Archive: December 2019

Ambassador Alfred H. Moses in Conversation with Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD)

Posted on December 31, 2019

December 31st, 2019 @ 7:00 pm – An American Ambassador’s Look at the Jewish World in Eastern Europe Under Communism and After Its Fall Ambassador Alfred H. Moses is an American attorney and diplomat who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Romania from 1994 to 1997. Jamie Raskin represents Maryland’s 8th District in the U.S. Congress. Adas members: $15 Others: $20 (F-6)

Judaism, Human Rights, and the Treatment of Prisoners

Posted on February 12, 2020

February 12th, 2020 @ 7:00 pm – Instructor: Rabbi Charles Feinberg This course will explore the purpose of punishment, Jewish traditions on Teshuvah (repentance/change), and the reality of American prisons. The first session will explore punishment, the challenge of Teshuvah and how to support it, and an overview of incarceration practices in Maryland, DC, and Virginia. At the second session, returning citizens […]

Ghetto: The History of a Word

Posted on February 12, 2020

February 12th, 2020 @ 8:15 pm – Instructor: Daniel Schwartz What is a ghetto? A compulsory, exclusive, and enclosed district for Jews? A voluntary and densely populated immigrant enclave? A segregated African-American neighborhood? In this class related to his latest book, Ghetto: The History of a Word (2019), Daniel Schwartz will explain how this most malleable and loaded of words—ghetto—has historically been […]

The Jews of Harbin: The Rise and Fall of a Jewish Community in the Far East, 1900-1945

Posted on February 18, 2020

February 18th, 2020 @ 7:00 pm – Instructor: Liliane Willens The migration of Jewish and White Russian entrepreneurs to Harbin from Tsarist Russia before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, and their economic success, built a remarkable community of Jews in Manchuria. During and after the Revolution, waves of Russian refugees fled to Harbin. The attack and occupation of Manchuria by the Japanese imperial […]

The Quest for God as Reflected in ‘Anim Zemirot’

Posted on February 19, 2020

February 19th, 2020 @ 7:00 pm – Instructor: William Liss-Levinson What are we to make of the prayer “Anim Zemirot,” the so-called “hymn of glory”? Some synagogues sing this long alphabetic hymn near the end of every Shabbat and holiday service; others never sing it at all; and there is even a tradition of it being so holy that it should only […]

Developing the Practice of Gratitude: A Jewish Journey

Posted on February 19, 2020

February 19th, 2020 @ 8:15 pm – Instructor: Nechama Liss-Levinson Developing an “attitude of gratitude” has become a coveted goal in our society in the last decade. This class will explore the age-old Jewish wisdom on the value and practice of thankfulness. In addition, we will access ways to move from developing an attitude to living a practice of gratitude in our […]

The Annual Max Ticktin Memorial Latke-Hamentasch Debate!

Posted on February 26, 2020

February 26th, 2020 @ 7:00 pm – In which our celebrity moderator Howard Mortman of C-SPAN and our learned panelists address the eternal conundrum: Which is better, the latke or the hamentasch? Join us for in-depth, hands-on, mouth-watering research! JSC, Adas members $10, others $12 (W-7)

Voices of Women in the Poetry of Itzik Manger

Posted on March 4, 2020

March 4th, 2020 @ 7:00 pm – Instructor: Miriam Isaacs In the biblical poems of the Yiddish poet Itzik Manger (1901-1969), readers are enabled to experience traditional texts from the perspective of the women who appear in them—and some who barely appear. Manger reimagines the women of the Torah and Megillot, setting them in the world of the shtetl and giving them […]

Developing the Practice of Gratitude: A Jewish Journey

Posted on March 4, 2020

March 4th, 2020 @ 8:15 pm – Instructor: Nechama Liss-Levinson Developing an “attitude of gratitude” has become a coveted goal in our society in the last decade. This class will explore the age-old Jewish wisdom on the value and practice of thankfulness. In addition, we will access ways to move from developing an attitude to living a practice of gratitude in our […]

Beyond the Big Three: The Rich, Diverse World of Jewish Sects

Posted on March 4, 2020

March 4th, 2020 @ 8:15 pm – The major denominations of Judaism are well-known enough—Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and so on. But Judaism is also a sprawling  civilization with many far-reaching subtribes, not just cultural or geographic but religious as well. In this series, we’ll introduce you to three groups that some Jews may find exotic or improbable—and yet all of which have […]