family Service¹s University City Senior Center.

• Retired attorney Sidney Wexler, who has become quite a scholar on Jewish subjects, lecturing on "The Hellenistic War: The Story Behind Chanukah," 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jan 15, at the Coronado Police Department, 700 Orange Ave.

• Teresa Fischlowitz speaking on "The Train to Freedom: A Personal Holocaust
Memoir," 11:15 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 16, at Seacrest Village-Encinitas.

• Dr. Linda Daniels, a medical doctor and lawyer, who diagnoses "Important Decisions to Make for 'Life's Final Chapter,¹' noon Wednesday, Jan. 22, at the Carlsbad City Library-South.

• Arnold Rosenberg, who will speak on "Singing, Sobbing and Silence: The
Origins of the Jewish Prayer Service," noon Wednesday, Jan. 22, at Gerber
California, 6404 Nancy Ridge Drive, Sorrento Valley.

As a rebbitzin, Debbie Kornberg perhaps may be placed in a category somewhere between that of lay leader and clergy. A teacher, she will discuss "Making a House a Jewish Home" at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 14, at the Lawrence Family JCC. The time was chosen to make attendance easy for young parents dropping their children off at the Nierman Preschool at the JCC.

Of course, rabbis, professors and community professionals will be in plentiful supply throughout the festival, which stretches from Sunday, Jan. 5, all the way through Thursday, Jan. 23.
In order of their appearance, they include:

•  Rabbi Philip Graubart of Congregation Beth El, who plans to discuss "What Happens When We Die: Some Talmudic Ghost Stories" during a 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. day of learning at Congregation Beth Israel in which he will appear with the aforementioned Rabbi Ed Feinstein. Graubart, author of two works of fiction, is a former director of education and programs at the National Yiddish Book Center. He will reprise the subject "Life After Death" at noon on Thursday, Jan. 16, at the Carmel Valley Library, 3919 Townsgate Drive.

• Rabbi Avram Bogopulsky of Beth Jacob Congregation, lecturing on "Creative Methods of Celebrating Judaism" at noon on Monday, Jan. 13, at Temple Adat Shalom. One of hallmarks of the Festival of Jewish Learning is to bring rabbis to different areas of the county than those where they live. Bogopulsky's Orthodox congregation is near San Diego State University in San
Diego; Temple Adat Shalom, a Reform institution, is in Poway.

• Prof. William Propp of UCSD's Judaic Studies Department, who will discuss "Origins of Jewish Worship" at noon on Tuesday, Jan. 14, at Temple Emanu-El.

• Rabbi Tamar Malino of Temple Adat Shalom, who will retell "Stories from
the Talmud" at noon on Tuesday, Jan. 14, at the Lawrence Family JCC.

• Rabbi David Kornberg of Congregation Beth Am, who will weigh "Medical Advance Directives: A Jewish Perspective" at noon on Tuesday, Jan. 14, in the second-floor conference room of 1 American Plaza, 600 Broadway, downtown San Diego.

• Rabbi Ralph Dalin of the San Diego Jewish Academy, who will enlighten listeners on "The Origins of Jewish Art" at noon on Wednesday, Jan. 15, on the SDJA campus.

• Prof. Laurence Baron of San Diego State University¹s Lipinsky Institute for Judaic Studies, who will discuss "Serious Humor: Holocaust Movie Comedies" at noon on Wednesday, Jan. 15, at the Hadassah regional offices, 5755 Oberlin Drive, Suite 202, in the Sorrento Valley.

• Rabbi Lisa Goldstein, executive director of Hillel of San Diego, who will discuss "The Crypto Jews of New Mexico" at noon on Thursday, Jan. 16, at Ohr Shalom Synagogue.

• Rabbi Susan Freeman, an educator, who will discuss "war ethics" at 1:15 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 16, in the community room of La Jolla Village Square (next to the AMC Theatre box office), 8657 Villa La Jolla Drive.

• Prof. Stephen M. Berk of Union College, N.Y., who will discuss "The American Jewish Experience" in a lecture over breakfast on Sunday, Jan. 19, in conjunction with his service as scholar in residence at Congregation Beth Israel.

• Prof. Sarah Ozacky-Lazar, co-director of the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace at Givat Haviva, Israel, who will forecast "What to Expect When Israel Goes to the Polls,² at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 19, at the Lawrence Family JCC.

• Rabbi Ben Kamin of Congregation Beth Israel, Rabbi Lisa Goldstein of Hillel and Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal of Tifereth Israel Synagogue, who will participate in a panel on "Responding to the Portrayal of Israel in the Media" at noon on Tuesday, Jan. 21, at Congregation Beth Israel.

• Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal of Tifereth Israel Synagogue offers "Creative Methods of Celebrating Judaism" at noon on Wednesday, Jan. 22, at the Coronado Police Department, 700 Orange Avenue.

• Morris Casuto, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, who will discuss "A Dangerous and Deadly World" at noon on Wednesday, Jan. 22, at Ner Tamid Synagogue.

• A still-to-be-finalized panel of educators and laymen, which will discuss "Who¹s Going to Fund Jewish Education?" at 8:30 a.m. at the San Diego Jewish Academy. This session was timed to coincide with the drop-off of students by SDJA parents.

• Rabbi Martin Lawson of Temple Emanu-El, who will discuss "Jewish Views on Homosexuality² at noon on Thursday, Jan. 23, in the Astor Library of the Lawrence Family JCC.

• Prof. Yehuda Shabatay of Palomar College, who compares and contrasts "Islam and Judaism" at noon on Thursday, Jan. 23, at San Diego State University's Hillel House, 5742 Montezuma Road.

• Rabbi Jeffrey Wohlgelernter of Congregaton Adat Yeshurun, who essays "Love
Your Neighbor-What is Religious Pluralism?" at noon on Thursday, Jan. 23, at the Argen Corp., 5855 Oberlin Drive, Sorrento Valley.

• Rabbi Carol Stein, a community educator and attorney, who imagines "Moses meets Thomas Jefferson² at noon on Thursday, Jan. 23, at the law offices of Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek in Symphony Towers, 750 B St. No. 2100, in downtown San Diego.

• Prof. Shalom Paul of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who delivers the Festival of Jewish Learning's concluding lecture, "The Drama of the Dead Sea Scrolls," at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 23, at the Lawrence Family JCC.

Some presentations are free; others have admission fees. For more information, please consult the AJE Schedule of Events printed elsewhere in this newspaper or call the AJE offices at (858) 268 9200.