Book Club: March
02/22/2023 11:33:22 AM
Our next read will be All the Rivers by Dorit Rabinyan, and we are meeting to discuss on March 29th at 10:30 via Zoom.
A controversial, award-winning story about the passionate but untenable affair between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man, from one of Israel's most...Read more...
Book Club: February
02/06/2023 01:13:43 PM
On the last Wednesday of February (the 22nd) we will be meeting at 10:30 am via Zoom to discuss our next book, Then She Found Me by Elinor Lipman.
Adult Ed: Crash Course in Jewish History
12/11/2022 02:39:50 PM
Join us for our final session of the NJOP Crash Course in Jewish History! We pick up where we left off last session, at the brink of WWII, and continue onward to today.
Lesson 5 PowerPoint
Lesson 5 Outline
Read more...Adult Ed: Crash Course in Jewish History
12/04/2022 02:27:33 PM
On December 11th we will meet for our 4th and penultimate class on Jewish History. We continue our timeline from the 1700s-1900s, focusing mostly on Enlightenment and Emancipation, and the beginning of Modernity.
Lesson 4 Timeline
Lesson 4 PowerPoint
Lesson 4 Outline
Read more...Book Club: December
11/30/2022 11:44:16 AM
Our "December" book club meeting is pushed back a week to accommodate our holiday travels! Join us this first Wednesday in January at 10:30 on Zoom to discuss In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova.
Shortlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize, In Memory of Memory is an...Read more...
Adult Ed: Crash Course in Jewish History
11/20/2022 03:07:17 PM
We did not end up meeting on 11/27.
Please join us 12/3 for our third installment of Jewish History.
This class will pick up with the turn of the millennia (the tenth century) and bring us up to just before the Enlightenment.
Lesson 3 Outline
Lesson 3 Timeline
Lesson 3 PowerPoint
Read more...Adult Ed: Crash Course in Jewish History
11/14/2022 02:13:16 PM
This week's session on Jewish history covers the period of the united Israelite Kingdom through exiles and into the beginnings of our thriving diaspora community (approx 1000 BCE-1000 CE).
Lesson 2 Timeline
Lesson 2 Outline
Lesson 2 Powerpoint
Read more...Adult Ed: Crash Course in Jewish History
11/13/2022 11:56:19 AM
Throughout the next five weeks, we will be going through the NJOP's curriculum for a Crash Course in Jewish History: 4,000 years in five one-hour sessions.
This first week will focus on the Biblical period: creation to the First Temple.
Timeline for Lesson 1
Lesson 1 PowerPoint
Lesson 1 Outline
Read more...
Book Club: November
10/26/2022 07:45:56 PM
Book Club: October
09/28/2022 11:53:16 AM
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...
Book Club: September
09/01/2022 02:53:40 PM
Join us on us on the last Wednesday of every month for our zoom book club meeting.
This month we are reading The Girl in the Middle: Growing Up Between Black and White, Rich and Poor
by Anais Granofsky
https://images.shulcloud.com/613/uploads/thegirlinthemiddle.jpg
In this poignant and timely memoir--written with the searing power of Beautiful Struggle and Born a Crime--Degrassi Junior High star Anais Granofsky...Read more...
Book Club: August
08/17/2022 10:45:56 AM
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...
Book Club: July
06/30/2022 02:05:06 PM
Adult Ed: Talmud
06/19/2022 03:31:46 PM
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...
Adult Ed: Intro to Talmud
06/08/2022 10:15:22 PM
This Sunday at 1 pm we are continuing our study of Talmud, this time diving into some text!
If you missed last week's class you can always go back and watch our recording, or check out the resources below:
Steinsaltz tells us "What is Talmud?"
My Jewish Learning breaks it down further
A Reform Perspective
Read more...Book Club: June
06/02/2022 07:48:14 PM
According to Amazon.com, the book is about: The moving story of Joana Halevi – one brave woman who was...Read more...
Shavuot Tikkun: How do Reform Jews decide which Mitzvot to follow?
05/23/2022 05:12:29 PM
On Leil Shavuot, we will discuss around the campfire the topics of Reform Judaism's relationship with mitzvot. Here are some links and talking points to prepare you for our communal discourse.
We often hear that there are "613 commandments." That's not quite true: https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-origins-and-use-of-the-613-mitzvot
There is perhaps no...Read more...
Book Club: May
05/04/2022 08:45:55 PM
What if there was a town that history missed?
For decades, the tiny Jewish shtetl of Kreskol existed in happy isolation, virtually untouched and unchanged. Spared by the Holocaust and the Cold War, its residents enjoyed remarkable peace. It missed out on cars, and electricity, and the internet, and indoor...Read more...
Book Club: April
04/06/2022 11:14:31 AM
Adult Ed: Zohar
03/25/2022 08:33:46 AM
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...
Jewish Baking
03/13/2022 09:47:21 AM
The Origins of Challah
American Challah: A People's History
Purim Cookies: Are they Haman's ears, pockets, or hat?
History of Hamantaschen
Read more...Adult Ed: Mikveh
03/04/2022 08:47:12 AM
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...
Book Club: March
02/28/2022 12:40:57 PM
The scene is Otisville Prison, upstate New York. A crew of fraudsters, tax evaders, trigamists, and forgers discuss matters of right...Read more...
Adult Ed: Jewish Humor
01/27/2022 11:01:13 AM
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...
Book Club: February
01/27/2022 10:54:59 AM
Our next Book Club meeting will be February 23rd at 10:30 am on Zoom to discuss A Remarkable Kindness.
From the Jewish Book Council:
Diana Bletter’s excellent writing makes the characters of A Remarkable Kindness come alive in this moving story about community, family, personal growth, and difficult loss in Israel. All living in an Israeli village close to the border with...Read more...
Adult Ed: Jewish Humor
01/21/2022 10:56:27 AM
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...
Adult Ed: Jewish Humor
01/14/2022 02:05:03 PM
This week we are looking at medieval and enlightenment-era humor.
Examples of Medieval Sense of Humor
Jewish comedy in the medieval and early enlightenment periods were often fairly directed at the issues of antisemitism and assimilation. They tended to particularly poke fun at the idea of conversos ever truly believing in Christianity and at the attempts of the Christian-influenced humanists and deists of the...Read more...
Book Club: January
01/08/2022 02:16:20 PM
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...
Adult Ed: Jewish Humor
01/08/2022 02:02:25 PM
In our second class, we will start at the beginning. What are the Biblical roots of Jewish comedy, and how did Jews invent sarcasm in the Talmud?
Rabbi Lizz's Outline of Jewish Comedy: A Serious History
Text Study of Biblical Laughs
Humor as an Act of Faith
Talmudic Comedy
Elijah Invented Sarcasm
Why Jews Laugh at Themselves
Alan King's Great Jewish Joke Book
Read more...Adult Ed: Jewish Humor
12/27/2021 11:12:40 AM
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...
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