Henry Sapoznik: The Tourist's Guide to Lost Yiddish New York City (in person)
The Tourist's Guide to Lost Yiddish New York City offers a new look at over a century of New York's history of Yiddish popular culture. Henry H. Sapoznik-a Peabody Award-winning co-producer of NPR's Yiddish Radio Project-tells the story in over a baker's dozen chapters on theater, music, architecture, crime, Blacks and Jews, restaurants, real estate, and journalism.
Culled from over five thousand Yiddish and English newspaper articles of the period, and thanks to new research from previously inaccessible materials, the book reveals fresh insights into the impossible-to-overstate influence of Yiddish culture on New York City. Containing fifty images, many of which have never before been published, the book is complemented by an online interactive Google Map linked to over one hundred of the historic locations discussed in the book, with additional graphics and resource materials.
The Tourist's Guide to Lost Yiddish New York City is a vivid, entertaining, and accessible compendium of both New York's lush Ashkenazic past and present, showcasing the culture's persistent resiliency.
Henry H. Sapoznik is a five-time Grammy-nominated producer/performer of over fifty recordings and author of the award-winning book Klezmer! Jewish Music from Old World to Our World.
Opening Courageous Conversations on Israel/Palestine
All Jewish identified adults to explore our feelings and reactions to the tensions in Israel/ Palestine today. We will use Jewish values, and Jewish and Palestinian writings as a basis for holding courageous conversations together. Coffee and goodies included.
These 5 conversations will build on each other. Come to as many as you can. In person at Ohavi Zedek, monthly on Sunday mornings. Please register so we can send you materials ahead of each session.
Sundays from 9:15 – 11:00 in the OZ Sanctuary & Social Hall
Teach Rock
AMAZING OPPORTUNITY FOR TEACHERS:
Experience a professional learning day with TeachRock for a day of hands-on exploration at Higher Ground in Burlington. Educators will explore how music can be used as a powerful primary source to teach history, culture, and critical thinking. The workshop includes practical strategies, ready-to-use lesson plans, and opportunities to connect with educators from across Vermont in an engaging, real-world setting.
CBE Bookclub
Join us for a discussion of "The Book of Israela" by CBE Rabbinic Team Member, Rabbi Rena Blumenthal. In person, in the Social Hall.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Jerusalem, 2002: the height of the second intifada. Kobi Benami is a middle-aged psychologist whose life is in shambles. His wife has thrown him out for casual philandering; his daughter won’t speak to him; and he may lose his job due to indifferent work habits. At this desperate juncture, Kobi gets a new patient, Israela, whose story is full of uncanny Biblical references, and whose powerful enigmatic husband Y may or may not exist. Israela hasn’t seen Y in months, but she is being stalked by his prophet-like emissaries, spanning the spectrum of Israeli society — Orthodox to secular, right-wing settlers to left-wing urban elites — united only in their harsh condemnation of Israel, a fierce devotion to Y, and connection to The Outstretched Arm, a sinister organization purported to be run by Y.
As Kobi becomes ensnared in a surreal encounter with anthropomorphized ancient Israel, and preoccupied with questions about the nature and existence of Y, he is forced to confront his dysfunctional life patterns, his family’s tragic past, and the endless war that rages around him.
Building a Sacred Relationship with the Divine
The next Creating Spiritual Journeys session entitled, Building a Sacred Relationship with the Divine will be on Sunday, May 17, 10:30-12:30. We will focus on the meaning of Shavuot, the holiday of receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai, which begins that Thursday night and concludes Sat Night. Register here.
WORKSHOP: WHAT IS ANTISEMITISM? FROM RIGHT-WING WEAPONIZATION TO COLLECTIVE LIBERATION
When are accusations of antisemitism pointing to a genuine problem we all need to take seriously, and when are they inflating Jewish fears to shield Israel from legitimate criticism?
In this workshop, we will learn how to sort one from the other. We will trace the origins of the idea that criticism of Israel is antisemitic, and we'll learn how this idea poses dangers for Jews and non-Jews alike. We will build an analysis of antisemitism that moves us away from ethnonationalism, and toward liberation for all instead.
Join Jewish Voice for Peace of Vermont & New Hampshire as we work to re-connect real struggles for Jewish safety with the struggle for everyone's safety and freedom.
This workshop is focused on questions concerning Jews and Judaism, but people of all backgrounds are very welcome to attend.
Shttl: Yiddish Film Screening
"Shttl" documents a day in the life of a traditional Jewish shtetl on the Ukrainian border, 24 hours before the Nazis invade their territory.
The film features an international cast headlined by Brooklyn-based actor Moshe Lobel (The Vigil) and award-winning veteran actor Saul Rubinek (Hunters, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Warehouse 13, Unforgiven). "Shttl" has proven to be a phenomenon, running for eighteen weeks (and counting) in New York City theaters and screening to sold-out crowds across America and around the world!
In the words of film critic Danielle Solzman, "Shttl" is "one of the all-time great films about Jewish life in Eastern Europe."
Register
No, the Name Was NotChanged at Ellis Island
No, the Name Was Not Changed at Ellis Island
with Sallyann Sack
The pursuit of Jewish family history and genealogy has burgeoned worldwide in recent years. Drawing on nearly 50 years of experience, Sallyann Sack will explain how Jewish names were created and how that has shaped the way we search our family histories.
Sallyann Sack is an internationally known genealogist. She was instrumental in founding the International Institute for Jewish Genealogy, the Jewish Genealogical Association of Greater Washington, and the International Association of Jewish Genalogical Societies. She has chaired many conferences, authored seven books, and has consulted on numerous projects. If you want to know anything about Jewish genealogy, she is the premier expert.
Join us in-person or via Zoom
Hineni Mindfulness Retreat
Shabbat Rest as a Mindfulness Practice, explores the Jewish wisdom of Menucha (spacious rest). Through a blend of teaching, silence, and sitting, walking, and eating meditations, we will create a sweet and joyous refuge from the turbulence of daily life. Our time together will include contemplative Shabbat prayer, moving beyond a high volume of words to find deep connection through chant, song, and silence.
YIVO Presents: The Future of Holocaust Memory: Poland and Beyond
Holocaust distortion in Poland involves reshaping or minimizing facts about the Holocaust, often emphasizing Polish victimhood while obscuring instances of local collaboration, participation, or indifference. It appears in political rhetoric, memory laws, public commemorations, and attacks on critical scholarship. YIVO’s Poland vs. Holocaust History series examines these dynamics and situates the Polish case within a broader European context.
This discussion panel will reflect on the future of Holocaust memory in Poland and in a broader international context. Bringing together Jan T. Gross, Elżbieta Janicka, and Jan Grabowski, the conversation will address the evolving challenges facing Holocaust remembrance amid political polarization, historical revisionism, and generational change. The panelists will consider the roles of scholarship, education, public debate, and cultural institutions in sustaining honest engagement with the past. The discussion will also explore how national and transnational perspectives can coexist, and what is at stake for historical truth, democratic values, and moral responsibility in shaping the future of Holocaust memory.
This online event will take place via Zoom at 1:00pm ET.
Jewish Play Reading Series – Arnold Perl: World of Sholom Alechim
Are you interested in plays? Come together in person from 2-4:00 on a Sunday afternoon to read and discuss a Jewish play.
Mussar Class with Rabbi Joshua Boettiger
Join CBE for a rare opportunity to learn and practice "Foundations of Mussar" with Rabbinic Team Member, Rabbi Joshua Boettiger. 12-week course in person for two sessions with weekly Zoom practices.
$325/pp.
REGISTRATION REQUIRED.
Participants will need to purchase the following workbook: Becoming an Adult: A Mussar Companion for Taking Responsibility by Nancy Axelrod, Adie Goldberg
AVAILABLE HERE: https://contemporarymussar.myshopify.com/
Foundations of Mussar with Rabbi Joshua Boettiger
Mussar could be called the ancient Jewish spiritual practice of ethical mindfulness – an orbiting around the question of if we intellectually know what it is to be good, what keeps us from being good?
Join us for a twelve-session immersion in the theory and practice of Mussar. We’ll be studying both traditional and contemporary Mussar texts and working with the different middot (character traits) to track how this practice is directly impacting our lives and relationships – where the rubber meets the road.
The first class will be held in person on Sunday, April 19th at 11:00am in the sanctuary at Congregation Beth El. The next ten classes will be held on zoom, with a final class in person.
The zoom sessions will be held Wednesday evenings from 7:00pm-8:00pm.
Scholar in Residence Weekend
Scholar In Residence 2026 Richard Rosenberg
Artistic director, conductor & co-founder of the National Music Festival
From Shtetl to Shtardom!
Jewish Migration’s Impact on American Music
~ From Broszniów to Broadway, From Carnikava to Carnegie Hall,
The Climate Crisis: What You Should Know and What You Can (and Should) Do
Climate Change Solutions Part II – What Can We Do? – Focus on System Change from communities to states to global actions. Susan covers state public health policies and actions.
Lunch & Learn // Jewish Traditions in Classical Choral Music
An Exploration by Musicologist & Choral Conductor Nathaniel G. Lew
Freylekh Musik (Joyous Music)
The Annual Rabbi Max B. Wall Endowment Lecture
Fleylekh Musik (Joyous Music); Klezmer and the Tools of Melody
Presented by OZ member – Michael Schachter, PH.D.
McCarthy Recital Hall Saint Michael’s College
Free and open to the public
A lecture and musical performance featuring Klezmer musicians Ozzy Irving Gold-Shapiro, Ariel Shapiro and Rachel Leader
Shoah Stories from Vermont
All welcome to come bear witness and remember.
Monday, April 13th 7-8:30 pm.
Registration required. Click here to register.
Second in a four part Sunday series: Book Discussion with Rabbi Jim Glazier: "The Jew Store"
"The Jew Store" is Stella Suberman's memoir of her Jewish family's move to a small Tennessee town in the 1920s.
Sabbath Queen Film Screening
Congregation Ohavi Zedek, Temple Sinai, UVM Jewish Studies, and UVM Hillel invite you to a special screening of SABBATH QUEEN.
Religion & Reform Judaism in Israel
Religion in Israel is under the authority of the state, and controlled by conservative elements. While Reform, Conservative and other forms of liberal Judaism have grown exponentially in the last decade, these movements still do not have the same rights or resources as the Orthodox Jewish system. We'll learn more about why this system exists and attempts to modify or replace it.
In Person Only.
Yom HaShoah Film Screening - "Eva's Promise" with filmmaker talk
Please join us for a Yom HaShoah special screening of "Eva's Promise," with special talk by filmmaker Steve McCarthy and Producer, Susan Kerner and a luncheon afterwards.
Directed by the Emmy Award winning documentarian, Steve McCarthy, Eva’s Promise tells the story of Eva Schloss, who promised her brother, Heinz Geiringer, that she would retrieve his paintings and poetry, hidden under the floorboards of the attic where Heinz and his father were hiding, if he should die in the concentration camps. Heinz and Eva’s mother married Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father, after the war, and so their story often sits in the shadows of "The Diary of a Young Girl," but this film showcases Heinz’s artistry and Eva’s dedication to share his story.
Read more about Eva Schloss here
The event is free of charge, but suggested donation of $20 accepted at the door.
Living Each Day with Intentionality
Over 8 monthly sessions, we will explore how Torah (Jewish wisdom) frames time as a sacred dimension of Jewish life, engaging classical and modern sources to examine how days, seasons, and cycles shape consciousness, community, and covenant. Together we will consider how marking time with awareness can nurture balance, resilience, and joy.
Creating Soulful Journeys will help us cultivate our Jewish joy at the Summit!
Opening Courageous Conversations on Israel/Palestine
All Jewish identified adults to explore our feelings and reactions to the tensions in Israel/ Palestine today. We will use Jewish values, and Jewish and Palestinian writings as a basis for holding courageous conversations together. Coffee and goodies included.
These 5 conversations will build on each other. Come to as many as you can. In person at Ohavi Zedek, monthly on Sunday mornings. Please register so we can send you materials ahead of each session.
Sundays from 9:15 – 11:00 in the OZ Sanctuary & Social Hall
All About Conversion
Join Rabbi David for a session of learning. Interested in converting? Meet with Rabbi David to learn about the process and how to begin your journey.
In Person Only.
Craftivism in Action
Eve Jacobs-Carnahan shares stories from her project,
Knit Democracy Together. Registration
Overcoming Obstacles to Inner Joy
Join Rabbi Tobie Weisman in an art and Torah filled workshop using the Studio Arts Project method
UVJC Jewish Mindfulness & Meditation Retreat
Slow down, catch your breath, and reconnect with
self and soul on a peaceful Shabbat morning! Through guided meditation practice, contemplative Torah study, yoga, prayer and chant, we will engage our hearts, minds and bodies in Jewish mindfulness. Perfect for anyone yearning for quiet reflection in community. The meditation retreat is free but registration is required!
The Climate Crisis: What You Should Know and What You Can (and Should) Do
Climate Change Solutions Part I – What Can I Do?
ADL Presentation with ADL East Division VP Sarah Emmons and Melissa Augenbraun
Join a special VIRTUAL presentation by ADL East Division VP Sarah Emmons and Melissa Augenbraun.
Bread and Torah
Join Rabbis Linda Motzkin and Jonathan Rubenstein as they lead Israel Congregation in a program called Bread and Torah incorporating Judaism's love of Torah and the importance Jewish food and culture!
Spring Cleanse Journey Through the Omer
Join Sephira in a Journey Through the Omer!
MARCH 30 – MAY 18 We build community support, create healing meal plans, and indulge self care that is nourishing for all those around us.
