CTI SHAVUOT PROGRAM 2024 7:30 – 7:45 – Rabbi Gadi Capela – Antisemitism was Born at Sinai. 7:45 – 8:30 – Professor Rebecca Kobrin – Protests on the Columbia campus. 8:30 – 8:50 – Rabbi Barbara Sheryll – Self Knowledge, a Journey or Destination? 8:50 – 9:15 – Fr. Roy Tvrdik – The Real Location of Mount Sinai. 9:30 9:15 – 9:30 – Conclusion and Q&A* *For those who want to stay for more conversation [...]
Imagine a Jewish resort in the mountains where graduate students are playing board games and children are splashing in the swimming pool. Senior citizens are listening to lectures under a larger maple tree. And all of this is going on in Yiddish. The Yiddish Vokh (Yiddish week), sponsored by the Yiddishist organization Yugntruf, has been hosting retreats like this for 48 years. Guests spend a week together steeped in Yiddish, on the grounds of the [...]
Left photo, people attend the annual Holocaust remembrance event, the “March of the Living” in memory of the six million Holocaust victims at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Oswiecim, Poland on May 6, 2024. On the right, President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson stand to honor the memory of the six million during the annual Days of Remembrance ceremony at the Capitol in Washington on May 7. AP Photos Czarek [...]
When does Shabbat start on the moon? NASA has decided that the moon needs its own timekeeping system, so how will the moon’s now-nonexistent Jewish residents pray, light Shabbat candles, and observe the festivals? The question is interesting because the Jewish calendar is beholden to the sun, and the sun appears and disappears at unusual times when you’re not on Earth. An astronaut on the International Space Station will see the sun rise and set [...]
Rabbi Gadi tops the Jews In The News column this month. Our rabbi has successfully completed his final project, “Jews From Arab Countries,” and has earned a master’s degree in Modern Jewish Studies from a joint program sponsored by the Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia University. A graduation ceremony was held on May 16 at JTS. In addition to his rabbinical ordination, Rabbi Gadi now holds two master’s degrees and two undergraduate degrees.
The Shofar joyfully shares the news that Rebecca Rothman, daughter of shul members Ron and Madelyn Rothman of Peconic, and John Divoll, son Richard and Barbara Divoll of Key West, were married on May 4, 2024, at the Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden. The couple will live in Key West. Mazel tov to all.
The actor Jesse Eisenberg has applied for Polish citizenship. In a recent interview with the Polish publication Glos Wielkopolski, he said his family and his wife’s family are from Poland, and that he was looking for a way to create better relations between Jews and Polish people. He applied for citizenship nine months ago and is now “waiting for the final signature.”
This year’s Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction went to Jewish author Nathan Thrall for his book A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy. Published days before Oct. 7, the book focuses on a Palestinian father’s efforts to uncover news about his son following a bus crash. The Pulitzer jury called it “...a finely reported and intimate account of life under Israeli occupation of the West Bank.” While Thrall’s book [...]
Shul member Graham Diamond was one of the invited speakers at the Riverhead Free Library on Monday, May 6, to mark the observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day. The writer had collaborated with Holocaust survivor Aron Goldfarb on a memoir, Maybe You Will Survive, first published in 1991, in which Goldfarb tells the story of his experiences as a 12-year-old in Nazi-occupied Poland, his escape from a labor camp, his life in hiding, and his survival. [...]
Ted Comet, creator of New York City’s Israel parade, celebrated his 100th birthday on May 23. This year’s parade will take place on June 2, and Comet will be an honorary grand marshal. He has played leading roles in Jewish organizations for more than 75 years, including the Joint Distribution Committee, American Zionist Youth Foundation, Council of Jewish Federations, Israel Folk Dance Festival, and the first large demonstration in support of Soviet Jewry.
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