Benjamin Gampel, a historian at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, speaks enthusiastically about his Wexner students: \”The Wexner Program is probably the best adult teaching that I can do. They\’re highly motivated; they\’re so successful in their chosen fields, they bring that energy to the classroom. It\’s thrilling.\”
In that funky old Synergy School — now a Noe Valley laundromat — we could do what we wanted (unless it involved littering or hurting someone\’s feelings).
While scholars argue about the origin of the adult bar mitzvah (or bat mitzvah) ceremony, there\’s no question that over the last two decades it has been growing in popularity, primarily for those who had never undergone the ritual as a 13-year-old.
When the Jewish Women\’s Theatre Project askedSusan Merson to write its first commissioned play last year, theactress/writer recalled a bizarre TV news item.
As I have traveled the communal philanthropic \”circuit\” this year, I have been moved to ponder who gets the most out of our enterprise: those who are receiving communal service or those who are volunteering their time and other resources to assure that those in need will benefit?
Richard Strauss\’s opera \”Salome\” had its Israelipremière in Tel Aviv this month. Strauss, who died in 1949,served, however briefly, as a cultural official in Adolf Hitler\’s Nazi administration. The season, by the visiting Kirov Opera from St.Petersburg, was an unchallenged hit. Strauss has been forgiven,perhaps because he had a Jewish daughter-in-law and soon learned thefolly of his ways.
What marks the passage from girlhood to womanhood in our society? If sex is integral to a definition of womanhood, how do parents and educators help girls deal with the challenges it raises? What is the role of social institutions — the media, churches and synagogues, schools — in shaping sexual self-image and even desire?
If you\’re like me, you probably read news reports about religious freedom the way you read the latest news on global warming: plowing dutifully through, eyes half-glazed over, certain it concerns you but not quite sure how.
The seder was a huge success, setting an all-time record for a Jewish holiday observance in Beijing.
