Community members and leaders at the JAMen Forum Season 7 event in May 2024 with JAMen guest speaker Rodney Terry, Texas Longhorns Men’s Basketball Coach, University of Texas at Austin (center). Credit: Andrew Holmes

By Jay Rubin 

The Shalom Austin Jewish Austin Men Forum (JAMen) concluded its seventh and most successful season this past May and is preparing to launch an even bigger and better Season 8 beginning in October. Here’s a look back at Season 7.  

With a record 174 sustaining and annual members, JAMen also welcomed numerous guests at each of its six dinner speaker events.  

Not surprisingly, Season 7 focused heavily on the challenges facing Israel and the Jewish people in the aftermath of the atrocities committed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists from Gaza on October 7.  

Outstanding presenters, including Ambassador Dennis Ross, Israeli author and Tablet Magazine Editor Liel Lebovitz, Entebbe hostage rescuer Gadi Ilan and a panel of Austin-based Israeli high-tech entrepreneurs, addressed multiple crises past and present and the various ways Israel and Israelis have addressed and confronted them at home and abroad.  

Another program featured famed Microbiologist and Virologist Dr. Peter Hotez of the Baylor College of Medicine exploring the deadly rise of anti-science in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Season 7 concluded with Texas Longhorns Basketball Head Coach Rodney Terry assessing the state of college basketball in general and UT’s prospects going forward. ■  

The 2024-25 JAMen Forum program lineup will be announced later in the summer.