The First Narayever's Adult Education Committee organizes programs on issues of interest and relevance to our congregation throughout the year. As we see it, offering opportunities to learn in many ways is one of the key benefits our synagogue provides.
This year our theme is Let There Be Music. We're using that theme to learn about everything from psalms to trop to klezmer. Stay tuned for concerts, seminar series and song circles exploring Sephardic, Ashkenazic and classical music traditions where you'll learn what's Jewish about Jewish music.
Eric explores the history and ethnomusicological development of Klezmer music, including the musical and cultural influences that shaped it, its regional and stylistic variations, the role of the music in Ashkenazi communities, and the lifestyle of klezmorim. Using recorded musical examples for illustration, he will trace the music from its earliest development in eastern Europe, through its "golden age" in early 20th century America, to the present Klezmer Revival period.
Multi-instrumentalist Eric Stein is a leading figure in Canada's klezmer and Jewish music scene.
To register, contact the shul office at 416.927.0546, or admin@narayever.ca. Admission $5 or pay what you can. This program is part of the Adult Education Committee's yearlong series on Jewish music.
Our two introductory sessions on Jewish feminism were received with enthusiasm and determination to continue our study of this multi-faceted and ever expanding subject. Frieda will begin the continued series with Their Stories, Our Stories: Yiddish Women Writers.
Discover the rarely explored works and lives of Yiddish women authors of the 20th century. Rescued from oblivion by feminist scholars and translators, short stories, memoirs and novels will bring to light our foremothers' experience and history in Eastern Europe, North America, and Israel. Recurring themes, which include family and gender relations, work, education, political life, migration and the Holocaust will be examined from a feminist perspective. Original Yiddish texts will be available. Readings (in English) will be available to those who register at least two weeks before the seminars are held.
Frieda Forman has been a teacher, writer and scholar in the fields of Jewish Studies and Women's Studies for over four decades. Currently, she is a visiting scholar at the Centre for Women's Studies, OISE/ UToronto. She was the researcher, co- editor, and translator of Found Treasures: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers, the first collection of Yiddish women's literature in translation.
To register, contact the shul office at 416.927.0546, or admin@narayever.ca. There is a $5 fee, or pay what you can, for copies.
Trevor Hart, Narayever member and professor of psychology at Ryerson University, will lead a discussion on the origins of the Jewish People as presented in Nevi'im. He will also discuss possible inconsistencies in the presentation of the Canaanites as a foreign group of peoples in the Torah versus the relative lack of presentation of Canaanites in Nevi'im. Lastly, he will discuss reasons for this possible inconsistency. Trevor has always been interested in the historical basis of Am Yisrael. As a student at Hebrew University, he learned that there was much more information available than found in the Tanakh. In his talk, he will discuss some of the archaeological and historical evidence that points to the origins of the Jewish People.
As we approach Pesach, an exploration and celebration of freedom, we are offering an opportunity to explore the freeing of our voices through song and tefilah. Join musician and Shlichat Tzibur (Davening leader), Aviva Chernick, after Kiddush in an exploration of the musical voice in prayer.
Why is the experience of vocal prayer so potent? How can we deepen our relationship with the divine and community by further freeing our voices? Can attention to the dynamics of our sung tefilot increase the pleasure and delight of the whole experience? This one-hour workshop will involve improvisation of our own songs of praise and an adventure into the dynamics and pacing of some of our Hallel favourites. No prior singing experience necessary and no specific expertise in davening required.
Aviva Chernick is a Shlichat Tzibur and a Cantorial Soloist at a number of synagogues in southern Ontario and Michigan, including The First Narayever Congregation. In August 2009 Aviva was an Artist in Residence at the National Havurah Institute in New Hampshire. While preparing for and teaching an intensive course at the institute entitled Freeing the Voice - Singing the Divine, Aviva further developed her studies and interest in facilitating the improvisation of songs of praise.
In the writing, recording, performing and touring portion of Aviva's life she is the lead singer of the award winning ensemble Jaffa Road, and the co-creator and singer of the Canadian Folk Music Award Nominated The Huppah Project. Aviva is the musical director and composer of original music in the play Yichud (Seclusion) by Julie Tepperman and is engaged in the writing of original music for the sophomore Jaffa Road album due out late 2011.
This year we marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, a scientist whose theories have posed a tremendous intellectual and spiritual challenge to adherents of all biblical religions since their publication. When we think of the relationship of religion and Darwinism, we often think of the battles between fundamentalist Protestants and secularists over the validity of the theory of evolution, as well as the appropriateness of teaching evolution to young people alongside other methodologies known as "creation science" or "Intelligent Design". Jews have generally not been in the forefront of these battles, but from the 19th century up until today Jews have responded to evolution in various ways. In this four part mini-series, we are going to be studying Jewish responses to Darwinism and the theory of evolution. In addition to examining and discussing the writings of others, we are also going to consider how an educated 21st century Jew who loves the Torah can square the seeming conflicts between the Genesis account and the theory of evolution.
To register, please contact the shul office at admin@narayever.ca, 416-927-0546. There is a $5 fee, or pay what you can, for photocopies.
In 1999, Time Magazine hailed "Strange Fruit" as the "best song of the century." This film tells the story behind that haunting song, made famous by Billie Holiday in 1939, which depicts the lynching of Blacks in the American South. A symbol of social justice for African-Americans, the song itself was written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish schoolteacher from the Bronx, under the pseudonym Lewis Allan. A vivid portrait of the songwriter and the times, the film testifies to the unique power of music to unite people and inspire change.
Followed by a discussion led by Mark Clamen. Admission: free
Amsterdam's Sephardic Jews were part of a twice-converted community: descendants of Jewish converts to Christianity in Spain and Portugal during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and members of families that declared allegiance to Judaism in the seventeenth century. Who were these conversos, why did they come to Amsterdam, and how did they build a Jewish community in a place where there had never been Jews? In this presentation Ben will explore the community of New Jews that settled in Amsterdam, their unique religious culture, and the surprising significance of the New Testament in their community. Even after converting to Judaism, Amsterdam's Sephardic Jews continued to see the New Testament as an important text to be read and interpreted. Come find out why!
Benjamin Fisher is a Ph.D. student at the University of Pennsylvania specializing in early modern Jewish history, and is writing his dissertation on Sephardic biblical studies in Amsterdam.
Music has been woven into the fabric of Jewish life since our origins as a nomadic people thousands of years ago. From those shepherd poets and singers to the present time, Jewish Music has meant many things to many people. For some, it's liturgical cantillation, for others it includes the most sophisticated music of the avant-garde being written today by Jewish composers.
Rather than an academic survey, this discussion will aim to pose questions about what makes "Jewish Music" Jewish: Is it the "Jewishness" of the composer, and if so, how do we define that? Is it the purpose for which the music was written that makes it "Jewish"? Can there be Jewish music written by non-Jews? What about music by Jewish composers that has no overt reference to Jewish themes or subjects?
We will listen to recorded excerpts from the Renaissance to the present day that may illuminate these questions. By coincidence, two of the most famous living Jewish composers in the world will be in Toronto in the coming weeks (both under the auspices of Soundstreams!): Osvaldo Golijov in late February, and Steve Reich in late April.
Lawrence Cherney is a renowned oboist and Artistic Director of Soundstreams Canada which he founded in 1982. As a proponent of new music in Canada, he commissioned more than 30 new works for oboe during his career. Lawrence was a charter member of the National Arts Centre Orchestra and a founding member of the York Winds.
To register, please contact the shul office at admin@narayever.ca, 416-927-0546.
Interrogating torture's existence and ethics is not just a modern phenomenon. Judaism has long wrestled with torquing bodies, and its textual tradition apparently supports anti-torture as well as pro-torture positions - or so some contemporary scholars contend. Is this true or do these scholars skew texts in favor of their desired political positions? Come explore how Jewish sources, then and now, squeeze, twist and turn physical bodies (or not) for political ends.
Rabbi Jonathan Crane, PhD, will be the Scholar of Bioethics and Jewish Thought at the Center for Ethics at Emory University starting this Fall.
Please contact education@narayever.ca if you have any questions or comments. We welcome your suggestions for new programs - and we particularly welcome your participation! That's what makes it all worthwhile.
Unless otherwise stated, all our programs take place at the shul.
Updated 18 April 2010.See also the Fall 2009 Adult Education schedule (for previous seminars, etc.)