Adult Education Blog

Our Book Club will next meet on October 26th to discuss Nathan Englander's What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank.

From Goodreads:

These eight new stories from the celebrated novelist and short-story writer Nathan Englander display a gifted...Read more...

We will meet on August 31 at 10 AM on Zoom to discuss this month's read: Maggie Anton's The Choice.

From Goodreads: A powerful love story with a purpose: to...Read more...

Our last two weeks in this course (6/26 and 7/3) we will jump to Masechet Yevamot and check in a bit on what most other Talmud-studiers around the world are reading this week.

Here's a little primer on what to expect from Yevamot as a whole, and here is the text of Yevamot 107-108 (what we will be reading the next two weeks) from the indispensable Sefaria.org.

Please Note that the July 3rd, the class will meet at 11 AM rather...Read more...

Sunday, March 27th, we are learning with and from Rabbi Justin Jaron Lewis (https://justinjaronlewis.wordpress.com/) as he guides us through a lesson about the Zohar - the most prominent book of Jewish mysticism.

Justin Jaron Lewis is a rabbi, Jewish Studies professor, and storyteller who loves the imagination and emotional richness of the Zohar. He is the author of Imagining Holiness: Classic Hasidic Tales in Modern Times and...Read more...

For One Class Only! 

3/6 1:00pm Everything you wanted to know about Mikvah but were afraid to ask

 Learn about the history, purpose, and modern potential of the mikveh with Rabbi Lizz! If there is interest in a follow up, and covid restrictions allow, we may take a "field trip" at a later date to the community (non-Orthodox) mikveh in DC. 

Source Sheets on Mikva'ot: 

The...Read more...

Our fifth and final class on Jewish Humor will discuss contemporary Jewish comedy and where it looks like the future of American Jewish Comedy is headed.

Rachel Bloom is a musical theatre and literary nerd who embraces her Jewishness in a deep and very visible way with her songs such as Remember that We Suffered (with Patti LuPone and Tovah Feldshuh), The JAP Battle, and the JAP Battle Reprise.

Jessica Kirson, slightly older...Read more...

This week we are looking at 19-20th century Jewish comedy, particular in the United States of America. 

Jackie Mason brings Borscht Belt Humor all the way to the end of the 20th century

What happened to the Borscht Belt?

An Hour Long Video from the Forward about the "Rise of American Jewish Comedy"

Rabbi Lizz's Notes on Jewish Humor by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin

A Parallel Story: Performing...Read more...

On January 26th we will meet via Zoom at 10:30 am to discuss The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer. 

From the author's website: 

Chron­i­cal­ly-ill Rachel Ruben­stein-Gold­blatt is a “nice Jew­ish girl‚” with a secret: she loves Christ­mas. As the best-sell­ing author of over twen­ty Christ­mas romance nov­els, and four made-for-TV movie spin-offs, she’s kept her stel­lar career secret from her...Read more...

Each Sunday afternoon in January, we will be meeting on Zoom to discuss the history, purpose, and stylings of Jewish Humor. Reach out to ekibbitz@nershalomva.org or rabbi@nershalomva.org for the zoom links. 

Steve Allen called American comedy "a Jewish cottage industry", and attempts to define Jewish humor have come up short. Still we will try! Prepare for our first class by checking out some of these links:

My Jewish...Read more...

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, the November book will actually be discussed on December 1st. We will still meet at 10:30 am on zoom.

This month we are reading The Last Kings of Shanghai by Jonathan Kaufman. From Goodreads:

The Sassoons and the Kadoories--two Jewish families from Baghdad--had long been successful in business, politics, and society. They kept up their intrigues and opium smuggling while helping to rescue...Read more...

On 10/24 we will discuss The Life of Adam and Eve: 

Life of Adam and Eve (ספר אדם וחוה)

Expands on the life of Adam and Eve after the expulsion from Eden, including Eve’s perspective. All known manuscripts date to well after the 2nd Temple period, and different versions have been found in several languages, none of them Hebrew or...Read more...

“Apocrypha” refers to biblical-style books from the Second Temple period that were not included in the canonization of Tanakh, including historical works, didactic wisdom literature, and apocalyptic texts, among others. Traditional Jewish approaches to these works have varied throughout the ages, but they are generally viewed as helpful sources of information and literature without much religious significance....Read more...

The entire process of canonization is murky. Scholars are simply unsure how certain books ultimately became authoritative and others did not. In these 5 one-hour sessions we will explore some theories on how canonization came to be and what was left out.

A Rough Timeline of Biblical Writing and Canonization

Apocrypha are books outside the Hebrew Bible canon, not considered divinely inspired but regarded as worthy of study by...Read more...