Weekly Torah Classes
SUNDAY Nov 17
Sunday Morning Teen Minyan at 8:30 AM in the Beit Midrash for davening and breakfast. All middle and high school girls and boys and their parents are invited to join us. For details please contact Hagay Ramati or David Berlove.
Shiur n'Shmear with (Rabbi Dr) Avi Rockoff at 8:50 AM – 10:00 AM in the Bayit.
Sessions: Nov. 17, 24, Dec. 1, 8, 15, 22
Zemirot: Piyyutim for the Palate. The familiar Shabbat Zemirot are actually liturgical piyyutim. Their poetic artistry and deep erudition are hard to appreciate while quaffing schnapps and singing the words to niggunim, waltzes, marches, polkas, ditties, and drinking songs.
In this class, we will study several Ashkenazic zemirot, as well as others from North Africa and Spain. The purpose will be to explore the Biblical, Talmudic, Midrashic, and Halakhic references in the zemirot, and the Shabbat-related themes these sources elaborate. Singing is not required.
As an aside, we will also study a particular zemer once largely removed from Zemirot collections because of its association with Jewish social humiliation in 18th-century Poland in ways similar to blackface minstrelsy as experienced by African-Americans in 19th-century America, as well as "Jewface" vaudeville comedy 100 years ago.
Shlichot Cooking Club 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Movie for Middle School 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
MONDAY Nov 18
Daf HaShavua Yerushalmi 7:20—8:00 AM with Rabbi Benjamin J. Samuels in the Social Hall this week.
Teen learning with Rabbi Samuels in the Bayit, 5:15-6:15 PM
Sessions: 18, 25, Dec 2, 9, 16 Please spread the word!
All families with high school students studying in non-Jewish-Day-School frameworks are warmly encouraged to contact Rachel Greenblatt for more information at rlgreenb@gmail.com
Year 2 of Me’ah the fall semester, 7-9:30 PM at Shaarei in the Bayit
Dr. Alan Verskin will be teaching a Medieval course.
Sessions: Nov. 18, 25; Dec. 2, 9; Jan 6 , 13, 20
TUESDAY Nov 19
Mishna Study with J. David Jacobs , 7:15 - 8:00 AM. It is a great opportunity to first engage in text study, or come back to the Mishna as an old friend. All levels are welcome. We are finishing Masechet Peah and will start Masechet Damei soon.
Tai Chi 7:00 - 9:00 PM in the Social Hall with Danny Wyschogrod. Beginners welcome.
WEDNESDAY Nov 20
Rabbi’s Wednesday Night Class 7:30 - 8:45 PM
Sessions: Nov 20; Dec. 4, 11, 18, Jan 8, 15
Standing on One Foot: Essential Jewish Values and Core Ideas
In adult Jewish education, we often offer advanced classes for beginners to accommodate sophisticated expectations and a learned audience who have limited past exposure to Jewish text learning. This class offers the inverse, a beginner’s class for advanced students. Put another way, this is a course designed for people who have had life-long exposure to Jewish text study and ideas, but could benefit from a sophisticated study of foundational Jewish values and core ideas. We will ask: what does it mean to be Jewish? Jewish life hopscotches across four different domains of relationship: between us and God (ultimacy); between people (interpersonal ethics); between us and our world (peoplehood and stewardship); and between each person and his/herself (personal responsibility). So whether you are an advanced student, or a beginner, come join in a study of fundamental values, principles and core ideas. Your Jewish perspective will be reframed and refreshed!
Co-sponsored by Shaarei and Ma’ayan. This class is free to Shaarei members, please register at
WWW.Maayan.org to get access to online resources.