Community Education

The Community Education Committee provides a range of exciting Jewish educational experiences for teens, adults, and the general community. Check out our Calendar (below) for a current schedule of classes.

General Information:

• Registration: please check individual class listings for details.
• Make checks payable to Temple Beth Israel.
• Programs scheduled on Shabbat: Fees and donations for programs scheduled on Shabbat must be paid in advance or after the programs. We will not be collecting money on Shabbat.

Classes are open to all learners, and we welcome students from within TBI and from the larger community as well. All classes meet at Temple Beth Israel, 1175 E. 29th Ave., Eugene unless otherwise noted. Childcare is not available at this time. For more information or to register for a class, please call the TBI office at 485-7218.

The Community Education Committee says...
We're excited to begin our first year of community education classes and events in our wonderful new building! If you are interested in joining the Community Educaiton committee, or have ideas for teaching or a class offering, please contact Rabbi Maurice.

Community Education & Cultural Arts Program

Fall Session 2008

Foundations of Judaism
The Foundations of Judaism series is designed for those exploring Judaism for the first time and those seeking to rediscover some of the basic elements of Jewish life. The series is comprised of three modules – Fall, Winter and Spring – and students can join the class at the beginning of any of the modules. Pre-registration required and tuition applies.

Fall Module: Jewish Prayer & Spirituality with Joan Bayliss
Sundays, October 19-December 14 (no class November 30), 9:30-11 am, TBI Library/Chapel
Tuition: Members $36; Non-members $54. Advance registration and payment required by October 10. Drop-ins welcome at first session only.

How do Jews pray? What is Jewish liturgy? Do Jews do meditation? Come and learn about the structure and meaning of synagogue services, as well as other dimensions of spiritual life in Jewish tradition. This class will offer a good introduction, as well as a solid review, of Jewish spirituality and prayer.

Ongoing

Jewish Songs of the Spirit with Beth Miriam Rose
Wednesdays, now through December 17, 7-8:30 pm.; TBI santuary.

Sliding scale donations gratefully accepted at each session to support Community Education. Drop-ins welcome.

Join us in learning to sing beautiful traditional and contemporary Jewish folk and liturgical melodies in an informal, supportive environment. Open to all with no prior knowledge of Hebrew required. Instruments welcome with prior arrangement. Participants may have the opportunity to sing as a group at an upcoming Shabbat service and the Saturday Market and Holiday Market. Special focus on High Holiday melodies in September.

October

Jewish Philosophy Reading Group: Franz Rosensweig's Understanding the Sick and the Healthy with Dr. Jeffrey S. Librett, Head of UO Department of German and Scandinavian

Sundays, October 12-November 16, 11:30 am-1 pm.; Library/Chapel

Members $24; Non-members $40. Advance registration and payment required by October 1.

(From Amazon.com) “Franz Rosenzweig, one of the century's great Jewish thinkers, wrote this gem of a book in 1921 as a more accessible precis of his famous Star of Redemption. An elegant introduction to Rosenzweig's "new thinking," Understanding the Sick and the Healthy was written for a lay audience and takes the form of an ironic narrative about convalescence. With superb simplicity and beauty, it puts forth an important critique of the nineteenth-century German Idealist philosophical tradition and expresses a powerful vision of Jewish religion.”

Dr. Jeffrey Librett has written The Rhetoric of Cultural Dialogue: Jews and Germans from Moses Mendelssohn to Richard Wagner and Beyond (Stanford University Press, 2000), and published numerous essays on German literature, philosophy, psychoanalysis, Jewish Studies, and theory from the eighteenth century to the present. He’ll assign portions of Rosensweig’s work, Understanding the Sick and the Healthy to read between sessions, and students will gather to talk about what they’ve learned and how it influences our lives today.

Reconstructionist Judaism: An Introduction with Rabbi Maurice Harris

Saturdays, October 18-November 1, 3-5 pm; Library/Chapel

FREE; envelopes provided for voluntary donations after Shabbat. Advance registration by October 8.

Now what exactly is Reconstructionist Judaism? Born from the thoughts and writings of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, Reconstructionism views Judaism as more than just a religion – it’s a full-blown civilization, complete with language, history, cuisine, culture, art, and a homeland. Reconstructionism takes its name from the idea that Judaism is an evolving religious civilization, adapting and redesigning itself to stay potent and relevant from one era to the next. This three-session introduction will lay out the basics of Reconstructionism, which has been quietly influencing and shaping Jewish worship, thought, and community structure throughout the spectrum of Jewish practice for decades. (For example, if you’ve ever been to a bat mitzvah – as opposed to a bar mitzvah – thank Mordecai Kaplan!) Focal points will include how Reconstructionism approaches God, Jewish law, gender, revealed religion, sexual orientation, and sacred texts.

2nd Annual SUKKAHFEST

(catered dinner and storytelling)

Saturday, October 18, 6:30 pm; TBI Courtyard. $9/Adults, $3/Children. RSVP and payment required by October 1. (Please do not bring money to pay at this event, as it is taking place during the Sabbath.)

Come enjoy a vegetarian catered dinner in the lovely Sukkah in the TBI courtyard, and share the late Shabbat afternoon-turning-to-evening with other TBI members of all ages! Storytelling included!

November

TBI Family Night at Papa's Pizza (1577 Coburg Rd.)

(Every family receives a free Jewish children's book!)

Saturday, November 8, 5:30 pm.

Please RSVP by October 29.

Join Rabbi Maurice and TBI parents, kids, relatives and friends for an evening of pizza and play at Papa’s Pizza. Each participating household will receive a free Jewish children’s book chosen by Rabbi Maurice. Since this is a TBI event, please order only vegetarian pizza in keeping with TBI’s kashrut practices. Families responsible for their own food purchases. Families who wish to participate and who have dietary requirements that preclude eating Papa’s Pizza’s offerings may contact Rabbi Maurice to discuss options. Hope to see you there!

Film & Discussion: Call Me Malcolm
Sunday, November 15, 7:00 pm.
FREE; donations accepted to benefit the Religious Response Network

You can’t say the word transgender and people really know what you’re talking about. But anybody who says the word transgender means something different by it anyway, so it really is a story and not just a label.

                                                      – Malcolm

Call Me Malcolm is an amazing story of the human spirit and God’s spirit, and the liberating struggle to realize and express with confidence the marvelous gift of one’s truest sense of self. As Malcolm shares his own story and through the stories of others we meet, Call Me Malcolm offers us a glimpse into the real lives of real people who are transgender. But it is only a glimpse. There are many stories to be told and Malcolm helps us make connections to our own stories, encouraging us to share them. That can seem daunting in a culture which has done more to heap shame on persons who identify as transgender. The good news of Malcolm’s story is the way in which shame and fear are overcome by grace, compassion and knowledge. Viewers cannot help but come to a deeper understanding of faith, love, and gender identity, and by doing so, arrive at a deeper understanding of their own journey. Produced by the United Church of Christ and Filmworks, Inc.

Film & Discussion: Northern Exposure – Kaddish for Uncle Manny

Saturday, December 6, 6:30 pm.

FREE; donations gratefully accepted.

What is the meaning of a minyan, the traditional “quorum” of ten adult Jews required for the public recitation of certain prayers, most notably the Mourner’s Kaddish? In this hour-long episode of the acclaimed television series, Northern Exposure, we’ll watch how Joel Fleishman, a young Jewish doctor from New York who is serving out a medical internship in rural Alaska, deals with the local townspeoples’ attempt to secure a minyan for him so he can say kaddish. Discussion will follow. A great event for adults, teens, and older grade school kids.

Judaic Studies Events at University

Our members at the University of Oregon have forwarded notices of some exciting Judaic Studies events over the next few months.

Take a look!