Vashon’s Havurah is launching a lecture series to raise funds for some necessary building repairs. The first speaker will be Dr. Barry Grosskopf, who will present a talk at 7 p.m. Friday on how the practice of empathy is transformative — or, as he stated it, how “our empathic imagination opens our hearts to love and loving.”

Grosskopf is a Holocaust survivor. With his parents, he spent the first four years of his life in a displaced person’s camp in Germany before his family came to this country in 1949. He went on to become a medical doctor and then a psychiatrist. He is the author of an award-winning book on the transmission of strength and trauma across generations, originally published by Simon and Schuster under the title, “Forgive Your Parents, Heal Yourself,” currently in paperback under the title, “Hidden in Plain Sight.”

He said the most significant part of his life happened before he was born: the suffering of his parents. He found that having sympathy for them and their experiences allowed him to understand his life differently.

“I want to pass that wisdom on to other people,” he said, adding: “We can better understand why we are and who we are if we better understand that context.”

The presentation is free, but donations will be accepted.

The Havurat Ee Shalom is located at 15401 Westside Hwy.

— Susan Riemer