Transformimg Jewish Lives
Sosland OpenSource October 2009
Sosland OpenSource September 2009
Adult Ed Growing, At A Distance
From The Jewish Week:
For some students, Rabbi Chaim Brovender's hour-long advanced Gemara class starts Sunday nights at 7 p.m.
Others show up at 10 p.m.
Meanwhile, the instructor begins the session bright and early the following day, at 5 a.m.
But all are participating simultaneously — just in different time zones and at different computer screens all over the world.
Read the full article in The Jewish Week...
A Very English Institution
From Jewish Ideas Daily:
Last week some 600 Jews converged on the hamlet of Kerhonkson in upstate New York for Limmud NY, a three-day "marketplace of Jewish ideas." Now in its eighth year, the volunteer-run Limmud NY is open to professional teachers and amateurs alike. It is, according to its website, an "experience unlike any other." Except, of course, for the 60 other annual events (and counting) sponsored by the UK-based Limmud in countries from Turkey to New Zealand to Israel. In Jewish adult education, Limmud is now ubiquitous.
Limmud's flagship event, and the template for its other meetings, is the Limmud Conference, which recently celebrated its 31st anniversary at the University of Warwick in England. The conference, occupying five days between Christmas and New Year, is described by its organizers as a "carnival of Jewish learning." At any hour between 8 a.m. and midnight, participants can choose from among 20 different sessions. They range from yeshiva-style Talmud study to gospel concerts, though the majority are university-style lectures. When sessions end, there is a sudden flurry of activity as some 2300 Jews rush across campus to their next experience, stopping to glance at the bookshop, pick up a free magazine, or, more often, queue up for a cookie and a cup of tea.
Read the full article at Jewish Ideas Daily...
Recharging Our Jewish Batteries with "Chai Mitzvah"
From The New Jersey Jewish Standard:
NEW YORK – If you are a fan of the HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” you may remember the 2009 episode in which there was an attempt to coax Michael “Kramer” Richards to go along with a “Seinfeld” reunion. As part of the plot, Larry David’s African-American housemate, Leon Black, pretends to be the Jewish accountant Danny Duberstein.
To sell the cover story, Leon says he was adopted by a nice Jewish couple and had become a bar mitzvah three times, most recently just a few months ago in Atlantic City.Understandably confused, Richards says he thought the milestone happens just once, at the age of 13.
“No, no, no, no. You misunderstood,” Leon insists. “It’s once every 13 years. You’ve got to recharge the mitzvah.”Read the full article in The New Jersey Jewish Standard...
Schusterman Foundation Raises the Bar with New Initiative
From eJewishPhilanthropy:
The Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation (CLSFF) announced this morning that Atlanta lay leader and attorney Seth Cohen will join the senior leadership team of the Foundation as Director of Network Development. This well-planned move clearly leapfrogs the foundation to the forefront of global efforts to engage young Jewish adults and strengthen their ties to each other, and the broader community.
Over the past decade, our Jewish community has witnessed an accelerating pace of change and expanding opportunities for choice. This has come about through the launch of a diverse number of programs, initiatives and independent networks that seek to engage young adults and their peers through the many facets of their identities. The Foundation recognizes the time is ripe to begin finding ways to connect these vibrant hubs of activities, experiences and networks in service of its larger goal of building inspired, enduring Jewish communities.Reas the full article at eJewishPhilanthropy...
Stiffel Senior Center in danger of shutting down
From The Philadelphia Inquirer:
When you told someone you were from Marshall and Porter, you were saying you grew up around the brown-brick building where Eddie Fisher sang in the chorus, where the elders played gin rummy, and young guns learned to arc two-handed set shots under impossibly low ceilings.
Today this hub of the downtown universe is called the Jacob and Ethel Stiffel Senior Center, but it was born 83 years ago as the Jewish Education Center No. 2, a safe, comfortable haven for the vibrant community of immigrants from Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe.Read the full article at The Philadelphia Inquirer...
For the Child Who Knows Not How to Ask
From The Jewish Journal of Greater LA:
Over the Purim weekend, a Shabbaton for Jewish adults with disabilities sponsored by JFS/Chaverim was held at AJU/Brandeis Bardin camp, and there was a late Saturday afternoon session called “Ask the Rabbi”. Questions zinged in from every corner of the room: Why can’t we eat meat with milk? Why do the Jewish holidays move around the calendar so much? Why do we sit shiva after someone dies? Rabbi Deborah Graetz Goldman patiently answered each question quickly and to the point, but the session ended before everyone could get in his or her questions.
These Jewish adults with special needs had clearly been encouraged to ask questions, even if not afforded much formal Jewish education. In asking their questions, they were connecting themselves to traditional Jewish learning. As Barry W. Holtz, author of Back to the Sources: Reading the Class Jewish Texts writes : “In the world of the yeshiva, Jewish learning is carried on in a loud, hectic hall called the bet midrash where students sit in pairs or threesomes, reading and discussing out loud, back and forth. The atmosphere is nothing like the silent library we are accustomed to. Reading in the yeshiva is conducted in a room with a constant, incessant din; it is as much talk as it is reading. In fact, the two activities of reading and discussion are virtually indistinguishable.”Read the full article at The Jewish Journal of Greater LA...
Palm Beach JCC gets $5 million grant for north county community center
From the Palm Beach Sun-Sentinel:
Plans by the Jewish Community Center of the Greater Palm Beaches for a permanent branch in northern Palm Beach County have gotten a big boost: a $5 million grant from the Cleveland-based Mandel Foundation, the center reported on Thursday.
The grant brings the JCC a third of the way toward its goal of $15 million to build the 37,000-square-foot facility for arts and recreation.
Read the full article at The Palm Beach Sun-Sentinel...