Meet the author of ‘Human Rights and Peace: A Personal Odyssey’ at her book signing at Judaica House in Teaneck on March 9.
Highlighting: “Human Rights and Peace: A Personal Odyssey” by Zafra Lerman. Jenny Stanford Publishing. 2024. 206 pages. ISBN-10: 9815129244.
Scientist, educator and humanitarian Zafra M. Lerman will receive Cardozo School of Law’s 24th International Advocate for Peace Award on March 6. The award, which originated in 2000, is presented annually by the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution to a person, organization or group that is exemplary in the field of conflict resolution. The list of previous recipients includes President Bill Clinton, Sir Paul McCartney and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
As president of the Malta Conferences Foundation, Lerman promotes peace by bringing together scientists from 15 otherwise hostile countries in the Middle East to discuss issues and foster international scientific and technical collaboration. The five-day conferences cover a variety of topics, including science education and air and water quality and alternative energy sources.
U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, Lerman’s home state for most of her “life after Israel,” said: “Zafra figured out how to marry her commitment to science with her unwavering insistence to make the world better. She became a one-woman crusader and lifelong champion for human rights, freedom and peace.”
Lerman, chair of the American Chemical Society’s Subcommittee on Scientific Freedom and Human Rights from 1986 to 2011, has worked on numerous human-rights cases worldwide, including in the former Soviet Union, Russia, China, Guatemala, Cuba, Peru, South Africa and Iran. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023.
Lerman has published numerous works on science diplomacy. Her most recent book, a genre-busting first-person narrative titled “Human Rights and Peace: A Personal Odyssey,” was published in 2024. In it, Lerman recounts her life, from growing up in Israel to her time in the Soviet Union, Peru, China and Cuba, where she fought for peace and for dissidents being denied basic human rights. She conceived, coordinated and launched the Malta Conferences—the biennial, international meetings of scientists, Nobel Laureates and political leaders from the Middle East that use science diplomacy as a bridge to peace.
As a professor at Columbia College, a liberal arts college in Chicago, she taught science through the venues of art, dance, drama and music. An “out-of-the-box,” educator, sometimes her chemistry classes met in a local bar, for a first-hand demonstration of the effects of alcohol on human physiology and behavior. As you can imagine, the attendance was robust!
Come and meet this inspirational and remarkable Nobel nominee, innovator and author. This Sunday, March 9, Judaica House in Teaneck is celebrating Lerman’s amazing life dedicated to pursuing peace with a book-signing event from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. An especially powerful role model for girls and young women, Lerman looks forward to meeting each of you.
The Jewish Link reviewed Lerman’s book on November 7, 2024 (“Activist Zafra Lerman Pens Memoir,” https://bit.ly/4i2zFxb) Here are excerpts:
“Human Rights and Peace: A Personal Odyssey,” is indeed an odyssey. Most courageously, she has ventured alone through those dark alleys in the middle of the night inside hostile territory to liberate imprisoned scientists, so that they could continue their important work safely, in both personal and academic freedom. Readers will be mesmerized and fascinated by her story and her improbable success. …
The Malta Conferences continue to convene, and the book also reveals the political, financial and security obstacles encountered to achieve this, with Zafra frequently engaging world leaders to advocate for her cause. Often scientists stonewalled by governmental bureaucracies required Zafra to pull out all the stops, leaning on various heads of state and others to get the necessary visas and essential credentials needed for scientists to travel to the host countries of the Malta Conferences. “Billions of dollars are allocated each year to building weapons. … Just a fraction of these funds dedicated to international scientific cooperation and collaboration that materially affect the quality of life of people in the Middle East will go a great distance in bringing peace to the Middle East,” said Zafra.
Peppered with a good deal of light humor, especially by her escapades during her years of service in the Israeli Defense Forces in the late 1950s, the book guarantees that readers will be on the edge of their seats as they learn what Zafra Lerman has accomplished.
In a recent interview, she explained about her unusual name. “My name is [actually] Tzipora. My father, one of the pioneers who built the country [Israel] wanted a name that nobody in the Diaspora used. So he gave me a name that nobody in Israel heard about. It comes from the Talmud and it means early morning/dawn, and was used once as a name in a poem written by one of our famous [Russian] poets, [Shaul] Tchernichovsky.”
