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J-West Conference for Secular, Humanistic & Cultural Jews J-West, the west coast conference for Secular, Humanistic and Cultural Jews will take place Saturday and Sunday, August 4-5 in Hayward. The theme of this year's conference, "Bread and Roses" honors the 100th anniversary of the Bread and Roses strike of textile workers and encapsulates the two workshop tracks - social justice and Jewish culture. This fourth annual conference will feature outstanding speakers on Yiddish Theater (with comics and puppets!), the plight of African refugees in Israel, the connections between Jewish union activism in the past and present, the lives of two radical Jewish women, Jewish genealogy, the history of Klezmer music, Jewish women writers, LGBT and Jewish identity, and many more. A "philosophers' café" discussion will run concurrently with the Sunday sessions and evening entertainment will be provided. In addition, a resource room will offer for sale books by the various speakers.

J-West is open to all, but is aimed at those whose connection with being Jewish is through culture, family and history, rather than through religion.