Expanded Adult Education Begins
An expanded Adult Education committee begins with the New Year. Fred and Rhoda Feldman continue as committee co-chairs and are joined by Harriet Peick, Doug and Nora Cannon, Kevin Miller, and Rabbi Korinow. Interested members are welcome to join the committee as well.
The adult education committee arranges periodic programs for Sunday mornings with outside speakers who present on RELEVANT OR INTERESTING JEWISH TOPICS while a light community breakfast is served. The committee also assists the rabbi in identifying topics for the perhaps six Saturday lunches dubbed “Shmooze N’ Shabbat.” Adult Education opportunities include the rabbi’s on-going classes on basic Judaism, Shabbat Shiur/study, Israel Chavurah/discussion, the annual learn to read Hebrew in Less than a Week, and study with the parent hours of our Religious School’s Parent-Child Connection.

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Commemorative Krystallnacht Adult Education Program in November
A special Krystallnacht Commemoration will be held at Temple Emanu-El on Monday evening, November 7th at 6:30 pm - a presentation of a Reading/Play “Night Words - A Midrash on the Holocaust” by David Roskies. This is a dramatic reading by 36 participants and takes about 90 minutes:
o As the participants enter, they line up in a row and relinquish their shoes to the ushers. They then proceed to the place of meeting (social hall) and are seated in a circle on the floor. There is music in the background and sufficient light to read by. A quorum for this service is 36 people, men and women. Most roles are distributed at random. Each participant receives a text of the service from which they read. Non-reading attendees are seated around them in a circle.
o The 36: Story-teller; Historian; Rabbi; Messenger; Judge; Clerk; Teacher; Soldier; Prophet; Clown; Abraham; Nurse; Isaac; Tailor; Dreamer; Mystic; Investigator; Philosopher; Magician; Barber; Scribe; Mute; Musician; Child; Cobbler; Carpenter; Counsel for Defense; Witness; Woman; Doctor; Painter; Singer; Citizen; Poet; School Girl; Hazan (Cantor)
o The reading has a basis in an old Jewish legend that there are 36 righteous people on earth, unknown to others and themselves unaware of their mission. According to the Babylonian Talmud, “The world has not less than 36 pious souls who every day see the face of God. They are the vessels into which the suffering of the whole world flows. If even one of them were not here, the world would perish with suffering.”
The play is oriented toward adults and older children and will be open to the broader community besides Temple Emanu-El.
Please rsvp your plan to attend to the Nancy at Temple Emanu-El and desire to receive a reading role. Roles will be handed out randomly, but in order of requests received.

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2nd Annual Global Day of Jewish Learning Scheduled for Sunday, November 13th.
Extending the highly successful Global Day of Jewish Learning that Temple Emanu-El participated in last year, the second annual program will be held at the Temple on Sunday, November 13th from 10 to 2:30 pm. It will mirror the format of last year’s programming when Temple Emanu-El was one of 283 communities in 45 countries with over 600,000 Jews participating in this superb event. Over 75 people of all ages came from Temple Emanu-El. A video clip preview of the 2010 event is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxUR5f6vcgk.

This year’s event will focus on readings and discussion related to the unity of the Jewish people and the central role of Jewish texts. As the theme of the 2011 Global Day, Shema Yisrael offers a similar ground. In the words of Rabbi Steinsaltz:
“For the Jewish people, the Shema is a call, a slogan, a sign of identification and an expression of great emotions. It is a declaration of bond, principles and identity. Shema Yisrael, “Hear O Israel,” has been with us from the very beginning of our history. These words have accompanied our people for thousands of years-in its homeland and in exile, in times of peace and war, in the gas chambers and along with the cries of triumph. This was our “password”; it is how Jews recognized each other-despite geographical, linguistic and cultural differences.

In this theme, we have an opportunity to look at this historic text, at the ideas it represents, and at its meaning for us today. We can open ourselves to challenge from Rabbi Steinsaltz, who proposes that we adopt this text as a central mantra. We open ourselves to questions embedded in the text, about the nature of God and of the one God, about Israel as homeland and people, about hearing and witnessing, and about what Shema as daily or bedtime prayer and ritual means for us, personally. We have an opportunity to come together, to debate, challenge, and disagree, and, perhaps most significantly, learn from colleagues and friends and to glory in our ability to grapple with each other and with our intellectual tradition, within the playground that is the Jewish conversation.

As Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz recently said, “As a mark of the unity of our people, it is time to put learning and study back on the world-wide Jewish agenda. I frequently urge people to “take a step ahead” in their Jewish learning, practice and commitment. Clearly for the many thousands of people who participated last year, a step was taken. Now, it is time for the next.”

Contact the office to register.