Go here for details about How We Got Here: Reflecting on the Past 150 Years on Sunday, February 12. Read the j. story here.

Go here for details about Where We Are Heading: Voices From Our Community — Imagining What’s Next on Sunday, February 26.

Berkeley-Palo Alto Conference Flyer

Lehrhaus Judaica is honored to be part of the inaugural lecture by Professor Eran Kaplan — the Rhoda Goldman Chair of Israel Studies at San Francisco State University.

Kaplan will speak about Israel’s Summer of Discontent: Social Protests, Nostalgia, and the Future(s) of Zionism on Tuesday, Feb. 21, from 7-9 p.m. at the JCCSF in Fisher Family Hall.

There will be an introduction by Dr. Robert Corrigan, President of San Francisco State University, and a reception following the lecture.

Kaplan was appointed to his current position at SFSU in August 2011. Before assuming his duties, he was a lecturer in Israel studies at Princeton University. A full bio is available on the registration page.

Reservations are required. Please register here or call Lehrhaus at 510-845-6420.

The event is co-sponsored by the Department of Jewish Studies at San Francisco State, Lehrhaus Judaica and the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco.

June 26-July 11, 2012 
To apply, click here.

Information Nights Feb. 16 and Feb. 23

Legacy Tour Flyer

Our group of teens, college students, and adults will visit impressive new museums and memorials in Berlin; walk the silent paths of Auschwitz–Birkenau with a Holocaust survivor; celebrate Shabbat in the historic Jewish neighborhood of Krakow; and reflect upon Jewish life in Jerusalem.

High school students will be joined by a select group of college students who will help lead this exciting educational journey. The student and adult groups will be traveling on separate, but parallel itineraries with special opportunities for multi-generational discussion.

Morgan Blum, Director of Education, JFCS Holocaust Center, and Lehrhaus Judaica’s Rabbi and Senior Educator, Peretz Wolf-Prusan, will lead the study tour.

For more information, contact Morgan Blum, Director of Education, JFCS Holocaust Center: MorganB@jfcs.org or 415-449-1289.

 The JFCS Holocaust Center – Lehrhaus Study Tour is supported by the Laszlo N. Tauber Family Foundation and the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture.

If you missed the exhibition, you will be able to see the photographic history portion in multiple locations in the Bay Area in 2012.

The Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto will showcase the panels on the life and work of artist Bernard Zakheim from January 9-March 29. The exhibition then heads north to the Peninsula JCC in Foster City from April 11-June 27. The BJE Jewish Community Library in San Francisco will feature the panels in the fall of 2012, with exacts dates to be determined.

Fred Rosenbaum, the co-curator of the exhibition and founding director of Lehrhaus Judaica, will offer two presentations on Zakheim in Depression-Era San Francisco at the Oshman Family JCC on Thursday, February 16 and at the Peninsula JCC on Thursday, May 15.

Zakheim (1896-1985), who was born and raised in Warsaw under Czarist Russia and lived in his old age on a commune near Sebastopol, California, was one of the most seminal Jewish artists of the 20th century. He vividly portrayed Hasidism, the Holocaust, Israel, and the American Civil Rights Movement in his watercolors and oils, murals, and sculptures. The lecture, explicating a 12-panel photo exhibit, will focus on Zakheim’s most productive period, the early 1930s, when he was at the center of the greatest public art controversy in San Francisco’s history, the Coit Tower murals.

The exhibition was made possible by a lead grant from the Koret Foundation, the Lazslo N. Tauber Family Foundation, and the Fleishhacker Foundation. Special thanks to The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, UC Berkeley.

Watch Dawn Kepler from Building Jewish Bridges discuss the panel series.

Sunday, October 23
Panel One: Asian and Jewish

What is it like to live with the assumption that you can’t possibly be Jewish? A panel of local Asian Jews (born Jewish, adopted or converted) will discuss their
experiences of living in the Jewish community.

Sunday, November 6
Panel Two: Black and Jewish

Come hear a panel of local black Jews (born Jewish, converted or adopted) discuss the challenges they meet daily and ways that we, their fellow Jews, can be better
advocates, allies and family members.

Sunday, December 4
Panel Three: Born This Way

The biggest job children have is to figure out who they are. What if they’re Jewish, a child of color, and trying to understand what the adults are saying about them?
Come hear a panel of local Jews discuss what it is like growing up Jewish and …

My first introduction to “Intro” was as a student at Lehrhaus Judaica many years ago.  My rabbi recommended that I take the class.  I remember feeling awkward on many levels.  As it happened, I was the only person in the class studying for conversion and the only lesbian.  While I learned a lot of interesting things in the class, I was shy and uncomfortable.

The experience has translated into a passion for teaching beginners, and into this new curriculum, “Introduction to the Jewish Experience.”  The class is a little Jewish community, and as such it is a laboratory for learning how to be a participatory member in the larger Jewish communities to which a student might belong:  congregations, social action organizations, and cultural organizations. It’s also a laboratory for reflection and an opportunity to try out mitzvot.

This is a class for beginners. It is an opportunity for individuals and couples to learn basic Jewish vocabulary and practice and to reflect upon how they would like to grow their Jewish lives.  We have a very diverse mix of learners in the class, just as most Jewish communities are diverse nowadays. Some people are studying for conversion; some are taking the class in preparation to keep a Jewish home, or on the recommendation of their rabbi. Others take the class because they were born Jewish but never received a Jewish education, and they want to feel more comfortable among other Jews. Some feel “partly Jewish” or are there to explore a Jewish heritage to which they have not had access.

The class is co-sponsored by two Reform congregations, and I am a Reform rabbi. The point of view is primarily Reform.  However, I believe it is important to learn about and to speak respectfully with other expressions of Judaism as well, so I make sure those points of view are represented.

I try to learn as much as I can about my students. First of all, I believe each of them is a sacred text from which I can learn Torah. I believe that I need to know each of them in order to serve them well as a teacher, and to help them have a sense of belonging in the class and ultimately, in the Jewish community beyond this class.  I’ve had born Jews, secular Israelis, interfaith couples, individuals with interfaith parents, and people who were simply curious about Judaism in the class, and it has been a privilege to learn from each of them.

What type of feedback do you receive from people who have taken your class?

Some quotes from recommendations students have written (they also appear on my LinkedIn profile):

“…She is always encouraging us to ask questions and created a safe space in this class of diverse learners to ask even the simplest of questions. Furthermore, despite being a Reform Rabbi, I felt like she did a great job of presenting the plethora of viewpoints within Judaism.”

“Rabbi Adar has the remarkable ability to make you feel comfortable.”

“I am delighted to recommend Rabbi Ruth Adar as a phenomenal teacher,friend and human being. Having taken Rabbi Adar’s Introduction to the Jewish Experience class, I feel far more comfortable in my faith — and in my community.”

Please talk about your teaching style. This class runs for a full academic year. How do you strive to capture people’s attention throughout?

I make time for community-building in the classes. Students make connections with one another and in some cases form friendships that outlast the class. Those relationships are important in keeping the class interesting. I think they come to see each other as much as they come to hear from me.

My teaching style is a mix. I do some lecturing because some of the material just demands it, especially since I try to avoid having much “homework.” Some of it, though, is experiential. I bring in lots of “show and tell,” things for students to handle and try out. I ask lots of questions, to help students work out their own answers. I bring in a small lending library with books that address topics we may not have much time for in class, so students can begin to develop their own Jewish interests. I also encourage students to check out learning opportunities in the communities and in movies. The students themselves bring more than they realize to the class. I learn from the students at every class meeting.

What do you enjoy most about being a rabbi?
I love helping people find their way into Torah. That makes me very, very happy.

Learn more about this unique opportunity here.

Scattered Among the Nations challenges stereotypes of the Jewish people, portraying seven communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America whose populations share the outward appearance and lifestyles of the people who surround them, with one major difference: they are practicing Jews. Featured communities include India’s Bene Israel community, India’s Benei Menashe community, Peru’s Inca Jews, Ghana’s House of Israel, Uzbekistan’s Bukharian Jews, and Zimbabwe’s Shona Jews.

By demonstrating the surprising racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity of the world Jewish community, the exhibition’s organizers hope to establish ties between the Oakland Jewish community and local communities representing the many nations where Jewish congregations thrive around the world.

Schwartz is an Oakland, Calif.-based civil rights attorney and a widely-published writer/photographer, who has photographed and documented the world’s most far-flung Jewish communities in 30 countries on five continents in recent years while working with collaborators Jay Sand and Sandy Carter on their book, entitled “Jews of Color: In Color!”  This exhibition and other Scattered Among the Nations exhibitions have been shown in galleries, museums, synagogues, and Jewish centers across the country, from New York to Washington, D.C., from Minneapolis to Memphis, from Houston to the San Francisco Bay Area.

The photo exhibit is part of Lehrhaus Judaica, Temple Sinai and Building Jewish Bridges’ collections of programs entitled What Color Are Jews?: Exploring the Diversity of Our Community Locally and Globally. There is at least one program or panel from September 2011-March 2012 at Temple Sinai.

For more information, contact Lehrhaus at 510-845-6420 or click here for exhibit-related programs. In addition, check out www.scatteredamongthenations.org.

Rabbi Ruth Adar

Lehrhaus’ 2011 fall catalog is online.

Click here to check out our diverse offerings this semester.

There are many exciting new offerings and traditional favorites, such as Rabbi Ruth Adar’s Introduction to the Jewish Experience.

Cienfuegos

Journey to Cuba and experience this tropical island nation in a way few travelers do. Join the JCCSF and Lehrhaus Judaica in a unique opportunity to discover Cuba and perform the mitzvah “Kol Yisrael arevim zeh b’zeh” (All Jews are responsible for each other), by engaging with the Cuban Jewish community.  We will do “Litaken et haolam,” repairing of the world with justice and compassion by providing needed medicines, toiletries, school supplies and other humanitarian aid. We will travel together, enjoy the culture of Cuba, and build a bridge of friendship between Jewish Cubans and our Bay Area Jewish community.

The tour features a visit not just to pulsating Havana, but also to Trinidad, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It also includes time in the “Pearl of the South” Cienfuegos, a city by the bay with a small Jewish community.

Please join us for a Cuba pre-trip meeting on September 1 at 7 p.m.

For a more detailed itinerary, pricing and other information, please call Ariel Goldstein at 415-276-1506 or email travel@jccsf.org

The Lehrhaus Traveling Classroom is in partnership with the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco.

This study tour was made possible by the Laszlo N. Tauber Family Foundation.