Lecture series to be aired

The Augusta Jewish Community Center will join other Jewish centers in a broadcast lecture series starting Sept. 14.

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"This series will be broadcast at different areas across the country," said the center's executive director, Leah Ronen, who also serves as executive director of the Augusta Jewish Federation. "Were it not for the generosity of the Maxine Saul Goldberg Endowment, which purchased the satellite, we wouldn't be able to participate in this series."

The satellite feed will be simulcast from New York in each of the seven presentations. Thomas Friedman, a New York Times foreign affairs columnist, will discuss "Geo-Greenism" in the first simulcast. The three-time Pulitzer Prize winner will discuss the national strategy that he says would help save the planet from overheating.

Other speakers during the lecture series are Elie Wiesel, on Oct. 2; Ed Koch, William Kristol and Rabbi Michael Lerner, on Oct. 30; Rabbi Benjamin Blech and Roy Doliner, on Nov. 10; David Wolpe, on Nov. 25; Dr. Charles Small and Bret Stephens, on Dec. 1; and Henry Paulson, on Dec. 18.

Series tickets cost $25 for center members and $75 for others. Tickets for individual lectures cost $5 for members and $15 for others. Seating for each broadcast is limited to 230 people.

"Living in a small community, you often don't have the chance to participate in these kinds of events," Ronen said. "We thought this would be a golden opportunity for us to be able to bring renowned speakers to this community and bring these marvelous programs that are important to all of us."

Ronen said corporate sponsorships from Phoenix Printers, television station WRDW, Trinity Hospital and Elliott Sons Funeral Home are making the series possible.

For more information, go to www.augustajcc.org, or call the Augusta Jewish Community Center at (706) 228-3636.