Scholar-in-Residence
Rabbi David Ellenson, PhD
President, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Friday, December 5
6 p.m. Shabbat Dinner Honoring the Joseph Family
(Reservation required for dinner, $20 per person)
8 p.m. Shabbat Evening Service
The Platforms of American Reform Judaism:
Where We Have Been, Where We Are Now
Saturday, December 6 9 a.m. Torah Study and Service
Jacob and the Nature of Religious Leadership
11:30 a.m. Lunch and Learn
(Reservation required for lunch, $12 per person)
Isaac Mayer Wise and David Einhorn:
Two Types of Reform and Their Meaning for Our Movement Today
Rabbi David Ellenson is the eighth president of Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion in its 130 year-long
history. Rabbi Ellenson is a distinguished rabbi and scholar,
dedicated teacher and committed leader of the Reform Movement.
Associated with HUC-JIR for over 30 years, Rabbi Ellenson
is a beloved teacher and mentor to generations of students.
He is internationally recognized for his publications and
research in the area of Jewish religious thought, ethics and
modern Jewish history.
Torah
Study
Saturdays, 9 - 10:30 a.m.
Free and open to all.
Join in an instructive and spirited discussion of the week's
Torah portion led by Rabbis Zimmerman, Glaser and Saks, as
well as occasional guest teachers. Gain a better understanding
of Torah and its relevance to contemporary life through study
and dialogue. Come when you can!
Torah
Study 101
The Alef-Bet of Torah Study
Saturday, November 29, 10:40 - 11:30 a.m.
Free and open to all.
We are the People of the Book. We have preserved Torah across
time and space, and it is said that Torah preserves us. Please
join lay-learners/instructors Rachael Freed and Steve Levie
for Torah Study for the curious and the inexperienced. We
will study Torah and its significance in our lives today.
No prior Torah knowledge or Hebrew skills necessary.
Highlights
in Jewish History
Please note the September Highlights in Jewish
History class was postponed. Highlights in Jewish history
will begin on October 25.
Six Saturdays, 10:30 - 11:30 a.m. (dates listed below)
Instructor: Dr. Joseph Goldman
Free and open to all.
Dr. Joseph Goldman puts a new spin on Jewish history by emphasizing
scientists, theologians, artists and business leaders. Join
us for lively discussions of some of the most important events
in Jewish history.
November 22: The Two State "Solution"
and Why It Is a Problem for Israel and Palestine
January 24: The "Falwell Legacy":
Protestant Evangelicalism, Pulpit Politics, and "Love
the Holy Land" without Judaism and Jews
February 28: Rosa Luxembourg: Socialist,
Communist, Feminist, Jew--The Path from Radicalism to Sorrow
and a Shameful Death
April 25: The Eichmann Trial: Jews, Justice,
and Holocaust History
May 23: Milton Berle, Martha Raye, Myron
Cohen, Sam Levinson, Phil Silvers, Sid Caesar and Imogene
Coca: Jewish Shtick in the 1950s
Hebrew
Study Group
Saturdays, 10:30 a.m.*
Free and open to all. (there is a fee for the text)
This lay-led group is open to anyone wishing to study Hebrew
with a group of adults, some who have recently learned the
letters and others who have taken Hebrew in college. Come
when you can and as often as you like. We focus on grammar
in biblical, prayer book and modern Hebrew.
*The Hebrew Study Group meets at 11:30 a.m. on weeks when
there is a 10:30 a.m. Shabbat Morning Service or Highlights
in Jewish History class.
We invite Temple members to study with the “Downtown
Jewish Study Group.” Sessions on a variety of topics
are led by Temple Israel clergy, and other clergy and teachers
in the community. For more information or to be added to the
e-mail notification list, please contact Steve Simon at simon001@umn.edu
or 612-625-8012.
Monday, November 10, 12:15 p.m. Rabbi Glaser will lead this session.
1653 Hennepin County Government Center
Please contact Steve Simon at 612-625-8012 or by e-mail.
Introduction
to Judaism
Mondays, September 15, 2008 - May 18, 2009, 6:30 - 9
p.m.
Instructors: Rabbis Marcia Zimmerman, Sim Glaser, Jared
Saks, and Cantor Barry Abelson; Fran Rosen, Hebrew Instructor
Fee: $300 for individuals or couples (includes books and
materials)
Introduction to Judaism is for anyone who wants to refresh
his or her Judaic knowledge, is considering conversion to
Judaism, or is interested in discovering more about the foundations
of Judaism. This class covers the basic beliefs, observances
and philosophy of Jewish religion, culture and history. The
format is lively and interactive. This class will also introduce
the Hebrew alphabet and key Hebrew vocabulary.
Hebrew I (Beginner) Sundays, September 14, 2008 - May 10, 2009, 9:15 - 10:15
a.m.
Instructor: Fran Rosen
Fee: $250 (includes books and materials)*
Perhaps you’ve never had the opportunity to study
Hebrew before. Or maybe you would like a refresher from your
Hebrew school days. Are your children beginning their study
of Hebrew? Now is your chance to learn the basics of Hebrew
letter recognition and reading.
*$25 discount for parents of Religious & Hebrew School
students
Hebrew II (Intermediate) Sundays, September 14, 2008 - May 10, 2009, 10:30 - 11:30
a.m.
Instructor: Fran Rosen
Fee: $250 (includes books and materials)*
This class is a pre-requisite for those participating in
the Adult Anshei Mitzvah program.
This class is a continuation of the Beginner Level Hebrew
course and for those who have basic Hebrew reading skills.
Further study of Hebrew vocabulary, grammar, Hebrew readings
and prayers will be discussed. The second half of this course
will be devoted to “siddur study,” with an emphasis
on reading prayers, their meaning and their place in the service.
*$25 discount for parents of Religious & Hebrew School
students
The Anshei Mitzvah class provides adult Jewish learners
the opportunity for deepened understanding and experience
of Jewish spirituality, practice and thought by learning the
skills and experiencing the mitzvah of leading worship
and reading from the Torah. Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah is an ideal
way to renew your connection to Torah, its values, and your
place in the never-ending chain of Jewish tradition. We are
proud, once again, to offer the opportunity for adult members
of our congregation who have not yet become a Bar or Bat Mitzvah,
to study in preparation for their Anshei Mitzvah,
culminating in a group celebration during Shabbat services
on a Friday evening in June 2009.
Here at Temple Israel, our Adult B’nai Mitzvah candidates
participate in the serious preparation of chanting the Torah
and Haftarah verses, to lead the congregation in worship and
to speak about their understanding of the scriptural passage
and their relationship to it. Two extraordinary women – Nora
Levin and Lily Rothbart, were called to the Torah for the
first time as Anshei Mitzvah in June, 2007. They are no strangers
to the bima or to Jewish thought. The fact that they were
up there leading us, chanting from the Sefer Torah and wrestling
with the concepts herein was nothing short of inspirational.
The Anshei Mitzvah service has always been a very special
Friday evening at Temple and anyone reading this now may in
fact assert that it may be your time too. If so, your clergy
and your opportunity to be called to the Torah are only a
phone call away.
~Rabbi Sim Glaser
Click on the links if you would like to read Nora
Leven's or Lily
Rothbart's D’var Torah that were delivered as part of
the culmination of their years of study.
Scholarships
for Adult Learning
Temple Israel’s goal is to allow members of our community
to attend any desired class regardless of financial need.
We also want to make this process as comfortable and welcoming
as possible.Click here
to download our scholarship form.
OLLI
Classes at Temple Israel
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), a program of
the University of Minnesota’s College of Continuing
Education, invites members of Temple Israel to attend classes
held at Temple Israel without charge. For course descriptions
and to register, call 612-624-7847 or visit OLLI
Classes.
About
our Adult Learning Committee -- 5768
Rabbi Sim
Glaser, clergy liaison; Co-Chairs: Rachael Freed, Steve Levie,
Susan Wood; Board Liaison, Muffy Rudnick; Len Kennen, Secretary;
Nancy Brown, Michael Earhart, Rich Furman, Marla Kapperud, Jon
Minsberg, Dan Prozumenshikov, Lily Rothbart, Bruce & Rita
Stough, Marilyn Weisberg, Natalie Westreich, Jayne White, Carol
Wirtschafter, and Adult Learning Coordinator, Wendy Schwartz,
R.J.E.
Our Mission Statement: The Temple Israel Adult Jewish Learning Committee creates, coordinates
and organizes learning opportunities, which enable all learners
to make informed Jewish choices in our daily lives by studying
and discussing Jewish law, texts, history, culture, current
events, and relevant issues. In so doing, we seek to establish
and nurture community, to nourish our souls, to provide an opportunity
to connect or reconnect to Temple Israel, and to inspire love
for a vibrant, living, breathing Jewish life.
This year has added to our past success as
our lifelong Jewish learning opportunities have engaged many
new and repeat participants. Our growth includes more than numbers;
the quality and variety of our offerings are strong. We have
built a reputation in the community as a place where substantive
Jewish learning takes place, and we have attracted adult learners
from our congregation, and beyond (the Jewish community, the
broader community).
JL@TI
(Jewish Learning @ Temple Israel) fall and spring
classes have grown in quantity and quality since inception
four years ago (no fewer than six courses of varied content
over 3 weeks.) This year we welcomed over 300 learners. Each
learner receives a related book (one of our strategies to
encourage Jewish literacy and build Jewish libraries).
Our
speaker and scholars-in-residence programs are inspirational;
recent scholars include Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, Daniel Matt,
Zohar translator and interpreter, Rabbi Michael Marmur teaching
us about Abraham Joshua Heschel. We endeavor to deepen the
learning by following themes of our scholars in our JL@TI
series. The Adult Learning Committee actively collaborates
with other committees to focus learning topics (e.g. Outreach
and one of this year’s scholars, Rabbi Kerry Olitzky,
director of the national Jewish Outreach Institute).
This
summer we began two new initiatives: our first annual
Study Shabbaton for adults at our own Camp TEKO on Lake Minnetonka,
and Seasons of Our Lives, a program for congregants over 60
(studying Jewish texts and writing letters of wisdom, spiritual-ethical
wills), to culminate with the community participating in the
5768 erev Sukkot service.
Other
adult learning activities include: 60 people—a
new high— participated in the Introduction to Judaism
classes; Shabbat morning Torah study now averages 40 learners;
“Food For Thought,” a monthly bag-lunch downtown
study group led by our clergy and others; an annual one-day
Hebrew Marathon; beginning and intermediate adult Hebrew classes
(with an incentive program for parents of children in Hebrew/Religious
School to receive reduced tuition); Torah Trope and Anshei
Mitzvah classes resulting in congregants regularly chanting
Torah at weekly Torah study and services. We have a conversion
seminar. We host a late-night study at our Tikkun Leil Shavuot.
We
continually seek ways to collaborate with the broader
community. As part of our urban commitment to be the Jewish
voice of Minneapolis we are represented on the Downtown Churches
Interfaith Forums committee, and we participate in hosting
one evening of that 5 part program, and participate as “Table
Hosts” for those gatherings that average 250-300 participants
each of the 5 evenings.
With
its own financial gifts the adult learning committee
founded the Adult Learning Endowment Fund within the Temple
Israel Foundation this spring for the purpose of enhancing
and expanding lifelong Jewish education at Temple for the
future.
