Buber and Gandhi: Dialogue and Disappointment, with Howard Simon

Please register to attend this free in-person program. The Library is located at 1835 Ellis Street in San Francisco, with free garage parking at 1227 Pierce Street between Ellis and Eddy.  

In 1938, shortly after Kristallnacht, Jewish and Zionist leaders Martin Buber, Judah Magnes and Hayyim Greenberg engaged in spirited correspondence with Mahatma Gandhi regarding the so-called “Jewish Question,” Zionism, and how Jews should respond to Nazi persecution. These letters not only are fascinating and quite moving, they also reveal surprising aspects of each of these leaders not seen in other documents. This lecture will delve deeply into that correspondence and its historical context, and into how these leaders considered some of the essential – and existential – questions of the day.

Howard A. Simon recently retired after a long career in biotechnology, where he served a number of companies as chief operating officer, general counsel and senior human resources executive. In addition to his professional life, he has long been a leader in the Bay Area Jewish community, with board service and/or leadership roles at Lehrhaus Judaica/HaMaqom, Brandeis Hillel Day School, Congregation Ner Tamid, Berkeley Hillel, the San Francisco Jewish Community Center, and the Graduate Theological Union. He  is a frequent teacher and lecturer in Jewish studies and ethics at San Francisco State University and in lifelong learning programs around the Bay Area. He holds an BA from UC Berkeley, a JD from Berkeley Law (formerly Boalt Hall), a MA in Jewish Studies from the Graduate Theological Union, and an MBA from Babson College.