The Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies invites the public to a program with Shlomo Avineri, Herbert Samuel Professor of Political Science at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Titled "The Origins of Zionism and the Crisis of European Society: A Commemoration of the Yahrzeit of Theodor Herzl," the lecture is scheduled for Monday, April 19, at 7:30 p.m. at Congregation Beth Ahm, 5070 W. Maple Rd., West Bloomfield.

Avineri has lived in Israel since 1939 and has held visiting appointments at many universities including: Yale, Cornell, Oxford, the Australian National University, and the Central European University in Budapest.

At The Hebrew University, he has held the positions of chair of the department of political science, director of the Levi Eshkol Institute for Social and Political Studies, dean of the faculty of social studies and director of the Institute of European Studies. In addition, Professor Avineri has been an international visiting scholar at institutions including the Brookings Institute and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as well as the Institute of World Economics and International Relations in Moscow.

From 1975-1977, he was director-general of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and headed the Israeli delegation to the UNESCO General Assembly. Avineri was a member of the joint Egyptian-Israeli commission that drafted the cultural and scientific agreement between the two countries. In 1996 he was awarded the Israel Prize, the country's highest civilian decoration.

His books number more than a dozen and have been translated into numerous languages. Recently he participated in preparing a Hebrew edition of Theodor Herzl's "Diaries" and wrote a historical introduction to it.

The program will be followed by refreshments and is co-sponsored by Congregation Beth Ahm. It is free and open to the public with reservations required by Friday, April 16. Contact (313) 577-2679.