2023-24 Adult Engagement Brochure

BROCHURE

adult engagement TEMPLE SINAI OF ROSLYN

2023-2024

Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future.

- Elie Wiesel

The Adult Engagement Committee and I are very excited for the 2023-24 year! There will be lots of opportunities to learn together and deepen our sense of community.

Our upcoming programs include journalist and Jewish Book Council author Lisa Belkin, who will discuss her latest non-fiction book, Genealogy of a Murder. We will hear author Daniel Gross speak about financier Edmond Safra. Scholar (and recent Jeopardy! champion) Melissa Klapper will teach us about American Jewish Women as Changemakers, and Brad Kolodny will return to Temple Sinai to talk about his new book, The Jews of Long Island: 1705-1918. Museum exhibition tours and art history lectures are slated to take place, and Sinai Sunday Cinema will return for the first time since before the pandemic with Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen. We will have two wonderful Light Classical Concerts, as well as a long-awaited Cantorial Concert this year. As always, our incomparable clergy will lead new classes.

After a second successful year of Sinai Tribes, we’ve added new Tribes this Fall. As a reminder, Sinai Tribes are congregant-led small groups of no more than 12 people brought together by stage of life or by shared passion area. Please reach out to me if you would like to get involved, either as a Tribe leader or participant.

I can’t wait to share a year of meaningful, engaging, and fun experiences with you!

With warmest wishes for a wonderful year ahead,

Adrianne Rubin

learning

A Jewish Approach to Death and Mourning a five-part class as Inspiration for Holy Living with Rabbi Michael A. White Mondays at 7:00pm • In Person and via ZOOM November 13 • December 11 • March 11 • April 8 • May 13 Our sessions will take us into and beyond prayers and ceremonies that guide us through death and grief, together with modern inspirational readings that can bring comfort and wisdom. We will also look at how contemporary Jewish thought approaches such issues as when life ends and euthanasia.

sip, schmooze, and study SCoTCH and SACRED TEXT

with Rabbi Michael White Hosted by Brotherhood, this award-winning program takes place four times a year.

We know you’ll find both the stimulating discussion on Torah and the camaraderie to be most worthwhile.

Tuesdays at 7:30pm October 17 December 19 April 16

Monday at 7:30pm

February 12 Locations to be announced

wine, women&wisdom

led by Cantor-Educator Elena Schwartz

Wednesdays at 7:00pm December 6 • January 10 Now in its ninth year, this popular series, presented by Friend of a Friend/Chaverot, features Cantor-Educator Elena Schwartz leading interactive discussions on the wisdom of Jewish teachings. The sessions give women the

opportunity to learn, laugh, and connect over

a glass of wine while

gaining insights into

sacred texts.

From the comfort of your home, go on a Jewish journey that is sure to inspire!

During each session, Rabbi White will discuss a different topic from a Jewish perspective.

Pour your favorite cocktail, iced tea, coffee, or other drink of choice and join the conversation.

THURSDAYS AT 5:30PM VIA ZOOM

OCTOBER 19 • NOVEMBER 30 MARCH 28 • APRIL 18 • MAY 30

events

MODIGLIANI AND THE MODERN PORTRAIT

Wednesday, October 4 12:30pm Nassau County Museum of Art $20 per person limited to 20 people Join us for a docent-led tour of this landmark exhibition. Devoted to the way that Modigliani powerfully re-defined the art of portraiture, the show includes his masterworks along with paintings and drawings by his Parisian contemporaries: Picasso, van Dongen, & Laurencin.

Sunday, October 22 • 4:00pm • at Temple Sinai

Light Classical Concert with Metropolitan Opera Star

Denis Sedov

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, critically-acclaimed bass Denis Sedov moved with his family to Israel when he was 17 years old. He studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Music, and was one of only four non-American singers ever invited to join the prestigious Metropolitan Opera Young Artist Development Program.

Opera News has said Sedov has the ability to seduce with his voice as well as his presence.

Debuting with the Met during the 1996/97 season, he appeared in performances of operas including Rigoletto, Madama Butterfly, and Giordano’s Fedora. The following season he performed in La Bohème in a role he also performed at the Paris’ Opéra Bastille. He has also played several other roles, including Figaro in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and at Seattle Opera; the title role in Don Giovanni and Rodolfo in Bellini’s La Sonnambula at the Opéra-Comique in Paris; and Seneca in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Aixen-Provence Festival. His concert performances include a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Japan with conductor Seiji Ozawa, which was seen by a worldwide audience of television viewers as part of the opening ceremonies at the 1998 Winter Olympics.

Denis will be accompanied by Sinai’s own, Grammy-award winning pianist, Alon Yavnai.

Author’s Talk

Co-sponsored by Friend of a Friend

GENEALOGY OF A MURDER

Four Generations, Three Families, One Fateful Night

LISA BELKIN Thursday, October 26 7:30pm at Temple Sinai Award-winning journalist Lisa Belkin joins us to discuss her multi-generational tale of three families whose paths collide one summer night in 1960 with the murder of a police officer.

Lisa Belkin is the author of narrative nonfiction books. Her career at the New York Times includes stints as a national correspondent, medical reporter, and contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine.

A limited number of books will be available for purchase the night of the program..

CELEBRATING JEWISH a multi-part series begins Friday, October 27 • 6:45pm • during our Shabbat Service in the Sanctuary The notion of Jewish Peoplehood encompasses Judaism as a civilization with a collective story, religion, culture, language, ethical tradition, and dedication to community. Our goal in presenting this series is to strengthen the connection between Jews around the world. Many of the programs will feature members of our Temple Sinai family who are committed to deepening Jewish identity, counteracting the rise of antisemitism and the efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel.

This first program in the series features Temple Sinai congregant, attorney Ira Sorkin, who is former Chairman of the Board and President of the American Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a member of the University’s Board of Governors and Executive Committee. He will speak to us about the school, one of the world’s most distinguished academic and research institutions.

Save these dates for other programs in the JEWISH PEOPLEHOOD series (details to follow): November 17 • December 16 • March 15 • April 7

Ira Sorkin

Sinai Cinema presents

Sunday, November 5 • 3:00pm at Temple Sinai The fall of 2021 marked the 50th anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof, the film Pauline Kael (The New Yorker) called the most powerful movie musical ever made. Narrated by Jeff Goldblum, FIDDLER’S JOURNEY TO THE BIG SCREEN captures the humor and drama of director Norman Jewison’s quest to recreate the lost world of Jewish life in Tsarist Russia and re-envision the beloved stage hit as a wide-screen epic.

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Daniel Raim puts us in the director’s chair and in Jewison’s heart and mind, drawing on behind-the-scenes footage and never-before-seen stills as well as original interviews with Jewison, Topol (Tevye), composer John Williams, production designer Robert F. Boyle, film critic Kenneth Turan, lyricist Sheldon Harnick, and actresses Rosalind Harris, Michele Marsh, and Neva Small (Tevye’s daughters).

The film explores how the experience of making Fiddler deepened Jewison as an artist and revived his soul.

BRAD KOLODNY THE JEWS OF LONG ISLAND SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19 • 10:00AM AT TEMPLE SINAI Brad Kolodny, president and founder of the Jewish Historical Society of Long Island, returns to Temple Sinai to discuss his book, The Jews of Long Island.

In this book, Brad documents the personal and communal stories of Jews on Long Island from the l8th through the early 20th centuries, uncovering a cast of thousands from itinerant peddlers to early baseball players to vacationing vaudevillians. With over 4,400 names of people who lived in Nassau and Suffolk counties prior to the end of World War I, The Jews of Long Island is a fascinating history of those who laid the foundation for what has become the fourth largest Jewish community in the United States today.

Co-Sponsored by Brotherhood

Author’s Talk: Daniel Gross

A BANKER’S JOURNEY

How EDMOND J. SAFRA Built a Global Financial Empire

Tuesday, November 28 7:30pm at Temple Sinai Who was Edmond J. Safra? “The greatest banker of his generation,” in the estimation of a former World Bank President. The founder of four massive financial institutions on three continents, and a proud child of Beirut’s Jewish quarter. An innovative avatar of financial globalization, and a faithful heir to a tradition of old-world banking.

The leading champion and protector of the Sephardic diaspora.

In A Banker’s Journey, financial journalist and historian Daniel Gross, who, like Safra, traces his heritage to Aleppo, Syria, reconstructs the public life of an intensely private man. With exclusive access to Safra’s personal archives, Gross tracks the banker’s remarkable journey from Beirut to Milan, São Paulo, Geneva, and New York—to the pinnacle of global finance.

Author’s Talk

SHADOWS WE CARRY MERYL AIN Thursday, January 4 • 7:30pm • via ZOOM We were fortunate to have Meryl Ain join us on ZOOM in October, 2021, to discuss her book,The Takeaway Man. We are excited to welcome her back with her new book, Shadows We Carry, which is the sequel to The Takeaway Man. Shad­ows We Car­ry opens with the assas­si­na­tion of John F. Kennedy on Novem­ber 22, 1963. It’s a defin­ing moment in his­to­ry, and, as Bron­ka Lubin­s­ki astute­ly com­ments, ​“Noth­ing will ever be the same again.” This novel deft­ly and engag­ing­ly illus­trates the effects of the soci­etal changes and upheavals of the 1960s and 70s.

In this well-researched, char­ac­ter-dri­ven sto­ry, Ain exam­ines many themes and issues with insight and com­pas­sion. She folds top­ics such as fem­i­nism, anti­semitism, gay rights, abor­tion, and sec­ondgen­er­a­tion Holo­caust sur­vivor con­cerns into the char­ac­ters’ lives.

Because Ain thought­ful­ly inter­weaves numer­ous his­tor­i­cal events, sig­nif­i­cant nos­tal­gic details, and cul­tur­al and geo­graph­ic ref­er­ences, the char­ac­ters’ sto­ries will res­onate deeply with those who expe­ri­enced the era.

Thursday, January 11 7:30pm • at Temple Sinai

Anti-Zionism vs. Antisemitism with Shaya Lerner Director, Israel Affairs/Associate Associate Director, Middle Eastern Affairs Shaya Lerner is responsible for helping ADL develop policies and programs on issues related to Israel’s relations with the Palestinians and the Arab world, anti-Zionist and BDS trends, global antisemitism, Iran, and persecuted ethnic and religious minorities around the world.

He will join us to discuss the oft-debated topic: Is anti-Zionism or criticism of Israel anitsemitic?

Dr. Melissa Klapper

AMERICAN JEWISH WOMEN AS CHANGEMAKERS: The history and the legacy TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27 • 11:00AM • AT TEMPLE SINAI

Co-Sponsored by Friend of a Friend A luncheon will follow this program; watch your email for registration details.

Dr. Melissa R. Klapper is a Professor at Rowan University in New Jersey where she teaches American and women’s history, with a focus on the late 19th and early 20th century. Additional research interests include the history of childhood, the history of education, and American Jewish history. She is the author of four books including Jewish Girls Coming of Age in America, 1860-1920 and Small Strangers: The Experiences of Immigrant Children in the United States, 1880-1925, as well as numerous articles and essays. She lectures widely in a variety of academic and community settings. She is the book review editor of the journal American Jewish History and recently completed a term as the co-chair of the Association for Jewish Studies’s Modern Jewish History--The Americas division. She is currently the Coordinator of the Women’s & Gender Studies Program at Rowan University.

Melissa is also a three-time Jeopardy! champion, winning over $60,000 when she appeared on the program in March, 2023.

Save These Dates Check your email for details on these upcoming programs and events Kristallnacht Shabbat Service Friday, November 10 • 6:45pm

Mom’s the Word (co-sponsored by the ECC & Sinai Circle) Thursday, February 1 • 7:30pm

Purim Shpiel

Saturday, March 23

Light Classical Concert Sunday, April 7 • 4:00pm

Second Night Seder

Tuesday, April 23 • 6:00pm

Cantorial Concert Sunday, June 2

Adult Engagement Committee Barbara Klein and Lynn Fishkind Co-Chairs

Adrianne Rubin, Ph.D.

Director of Membership & Engagement

Barbara Blatte Amy Braunstein Jacqueline Covey Charlotte Hollander Andy Karmin Ann Karmin

Temple Sinai of Roslyn 425 Roslyn Road, Roslyn Heights, NY 11577 516.621.6800 mysinai.org Affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism

Karen Lowenthal Ronna Niederman Joan Waldman Barbara Wallach Leslie Wollin