On Sunday, January 14, FCC will welcome Jewish Educator Mark Lazar (and his partner, Terri Davis), for a conversation on this topic. What happened on October 7th? What were the events that led up to October 7th? How can we, as Christians with many diverse perspectives, better understand and have dialogue with members of the Jewish faith–in Israel, in the United States, or elsewhere?
Pastor Monica had a chance to participate in a similar discussion with our friends at Temple HaNefesh and was impressed with Mark’s kind teaching and openness to questions. He warmly accepted Pastor Monica’s invitation to continue this discussion at Fairview Community Church.
More about Mark:
Mark Lazar has been involved with informal Jewish Education since the early 1970’s beginning as a drama specialist in schools and camps. After years of freelancing for numerous synagogues, day schools, camps and institutes such as the University of Judaism and the Bureau of Jewish Education in Los Angeles, Mark served as Director of Youth and Education at Temple Beth Haverim in Agoura Hills. He moved to Israel with his family in 1993, where he was based in Jerusalem and worked for numerous gap year programs, summer teen programs and institutions such as the Jewish Agency, the Joint Distribution Committee and Archaeological Seminars. Mark guided over one hundred journeys in Israel including Birthright as well as guiding over sixty journeys to Poland dealing with the Holocaust. Mark moved back to the LA area in 2016 to be closer to his mother. He created the Merage JCC’s Center for Jewish Life where some of his programming included Young Philanthropists and JCC Global Teens. Mark returned to Israel in 2022 and has resumed his work with teens and gap year participants in various programs.
