Breakfast and “The Jews and First World War – The World Explodes” Adult Education discussion

The Jewish Community Center of Saratoga Springs and Congregation Shaara Tfille, located at 84 Weibel Avenue in Saratoga Springs, invites the entire community to join them for Breakfast and an Adult Education discussion on “The Jews and First World War – The World Explodes” on Sunday, January 14th at 10:00am. The cost is $10 per adult and $5 for children under 13. For more information or to make reservations by Thursday, January 11, contact at 518-584-2370 or saratogajcc@albany.twcbc.com. This Adult Education discussion class, led by Rabbi Kenneth Blatt, will be the 2nd of a 3-part series of discussions regarding the impact of The First World War (WW I) on the Jewish people. While most Jews are knowledgeable regarding the devastating consequences of WW II, the ramifications of the so-called, ‘Great War’ are more obscure. To understand the Holocaust and the birth of the modern State of Israel, it is necessary to understand what happened to the Jews during WW I. When WW I began on July 28, 1914, there was an almost universal expectation that it would end quickly following a few major engagements between the armies of the Great Powers: France, Great Britain, Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary. No one anticipated what the technological advances in warfare would have on the battlefields of Europe. More than any other group of people, the Jews of Europe suffered overwhelmingly distressing numbers of casualties, pogroms, widespread discrimination as well as mass displacement from towns and villages that had been their home for generations.