Alan Dershowitz on the Future of Jews and Israel at Dahan Memorial Lecture

Nearly 1,200 people attended the 2nd Annual Dahan Lecture, held in Beth Tfiloh's Dahan Sanctuary, on Sunday, April 26th. The lecture honored the legacy of Beth Tfiloh's most generous benefactors, Haron and Rachel Dahan, of blessed memory. The featured speaker, Alan Dershowitz, engaged in a lively dialogue with Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg, who grew up just six blocks away from Mr. Dershowitz in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

Dershowitz, who was then known as "Avi," attended the same Jewish schools and camps as did Wohlberg and his brothers, and paid tribute to Rabbi Harry Wohlberg, father of Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg, whose sermons Dershowitz praised as "articulate and relevant."

Rabbi Wohlberg posed questions to Dershowitz on a wide variety of topics, from combatting anti-Israel bias on campus, to the Iran Nuclear agreement, to the dilemma facing Jewish liberals to support Democratic candidates. Dershowitz, a self-proclaimed champion of the downtrodden, explained that he saw the need to advocate for Israel beginning in the 1970s when anti-Israel sentiment began to spread on college campuses. He deplored the hypocrisy of J Street, which has advocated for "big tent Judaism," but would not give him a forum, and raised grave concerns about the wake of anti-Semitism that BDS continues to proliferate. Although he continues to be passionate about a variety of liberal causes — from gay rights, women's rights, and racial bias, to universal health care — he made mention of a recent meeting with Jeb Bush in which Bush asked him to consider on what issues the next President could really make a difference, and concluded that foreign policy and Israel-Palestinian relations, in particular, were key issues on which a President could have a critical impact.

Dershowitz had the audience riveted with his strong attack on the injustice of Jonathan Pollard's sentence. He also addressed the emotional challenges that come with defending some of the country's most notorious criminals, and explained his strongly held belief that having a vigorous defense is a critical component of a system that is designed to prevent the injustice of convicting the innocent. He also addressed the recent sexual misconduct charges made against him, which have been dismissed, and looks forward to further legal action to clear his name from charges which he characterized as totally bogus and fabricated.

Dershowitz made mention of his close friendship with Bibi and Sarah Netanyahu, and made clear that if Israel is ever charged with war crimes in the World Court, he will be there to defend Israel tooth and nail.
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Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School

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Baltimore’s only Jewish independent preparatory school serving PreSchool through Grade 12.