NSSBE Flyers

Shavuot

Saturday, June 8 - Monday June 10

The Rabbi Philip Lipis Memorial Lectures with Rabbi Noah

Bickart, PhD

Rabbi Bickart’s lectures will include: Impurity was More Difficult Than Bloodshed: What Immorality in the Temple can teach us about Religious Values; Kiddushin, Hekdesh, and Shavuot: Why do the Rabbis understand Shavuot as a Wedding? and Translating G-d’s Voice: Habakkuk’s prophesy and the Universal Language of Revelation.

Saturday night June 8

8:00 pm Mincha

8:05 pm Yom Tov candle lighting

8:30 pm Seudah Shlisheet

$18 per person. RSVP to Marcie Eskin by Monday June 3 at meskin@nssbethel.org or go online to register

9:00 pm Ma’ariv

9:20 pm Rabbi Philip Lipis Memorial Lectures with Rabbi Noah Bickart, PhD

Sunday, June 9 12:00 am All night study sessions 4:10 am Sunrise Festival Service 8:50 am Festival Service 10:30 am Mt. Sinai Maccabiah Games for 1st Grade and younger 5:00 pm Mt. Sinai Maccabiah Games for 2nd - 6th graders w/dinner 8:00 pm Mincha 9:10 pm Ma’ariv/Yom Tov candle lighting

Monday, June 10

8:50 am Festival Service including a d’var Torah from Rabbi Noah Bickart, PhD

8:00 pm Mincha 9:12 pm Ma’ariv/Yom Tov Ends

AFTERNOON@THE MOVIES

Your Honor

the new addictive Israeli TV series, Your Honor.

Open to the community, free of charge. Refreshments will be served. RSVP to Marcie Eskin at meskin@nssbethel.org or (847) 926-7903.

Co-sponsored by the Joseph and Mae Gray Cultural & Learning Center, the Hazak Senior Life Committee, and the Beth El Sisterhood.

Rabbi Irving and Amy Frankel Memorial Lecture

Sunday June 2 - 10:00 am

Since the 1970s scholars have rediscovered the treasure trove of stories found in the Talmud and other rabbinic works as Literature. Early work on this material focused on the lessons and values that are communicated by these stories. This presentation will talk about the limitations of searching for a moral and talk about other ways to think about these rabbinic stories.

RSVP to Marcie Eskin at meskin@nssbethel.org or call (847) 926-7903.

What do rabbinic stories tell us? Should we read the Talmud if we want to know how to behave?

Dr. Barry Wimpfheimer

Afternoon @ the Movies:

Thursday, February 28 |3:00 pm

Join us for this enchanting documentary that looks beyond the sub lime musician to the polio survivor whose parents emigrated from Poland to Israel and the young man who struggled to be taken seriously as a music student when schools saw only his disability. A portrait of musical virtuosity seamlessly enclosed in warmth, humor, and above all, love.

A wine & cheese reception, featuring a live violin performance by Miriam Friedman & Friends, will follow.

RSVP to Marcie Eskin at meskin@nssbethel.org or (847) 926-7902.

Co-sponsored by the Joseph and Mae Gray Cultural & Learning Center, the Hazak Senior Life Committee, and the Beth El Sisterhood

Wine & Wisdom

with Hazzan Ben Tisser

Wednesdays (3 sessions)

November 13, January 22, and Thursday, April 29 8:00 pm

Poetry, Midrash, Commentary and Talmud…and wine!

Join us for these salon-style gatherings where we will share a love of fine kosher wine and learning. Come to any one or all of these sessions.

$25 per session or $60 for all three; includes wine, snacks, and great learning.

Register to receive updates on location; this payment is not part of the trimester fees.

RSVP to Marcie Eskin at meskin@nssbethel.org or calling 847-926-7903

Bluegrass Beth El at

High Holiday

Forgiving the Unforgiveable

Saturday, September 14, 12:15 pm post-kiddush Rabbi Michael Schwab

What do you do when someone does something emotionally hurtful that can’t be fixed? How do you forgive other people for things they did to someone else?

The Mahzor and the Book of Life Sunday, September 15, 10:00 am Lecture (via webcast from Israel) Reb Dr. Mimi Feigelson from the Schechter Institutes

Our High Holiday liturgy is replete with examples of a final reckoning and the idea of our own mortality. Reb Mimi Feigelson will present sources and questions intended to expose us to new ways of thinking about one of the most vitally important transitions in our lives – the end of life –and lead us to strengthen our commitment to living.

Wine and Wisdom: Rosh HaShanah Seder

Wednesday, September 18, 8:00 pm in the home of Mort and Miriam Steinberg Hazzan Ben Tisser

Join Hazzan Tisser as he explores the tradition of a Rosh HaShanah Seder with great wine and appetizers and text study. (space is limited to first 20 participants).

Happy Yom Kippur?

Tuesday, September 24, 8:00 pm Rabbi Alex Freedman

Yom Kippur is often assumed to be a burden, but the Rabbis of the Talmud envisioned it as a gift. What might be joyous about Yom Kippur? How can we each get closer to achieving that state of mind?

Rabbi Michael Schwab

Reb Dr. Mimi Feigelson

Hazzan Ben Tisser

Rabbi Alex Freedman

ENGINEERING EVIL

Presented by Dr. Robert Bernat

Join us for a screening of Engineering Evil, a History Channel special devoted to the details of how the Nazis carried out the Holocaust. In this two-session mini-course, participants will discuss topics raised by the documentary, such as how to prevent the demonization of the other and looking the other way in the modern world. RSVP to Marcie Eskin at meskin@nssbethel.org.

Lost in Translation: Israeli Literature

Wednesdays, October 10, 17 & 24 7:45 pm

October 10

New Israeli Literature in Translation

Rachel Kamin will discuss some of these new books that are now available to those of us who aren’t quite fluent enough to read them in their original Hebrew as well as trends in Israeli literature and books written in English by native Hebrew speakers.

October 17

The Impossible Art: Translating Modern Hebrew Literature

Todd Hasak-Lowy teaches literature at the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago and translates Hebrew literature into English. His translation of Asaf Schurr’s Motti won the 2013 Risa Domb/Porjes Hebrew-English Translation Prize and his translation of Dror Burstein’s Netanya was short-listed for the 2015 JQ-Wingate Literary Prize. He will give us an insider’s view into the life of a translator.

October 24

Why Translating Israeli Literature into English Is Essential for the Future of Judaism in America and Israel

Early Zionist thinkers imagined a Jewish future that bore an important echo of the most creative periods of the Jewish past — as we struggle today to define the proper relationship between the two great populations of Jews in the early 21st century, Daniel Libenson will tell the story of his efforts to bring to English translation the works of renowned and bestselling Israeli novelist Yochi Brandes, particularly her novels about the Biblical and Talmudic eras, and will discuss why he sees this project as essential to the future of the relationship between American and Israeli Jews and their capacity to work together to envision and bring about the “next Jewish future.”

Sign up by contacting Marcie Eskin at meskin@nssbethel.org or calling her at (847) 926-7903.

Experiencing Jewish Wisdom Through Yoga

Tuesdays, July 10 - August 14

10:30 -11:30 am

Susan Wolf is a certified yoga instructor offering theraputic and rehabilitative instruction to a variety of populations. Susan has been studying and teaching for over 20 years and shares her passion to illuminate how the disciplines of Judaism and yoga can strengthen one another.

Students will practice meditation in various formats including through wordless Jewish melody. Breathing techniques and gentle movements/ poses which help to increase flexibility, strength, balance and well-being will be explored.

We will introduce physical postures that embody Hebrew letters, and classes will be structured around Judaic themes. Class is designed to be gentle yoga accessible for all ages. RSVP to Marcie Eskin at meskin@nssbethel.org.

Spring Trimester Fee, $90, $60 for Beth El Members