The Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga invites the community to attend a luncheon featuring filmmaker Amy Oppenheimer on Tuesday, May 19 at noon, at the Jewish Cultural Center, 5461 North Terrace Road. The event, sponsored in part by Israel Bonds, is $10. RSVPs are strongly suggested and can be made by calling 493-0270 or rsvp@jewishchattanooga.com.
Ms. Oppenheimer is the creator and director of Faces of Israel, and is an expert speaker on religion and state issues in Israel today. Over the past four years, Ms. Oppenheimer has presented Faces of Israel at over 250 institutions in North America and Israel with rave reviews. Faces of Israel is her first fully-developed educational program and documentary film.
While Ms. Oppenheimer's passion for film is new, her love of Israel dates back to her first trip there as a young child. Growing up, she experienced two distinct types of Israel programming: one that focused on political advocacy, dialogue groups and the conflict, and another that offered falafel and Israeli music on Israel Independence Day. Ms. Oppenheimer felt that both types of programming had their place, but there wasn't a lot of meaningful content offered in between. One of her motivations in creating Faces of Israel was to create an internal discussion piece for the community to explore the nature of the Jewish state and questions of Jewish identity in a real and thoughtful way.
Ms. Oppenheimer is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University where she pursued a degree in International Relations and Jewish Studies. Ms. Oppenheimer worked in management consulting for two years following graduation while putting the finishing touches on Faces of Israel. Ms. Oppenheimer was raised in Leonia, New Jersey with her parents and two sisters.
She currently lives in Israel with her family, and works with the organization, Bat Melech: which works to Break the Cycle of Violence against women in Israel through Support, Shelter & Legal Services. "Bat Melekh is the only religiously observant shelter in the country, and serves as a model for Israel and the world," officials said.