
The real Jewish experience is more diverse than we ever imagined. How can the histories of diverse Jewish communities transform the Jewish present? Join Kahal B’raira and Rabbi Adam Chalom to learn and to grow! $9 per learning session.
Register here: https://iishj.org/rediscovering_jewish_diversity/
Learning Session #3, 9:30am-11:30am EST
Beta Yisrael – as the American Jewish community becomes more aware of and open to Jewish racial diversity, how can we learn from the experience of the Beta Yisrael (Ethiopian Jews) in the Jewish State of Israel?
Connecting the Dots – What do these examples of Judaism off the beaten path have in common, and where do they diverge? And what can we learn from this to open our own Jewish communities to today’s Jewish diversity?
Rabbi Adam Chalom has served as Dean-North America of the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism since 2007. He is also the Rabbi of Kol Hadash Humanistic Congregation in suburban Chicago. Rabbi Chalom has spoken at several national and international conferences; edited and contributed to several volumes on Judaism, Humanism and their intersection; and provided weekend learning opportunities with Kahal Braira most recently in 2015. You can read more about his work at https://hjrabbi.wordpress.
KB members are invited to join our book group where we will learn together through reading, self-reflection, and discussion. We will read both non-fiction and fiction (current and historical fiction) and will also share online resources with each other that will support our learning and current experiences. This is a peer-supported group and not led by an expert on the subject. We are on a learning journey and hope you will join us.
For the Zoom link, please email info@kahalbraira.org.
Tentative Schedule
October – initial meeting – discussion / introduction initial self-reflection
November – So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo
December – Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
January – The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas
February – Movies: 13th and Selma
March – The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
April – The Color of Law, by Richard Rothstein [no relation]
May – Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, by Eddie S Glaude, Jr.
June – Caste: The Origins of our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson
July – Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, by Beverly Daniel Tatum
Details to come.
KB members are invited to join our book group where we will learn together through reading, self-reflection, and discussion. We will read both non-fiction and fiction (current and historical fiction) and will also share online resources with each other that will support our learning and current experiences. This is a peer-supported group and not led by an expert on the subject. We are on a learning journey and hope you will join us.
For the Zoom link, please email info@kahalbraira.org.
Tentative Schedule
October – initial meeting – discussion / introduction initial self-reflection
November – So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo
December – Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
January – The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas
February – Movies: 13th and Selma
March – The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
April – The Color of Law, by Richard Rothstein [no relation]
May – Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, by Eddie S Glaude, Jr.
June – Caste: The Origins of our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson
July – Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, by Beverly Daniel Tatum
Passover Seder
This course involves screening popular American and Israeli movies in order to study a complex
and profound issue in Jewish life today. This issue is the fundamental tension between the lives
and attitudes of modern Jews, and the lives and attitudes of traditional religious Jews (also
sometimes referred to as hareidim, ultra-orthodox, or hassidim). Designed as the first of two
courses (each may be taken separately), this course focuses on films that offer starkly different
depictions of traditional Jewish life. In particular, these films will help us attend to deep conflicts
over issues such as individual self-expression, family, the value of communal life, and the
experience of romance and love. Students will screen the films on their own before class;
important clips will be shown in class. Carefully chosen academic readings, and short stories will
be provided each week, both for background on that week’s film, and to enhance the experience
of viewing it.
Dates: 5 Wednesdays, 4/7, 4/14, 4/21, 4/28, 5/5
Time: 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Cost: $165, generous financial aid is availableFor more information, contact Marilyn Stern at meah@hebrewcollege.edu
Instructor: Dr. Jacob Meskin
Sponsored by Hebrew College and hosted by Congregation Eitz Chayim, Tremont Street
Shul, and Kahal B’raira, Cambridge
Adult Gathering and Service & Sunday School (KB celebrates Yom Hashoah)
The Executive Committee is Kahal B’raira’s leadership and coordinating body. It includes the president, vice-president, treasurer, secretary, members-at-large, Sunday school chair and representative to the Society for Humanistic Judaism. Meetings are open to all KB members. RSVP for Zoom link to info@kahalbraira.org