Book Club: June
05/27/2021 01:20:17 PM
Adult Ed: Midrash
05/05/2021 01:55:28 PM
This week we'll be writing our own Midrashim!
You may pick any piece of Tanakh you wish for your jumping off point, but since the Tanakh is a voluminous text, here are a few offerings to start off with:
Genesis 12:1-4: This is the first time we see God interact with Abram. All we know at this point is basic biographical information about Abram: his father, brother, and wife; where he was born and where he lives at the time of...Read more...Adult Ed: Midrash
04/29/2021 02:49:05 PM
This week we'll be reading some Midrash stories about Biblical characters who never died, according to tradition.
Enoch (Genesis 5:20-24); Rami Shapiro's analysis of Enoch Midrashim Elijah (II Kings 2:8-12); Mishnah Eduyot 8:7 Batya/Pharaoh's Daughter (Exodus 2:5-10); Jewish Women's Archive explanation of Batya Midrashim Read more...Book Club: May
04/28/2021 04:56:58 PM
Adult Ed: Midrash
04/19/2021 04:16:20 PM
This week we will be looking at some of these most famous Midrash stories and discussing how they are functioning.
Midrash Aggadah about Abraham and Sarah
Sefaria Source Sheet of Midrashim
Some brief examples and explanations of Midrash Halakha
Read more...Adult Ed: Midrash
04/14/2021 04:47:39 PM
Adult Ed Returns with a unit on Midrash! Join us on Zoom April 18th, April 25th, May 2nd, and May 9th at 1 pm for four classes about Midrash. Don't worry if you can't join all four, just jump in where you can.
For this week, we will be discussing the building blocks of Midrash:
What is Midrash?
Methods of Midrash
Basic Outline of the Encyclopedia Judaica article on Midrash
It's Tanakh FanFiction
Read more...Book Club: April
04/12/2021 05:40:52 PM
We will discuss our next book on April 28, 2021 through Zoom at 10:30 a.m. The book is Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott.
One of Sir Walter Scott’s most popular and influential works, “Ivanhoe” is the story of one of the last remaining Saxon noble families. At the beginning of the novel we find its titular character, Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, who has been disinherited by his father for his allegiance to the Norman king, Richard...Read more...
Book Club: March
03/01/2021 01:10:12 PM
Choosing Judaism: 36 Stories
02/24/2021 12:46:46 PM
This Sunday, our adult ed time will be devoted to hearing from Bradley Caro Cook and Cameron Vanore about the book Choosing Judaism: 36 Stories. We also hope to incorporate opportunity for Ner Shalom members who are Jews by Choice to share their stories about journeying into and through Judaism.
A bit about our presenters:
Bradley Caro Cook, Ed.D. was born in Atlanta Georgia, where he lived until moving to Israel in 2012....Read more...
Adult Ed: PaRDeS
02/10/2021 11:20:45 AM
The next two Sundays (2/14 and 2/21) at 1 pm we will employ the PaRDeS sacred reading technique to engage with a Biblical verse picked at random.
PaRDeS stands for:
Peshat - the contextual, surface level, or literal meaning of the verse
Remez - the hints in the text at deeper meaning, the sparks of understanding that flicker at you from the text
Drash - your own interpretation or explanation
Sod - the...Read more...
Adult Ed: Esther
02/03/2021 12:35:22 PM
The Book of Esther
BimBam's "Go Esther"
HaYehudim Baim's "K'mo Zona"
Esther vs. Vashti
Confronting Megillat Esther's Violent Ending
The Book of Esther is meant to be a Farce
Persian Jews
Source Sheet on Esther and her comparisons with Joseph and Daniel
Read more...Adult Ed: Ecclesiastes
01/27/2021 12:49:33 PM
The Book of Ecclesiastes/Kohelet
Kohelet Summary
About Kohelet
Kohelet: Torah for the 21st Century
Bimbam's Kohelet Song
The Jews are Coming! (make sure you turn on your English subtitles with cc option on your own YouTube settings)
Read more...Book Club: February
01/27/2021 12:46:25 PM
Adult Ed: Lamentations
01/20/2021 12:06:33 PM
The Book of Lamentations
Summary of Lamentations
About Lamentations
Lamentations on Tisha B'Av
Other Jewish Poems of Lament
Link to a PDF about Lamentations and Gender
Tevye asking, "Eicha?"
Read more...
Adult Ed: Ruth
01/13/2021 04:13:28 PM
The Book of Ruth
Summary of the Book of Ruth (but it's only four chapters!)
The Power of Names in the Book of Ruth
Brief analysis of the Book of Ruth
Read more...Adult Ed: Song of Songs
01/06/2021 03:29:01 PM
The Book of Song of Songs
Summary of Song of Songs (Disclaimer: I think Shmoop is a cute and fun site for easy summaries, but their Biblical summaries all take an "Old Testament" view rather than a "Hebrew Scripture" view. In general, be a little wary of any source that refers to this book as the Song of Solomon.)
My Jewish Learning - Song of Songs
Sefaria Text Study on Song of Songs
Read more...Book Club: January
01/06/2021 12:35:14 PM
The Ner Shalom Book Club is reading Apeirogon by Colum McCann this month and trying to get back on track with our last Wednesday of the month meetings!
Join us at 10:30 am on January 27th via Zoom to discuss this book.
From Goodreads:
Colum McCann's most ambitious work to date, Apeirogon--named for a shape with a countably infinite number of sides--is a tour de force concerning friendship, love, loss, and...Read more...
Adult Ed: Jewish Mysticism
12/23/2020 11:50:35 AM
Bonus class with Rabbi Geoffrey Dennis! We will be looking at the texts themselves that we've been learning about.
In case you missed the class explaining what the Zohar is, check out this article.
If you're looking to get into mystical study of your own, this is the edition of Zohar you want.
Read more...
Adult Ed: Jewish Mysticism
12/02/2020 12:31:51 PM
This month we will be having a guest teacher for Adult Ed!
Geoffrey Dennis is rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami in Flower Mound, TX. He is a popular professor in Rabbinics at the University of North Texas, where he teaches Kabbalah, Biblical Literature, and the History of Messianism. He received his M.HL and was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He also has degrees in Education and Nursing. Prior to his...Read more...
December/January Book Club
12/02/2020 12:04:24 PM
The Ner Shalom Book Club will be meeting January 6th at 10:30 am via Zoom to discuss The Garment Maker's Daughter by Hillary Adrienne Stern.
The Garment Maker's Daughter is a multigenerational saga of immigrant dreams and sweatshop realities, labor strikes and women's rights. It is the story of Lena Rothman, a shirtwaist-maker and active suffragette whose plans get derailed when she falls in love with her best friend's boyfriend, Jake...Read more...
Adult Ed: Job
11/25/2020 10:08:21 AM
The Book of Job (Full Text)
What is the Book of Job?
Introduction to Job through the Classical Rabbinic Lens
What is the Point of this Book?
Theodicy and Linguistic Structure of Job
What's the deal with Satan here?
Read more...Adult Ed: Proverbs
11/18/2020 10:25:53 AM
The Book of Proverbs
Claymation Interpretations of Selected Proverbs
What is Proverbs?
Google Drive of Some Academic Articles about Proverbs, Patriarchy, and Sexual Politics of Biblical Israel
Read more...Adult Ed: Psalms
11/11/2020 11:42:09 AM
Psalms is a collection of poetry. There's no narrative or decisive author, but we will look at the book of 150 poems as deeply as we can in one hour!
Since there isn't as much room for the sort of literary-historical look we often employ for understanding a whole book of TaNaKh in one hour, instead I suggest everyone bring a Psalm for us to discuss.
The Book of Psalms
What is Psalms?
Read more...
November Book Club
10/28/2020 06:59:15 PM
Due to Thanksgiving and the length of our next book, there will not be a meeting for Book Club in November itself. We will meet December 2nd at 10:30 am over Zoom to discuss Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk. The amazon.com description of the book is:
Now hailed as a "proto-feminist classic" (Vulture), Pulitzer Prize winner Herman Wouk's powerful coming-of-age novel about an ambitious young woman pursuing her artistic dreams in...Read more...Adult Ed: Chronicles
10/20/2020 03:08:14 PM
Join us on November 8th at 1 pm via Zoom for a discussion of Chronicles, and some comparing/contrasting between Chronicles and the tales they are are repeating from the other books of the Tanakh.
I Chronicles
II Chronicles
I Chronicles Summary
II Chronicles Summary
What is Chronicles?
Some Examples of Chronicles repeating or "fixing" stories from other parts of the Tanakh
Divine Justice...Read more...
Adult Ed: Fighting Against Antisemitism
10/14/2020 12:06:58 PM
Join us Sunday, October 18th on Zoom (reach out if you need the link) for a special presentation on antisemitism and what action we can take to promote safety for Jews and all minorities.
We recommend you bring paper and pen, or have a word processing app open during this presentation so that you can start your letters to your local papers or representatives with us during the call.
Resources to check out before or after the...Read more...
Book Club Updates
10/13/2020 05:12:13 PM
With the holidays taking away from almost every other programming, Book Club has continued on!
In September we read Deathless: the Complete, Uncensored, Heartbreaking, and Amazing Autobiography of Serach Bat Asher, the Oldest Woman in the World by Andrew Ramer.
Now we are reading The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz, to be discussed via Zoom at 10:30 on October 28th.
Read more...Adult Ed: Jewish Views on the Afterlife
08/02/2020 10:54:57 AM
Join us via Zoom as we delve into some Jewish views on the afterlife!
Classes will run the first three Sundays in August, taught by guest lecturer Professor John Rybicki!
Email Rabbi@nershalomva.org if you need the zoom link.
August Book Club
07/29/2020 12:12:13 PM
The Ner Shalom Book Club will be meeting via Zoom at 10:30 am on August 26th to discuss The Third Daughter by Talia Carner.
From Goodreads about the book:
The turn of the 20th century finds fourteen-year-old Batya in the Russian countryside, fleeing with her family endless pogroms. Desperate, her father leaps at the opportunity to marry Batya to a worldly, wealthy stranger who can guarantee his daughter an easy...Read more...
Adult Ed: Final Session on Reform Jewish Values!
07/19/2020 02:19:44 PM
For the last several weeks, we have been studying Reform Jewish values, through the responsa, formal statements, and platforms of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and through the book, A Life of Meaning: Embracing Reform Judaism's Sacred Path. This Sunday (7/26) will be our final session on this topic. If you have been reading the book along with us, the following essays are recommended as starting points for our discussion on...Read more...
Fri, June 25 2021
15 Tammuz 5781
Upcoming Events
Ner Shalom in the News
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CNS Branded Masks Save Lives
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Annual Patriot Day Shabbat
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Leaving Egypt in Every Generation
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