Beth David’s 2023-24 monthly luncheon speaker series begins on Saturday, October 14, with guest speaker Professor Shay Rabineau. He will talk about his 2022 Dead Sea trek, when he replicated a journey last undertaken in 1934 during the Palestine British Mandate period in his talk “The 2022 Dead Sea Trek: Retracing a Historic Journey Around the World’s Strangest Lake.” People are encouraged to attend the morning service, which begins at 9:30 am. There is no charge for the luncheon. 

“As you can well imagine,” Rabineau said, “my 2022 circumambulation of the Dead Sea took place amid a vastly different physical and geopolitical landscape. I plan to illustrate what it was like to walk around ‘the world’s strangest lake,’ as I navigated international boundaries, military zones, industrial areas, sinkholes and minefields. I also plan to discuss the Dead Sea’s famous past, its character in the present and its possibilities for the future.”

Rabineau is an associate professor of Israel Studies in the Department of Judaic Studies at Binghamton University and the associate director of the Center for Israel Studies. He obtained his Ph.D. from Brandeis University in 2013, and then did post-doctoral work at Brandeis and at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of “Walking the Land: A History of Israeli Hiking Trails” (Indiana University Press, 2023) and teaches university courses on Israeli history, politics and environmental issues. His current research focuses on the Dead Sea. 

Beth David’s Luncheon Speaker Series takes place the second Saturday of the month. There is no charge for the luncheon. Since the monthly series’ continuation depends on the generosity of contributors, Beth David welcomes and appreciates donations to the Luncheon Fund in order to keep the program going. Donations as well as sponsorships can be made in honor of or in memory of someone, or to mark a special occasion. Those wishing an acknowledgment to be sent to the person being honored, or to the family of someone being remembered, can indicate that along with the necessary information. Donations can be sent to Beth David Synagogue, 39 Riverside Dr., Binghamton, NY 13905, Attention: Luncheon Fund.