As I write this message for the March issue of The Shofar, the snowfall that began a few hours ago is deepening on my property. From the windows of my office here at home, I can see it accumulating, hanging heavy on the pine trees. It is still February as I write, a time designated to observe Black History Month. And like every year at this time, and just a night or two ago, [...]
The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries You are invited to join the East End Jewish Community Council (EEJCC) for a private tour, guided by the exhibition curator Dr. David Sclar and Rabbi Gadi Capela at the Center for Jewish History 15 W. 16th Street, Manhattan in-person and on Zoom Wednesday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m. *Exhibit closes February 29th The exhibition features highlights from the Hartman Family Collection of Manuscripts and Rare Books, [...]
After three months of war against Hamas, Israel faced a charge of genocide at a proceeding at the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Jan. 11, as South Africa argued that Israel “means to create conditions of death” in Gaza and demanded the court order an emergency suspension of the military campaign. Israel categorically denied the genocide accusation and presented its defense on Jan. 12, the second day of the two-day hearing in [...]
Hebrew at 4:30 p.m.; Trope Trainer at 5:30 p.m. Newcomers Welcome Adding to the education program at our shul, Rabbi Gadi has announced the restart of his Hebrew class, and the continuation of Trope Trainer, both to begin on Thursday, Jan. 25. Because the exercise class also meets on Thursday, the two education classes will be held at the parsonage. The Hebrew class and the Trope Trainer curriculum are related in that both prepare [...]
Coming up at the Thursday, Feb. 22 meeting of the Book Circle, at 3 p.m. on Zoom, is a discussion about what happened on Chicken Hill, as related by James McBride in his bestselling National Book Award-winning novel The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, PA, were digging the foundations for a new development, they found a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was [...]
Shul members spearheading Tikkun Olam at our shul have designated February as the time they will initiate a drive to provide gently-used warm winter outerwear plus T-shirts, socks and underwear to the 30-40 homeless men who seek out John’s Place every Tuesday night. John’s Place, located in the Parish Hall of St. Agnes Church in Greenport, provides the men with a warm place to sleep, hot showers, and clothing from November through April. John’s [...]
The shul’s Pastoral Committee is inviting those interested in providing companionship to people who are confined to their homes to become a part of this mitzvah. The need is particularly great during the winter months, when inclement weather prevents even the briefest outings for those living alone. Those interested can email ctigreenport@gmail.com with a message for Elaine Goldman, chair of the committee.
Shul member Rosa Lee Emerson is calling for all actors, playwrights and playreaders to join a new group she is forming at the shul called DramaWorks. In the planning stages are readings, theater games, mime and improv that focus on Jewish identity, and perhaps a performance later in the spring for shul members, family and friends. Sources may include a book of one-act plays titled “Are You Jewish?,” written by Bruce Bloom, and also a [...]
We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir, Raja Shehadeh Father and son lawyers share goals, but are unable to appreciate each other’s politics. A Day In The Life of Abed Salama, Nathan Thrall. An account of daily life in the occupied West Bank. Enter Ghost, Isabella Hammad. A West Bank production of Hamlet explores the challenge of theater-making under occupation. Land of Hope and Fear, Isabel Kershner. A mosaic portrait [...]
A federal judge in Iowa has blocked much of a state law forbidding school libraries from stocking books depicting “sex acts,” in part because he said it was keeping a classic Holocaust memoir off shelves. U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Locher granted a preliminary injunction against the law, Iowa Senate File 496, on Dec. 29, just before a Jan. 1 deadline for schools to begin enforcing it. The “staggeringly broad” law, he wrote in his [...]
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