Learn Out Loud Lecture Series at the Prosserman JCC

Learn Out Loud Lecture Series

Join us for an engaging, experiential speaker series and be inspired by thought leaders as they explore an eclectic range of topics. Spark your curiosity and expand your mind as you learn about Israel, current events, history, Social Media, health, environment, finance and more.

There are health and safety precautions that are in place for in-person programs: vaccination certificate, masks, and physical distancing.

We prioritize the health and safety of our participants and are doing everything we can to make sure you feel comfortable.

Calling People In: Fighting Antisemitism Through Relationship

“Fighting” antisemitism could involve filing complaints, creating protests, petitioning, and involving police or institutional authorities. Alternatively, we’ll discuss what a relationship-based alternative approach might look like, building relationships across difference to increase understanding and collaboration. We’ll look at Jewish texts for inspiration and discuss methods for relationship-building, feedback, and allyship that work. We’ll also look at case studies to apply our new techniques.

About the Speaker Rabbi Julia Appel is the Director of Innovation Training and Curriculum for Clal – The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. She has developed and led trainings to combat antisemitism for a variety of settings, including the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, Humber College, and Limmud Toronto. Rabbi Appel’s writing has been featured in the Canadian Jewish News, the Forward, and the Wisdom Daily, and she teaches about innovation and entrepreneurship, feminism, spirituality, and antisemitism. Rabbi Appel serves on the executive committee of the Toronto Board of Rabbis.

A History of Nuclear Energy in Canada and its Potential Futures

How did Canada become a global nuclear energy leader? Why does Ontario rely on nuclear energy for the majority of its electricity? What’s the relationship between nuclear energy and nuclear weapons and where does Canada sit on that continuum? This talk will explore the history of nuclear technologies in Canada, their current use and development, whether nuclear energy can help to address climate change, and what the future of nuclear energy could look like for Canada and beyond.

About the speaker Pippa Feinstein is a lawyer, mediator, and researcher based in Toronto. She has her own legal practice and works exclusively with non-profit organizations on a broad range of public advocacy work. For almost a decade, much of this advocacy has concerned the nuclear industry and regulation. Ms. Feinstein is pursuing a PhD in Law at Osgoode Hall Law School, focusing on the relationships between Canadian nuclear regulators, civil society, and Indigenous Peoples. She is also the founder and coordinator of the Nuclear Transparency Project, a Canadian-registered non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and facilitating informed, holistic, and equitable public discourse about nuclear energy.

How Artificial Intelligence is shaping our Everyday Life

There are so many amazing ways Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning are used behind the scenes to impact our everyday lives. AI assists in every area of our lives, whether we’re trying to read our emails, get driving directions, get music or movie recommendations. In this talk, we will cover first a brief history of AI and the recent developments in Machine Learning and AI. After we will talk about, how AI is shaping our everyday life with different applications. I will show some real-world examples and use cases in AI. Lastly, we will discuss the Moral and Ethical Implications of AI.

About the Speaker Zekiye Erdem is a Professor at Ryerson University. She has a Ph.D., M.Sc., and B.Sc. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. She is also working as a senior data scientist consulting AI start-ups in MaRS Discovery District. She is the lead instructor of several big data courses at Ryerson University, Data Science Program. Her current research interests are in the areas of machine learning, data visualization, multi-objective optimization, and audio signal processing.

Social Media in the Age of Populism and Disinformation

In the age of social media, disinformation and fake news aimed at changing the course of politics, such as rise of Neo-Nazim and anti-Semitism in Europe, and QAnon, conspiracy theories and Donald Trump’s legacy, it is important for us to understand the relationship between media, communication, and power. The lecture is designed to introduce the audiences to a range of topics in media, communication, and culture, which are key in understanding the current political climate. We explore the rise of populism particularly in the Western democracies in relationship with various media and communication strategies aimed at shaping public opinion. The lecture will also cover a range of media literacy tools to help the audience cope with the rise of fake news, disinformation, and propaganda on social media platforms.

About the speaker Maral Karimi born in Iran in the interregnum between the 1979 revolution and the war with Iraq in 1981. The violence, volatility and vengeance that she witnessed and that touched her life made her acutely aware of the political conditions of the world surrounding her at an early age. Those conditions gave rise to questions that she then carried into her adult life and sent her on an academic quest in search of answers. Maral is pursuing a PhD in Social Justice Education at the University of Toronto, specializing in media and communication studies with a focus on Iranian politics, where she is interested in examining the role of media in general and political communications in particular in social movements, especially revolutions and mass uprisings. Maral is the author of the book The Iranian Green Movement of 2009: Reverberating Echoes of Resistance (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018) based on her dissertation for her Masters of Arts degree at York University in Toronto. She is a regularly invited to speak about Iran in the media including BBC World, Aljazeera, CBC, CTV, and a variety of other English and Persian broadcast, print and online platforms.

The Middle East on the Move: Forwards or Backwards?

Prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Middle East was showing signs of progress toward increased co-operation and renewed hopes for regional stability. The normalization of relations between Israel and many Arab nations paved the way to an even greater level of operation and collaboration and the emergence of a Middle East Union of mainly Suni nations and Israel. A union modeled after the European Union and a balancing power to the Russian-backed Shia block headed by Iran. As is the case in the region, things unraveled in the Spring of 2021 with renewed hostilities and military conflict between Israel and its nemesis Hamas. In this talk, we will evaluate the conditions on the ground and the prospects of a return to a more optimistic outlook. This is a region that suffers not only from ethnic, religious, and tribal conflicts but also is threatened more that any other part of the world with the effects of climate change, regional underdevelopment, population displacement, poverty, and famine. Will the Middle East finally leverage its potential to achieve peace and prosperity for all its inhabitants or will it sink deeper into conflicts and wars? – that is the question!

About the speaker Amnon Zohar is a retired hi-tech business entrepreneur. Born and educated in Israel, he is a graduate of the Israeli Military Academy for Computer Sciences. Post retirement Amnon studied Political Science at York University and International Relations at Tel-Aviv University. He is a speaker and lecturer at several Life-Long Learning institutions in the GTA specializing in Global Affairs with an emphasis on the political and social environments of the Middle East.

How Charles Pachter Thrives as a Contemporary Canadian Artist

One of Canada’s leading contemporary artists, Charles Pachter, the renowned Canadian painter will share his life and work as a painter, and the handprints he has been leaving around the world.

About the speaker Charles Pachter is a painter, printmaker, sculptor, designer, historian, and lecturer. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier of France’s Order of Arts and Letters, a recipient of the Order of Ontario, and holds honorary doctorates from Brock University, OCAD University, the University of Toronto, and Lakehead University. He has been awarded the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee medals. His images of the Queen, moose, barns, and maple leaf flag are icons of Canadian contemporary art. His murals of HOCKEY NIGHTS IN CANADA enhance Toronto’s College Subway Station. Born in Toronto in 1942, he studied art history at the University of Toronto, French literature at the Sorbonne, and painting and graphics at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. His work has been exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the McMichael Gallery. He has held solo exhibitions in France, Germany, Japan, the UK, India, and Bangladesh. He worked at Expo 67 in Montreal supervising the installation of 60 contemporary sculptures from around the world. He taught printmaking at the University of Calgary in 1969-70. He has also spearheaded Toronto’s Queen Street West revival in the 1970’s and 80’s by restoring several old buildings into facilities for arts usage.

Questions? Please contact Andrea at andrea@srcentre.ca