This is the first complete English-language translation of a classic of Yiddish literature, one of the great comic novels of the twentieth century. The Zelmenyaners describes the travails of a Jewish family in Minsk that is torn asunder by the new Soviet reality. Four generations are depicted in riveting and often uproarious detail as they face the profound changes brought on by the demands of the Soviet regime and its collectivist, radical secularism. The resultant inter-generational showdowns—including disputes over the introduction of electricity, radio, and electric trolley—are rendered with humor, pathos, and a finely controlled satiric pen. Moyshe Kulbak, a contemporary of the Soviet Jewish writer Isaac Babel, picks up where Sholem Aleichem left off a generation before, exploring in this book the transformation of Jewish life.

Not yet a member of the Doris Bass Book Club? Click here to register!

Third in a four part Sunday Series:

The next Creating Spiritual Journeys session entitled, Building a Sacred Relationship with the Divine will be on Sunday, May 17, 10:30-12:30.  This workshop combines an exploration of Jewish sources with partners (Hevruta) and group discussion, followed by making our own art as a response to what we learned. For those who really don't want to make art, you can creatively express yourself through writing. Register here.

Come and try it out! For those who need financial help, please contact Rabbi Tobie. 

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.

On Zoom by registration.

Discover a New Side of Israel --

The Past, Present, and Future of Israeli Conservation
Wednesday, May 13, 7:00pm
In person and on Zoom

Join Jay Shofet, seasoned activist and member of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), as he paints a vibrant picture of Israel as seasonal sanctuary for millions of birds, and explains how this migration fly route serves as a keystone for global environmental resilience. We will explore Israel's transformation from technological innovator to global environmental trailblazer, and explore the question of: How is a tiny global diversity hotspot rebounding after war and wildfires, and how can nature heal a traumatized nation? You'll learn about pioneering efforts to restore Israel's lost swamps, challenge myths about the century-long journey of Israeli tree-planting and how Israel is becoming a green beacon to the world.

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

Click to Register

The Book of Ruth is traditionally chanted during the upcoming festival of Shavuot. For the next several weeks, we will be reading and studying The Book of Ruth contained in this unique edition, Stong As Death Is Love.

Click here to participate via Zoom! Or connect via telephone. Dial in number 929-436-2866, meeting ID is 423 184 465, password 334401.

Purchase your book for class!

Paperback editions are available from the Northshire Bookstore.
Hardcover, paperback and e-book editions are available from Amazon

"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 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

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.

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.

An Exploration by Musicologist & Choral Conductor Nathaniel G. Lew

Registration

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

"The Jew Store" is Stella Suberman's memoir of her Jewish family's move to a small Tennessee town in the 1920s.

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.

Register Here

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.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED

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.

Registration