Shel Silver
Shel Silver is a retired Professor and Department Chair of Justice Studies at the University of Ari-zona Global Campus.
From swaying juries as an Assistant Attorney General, engaging students as a college professor, and presenting informative and entertaining lectures on Jewish history at a wide array of forums such as Hadassah and other local Jewish groups and synagogues and on Legal topics at various forums including Parks College, Westwood College, ITT Technological Institute and Thomas M. Cooley School of Law, Shel has developed a unique speaking style that is engaging, informative and fun.
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Jewish Migration To America (The Real Greatest Generation: Immigration Of Jews Coming To America 1880-1920)
Tom Brokaw coined the phrase “The Greatest Generation” to describe the generation of Americans who lived through the Great Depression, fought World War II, and built post-war America. That was a Great Generation, and many Jews played a significant part of it. Many of those Jews were the children of immigrants who came to America from Eastern Europe between 1880-1920.
They fled Europe fleeing pogroms, entrenched antisemitism and poverty. They came to America seeking economic opportunity and freedom. They left everything and eve-ryone they knew, endured the perils and suffering of a journey across the ocean to a become strangers in a strange land. They survived ellis Island, lived in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in tenements and worked in sweat shops to feed their fami-lies. They did this for their children who became a critical part of the Greatest Genera-tion. Learn more about the trials, tribulations a triumphs of these amazing immigrants, our grandparents and great grandparents who were the Real Greatest Generation.
Jewish Mythology: Dybbuks, Demons And Golems
Horror and the supernatural are a major part of popular culture. From multiple movies about Frankenstein, Dracula and Werewolves to the Exorcist, Vampire movies too numerous to count, and a current favorite; zombies. Did you know that Jewish culture and folklore was replete with our own brand of things that go bump in the night. Learn about the creatures you never studied in Hebrew school. The Golem, a clay creature of great power, animated to protect the Jewish community during pogroms. Spirits that possess the living and demons that plague the unfortunate. We had our own Frankenstein monsters, vampires, werewolves and even zombies, long before the creatures you see in the movies.
How Jews Created And Built The Comic Book Industry: If Superman Is Jewish, How Did They Do The bris?
Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Wonder Woman, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Captain America, etc. Comic books are a $20 billion industry from movies to graphic novels to, of course, comic books, and associated merchandise. But who created this industry? Jews, of course. Jewish artists, writers, and publishers created the industry’s founda-tional characters, business models, and genres and dominated the industry from its inception in the 1930’s through the 1980’s. Learn the history and Jewish connections. For instance, Superman was created by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegal, the sons of Jewish immigrants who based his origin story on the Jewish experience.
Jewish Lawyers And Judges: Jewish Influence On Law And Our Judicial System (Or Their Mothers Were Proud But “Why Couldn’t They Be Doctors”)
From Louis Brandeis to Benjamin Cardozo to Arthur Goldberg to Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Jewish lawyers have had a profound effect on our law and our judicial system and on America. Learn about these people; where they came from, how they were able to scale the heights of the legal system and what they accomplished.
Notorious Jewish Gangsters: We Weren’t All Angels
Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky, Louis “Lepke” Buchalter, Murder, Inc., the Purple Gang. Just as many Jews excelled in the legal system, others excelled on the other side of the system. Learn about who they were and what they did, including St. Valentine’s Day massacre.