The Panel Discussion features:

Journalist and writer Frances Dinkelspiel, author of Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California.
Dinkelspiel tells the story of her great-great grandfather, originally a poor Bavarian Jewish immigrant who, among many other surprising accomplishments, founded The Wells Fargo Bank and indirectly the Bank of America. To complete this volume, Frances a fifth generation Californian, spent a decade sorting through boxes of letters, court cases, newspapers and other archival material and photographs that linked Hellman to the iconic figures of his time.

Lisa Alcalay Klug, journalist and author of Cool Jew: The Ultimate Guide for Every Member of the Tribe, a field manual for the 21st century Jew and the people who love them. the people who love them. This book has been described as decoding contemporary Judaism and its hippest forms of cultural and creative expression by covering everything from identity, rituals, clothing and cuisine, to holidays, spirituality, diversity, and language. A tribute to the current Pan-Jewish cultural revival, Cool Jews has been said to do for matzah balls and gefilte fish what The Official Preppy Handbook did for plaid and polo, only with much more chutzpah!

Moderated by Joan Bieder, a Senior Lecturer and Associate Dean at the Graduate School of Journalism and the author of The Jews of Singapore, a history of a Baghdadi Orthodox community from 1830 to the present

Book signing and kosher reception to follow panel