issue #001: the inaugural 🧿SHTETL CRIER issue
jam-packed with everything from sukkot hangs to jewish clown courses!
📣 hear ye, hear ye! 📣
chag sukkot sameach! so thrilled to standing up on a lil wooden box, ringing my bell, delivering to you the very first edition of the 🧿SHTETL CRIER! thank you so much for coming along for the ride. this issue is jam-packed with fall course offerings, sukkot hangouts, art exhibits, lectures, jewish clown workshops (yes!), yiddish concerts, and more.
i hope you’re reading this while sitting in a sukkah. please comment and let me know who your dream ushpizin (guests for sukkot, typically transcendent ancestors, but i’m being creative) would be — living or dead.
some housekeeping
newsletter posts will always be “too long” for your email & get cut off. go to shtetlcrier.substack.com to read the entire post
an event appearing in this newsletter =/= an endorsement
help me get the word out about 🧿SHTETL CRIER! share this post / tiktok / instagram reel / instagram post / facebook post
submit things to the 🧿SHTETL CRIER!
this newsletter is free & compiled with love for community. and i wouldn’t say no if you ever wanted to buy me a coffee
i’d love to hear your feedback. do you wish things were formatted differently? is there helpful information missing? let me know in the comments!
i would love to see more canadian events outside of toronto in future issues. if you know cool jews living outside toronto, please share this newsletter with them
now… let’s get to the tofu & potatoes of this whole thing:
🇨🇦 canadian events
art exhibit
Into the Orchard: An exploration of Judaism in honour of the MNJCC’s 70th anniversary (Miles Nadal JCC)
📆until October 29, 2023
📍Ontario > Toronto > 750 Spadina Ave.
This series of forty art pieces by artist Ya’ara Eshet encapsulates narratives from the Bible, the Kabbalah, Jewish folklore and mysticism, modern Israeli poetry, and Yiddish verses. Free! Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, 📚Education, 🌚Holiday Observance, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? deannad@mnjcc.orgart exhibit
The Synagogue at Babyn Yar: Turning the Nightmare of Evil into a Shared Dream of Good (Koffler Gallery)
📆until November 12, 2023
📍Ontario > Toronto > Koffler Gallery, 180 Shaw St.
The first major massacre of the Holocaust took place over two days in September 1941 in the Babyn Yar ravine, Kyiv, Ukraine. 80 years on, honour was paid to those murdered during those unspeakable events through the creation by the visionary Swiss architect Manuel Herz of an extraordinary, jewel-like, wooden synagogue which now memorializes the history and horror of Babyn Yar, a living sanctuary of hope for humankind.
The free exhibition at the Koffler Gallery will run to the end of Holocaust Education Week on November 12th, 2023. It links three moments in time of exceptional global resonance – the original 1941 massacre, the creation and dedication of this extraordinary, jewel-like, wooden synagogue and the current Russian war against Ukraine. Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, History, Holocaust
🤔Questions? admin@kofflerarts.orgworkshop / class
Ancestors Welcome: Sukkot with LGBTQ+ at the J (LGBTQ+ at the J)
📆October 3, 2023 / 7-9PM ET
📍Ontario > Toronto > 750 Spadina Ave.
Join LGBTQ+ at the J for a workshop led by Robbie Solway where we will join together to welcome our full Queer Jewish selves, and our ancestors, into the Sukkah. We’ll explore what it means to enter into Sukkah space with ourselves, each other, our ancestors and descendants – including our chosen, familial, spiritual, or community relations. We will reflect on and participate in the practice of welcoming ancestral guests, or Ushpizin, into the Sukkah. Learn more / Register
For: Queer & Trans Jews
Tags: 📚Education, 🥳Social, 🌚Holiday Observance
🤔Questions? emunahw@mnjcc.orgconcert
Semer Ensemble (Ashkenaz)
📆October 5, 2023 / 8PM ET
📍Ontario > Toronto > Lyric Theatre, Meridian Arts Centre, 5040 Yonge St.
Berlin's "Semer Ensemble" returns to Toronto, October 5th at Meridian Arts Centre. All-star cast performs "lost" music from the 1930s German-Jewish Semer Records label. Fascinating stories and amazing songs, including folk, cabaret, classical, cantorial, opera, and klezmer, with songs in Yiddish, German, Russian, and Hebrew, accompanied by English subtitles. Don't miss this one-of-a-kind concert experience. Learn more / Tickets
For: Everyone
Tags: 🎶Music
🤔Questions? info@ashkenaz.caworkshop / class
Semer Ensemble Workshops (Ashkenaz)
📆October 6, 2023 / 10:30-3PM ET
📍Ontario > Toronto > Toronto Holocaust Museum, 4588 Bathurst Street
Berlin’s Semer Ensemble will be hosting a program of workshops on Friday October 6, 10:30am-3pm, at the brand new Toronto Holocaust Museum (4588 Bathurst St). This is a rare opportunity to work directly with these world-class artists and learn more about the extraordinary music and stories behind the Semer Ensemble. The three-part program is open to all; participants are welcome to attend all three components or pick and choose which to attend, all for a single price.
Workshops include:
- Instrumental workshop, with Alan Bern (accordion/piano, 🎶Musical direction), Mark Kovnatskiy (violin) and Martin Lillich (bass)
- Q & A with the members of Semer Ensemble
- Song workshop, with Alan Bern and the four vocalists in the group, Lorin Sklamberg, Sasha Lurje, Daniel Kahn and Fabian Schnedler
Learn more / Register
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, 🎶Music
🤔Questions? info@ashkenaz.cacourse
Yiddish A - Beginners (Peretz Centre)
📆starts October 12, 2023 / 5:30-7PM PT
📍British Columbia > Vancouver > Peretz Centre, 6184 Ash St.
In this introductory 10-week class, we will dive into the language and culture of Eastern European Jews and explore the fascinating world of Yiddishkayt! Using a communicative and task-based approach, we will practice basic conversational skills, learn important verbs and adjectives to describe our daily life, and learn to read and write in Yiddish! During our classes we will also learn Yiddish folks' songs, get exposed to Yiddish film, art and culture and learn about the fascinating culture of Yiddish. The course is meant for those with acquaintance with the Hebrew alphabet, both cursive and print. Learn more / Register
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, Yiddish
🤔Questions? dbecker@peretz-centre.orgevent
Israel’s Pro-Democracy Movement: For Whom? (New Israel Fund of Canada)
📆October 15, 2023 / 10:30AM-12PM ET
📍Ontario > Toronto > Toronto Metropolitan University
NIFC New Generations is excited to host Amal Oraby, New Israel Fund’s Arabic spokesperson, to help us understand the complexities of the current moment in Israel-Palestine, including:
- Why are Palestinian citizens of Israel not participating in the pro-democracy protests?
- What is the situation of the unprecedented crime and violence in the Palestinian community?
- How has this extremist government specifically impacted Palestinian citizens of Israel?
- Has the pro-democracy movement had an impact on anti-occupation work?
Learn more
For: Everyone (might not be well-suited to children)
Tags: ✊Social Justice, 🇮🇱Israel/🇵🇸Palestine
🤔Questions? hannah@nifcan.orgworkshop / class
Restorative Creativity (Miles Nadal JCC)
📆October 21, 2023 / 1-3PM ET
📍Ontario > Toronto > 750 Spadina Avenue
Shabbat is a great time to slow down and get closer to the world around you, to engage your senses and your sense of wonder by observing and processing our experiences through mark- and art-making. Using the Jewish Studio Process, we’ll gather in textual inquiry and art-making, ground ourselves with restorative creativity, let our minds wander with materials in hand, and nourish ourselves with deep play. Learn more / Register
For: Everyone
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? LaurenS@mnjcc.orgevent
Knobl un Honik Yiddish New Year Festival (Knobl un Honik Kollectiv)
📆October 22, 2023 / 1-6PM PT
📍British Columbia > Vancouver > Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture, 6184 Ash St.
This festival is inspired by the gorgeous rootedness of garlic heads growing deep in the earth, liberatory garlic cloves that add flavour and hominess to any dish, and the sticky sweet healing properties of honey, things we have shared over millenia that have always connected us across generations. We'll have films, music, Klezmer Kapelye, Yiddish dance, an interactive fermentation workshop, light refreshments, and a showcase of community art and projects. Learn more
For: Everyone, Yiddish Enthusiasts
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, 🥳Social, 🎶Music, Yiddish
🤔Questions? sylviagreen@protonmail.com
event
NAKBA: The Struggle to Decolonize Israel (Independent Jewish Voices)
📆October 23, 2023 / 7:30PM ET
📍Ontario > Hamilton > Workers Arts & Heritage Centre, 51 Stuart St.
We are honored to be hosting Eitan Bronstein Aparicio and Eléonore Merza Bronstein for the launch of their new book Nakba: The Struggle to Decolonize Israel. The book explores the experience of Eitan, a leading voice for political change in Israel, and his journey from young Israeli kibbutznik and left-wing Zionist to radical anti-Zionist and co-founder of Israeli NGO Zochrot. What emerges is the hope that a new generation of Israelis will free themselves from a collective colonial identity and will conceive of a way of cohabiting legitimately, in a way that is fair for all. Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: ✊Social Justice, 🇮🇱Israel/🇵🇸Palestine
🤔Questions? dmivasair@ijvcanada.orgcourse
Lishma Jewish Learning Project (Lishma Jewish Learning Project)
📆Starts October 25, 2023 / 7-9PM ET
📍Ontario > Toronto > 1700 Bathurst St.
Join us for meaningful learning and community building for folks in their 20s and 30s. Our fall semester offerings include:
- The Spirituality of Secular Music with Rabbi Ryan Leszner
- Women Haunted: Yiddish Literature From Folklore To Modernism with Julie Sharff
- If These Walls Could Talk: Archaeology As Source Material with Amit Rozenblum.
Learn more
For: Adults, Folks in their 20s/30s
Tags: 📚Education, 🥳Social, 🎶Music, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, Yiddish
🤔Questions? LaurenS@mnjcc.orgwalking tour
Jewish& In The Market: A Tour Of Kensington’s Layered Stories (Jewish&)
📆October 29, 2023 / 10AM-12PM ET
📍Ontario > Toronto > Kensington Market
Peel back the layers of Kensington’s trendy bars and enter a world of pushcarts and pamphlets, bagels and bushel baskets, delicatessens and clothing outlets, when Kensington was home to a vibrant, bustling Jewish community and Spadina Avenue was its “cosmic spine.” We’ll walk through time, recapturing what novelist Matt Cohen called “an infinity of delectable possibilities, an adolescent theme park throbbing with folk 🎶Music… protest marches, idealists of all ages…” as Kensington’s Jewish community connected with the broader city and gave way to new waves of immigrants and new countercultures. Learn more
For: Youth, Adults
Tags: 📚Education, 🥳Social
🤔Questions? Laurens@mnjcc.orglecture
Dara Horn, "Dreams for Living Jews" (Beth David Synagogue)
📆November 6, 2023 / 7:30-9:30PM ET
📍Ontario > Toronto > 55 Yeomans Rd
Beth David Synagogue invites you to attend the Rabbi Philip S. Scheim Inaugural Lecture co-sponsored by the Sue and Stan Goldfarb Family Endowment featuring DARA HORN, acclaimed scholar, novelist and author of People Love Dead Jews. Dara Horn will address the topic "Dreams for Living Jews." Registration is recommended. Learn more / Register
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, ✊Social Justice
🤔Questions? info@bethdavid.com💻 virtual
announcement / request
Verklempt! magazine submissions for issue ג on Seudah are open! (Verklempt! magazine / Havurah)
📆until October 15, 2023
It’s the dizzying aroma of chicken soup when you come back from shul on Friday night, it’s the taste of boiled potatoes dipped into salt water at your grandparents’ seder down in Boca, it’s the techina dripping down your thumb as you gorge down the best falafel of your life on the streets of Paris. Seudah — which loosely translates to meal/feast/dining — is what happens when the act of eating is elevated into something beyond mere consumption. As any good Jewish host knows, a Seudah is not just about the food — it’s also about everything surrounding the food.
We are seeking submissions (fiction, poetry, translation) that contemplate these ideas related to Seudah, with the care and nuance they necessitate. Submitters are encouraged to approach the theme from any angle they wish. Learn more / Submit
For: Everyone
Tags: Writing, Food
🤔Questions? verklempt@havurah.artannouncement / request
Submit to Niv magazine's winter issue! (Niv magazine)
📆until October 23, 2023
Niv magazine is currently accepting pieces or pitches (news, opinion, arts & culture, variety) for the upcoming Winter issue! Based in Toronto, Niv is an online quarterly magazine that focuses on Jewish culture and creative work. Submit by October 23 to be considered! Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, Writing
🤔Questions? team.nivmag@gmail.comannouncement / request
Sadeh Farm 36-Hour Sukkot Fundraiser (Sadeh Farm)
📆October 2, 2023 / 6-7PM UK, 1-2PM ET, 10-11AM PT
💻virtual
This Sukkot, we are fundraising together to maintain, enrich, and expand our activities and programmes. Reaching our goal will allow us to pay staff to run our programmes and farm, pay our bills, provide access to people who cannot afford to come here, and increase access to nature for those who have been excluded.
Join us in the Zoom Sukkah to learn some Mishnah Sukkah with us (bring paper and drawing materials!). Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, 🥳Social, 🌿Nature, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? info@sadehfarm.co.ukcourse
Sacred Action: Bringing Jewish Contemplative Practice to Justice Work (Or Halev)
📆Starts October 2, 2023 / 6-7:30PM ET, 3-4:30PM PT
💻virtual
Join us on this unique and impactful Jewish Mindfulness series exploring the interaction of Jewish Meditation, Activism, and Justice Work. Co-led by Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife and Joshua Blaine, some of the areas upon which we will shine the light of practice include:
- finding stillness amidst the intensity of the work
- navigating the tension between compassion and accountability in fights against injustice and oppression
- clarifying our motivations for action
- abiding in not-knowing while acting with conviction
In each session, we will integrate embodied practice — including mindfulness, blessing practice, and contemplative prayer — with learning and reflection. Learn more / Register
For: Adults
Tags: 🙏Religion & Spirituality, ✊Social Justice
🤔Questions? Carrie@orhalev.netevent
Neil Gaiman in conversation with Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (Shamir Collective)
📆October 3, 2023 / 9-10PM ET, 6-7PM PT
💻virtual
Join Neil Gaiman in conversation with Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
In celebration of the paperback release of On Repentance and Repair
It will stream directly from https://www.facebook.com/neilgaiman
Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: ✊Social Justice, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? https://shamircollective.org/contactcourse
Embodied Jewish Transformation: Pathways of Possibility (Yoshi Silverstein) (Judaism Unbound)
📆starts October 3, 2023 / 2-3:30PM ET, 11AM-12:30PM PT
💻virtual
This 12-week course is designed to guide students in an exploration of embodied Jewish practice – bridging lived experience, body-wisdom, text, ritual, metaphor, and mysticism in order to cultivate greater possibility, emergence, and transformation. Together, we’ll study and apply key forms, patterns, and concepts from throughout Jewish history — from Sefer Yetzirah (the Book of Formation) to Hebrew scribal arts, to the magen david (six-pointed star/shield of David) and more — to embodied learning and practice. Students should expect a blend of ample embodied learning and practice — including physical movement, song, breathwork, and other physical practices — alongside text-study and intellectual exploration of key theoretical concepts and frameworks. All bodies are welcome. Learn more
✨Special 20% off discount code for Shtetl Crier readers: 20SHTECRIUY
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, ✨Wellness
🤔Questions? lex@judaismunbound.comcourse
Prayer Unbound: A Jewish Liturgy Laboratory (Eliana Light) (Judaism Unbound)
📆starts October 3, 2023 / 7:30-9PM ET, 4:30-6PM PT
💻virtual
Jewish prayer is challenging. Our inherited liturgy is in Hebrew and Aramaic, written from hundreds to thousands of years ago, and there’s a whole lot of it. Reading the translation doesn’t always help... "Oh, this is what we’re saying?!" Not to mention long services, cavernous buildings, g?d-baggage… plus, what is prayer anyway? What are we trying to do here? This is your invitation to step out of the sanctuary and into the laboratory. Let’s think & feel our way through what Jewish prayer has been, what it looks like now, and what it could be – for ourselves, our communities, and our world. Using a variety of methodologies, we’ll play with prayer and hold the gems of our liturgy to the light in this 12-week course. This is our t’fillahsophy – when it comes to prayer and liturgy, we are all experts, and we are all beginners. Join us to wrestle with g?d, ask big questions, and explore the potential for t’fillah (prayer & liturgy) transformation. Learn more
✨Special 20% off discount code for Shtetl Crier readers: 20SHTECRIUY
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? lex@judaismunbound.comcourse
Crafting Jewishly-Rooted Ritual (Rachel Rose Reid) (Judaism Unbound)
📆starts October 4, 2023 / 3-4:30PM ET, 12-1:30PM PT
💻virtual
Do you want to feel more confident making Jewishly-rooted ritual? Do you want to find authentic and innovative ways to mark moments that matter? In this 12-week course, we will explore Jewish ritual-craft,- expanding our awareness of what has existed, and building our own skills in making ritual and ceremony. We will look at rituals around birth, death, protection, life-transition (of many kinds), and the parts of the cycle of the Jewish year. We will learn from sacred texts, folklore and anthropology, and each other. Students will be given time and space to be inspired by what we learn, create rituals for themselves, and reflect with one another about the impact of their work. Learn more
✨Special 20% off discount code for Shtetl Crier readers: 20SHTECRIUY
For: Everyone
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, 📚Education, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? lex@judaismunbound.comevent
Sukkot en Casa: Celebrating Multicultural Sukkot Traditions (Jewtina y Co. & 18 Doors)
📆October 5, 2023 / 8PM ET, 5PM PT
💻virtual
Join Jewtina and our friends at 18 Doors for a spirited discussion with members of la familia Jewtina (from the Latin Jewish family) as they share the unique ways their cultures influence Sukkot practice at home. Tune in and watch live on Instagram. Learn more
For: Everyone, Latin Jews
Tags: 🌚Holiday Observance
🤔Questions?workshop / class
Have You Made Art About It Yet? Sukkot Edition! (Jewish Studio Project)
📆October 5, 2023 / 12-1:30PM ET, 9-10:30AM PT
💻virtual
Known as z’man simchateinu - in this season of joy, impermanence, and ephemerality, we venture out from our homes to create temporary dwellings known as sukkot as a way to reconnect to the living world. Using the Jewish Studio Process - a unique methodology combining practices from the field of art therapy with a reimagined approach to Jewish learning and spirituality - we’ll reweave ourselves back into relationship with the more-than-human world and open to the beauty and abundance awaiting us right where we are.
This program is offered free of charge and will take place on Zoom with closed captions. Learn more / Register
For: Everyone
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, 🌚Holiday Observance, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? info@jewishstudioproject.orgworkshop / class
The Single-Page Zine as a Yortsayt for the Future An Introductory Zine Workshop with Jess Goldman (KlezKanada)
📆October 8, 2023 / 2-3:30PM ET, 11AM-12:30PM PT
💻virtual
If the tombstones of your ancestors (chosen or otherwise) asked questions, what would they be? What flowers would bloom from their graves? And from those flowers, what could you brew?
This will be an introductory workshop to zine-making! In this workshop we’ll use the single-page zine to commemorate both the big and the little deaths –– the death of a day, of a past self, a relationship, a space/place we can no longer visit, of a loved one, of a cultural absence we don’t yet know the shape of, etc. –– by reimagining the tombstone as a monument that can speak back (perhaps, af yidish) and making cemeteries that we can carry in our pockets. Learn more / Register
For: Everyone
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, Grief
🤔Questions? info@klezkanada.orgcourse
Introduction to the History of Yiddish Music (Oxford Centre for Hebrew & Jewish Studies)
📆starts October 9, 2023 / 6:15-7:15PM UK, 1:15-2:15PM ET, 10:15-11:15AM PT
💻virtual
This (free!) year-long academic class will span the history of Yiddish vernacular music in its vocal and instrumental forms from the late Middle Ages to the 21st century. Beginning in the 1300s, we will explore Yiddish song and singing traditions as well as secondary sources for musical practices pertaining to vernacular music making among the Ashkenazim. Musical practices will be explored as part of the wider religious, historical and sociological developments in the Ashkenazic world.
Students are welcome to join this class for any of the three terms. It is not necessary to take them all consecutively.
- Michaelmas Term 2023: The Origins of Yiddish Music, 1300-1800
- Hilary Term 2024: Yiddish Music as a Global Phenomenon, 1800-1933
- Trinity Term 2024: From Resistance to New Voices: Yiddish Music from Wartime to the 21st Century
Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, 🎶Music, Yiddish
🤔Questions? enquiries@ochjs.ac.ukcourse
God? Gods? Goddesses? Godexes? Diverse Theologies in Tanach (Tamar Kamionkowski) (Judaism Unbound)
📆starts October 9, 2023 / 1-2:30PM ET, 10-11:30AM PT
💻virtual
Many mainstream Jewish traditions present a clear demarcation between the world of humanity and nature – on the one hand – and God, on the other. Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) reveals more malleable boundaries between the divine and human dimensions of the world. Its texts present a variety of ideas regarding the nature of God, gods and human beings. Topics of study in this 12-week course will include: How did YHVH become the God of Israel? Did the Israelites have a Goddess? Are there demons and angels in Tanakh? Was there ancestor worship? How does the God of Israel manifest gender? Does God have a body in biblical literature? Where did God live? What kinds of representations of God were permissible? Why monotheism? Learn more
✨Special 20% off discount code for Shtetl Crier readers: 20SHTECRIUY
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? lex@judaismunbound.comcourse
Unlearning Jewish Anxiety: How to Calm the Heck Down (Caryn Aviv) (Judaism Unbound)
📆starts October 9, 2023 / 6-7:30PM ET, 3-4:30PM PT
💻virtual
Unlearning Jewish Anxiety: How to Calm the Heck Down offers a powerful way to understand yourself better, grow your curiosity, deepen your self-compassion, and learn simple tools to decrease Jewish anxiety. In this 12-week course, we’ll explore some common, inherited Jewish anxiety-patterns that make sense, given our histories of oppression and displacement. We’ll also dive into the fun neuroscience of anxiety. We’ll practice how to notice when we’re in an anxiety spiral and how to get out of it. Finally, we’ll generate better alternatives to anxiety with some accessible spiritual tools to meet difficult moments with new and better habits. Learn more
✨Special 20% off discount code for Shtetl Crier readers: 20SHTECRIUY
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, ✨Wellness
🤔Questions? lex@judaismunbound.comcourse
Psalms with Lexi Kohanski (The Torah Studio)
📆starts October 9, 2023 / 8-9:30PM ET, 5-6:30PM PT
💻virtual
The psalms sing -- of wild nature, the pursuit of justice, of our all too human lives. Why do the wicked prosper? What is our place in the world? Who is God to us? In the face of these unanswerable questions, the Psalms respond with songs of the heart. If you're looking to find meaning and support in the hard times, this is your class. Each week we'll learn one psalm in Hevruta/Learning Partners. We will use the framework of poetic images to understand the text, and we'll use Shefa Gold's "shining line" to develop personal meaning. Get a Class Pass for all 10 weeks, or buy a Drop In ticket any time, all for $5-25 a class (CWYP). Learn more
For: Adults
Tags: 📚Education, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, Text Study
🤔Questions? lexi@thetorahstudio.orgcourse
Yiddish Classes - All Levels (Boston Workers Circle)
📆starts October 10, 2023
💻virtual
Our instructors are passionate about Yiddish and are experienced educators. Whether you are a beginner, have been studying on your own on Duolingo, are a continuing student, or grew up speaking the language, we have a class that will accommodate you. Students cover a wide age range, from young adults to seniors. We offer semester-long classes across a range of levels. You can participate from anywhere, and invite family and friends to join you. All classes, unless otherwise noted, run for 8 weeks and start in mid-October 2023. Learn more / Register
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, Yiddish
🤔Questions? info@circleboston.orgcourse
Art Midrash with Jay Smith (The Torah Studio)
📆starts October 10, 2023 / 8-10PM ET, 5-7PM PT
💻virtual
Looking for a more creative connection to the weekly Torah portion? Join teacher Jay Smith to discover how art-making can deepen your relationship with the Torah. Each week there will be a new series of creative prompts to spark conversation and provide scaffolding to push you (warmly) out of your comfort zones. Join us to learn more about yourself, the text, and most importantly, the relationship between the two. Get a Class Pass for all 10 weeks, or buy a Drop In ticket any time, all for $5-25 a class (CWYP). Learn more
For: Adults
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? lexi@thetorahstudio.orgcourse
Torah Study with Liana Wertman (The Torah Studio)
📆starts October 11, 2023 / 8:30-10PM ET, 5:30-7PM PT
💻virtual
This Torah Study is our foundational course led by founder Liana Wertman. It’s an opportunity to learn, refresh, and deepen the skills of Torah study to guide you in this class and beyond. And we do it one Torah portion at a time. Give yourself the gift of learning not only with an incredible community, but also in the ancient learning cycle of our people. This kind of learning only gets better with practice, and we’ve created this space exactly to help you do that. Get a Class Pass for all 10 weeks, or buy a Drop In ticket any time, all for $5-25 a class (CWYP). Learn more
For: Adults
Tags: 🙏Religion & Spirituality, Text Study
🤔Questions? lexi@thetorahstudio.orgcourse
JeLiThIn’s Online Community Groups (Jewish Liberation Theology Institute)
📆starts October 10, 2023
💻virtual
JeLiThIn’s Online Community Groups give people who identify as non-Zionist/anti-Zionist the opportunity to connect and build community through text study and personal reflection and sharing, without checking our radical politics and values at the door.
If you want to explore the creation stories in Genesis this fall, without a Zionist filter, in the context of a community of people who have similar values, following a methodology that will allow you to connect with the text and with the participants, then join us. We have one group for people who identify as non-Zionist/anti-Zionist Jewish women, trans, queer, and/or non-binary, and one group for anyone who cares about Palestine and is interested in Judaism. Learn more
For: Adults, Queer & Trans Jews
Tags: 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? info@jelithin.cacourse
Between Heaven and Earth: Yiddish Women's Folklore, Rituals, & Magic (Yiddish Book Center)
📆starts October 11, 2023 / 7-8:30PM ET, 4-5:30PM PT
💻virtual
Jewish women in Eastern Europe were keepers of traditional knowledge passed down orally, as prayer leaders, healers, and wise women. Join journalist Rokhl Kafrissen to explore the ways that Yiddish-speaking women created rituals and customs such as making soul candles (neshome likht) and birthing amulets (kimpet brivlekh), becoming healers and curse removers (opshprekherins) and performing personal prayer practices (tkhines). We will discover how these traditions were almost lost, and how a new generation of women are reinventing them today.
This course will occur on four consecutive Wednesdays, October 11, 18, 25, and November 1, from 7:00–8:30 p.m. ET. Cost: $75 for Yiddish Book Center members and $100 for nonmembers. Learn more: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/📚Educational-programs/online-culture-courses/between-heaven-and-earth-yiddish-womens-folklore / Register: https://support.yiddishbookcenter.org/site/Calendar?id=9326&view=Detail
For: Everyone (might not be well-suited to children)
Tags: 📚Education, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, Yiddish, Folklore, Ritual
🤔Questions? egellman@yiddishbookcenter.orgevent
The Many Facets of Latin-Jewish Peoplehood (Jewtina y Co. & Contemporary Jewish Museum)
📆October 12, 2023 / 4:30-6PM PT, 7:30-9PM ET
💻virtual
Join us for a virtual panel celebrating Latin-Jewish culture, heritage, and community during Latin Heritage Month. This interactive discussion will explore the intersections of Latin and Jewish heritage through personal stories and reflections from panelists Rabbi Claudia Kreiman, MacKenzie Martinez, and David McCarty-Caplan, moderated by Analucía Lopezrevoredo, Founder and Executive Director of Jewtina y Co. Don't miss the chance to uncover the richness of Latin-Jewish identity and the connections that unite us. Learn more / Register
For: Everyone, Latin Jews
Tags: Identity
🤔Questions? info@thecjm.orgcourse
Yiddish Beginners Class (The Learning Co-op)
📆starts October 12, 2023 / 10-11:15AM AET, 1-2:15PM BST
💻virtual
New beginners group Yiddish class, pay what you can! This course is for anyone who would like to explore Yiddish and connect to the cultural treasures that learning the language can unlock. Whether you are interested in Yiddish as the language of struggle, folklore, literature or your own family, this is a great place to start. Learn more / Register
For: Youth, Adults
Tags: 📚Education, ✊Social Justice, Yiddish
🤔Questions? estherorama@gmail.comcourse
Your God is a Jester: Clown in Sacred Jewish Texts (The Clown School)
📆starts October 12, 2023 / 8-10:30PM ET, 5-7:30PM PT
💻virtual
Join us for a four-week course that focuses on the intriguing presence of clown archetypes in Jewish sacred texts. This exploration will focus on The Torah, The Talmud, and Kabbalah, encompassing a comprehensive analysis of the different fool archetypes and their significance in Jewish religious history. We will delve into specific individuals from Jewish religious history who exemplify fool behavior and study their stories as a means of understanding deeper insights into Jewish clown wisdom. Learn more / Register
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, Theatre, Text Study
🤔Questions? danielle.levsky@gmail.comworkshop / class
Creating with the Moon: Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan (Jewish Studio Project)
📆October 15, 2023 / 1-2:30PM ET, 10-11:30AM PT
💻virtual
Ground yourself in the power of the new moon! As the tiny crescent becomes visible in the night sky, Rosh Chodesh offers us an opportunity to refresh our dreams and desires. Together we’ll reweave ourselves into the cycle of Jewish time and nourish our creative spirit so that we might enter the month refreshed and renewed. Free & over Zoom with closed captions. Learn more / Register
For: Everyone
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, 🌚Holiday Observance, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? info@jewishstudioproject.orgcourse
On Solid Ground: Fundamentals of Judaism (Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife & Kesher Pittsburgh)
📆starts October 15, 2023 / 12-1PM ET, 9-10AM PT
💻virtual
On Solid Ground: Fundamentals of Judaism is an exploration of the foundations of Judaism through a feminist lens, providing us a stable place from which to learn, study, practice, lead, create, ritualize and diverge. This class will include inquiries into traditional/historical practice in comparison and contrast to Priestess practice. This class is intended for anyone who wants to learn the basics of Jewish practice, history and tradition (including folx who are considering conversion) as well as anyone who is keen to reconsider the basics from an anti-oppressionist perspective. Learn more / Register
For: Adults, People who are Jewish-adjacent/Curious about Judaism/Considering conversion
Tags: 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? brenna@kesherpittsburgh.orgcourse
Intro to Judaism: Traditions, Texts, & Transformations (Tzedek Chicago)
📆starts October 16, 2023 / 7-8:30PM CT, 8-9:30PM ET, 5-6:30PM PT
💻virtual
Join Rabbis Brant Rosen and Jessica Rosenberg for a 16 week exploration into the foundations of Judaism and Jewish life. We will engage with diverse histories, examine texts, theologies and philosophies, and learn about ritual and prayer as dynamic aspects of Jewishness with powerful potential for our lives and times. Foundational to this class is the understanding that Jews are and always have been a multiracial, multiethnic, multicultural group. We will bring feminist, diasporist, and anti-Zionist lenses to our learning, and will work to create a welcoming and accessible learning space for participants. Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? admin@tzedekchicago.orgcourse
🧄Jews and Land Study Group🧄 - Season 1 (Jewish Farmer Network)
📆starts October 18, 2023 / 7:30-9PM ET, 4:30-6PM PT
💻virtual
The Jews and Land Study Group is a five-week online gathering to explore a people’s-level history of Jews in relationship to land--from the creation myths of the Torah to the times of sovereignty in ancient Israel, from the diasporas to immigrant farmers in the US. Together we’ll explore books, articles, and other resources on these topics. We’ll learn how we can engage with historical and religious texts in a participatory way, uncovering what stories lie at the grassroots of the past and the truths that endure today. Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, 🌿Nature, ✊Social Justice
🤔Questions? shani@jewishfarmernetwork.orgworkshop / class
Creative Rest with Mara June (Jewish Studio Project)
📆October 19, 2023 / 6-7:15PM ET, 3-4:15PM PT
💻virtual
Nourish your creativity to sustain yourself in the work of collective liberation. Come relax into reverie, replenish and unwind in Creative Rest with Mara June! Together we will explore grief as an organic, transformative, and creative process, which invites us to make home in the unknown together. We’ll start with a spiritual framing grounded in Torah from Rabbi Adina Allen before hearing from our guest presenter. Free and over Zoom with closed captions. Learn more / Register
For: Everyone
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, ✊Social Justice, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, ✨Wellness
🤔Questions? info@jewishstudioproject.orglecture
Compiling the Next Trans Codex: Learning from the Writers of the Trans Halakha Project (Shel Maala & Trans Halakha Project)
📆October 19, 2023 / 8-9:30PM ET, 5-6:30PM PT
💻virtual
In March of 5783, the Trans Halakha Project released two groundbreaking projects: a series of Trans Teshuvot (Jewish legal responses), answering core questions of Jewish law for and about trans people; and Tefillat Trans, a book of blessings and rituals written by and for trans people. Join the Trans Halakha Project and Shel Maala for a shiur (lecture) series by the creators of these incredible new pieces of Torah, where we will dive deep into their works: Learn about their process, unearth their insights, reveal their questions, and ask your own. Brilliant Teshuva-writers and the editors of the Tefillat Trans will be on-hand to help you explore the world of trans halakha and tefilla, to give you the chance to bring them into your practice and life.
These are 9 standalone lectures happening once a week on Thursdays. Learn more / Register
For: Everyone, Queer & Trans Jews
Tags: 📚Education, ✊Social Justice, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? shelmaalayeshiva@gmail.comworkshop / class
Disability Justice as Spiritual Text (SVARA)
📆October 19, 2023 / 2:30-4PM ET, 11:30AM-1PM PT
💻virtual
Disability Justice as a Spiritual Text is a monthly workshop for people who identify as disabled or chronically ill to explore disability justice teachings as they intersect with our Jewish lives. We will gather to build a well of ‘svara’ around disability justice and spirituality by seeking the Torah — animating teachings — inherent in the work of a range of disability justice leaders, and bringing those teachings into conversation with our own experiences. Texts will be in English and from a variety of disabled writers and activists.
This Fall we are reading Let This Radicalize You by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba! While this text is not explicitly about disability justice, we are intentionally bringing it into conversation with disability justice & Torah. Learn more
For: Jews who identify as disabled or chronically ill
Tags: 📚Education, ✊Social Justice, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions?event
Jewish Anarchism & Military Refusal in Israel/Palestine (Jewish Anarchist Salon, Ratzon, Mesarvot)
📆October 22, 2023 / 12-1:30PM ET, 9-10:30AM PT
💻virtual
The Jewish Anarchist Salon (JAS) invites you to join in co-learning and dialogues related to what it means to be both anarchist and Jewish today. In recent years, Jewish anarchism has had a rebirth, reemerging in resistance to growing fascism, including increasing antisemitism. But it’s also reimagining itself, whether in terms of queer+trans and feminist sensibilities, cultural and ritual practices, or spaces that prefigure the world to come. This salon aims to build on and encourage the further growth of Jewish anarchism as well as strengthen connections with each other. The hope is that in these conversations and beyond, we can develop creative, proud, and liberatory responses to our broken world.
As in the past, this 1.5-hour online gathering will revolve around a theme, which will be kicked off with some framing thoughts by our presenters for 30 minutes. Then we’ll move into both small- and big-group conversations. Learn more
For: Youth, Adults
Tags: ✊Social Justice, 🇮🇱Israel/🇵🇸Palestine
🤔Questions? jewishanarchistsalon@gmail.comcourse
The Sheydy Bunch: A Halloween Talmud Series on Amulets, Song & the Demons Next Door (Shel Maala)
📆starts October 22, 2023 / 2-4PM ET, 11AM-1PM PT
💻virtual
Olivia Devorah Tucker, our beloved superstar teacher of magical Jewish content, returns to Shel Maala with a story of what it was like to live alongside the sheydim (or “demons”) in Talmud times. This 5-week SVARA-style Talmud course will help you learn in xevruta to uncover the emotional stakes and practical advice needed to work with the Jewish Supernatural - just in time for Halloween. Along with deep text study, this is going to be a hands-on, artistic adventure. Creative interpretations (visual art, performance, poetry, amulets, etc.) based on our learning will be celebrated throughout the 5-weeks, culminating in a Sugya Show-and-Tell in the final week! Learn more / Register
For: Queer & Trans Jews
Tags: 🎨Art & Craft, 📚Education, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, Text Study
🤔Questions? shelmaalayeshiva@gmail.comworkshop / class
Yiddish Culture and the Jewish Labor Movement: 1880s-1960s (Boston Workers Circle)
📆October 23, 2023 / 6-7:30PM ET, 3-4:30PM PT
💻virtual
In this course we will explore the history of Jewish labor activism in the United States and its relationship to Yiddish culture. We will engage questions such as: How did Jewish Socialists and Communists relate to their Jewish identity? How did they think about Americanization and assimilation? What role did Yiddish culture play in Socialist and Communist organizing? How did Jewish identity and Yiddish culture interact with broader efforts toward anti-racism and multiculturalism? And how does this history help us navigate the present of Jewish and Anti-Racist organizing work? Beginning with the early Jewish labor movement in the 1880s and ending with New Left activism of the 1960s, this four session course will take us through the salient turning points of Jewish labor history in the United States and how Jews navigated these pressing questions of identity, community, and social justice at different historical moments. Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, ✊Social Justice, Yiddish
🤔Questions? zohar@circleboston.orgcourse
Alef-Bet Basics (SVARA)
📆starts October 23, 2023 / 8-9:30PM ET, 5-6:30PM PT
💻virtual
Welcome to SVARA’s seven-week journey through the Hebrew alphabet! Together we’ll learn the Hebrew letters and vocalizations to get you ready for life-long learning and tradition shaping. Join this celebratory and queer-normative space designed to navigate the delights and frustrations of learning the building blocks of a language. We’ll give you all the tools you need to boost this beautiful new skill in the SVARA bet midrash and beyond. In our final session, we’ll put our decoding skills to use and start reading Talmud together! (Please note that this isn’t a Hebrew grammar or vocabulary class—we’ll be sticking to letters and pronunciation.) Learn more
For: Queer & Trans Jews
Tags: 📚Education, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, Text Study, Hebrew
🤔Questions?course
Understanding Our Power and Authority (Kol Mi She’efshar) (SVARA)
📆starts October 23, 2023 / 8-10PM ET, 5-7PM PT
💻virtual
In this mixed-level Bet Midrash, we’ll witness how the Rabbis understand their own power, authority, and responsibility through a sugya in Masechet Shabbat. This deep and dazzling text explores our obligations when those around us behave badly. We’ll encounter a (deceptively) pithy Rabbinic dictum and then complicate it by exploring how this teaching plays out in the Rabbis’ own lived experiences! Learn more
For: Queer & Trans Jews
Tags: 📚Education, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, Text Study
🤔Questions?course
Queer Talmud for Beginner’s Mind: Understanding Our Power & Authority (SVARA)
📆starts October 24, 2023 / 8-10PM ET, 5-7PM PT
💻virtual
Queer Talmud for Beginner’s Mind is designed to introduce folks of all backgrounds (especially beginners!) to Talmud study at SVARA. In this offering, we’ll witness how the Rabbis understand their own power and authority through a sugya in Masechet Sanhedrin that explores judicial procedure. One of the big wonderings here is who may sit in judgment. We’ll encounter a page of Talmud (perhaps for the first time!) and discover how to learn in chevruta—accountable learning pairs—while building the skills to translate the core texts of our tradition (from the original Hebrew and Aramaic) for ourselves. Learn more
For: Queer & Trans Jews
Tags: 📚Education, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, Text Study
🤔Questions?course
Making Midrash: Re-Imagining God, Radically (SVARA)
📆starts October 24, 2023 / 8-10PM ET, 5-7PM PT
💻virtual
Did you know that the ancient Rabbis loved fanfiction? They called it “midrash,” and the best part is that you (yes, you!) can continue this tradition.
In this offering, we’ll use a radical lens to read and write midrash. Our focus will be on midrash—both ancient and modern—that presents God in a vulnerable or otherwise surprising way. (Have you ever imagined God praying? Our Rabbis did! What about God being disabled? A modern rabbi has!) We’ll emphasize multiple radical lenses in this class, uplifting disability justice in particular. Hebrew reading ability is not required. Belief in God is also not at all required—in fact, we will foreground the question of what it might mean for atheists and agnostics to tell stories about God. Learn more
For: Queer & Trans Jews
Tags: 📚Education, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, Text Study
🤔Questions?workshop / class
How to Hold an Inclusive B'Mitzvah (LGBTQ+ at the J, Keshet)
📆November 7, 2023 / 7-8:30PM ET, 4-5:30PM PT
💻virtual
Wondering how to plan an inclusive b’mitzvah for a queer child in your life? Hoping to find ways to blend traditional and modern b’mitzvah practices to fit your family’s needs? Just curious about different kinds of b’mitzvah practices? Join LGBTQ+ at the J and Keshet for a workshop on inclusive b’mitzvahs from an LGBTQ+ lens. Learn more
For: Everyone, Queer & Trans Jews
Tags: 📚Education, 🌚Holiday Observance, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? emunahw@mnjcc.orgcourse
The Torah of Farming (Jewish Farmer Network)
📆starts November 7, 2023 / 7:30-9PM ET, 4:30-6PM PT
💻virtual
The Torah of Farming is an introduction to the foundational texts of Jewish agricultural wisdom, developed specifically by and for Jewish Farmers. Join us for a 7 week online educational journey through ancient, visionary Jewish agricultural wisdom! Learn more
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, 🌿Nature, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? liel@jewishfarmernetwork.orgcourse
Midnight Radio - an Experimental Punk Song Writing Workshop Series (Feral Queen Apothecary)
📆starts November 8, 2023 / 4-6:30PM CT, 5-7:30PM ET, 2-4:30PM PT
💻virtual
A queer, feminist, Jewish, experimental + therapeutic take on punk song writing. Sessions will include a combo of checking in + getting to know each other; framing / inspiration / prompts; structured parallel play; and time for processing + optional sharing. This project honors the POC invention of punk, and a portion of proceeds will go to the band Fuck U Pay Us and to the Movement for Black Lives.
No singing, songwriting, or musical experience necessary. No prior familiarity with punk music necessary. Learn more / Register
For: Everyone -- centering femme folks, transwomen, transfemmes, AFAB nonbinary + agender folks, & cis women.
Tags: 🥳Social, ✊Social Justice, 🎶Music, 🙏Religion & Spirituality
🤔Questions? feralqueenapothecary@gmail.comcourse
Becoming the Schlemiel: Investigating Yiddish Humor (The Clown School)
📆starts November 9, 2023 / 8-10:30PM ET, 5-7:30PM PT
💻virtual
Join us for a four-week class investigating the significance of foolishness and humor within Yiddish culture. We will examine works by Yiddish writers and storytellers, such as Sholem Aleichem, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and Rabbi Nachman, identifying the different types of fool archetypes present in their work and what makes their writing, their work so inherently Jewish. We will also study the humorous dichotomy of the Schlemiel and the Schlimazel, exploring how these archetypes have shaped Jewish comedic expression. No exploration of Yiddish humor would be complete without an encounter with the Holy Fools of Chelm; we will meet and work with them, too. Learn more / Register
For: Everyone
Tags: 📚Education, Theatre, Yiddish
🤔Questions? danielle.levsky@gmail.com🌎 retreats outside canada
Simchafest at Isabella Freedman (Adamah)
📆October 6-9, 2023
📍USA > CT > Falls Village > 116 Johnson Rd.
CELEBRATE THE TORAH! Simchafest is perhaps the most joyous, and most diverse celebration of the holiday of Simchat Torah you will find. It takes the full spectrum of the community to manifest the joy of Simchafest at Isabella Freedman. Everyone is welcome – all ages, all streams, all colors, all identities. Learn more / Register
For: Everyone
Tags: 🌿Nature, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, 🥳Social
🤔Questions? IFregistrar@adamah.orgViva Nefesh: An Embodied Jewish Experience of Breath, Body, and Balance (Jewtina y Co. & Mitsui Collective)
📆November 26 - December 1, 2023
📍El Salvador > El Tunco > Balancé Yoga Retreat center
Join us for a truly one-of-a-kind Jewish exploration of place, community, and identity across the global Jewish diaspora through the context of five incredible days immersed in the unique beauty, culture, ecology, and history of El Salvador.
This unique program will center the multiracial, multiethnic, and multicultural experience of the global Jewish diaspora. With deep encounter of Central America as the backdrop, we'll guide you both in the exploration of the particular places and communities of El Salvador we'll visit, as well as through your own exploration of personal and ancestral lineage, rootedness, and connection. Along the way, we'll build community with our fellow sojourners as a micro-reflection of the many Jewish communities we are a part of building and sustaining back home, wherever home may be. Learn more
For: Adults
Tags: 🥳Social, 🙏Religion & Spirituality, ✨Wellness, Identity, Diaspora
🤔Questions? info@mitsuicollective.orgLegacy Trip Alabama: Jewish Edition with Kohenet Dr. Harriette E Wimms (Legacy Trips)
📆May 3-5, 2024
📍USA > Alabama > Montgomery
Together, we will face the truth of America's history of anti-Black racial terror and violence, self reflect on the ways each of us have upheld and perpetuated white supremacy in our lives, and embrace our ability to affect change and dismantle racism, first within ourselves, and then in our families and communities. Our purpose is to listen to and learn from Black leadership, utilize antiracism tools and resources to strategize ways to do less harm, be better co-conspirators to BIPOC and develop ways to move forward with mindful action toward collective liberation. Learn more
For: Everyone, Black Jews
Tags: 📚Education, 🥳Social, ✊Social Justiceyelling into a virtual megaphone 📣
while ringing a virtual bell 🔔
while unfurling a long parchment scroll 📜
— and sending love as i do it,
💖 vlada, AKA your shtetl crier
I'm beyond impressed at this extensive collection of incredible offerings. so clearly a needed resource - thank you for all your crying, vlada !!
This is so exciting!! Thank you 💗