Reporter Volume 25, No.15 February 3, 1994

By MARY BETH SPINA
News Bureau Staff
Three mini-conferences designed to examine interfaith relationships
and the relationships between Jews and Arabs and Jews and African
Americans will be featured in the eighth annual Arthur and Louise
Wasserman Conference, to be held from 1:30-5:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb.
13, at UB. The event, sponsored by Hillel of Buffalo, will be held in
Baldy and Knox Halls .
	Co-sponsors are the American Jewish Committee and the
Community Outreach Project to Intermarrieds.
	Each of the three keynote speeches, which will be held from
2-3 p.m. in the Kiva in Baldy Hall, will be paired with corresponding
workshops.
	The first keynote, "Variety in the Arab World: Who are The
Arabs," will be presented by Michael Bar-Zohar, professor of political
science at Haifa University and a former member of Israel's
parliament, the Knesset.
	Corresponding workshops will be held on how to build trust,
the portrayal of Arabs and Jews in the media, and the recent peace
agreement. They will be conducted by Bar-Zohar; Rik Whitaker, Buffalo
State College professor of journalism and broadcasting, and a panel of
students.
	Alvin B. Herring, assistant director of the National Coalition
Building Institute in Washington, D.C., will present the keynote on
African Americans and Jews, entitled "Personal Relationships: African
Americans and Jews."
	Workshops will be presented by Herring on "The Art of
Coalition Building;" by Norman Solkoff, UB professor of psychology, on
"Race vs. Class," and by Buffalo City Councilman James Pitts and
Gerald Goldhaber, UB associate professor of communications, on
"Political Power and How To Use It Effectively." 
	The third keynote on interfaith relationships, entitled "Love,
Sex and Tradition," will be presented by Esther Perel, a New York City
author, lecturer and psychotherapist.
	Perel also will present a workshop on coping with guilt and
family pressures. Local psychologist Shepard Goldberg will lead a
session on "Interfaith Conflict on Campus and in the Workplace." A
session on "Dating/Marriage: Interfaith Couples Contemplating
Marriage," will be conducted by David Gersh, executive director,  and
Terri Julian, a staff member, of Jewish Family Services, and Melissa
Erne, a UB senior. 
	Following the program, a Kosher dinner will be held from
5:30-6:30 p.m. in Pistachio's in the UB Student Union.
	Registration fees for the conference are $2 for students and
$6 for the public.  The cost of the dinner is $3 for students and $6
for the public.
	The conference will be the highlight of a weekend Shabbaton,
which will run from 3-8:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 11, and from 9 a.m. to
6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 12, at Hillel House, 40 Capen Blvd.,
Buffalo, adjacent to the UB South Campus.
	Additional co-sponsors of the conference are the Bureau of
Jewish Education; Congregation Havurah; Hillel Foundation; Jewish
Community Center; Jewish Family Services; Jewish Federation of
Buffalo, and Temples Beth Am, Beth El, Shaarey Zedek, Sinai and Beth
Zion. Also, the UB and Buffalo State College Jewish Student unions,
Israel Student organizations and ARI, a Jewish student newspaper.
	Also providing assistance are the Black Student Union and
Palestinian Student Association at UB.