Law professor Amos Guiora uses his family’s experiences in the Holocaust — the death marches, the German occupation of Holland and the German occupation of Hungary, to delve into the legal culpability and moral responsibility of the bystander.

He draws upon a wide range of historical, psychological, sociological and archival material to explore, with Rabbi Peter Rubinstein, whether there can and should be legal liability in deciding not to act to aid another person in distress.

Guiora will sign copies of his new book The Crime of Complicity: The Bystander in the Holocaust following the event.

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Brief Bios

Amos N. Guiora is Professor of Law at the S.J. Quinney College of Law, the University of Utah and Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) in the Israel Defense Force. He is actively involved in the effort to legislate Holocaust-Genocide education in Utah public schools. He is the author of several books, including Freedom from Religion: Rights and National Security and Tolerating Intolerance: The Price of Protecting Extremism.

Peter J. Rubinstein is the Director of Jewish Community and the Bronfman Center for Jewish Life at the 92Y in New York City. He is also the Rabbi Emeritus of Central Synagogue, a Reform congregation affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism where he served as the Senior Rabbi for 23 years. Prior to his position at Central Synagogue, Rabbi Rubinstein served as the Rabbi of Woodlands Community Temple in White Plains, New York and Peninsula Temple Beth El in San Mateo, California.

Rabbi Rubinstein graduated from Amherst College from which he received his Bachelor of Arts degree. He was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City, and he received a Master of Hebrew Letters degree with honors. He then was the Herbert R. Bloch Memorial Fellow at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati and specialized in the history of the Jewish community during the second commonwealth. He received a Doctor of Divinity in 1994.

Rabbi Rubinstein has taught at Manhattanville College, Colgate University, San Jose State and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion both in New York and Cincinnati. He is presently the Director of the Be Wise Fellowship in Jewish Entrepreneurship at the HUC-JIR in New York City.

In addition to his professional affiliations and responsibilities, Rabbi Rubinstein is a founder and Chair of the Rabbinic Council of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and member of the organization’s North American Advisory Board. He is Co-chair of the Partnership of Faith in New York City which includes the senior clergy of the city’s major congregations. He also Founded and chairs the Rabbinic Vision Initiative aimed at the evolution of Reform Judaism in North America and he is a frequent lecturer on the evolution of synagogues and the role of a Rabbi now and in the future. He is recognized as a leader in the changing face of the Jewish community and was ranked number 3 in Newsweek’s 2012 list of “America’s 50 Most Influential Rabbis” and number 5 in 2013. He was named one of the 28 “2014 America’s Most Inspiring Rabbis” by The Jewish Daily Forward.

Rabbi Rubinstein also serves as the Co-President of the U.S. Board of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and is the immediate past Chair of the Board of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City. He is on the Board of the New York Region of the American Jewish Committee.

His essays have been included in Restoring Faith by Forrest Church (2001), How Can I Find God (1997), (edited by James Martin) and Our Rabbis Taught (1990) and Shine by Star Jones (2006).

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