Each week a different person will lead a discussion, tutorial, or teach a class for anyone who wants to watch and participate. Many great people in our community have volunteered to lead programs in the coming Mondays. Check your weekly email for speaker details.

If you are interested in leading a Speaker Night let us know by emailing Julia at programming@bethmeyer.org.

Join on Zoom at https://zoom.us/j/874630986
or call in at +1 929 205 6099 
Meeting ID: 874 630 986

Monday, July 27th at 7:30pm - A Passion for Israel Adventures of a Sar-El Volunteer with Mark Werner

What would motivate a successful corporate lawyer to trade in his comfortable life in America for three weeks every year to volunteer for manual labor on Israeli military bases? Mark Werner, son of a Holocaust survivor, is an ardent Zionist seeking a personal way to show support for Israel. Sar-el is an organization that enables thousands of volunteers from all over the world to work in a civilian capacity on Israeli military bases, freeing up IDF soldiers for more serious duties. This book is based on journals the author kept during 14 Sar-el stints from 2006 to 2019. Werner describes working through a desert sandstorm, dealing with a scorpion in his bunk, taking refuge in a bomb shelter during a Palestinian missile attack, and more. Through simple activities—from packing kitbags and medical supplies for the soldiers to filling sandbags and assembling tank antennas—the volunteers work hard to make their contributions to the defense of Israel. The camaraderie that develops between volunteers and soldiers as they work side by side is their greatest reward.

Monday, August 3rd at 7:30pm - Parallels Between the Torah and Our Modern Legal System

Associate Justice Mark A. Davis of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, who is the first Jewish member of the court in its 200-year history, will be speaking about links between the Torah and our modern legal system. In his presentation, Justice Davis discusses the compatibility between the First Amendment and the Ten Commandments. He also explains how the structure of our modern court system derives from the Torah and how the process by which judges today analyze legal issues is based on Talmudic principles of interpretation.

Justice Mark A. Davis was appointed to the Supreme Court of North Carolina in March 2019. Prior to that, he served as an Associate Judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals for over six years. He worked as a Special Deputy Attorney General in the North Carolina Department of Justice for five years. He spent thirteen years as an attorney at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice where he was a Member of the firm in the Litigation Section. He also served as General Counsel in the Office of the Governor for approximately two years. Justice Davis received his law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law and served on the North Carolina Law Review. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. Upon graduation from law school, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Franklin T. Dupree, Jr. in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Justice Davis has been active in the North Carolina Bar Association, serving as a Vice-President and as a member of the Appellate Rules Committee and the Bench-Bar Liaison Committee. In 2018, he received a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree in Judicial Studies from the Duke University School of Law. He is also a recipient of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. Justice Davis has given presentations at numerous Continuing Legal Education seminars in North Carolina on the subject of appellate advocacy. Justice Davis is the author of a book on the North Carolina Supreme Court titled A Warren Court of Our Own: The Exum Court and the Expansion of Individual Rights in North Carolina. He and his wife Marcia have been married since 1992 and have three children.