Talk by Rhea Tregebov, editor of the anthology
Discussion with Max Ticktin and Miriam Isaacs

Hors d'oeuvres and wine will be provided. Books for sale and signing.

Sponsored by The Reuben/Rifkin Jewish Women Writers Series, a joint project of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute and The Feminist Press.

Co-Sponsored by: Yiddish of Greater Washington, The Embassy of Canada, and Sixth & I Historic Synagogue

Arguing with the Storm offers 14 newly translated stories and memoir excerpts published in Yiddish from the 1940s through the 1990s. The collection began as a project of the Winnipeg Yiddish Women’s Reading Circle to make writing by women in Yiddish available to wider audiences.

A grandmother's sense of smell and taste can form the memories of generations. In this special one-day class, learn luscious Sephardic recipes from a grandmother or mother that belongs to someone else. The women of the Sisterhood group at Magen David Sephardic Congregation will be coming to Sixth & I to share their culinary knowledge with us in a hands-on cooking class. These women prepare the food for the synagogue's kiddush each week, serving between 120 and 200 people. We'll learn recipes to please smaller crowds, with delicious pareve (vegetarian) dishes from Morocco, Tunisia, and Iran.

What was it like to live and worship as a Jew between 1850 and 1950 in the historic Seventh St. neighborhood now known as Chinatown? We will learn about the Jewish community that formed along the major commercial strip in Washington and visit the sites of four former synagogues, including the newly renovated Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. This course is co-sponsored with the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington. Please send in your RSVP early for this course—spaces fill up quickly! Advance registration required by June 26. Members of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington will receive the member discount for this class.

The Mishnah is the first layer of the Talmud. Finished around 200 C.E., it's a codification of normative Rabbinic Judaism in the wake of the destruction of the Temple. Studying it is a good introduction both to the content of Rabbinic Judaism (the Judaism that, in one form or another, is our Judaism today), and to the thinking of the Rabbis of the Talmud. We'll study the first two chapters of the tractate Brachot (Blessings) closely; those chapters discuss the saying of the Shema twice daily. As is typical in the Talmud, underneath the mechanical and technical instructions for what we do and when we do it, values are embodied by ideas and prescribed conduct. We'll try to tease out what those values are – what are we doing when we're saying the Shema, and why are we doing it? Texts will be in both Hebrew and English. Reading knowledge of Hebrew will be invaluable but not necessary.

This course is designed for everyone—Jew or non-Jew, secular or religious—who wants to learn about core Jewish beliefs, customs, and practices. It uses basic Jewish texts to explore what Jews study, how they observe Judaism in their homes, and what prayer and community mean to them. Field trips will present opportunities to experience Judaism directly and get to know a range of synagogues and other resources in the local Jewish community. At the conclusion of the course, we will consider next steps for students to go deeper into what can become a lifetime of Jewish living and study.

The great bulk of Jewish writing from Eastern Europe seems remote to us now; however, much of it reflects timeless Jewish values that can be applied to the American experience today. In this three-session class, we will read literary excerpts that seek the central and abiding values we have inherited.

Each partner in an interfaith relationship faces many important and complex issues. In this two-part workshop, we will learn and discuss strategies on how to face these issues, find commonalities, celebrate and support differences, and strengthen a relationship. We will talk about how we feel about our respective faiths, what makes them meaningful, and how they influence who we are today. And we will share ways that we can explore, question, and celebrate both religious traditions equally.

To date, over 20,000 European gentiles including Oskar Schindler have been honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations for risking their lives to save Jews during the Second World War. To date, only three Americans have received this honor. Who were these people and what exactly did they do? Why have they been forgotten for so long (more than half a century)? In this class, we will explore their accomplishments as rescuers working primarily out of Portugal and southern France in 1940.

Invigorate your cooking with this flavor-intensive workshop. We will taste individual spices and how they can be combined as you cook, giving you the freedom and confidence to leave recipes behind and create your own Indian, Chinese, and even French-influenced dishes. These techniques can be modified for any palate, and students will be able to choose between making a chicken or tofu-based dish. At the end of the evening, students will enjoy their kosher creations and share their techniques with each other. Space is limited in this class and students must register in advance.

When considering Israel, what images do we conjure in our minds? What mental photos do we select to represent the people, food, and culture of this unique and special country? Join us as we take a look at how often our images of Israel are tied to a vision inherited from our parents and not necessarily reflective of the multi-cultural and diverse society that is Israel today. Together we will examine photo images and look beneath the surface to sense the complex reality of Israel’s social successes and challenges—the good, the difficult and everything in between. The class will enjoy Israeli desserts and lively discussion.

Matters of great importance to the Jewish community are hot topics for the upcoming election, such as the Iranian threat, the future of the Middle East, and the separation of church and state. But how will the Jewish community address these issues? Join us for heated debate between representatives from Jewish political organizations as they discuss what’s at stake for the community in the 2008 elections.

Join us for a night where we will learn about the libations of summer by exploring white spirits such as gin, vodka, and rum as well as mixed drinks like sangria. Why are some considered kosher, while others are not? We will discuss the characteristics and kashrut issues of these drinks and learn how to appreciate them in a hands-on fashion by tasting each. Refreshments will be served.

Join us for a 4-part series that looks at Jewish life in communities around the world.

May 7: The Baghdadi Jews of India
Ruth Cernea is an anthropologist and the author of Almost Englishmen: Baghdadi Jews in British Burma and editor of The Great Latke-Hamantash Debate.

May 14: The Jews of Morocco and Their Future at Home and Abroad
Chris Silver spent the summer of 2005 in Morocco studying the remnants of the Jewish community there. He now lives in Washington where he is the lead fundraiser for a human rights organization.

May 21: Ethiopian Immigration and Absorption to Israel
Adam Angel spent a year in Ethiopia working in health education as a Jewish Service Corps member with the American Joint Distribution Committee. He is graduating from the MSW program at Howard School of Social Work and works with adolescents from low-income communities.

May 28: The Jewish Experience in China
Jesse Karotkin has spent more than three years living and working in China. He studied Chinese language in Nanjing and Beijing and is fluent in Mandarin. He currently works as a China Analyst in Washington, D.C.

Join us for a 3-part series that will discuss various aspects of life-cycle events.

May 7: Perspectives from When a Woman Performs the Brit Milah (Circumcision)
April Rubin is an obstetrician/gynecologist and one of few female mohels in the U.S. She has performed more than 100 brit milah ceremonies since completing a Brit Kodesh program at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

May 14: Funeral and Burial Planning—the Jewish Perspective
David Zinner is the Executive Director of Kavod v’Nichum, which is dedicated to providing educational resources to families, synagogues, and communities on issues related to Jewish practices around death.

May 21: What is (or Who is) a Jew? Definitions Suggested by the Saintly and Secular Rabbi Ken Cohen is Director of American University Hillel and met his wife, Joanne Kenen, at the Jewish Study Center.

The one hundred and fifty mysterious and passionate religious poems that comprise the Book of Psalms are an enticing invitation to read, untangle, and savor. The psalmist’s voice addressing G-d is emotional and immediate; the ideas and language are difficult, literary and complex. In this class, we will spend some time on psalms central to the literary and liturgical tradition, compare various translations, and look at the Hebrew to a limited degree, depending on the preferences and fluency of class members.

Both before and after the Exodus, Jews played an important part in Egyptian society, especially in Ptolemaic Alexandria, a busy international city. The Temple was the center of Egyptian life, and many of its features illustrate striking connections between ancient Judaism and ancient Egyptian religious practice. In this one-night class, we will use a three-dimensional computer model of a late period Egyptian Temple and explore it in real time. An Egyptologist will give us some highlights of the religious connections and where Jewish and Egyptian societies intersected, from similarities in style to diametrically opposite views of the divine. Ancient Egypt was one of the most important cultures in history, and the Hebrew people saw it from beginning to end. By understanding them, we will better understand ourselves. We will have a short lecture and open-ended discussion. The teachers are open to extending the discussion beyond the given time, if the students are interested.
Their paper on a similar topic is at http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/SPT/v10n3/pdf/jacobsen.pdf

This class is sponsored by PublicVR.

Explore some of the basics of Islam in this three-part class. In the first session, we will study early Islam, covering both the origins of the faith and how it was involved with the state. Quran readings will be used. The second session will be on today’s Islam, provinding a bird’s eye view of the demographics, economics, and politics of the Muslim world. The third lecture will deal with Muslims as a minority in Europe, the U.S. and the former USSR.

Much commercially available Judaica tends to rely on designs that have been around for three thousand years, or frequently goes too far towards the Jewishly irrelevant. Where is the middle ground? How does one approach the challenge of combining traditional themes and modern aesthetics in the creation of meaningful, wearable Jewish art that is neither mundane nor kitsch? Join us for an evening with a silversmith as he takes us through his process, from brainstorming to creating his innovative pieces.

The Jewish communities around Central and South America experience a vibrant mixture of Sephardic, Ashkenazic, and Latin cultures. Join us for three evenings where we will explore the communities in several countries, looking at major developments as well as personal experiences.

June 11: The Jewish Communities of Puerto Rico and Mexico
Maria Lasa Sloan was born and raised in Puerto Rico. She married a nice Jewish boy and became Adas Israel's Mikvah lady a few years after conversion.
Jessika Wellisch was born in Costa Rica and raised in Ecuador. She teaches at the Gan at Adas Israel, and is finishing her Masters degree in Education with a minor in Jewish Studies at GWU.

June 18: Ecuador's Jewish Community in Quito from the 1930s until today
Betty Adler was born in Quito, Ecuador and lived in Quito and Kansas City. She has been a member of Adas Israel since 1978 and currently vice president for membership.

July 2: Jews of Cuba: The History and Culture
Renée Fendrich was born in Shanghai and raised in Cuba. She is a former president of Adas Israel.