Visiting Educator Professor Avinoam Patt & Machon: Hakarat HaTov

Our Palmer community is honored this week by the presence of Dr. Avi Patt (bio, below), part of our tzevet Hinuch (Education staff).  He is seen here leading a class with our Machon chanichim (campers) about our camp-wide theme for kayitz (summer) 2017: Hakarat HaTov (gratitude).  The chanichim were asked to think about and discuss the meaning of good and evil, and had a discussion later in the week about the story of Cain and Abel with regard to good and evil and the level of responsibility we have toward each other. The chanichim described their vision for an “ideal society”, and drew up “10 Commandments” for that society.

Dr. Patt also read this poem by Dan Pagis together with the chanichim, and together they discussed the themes and meaning of this poem with regard to the story of Cain and Abel, responsibility towards one another, and good and evil.

WRITTEN IN PENCIL IN THE SEALED RAILWAY-CAR

here in this carload
i am eve
with abel my son
if you see my other son
cain son of man
tell him that i

Associate Professor

Judaic Studies Department

PhD   New York University   |   BA   Emory University

Avinoam J. Patt is the Philip D. Feltman Professor of Modern Jewish History at the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Hartford, where he is also director of the Museum of Jewish Civilization.  Previously, he worked as the Miles Lerman Applied Research Scholar for Jewish Life and Culture at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM).  He received his Ph.D. in Modern European History and Hebrew and Judaic Studies from New York University.  His first book,Finding Home and Homeland: Jewish Youth and Zionism in the Aftermath of the Holocaust (published by Wayne State University Press, May 2009) examines the appeal of Zionism for young survivors in Europe in the aftermath of the Holocaust and their role in the creation of the state of Israel.  He is also the co-editor (with Michael Berkowitz) of a collected volume on Jewish Displaced Persons, titled We are Here: New Approaches to the Study of Jewish Displaced Persons in Postwar Germany (Wayne State University Press, February 2010).  He is a contributor to several projects at the USHMM, and is co-author of the recently published source volume, entitled Jewish Responses to Persecution, 1938-1940 (USHMM/Alta Mira Press, September 2011).  He has also published numerous articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia articles on various topics related to Jewish life and culture before, during, and after the Holocaust. He is co-editor of a forthcoming anthology of recent American Jewish fiction entitled The New Diaspora: The Changing Landscape of American Jewish Fiction. In Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Edward Lewis Wallant Award for American Jewish Fiction (with Mark Shechner and Victoria Aarons, to be published by Wayne State University Press in November 2014).  Patt teaches courses on Modern Jewish History, American Jewish History, Responses to the Holocaust, the History of Zionism and the State of Israel, Jewish film, and Modern Jewish Literature among others.