By Reporter staff
A variety of Jewish groups are offering educational and recreational online resources. Below is a sampling of those. The Reporter will publish additional listings as they become available.
The Jewish Theological Seminary will hold the virtual program “Atonement: An Interplay Between the Individual and the Community” with Rabbi Gordon Tucker on Monday, September 13, from 2-3:30 pm. The program will explore the individual and collective aspects of this holy day, focusing on Unetaneh Tokef, the Yom Kippur confession, and other liturgical features of the season. For more information or to register, click here.
Ritualwell will hold several virtual programs: “Resting in Heshvan: When Doing Nothing Makes Everything Possible” led by Dr. Mira Neshama Niculescu on Thursday, September 30, from noon–1:30 pm (no cost to attend); “Culturally Responsive Ritual Creation: Lessons from the Latin-Jewish Community,” on Fridays, October 1, 8, 15 and 22, from noon-1:30 pm ($144 for four-session immersion); “The Power of “AND”: Parataxis in Praise, Lament, And Prophecy” led by Joy Ladin on Thursday, October 7, from 2–3:30 pm (no cost to attend); “Heshvan: Integrating the High Holidays” led by Dr. Mira Neshama Niculescu on Thursdays, October 7, 14, 21 and 28 from noon–1:30 pm ($144 for four-session immersion); and “Writing Poetic Midrash from the Book of Genesis” with on Tuesday, October 19, from noon–1:30 pm (free standalone session). For more information, to register and to learn about more courses this fall, click here.
The Yiddish Book Center will hold the following virtual programs: “ The Role Jewish Holiday Food Plays in Jewish Family Traditions” with Leah Koenig on Thursday, September 9, at 7pm; “Secular Yidishkayt and Social Justice in the U.S. South” with Josh Parshall” on Thursday, September 30, at 7 pm; “The Glass Negatives of Lublin” with Piotr Nazaruk on Thursday, October 7, at 7 pm; and “The Pogroms of 1918–1921 and the Onset of the Holocaust” with Jeffrey Veidlinger on Thursday, October 14, at 7 pm. For more information or to register, click here.
American Friends of Shalva will present the virtual program “Meet the Shtisels: An Intimate Portrait” on Sunday, September 12, at 8 pm. For more information and to register, click here.
Siegal Lifelong Learning will hold several virtual lectures in September and October: “Eastside Conversation: HaZamir: Not Just a Choir” on Friday, September 17, from noon-1 pm; “Extra-ordinary Light: The Poetry of Tracy K. Smith” on Friday, September 24, from noon-1:30 pm; “How to Answer a Fool: Civil Discourse in Rabbinic Sources” on Thursday, October 7, from 7-8:30 pm; “The Women of Shtisel” on Wednesday, October 13, from 7-8:30 pm; and “Omanit: The Women Pioneers of Israeli Artistic Culture” on Monday, October 25, from noon-1:30 pm. For more information or to register, visit https://case.edu/lifelonglearning/lectures.
The Nosher with Jamie Geller has put out a free High Holiday Recipe Collection. To get a copy, click here.
Fairfield University will hold several virtual events this fall: Nicole Krauss, award-winning novelist and short story writer, will engage in a virtual conversation with Dr. Ellen Umansky about her work and ways in which Jewish issues and her own sense of Jewish self-identity infuse her writings on Wednesday, September 22, at 7:30 pm; and Daniel Pearl World Music Days Concert: “Girls in Trouble: Songs about the Complicated Lives of Biblical Women” with Alicia Jo Rabins, who will perform her indie-folk song cycle “Girls in Trouble” on Thursday, October 7, at 7:30 pm. For information about these and other events, click here.
The Center for Jewish History will hold “Inside Dirty Dancing: A Conversation with Screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein” on Tuesday, September 14, at 6 pm. Eleanor Bergstein was a teenage mambo queen whose family summers at Grossinger’s inspired her screenplay for “Dirty Dancing, the 1987 film that’s set in a Catskills resort in the summer of 1963.” She will share stories from her life and behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the creation of the film and stage musical, as well as insights into Dirty Dancing’s enduring popularity. For more information or to register, click here.
The Center for Jewish History will hold “Man Ray: The Artist and His Shadows” on Thursday, September 23, at 6 pm. Arthur Lubow will discuss his new biography of Man Ray and uses Man Ray’s Jewish background as one filter to understand his life and art. For more information or to register, click here.
The PJ Library has a new free resource to help Jewish families around North America celebrate the fall holidays. For more information or to download “PJ Library Family Guide to the Fall Holidays,” click here.
Sixth & I and will hold the virtual event “Daniel Sokatch in Conversation with Jodi Rudoren” on Thursday, September 23, at 7 pm. New Israel Fund CEO Daniel Sokatch will discuss his new book “Can We Talk About Israel? A Guide for the Curious, Confused, and Conflicted.” The cost to attend is $10.75. For more information or to register, click here.
AJC’s Incubator for Young Jews Combating Antisemitism is looking for young American Jews to develop ideas to take on antisemitism locally, nationally or virtually. Winning submissions will receive up to $10,000 in seed funding from AJC, along with access to AJC expertise and leaders in the fields of advocacy, finance and tech. The winners will be selected by a committee of young leaders and innovators from AJC, and the business and tech industries. Applications are due by Friday, September 27. For more information and application forms, click here.
Keeping It Sacred will hold a six-week class “Exception Character: The Jewish Tradition of Mussar” on Sundays, October 10-November 21, at 1 pm. The classes will use Alan Morinis’ “Everyday Holiness” as its study text. Students can sign up for one or all classes. There is no cost to attend, but registration is required. For more information about this and other classes, or to register for each class, click here.
The Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program will hold several virtual programs in September: “Albert Einstein, The Reluctant Jew” with Steven Gimbel on Sunday, September 5, from 7-8 pm; “Women, History and ‘The Weight of Ink’” with Rachel Kadish on Thursday September 9, from 3:30- 4:30 pm; “Is There a Future for the Black-Jewish Alliance?” with Jonathan Kaufman, on Sunday September 12, from 7-8 pm; “How to Read the Bible” with Prof. Marc Zvi Brettler on Tuesday September 14, from 3:30-4:30 pm; “From ‘A Flag is Born’ to ‘Fauda’: The Image of Israel in Popular Culture” with Ted Merwin on Sunday September 19, from 7-8 pm; and “Medieval Jewish Daily Life Meets Israeli Art” with Prof. Elisheva Baumgarten on Thursday September 30, from 1-2 pm. To register for these and other events, click here.
The American Jewish University will hold the virtual book talk on Rebecca Frankel’s “Into the Forest” on Thursday, September 23, from 3-3:45 pm. The author will discuss a little known chapter of the Holocaust as it happened to her family. For more information or to register, click here.
The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center released its fall catalogue of events. Events include “Rationality Matters: Steven Pinker’s Road Map to Promoting It” on Tuesday, October 5, at 6:30 pm; “David DeSteno: How God Works… Even For Skeptics” on Wednesday, October 6, at 6:30 pm; “A Secular Talmudic Journey with Literary Critic Adam Kirsch” on Wednesday, October 13, at 6:30 pm; “Mark Oppenheimer: Squirrel Hill” Wednesday, October 27, at 6:30 pm; “An Evening with Mitch Albom” on Monday, November 1, at 7:30 pm; and more. For more information or to register, click here.
Judi Rose and Michael Leventhal will talk about chocolate and Jewish chocolate history, at the virtual launch of “Babka, Boulou & Blintzes: 50 Jewish Chocolate Recipe from Around the World” on Sunday, September 1, at 3 pm. For more information and the Zoom link, visit https://chaicancercare.org/events/babka-boulou-blintzes-virtual-launch-event/.
The Blue Dove Foundation offers news guides to improving mental health in the New Year. The guides focus on different parts of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. There is also information on how community leaders can offer information to mental health to their members. For more information, click here.
For additional resources, see previous issues of The Reporter on its website here.