New York—Yeshiva University’s Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought presents a conversation with United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and renowned attorney Nathan Lewin on “Synagogue and State In America: The Landmark First Amendment Cases of our Age” on Wednesday, November 6, 2013 in YU’s Weissberg Commons, 2495 Amsterdam Ave., New York City. The discussion, part of YU’s “Great Conversations on Religion and Democracy” series, begins at 7 p.m. and will be moderated by Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, director of the Straus Center.

A graduate of Harvard Law School, Scalia served as professor of law at the University of Virginia and the University of Chicago, and as visiting professor of law at Georgetown and Stanford universities. In 1982, he was appointed judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Scalia is the longest-serving justice currently on the Court, having been appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986.

Lewin has engaged in trial and appellate litigation in federal and state courts for 40 years. He has argued 27 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. Lewin received his B.A. summa cum laude from Yeshiva College in 1957, and earned his J.D. magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1960.

The Straus Center is named in honor of Moshael J. Straus, an investment executive, alumnus and member of YU’s Board of Trustees, and his wife Zahava, a graduate of YU’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. The Center’s mission is to help develop Jewish thinkers and wisdom-seeking Jews by deepening their education in the best of the Jewish tradition.

The event is free and open to the public. To RSVP, please email strauscenter_yu.edu.

By Matt Yaniv