Rabbi Ira Sanders and Clarence Darrow Debate Explored

Reenactment of 1930 Debate 

   On November 3, 1930, the nationally-known religious skeptic Clarence Darrow debated immortality with Rabbi Ira Sanders at Little Rock High School in an auditorium packed with more than 2,000 people. This event will be explored anew as the Central Arkansas Library System's 2015 Sanders Distinguished Lecture 6:30 p.m. December 3 at Ron Robinson Theater, 100 River Market Avenue. The event is free and open to the public, and will include a reception. The reenactment is in conjunction with Temple B'nai Israel's sesquicentennial anniversary.

    Jason Thompson (Rabbi Sanders) spent ten years acting, writing, and directing for Red Octopus and was in several  Arkansas Repertory Theatre  productions. Mark Johnson (Clarence Darrow) has appeared in many Rep plays and is an artist whose paintings are shown at Stephano's Gallery.

    The Sanders Distinguished Lecture was established in 2000 to commemorate Rabbi Sanders’ forty years of service on the Boards of Trustees of Little Rock Public Library and CALS. Reservations are requested, but not required. RSVP online via Eventjoy or call 918-3000.

An Evening with Nathan Englander 

      An Evening with Nathan Englander will be held 7:30 - 9 p.m. October 29 at Temple B'nai Israel, 3700 North Rodney Parham Road.  Mr. Englander is an award-winning author who published his first short story collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, in 1999.  Since its publication, Nathan has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Bard Fiction Prize, and four of his short stories have appeared in editions of

The Best American Short Stories.

      His second collection, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, won the 2012 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Nathan is also the translator for the New American Haggadah.

    The event is free.  It is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Arkansas in partnership with the Sisterhoods of Temple B'nai Israel and Synagogue Agudath Achim. A reception and book signing will follow.

  For additional information, call Marianne Tettlebaum at 663-3571 or visit federation@jewisharkansas.org.