| About Eitz Chayim |
| Our Congregation |
| Our Rabbi |
| Membership |
| Get Information |
| Directions & Parking |
| News & Events |
| High Holidays |
| Upcoming Events |
| Calendar |
| Religious Services |
| High Holidays |
| Shabbat Services |
| Weekly Torah Study |
| Holiday Celebrations |
| Children's Education |
| Our School |
| Our Director |
| School News |
| Bar/Bat Mitzvah |
| 5770 Calendar |
| Adult Education |
| Speaker Series |
| Me'ah |
Adult Education Speaker Series
Join us for lively lectures and discussions on important and intriguing topics
All events in the speaker series are free to members and open to the public. Most events take place Sunday mornings from 10:30 a.m. until noon in the Community Room or Library. Coffee and bagels are available at 10:00 a.m. in the Library. A $5 donation is requested from non-members.
Upcoming Speakers
| Date | Time | Title | Speaker(s) |
| Mar 14, 2010 | 10:00 am | Jacob's Cane - A Family Memoir Spanning 5 Ge... | Elisa New |
| Mar 21, 2010 | 10:00 am | J Street: The Middle East Peace Process & th... | Janette Hillis-Jaffe |
| Mar 28, 2010 | 10:00 am | Liven Up your Seder with Seder Songs | Debby Gelber |
| Apr 04, 2010 | 10:00 am | Omer Bartov: From Co-existence to Genocide: R... | Omer Bartov |
| Apr 11, 2010 | 10:00 am | Special Yom HaShoah program | Edgar Krasa, Survivo... |
| Apr 18, 2010 | 10:00 am | No Speaker - School Vacation Week | |
| Apr 25, 2010 | 10:00 am | No Speaker - School Vacation Week | |
| May 02, 2010 | 10:00 am | No Speaker - Walk for Hunger | |
| May 09, 2010 | 10:00 am | TBA - Yom Hashoa | |
| May 09, 2010 | 10:00 am | TBA | |
| May 16, 2010 | 10:00 am | Community Meeting - No Speaker | Adeane Bregman & Sta... |
| May 23, 2010 | 10:00 am | TBA | |
| May 30, 2010 | 10:00 am | No Speaker - Memorial Day Weekend |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 14, 2010 |
| Title: | Jacob's Cane - A Family Memoir Spanning 5 Generations |
| Speaker(s): | Elisa New |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Drawn to an image of her great-grandfather’s ornately carved cane, Harvard professor Elisa New embarked on a journey to discover the origins of her precious family heirloom. Tracing the paths of her ancestors over 5 generations, she traveled from Baltimore to Lithuania to London in order to find and understand a Jewish immigrant world that was profoundly affected by the enlightenment, industrialization and German culture. The memoir captures the rich texture of life on several continents as the... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 21, 2010 |
| Title: | J Street: The Middle East Peace Process & the Debate Among American Jews |
| Speaker(s): | Janette Hillis-Jaffe |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Janette Hillis-Jaffe will discuss current developments in the Middle East peace process, the controversy in American Jewish communities over how to engage with Israel, and how J Street is helping shape the debate in Washington and our communities. In addition to lobbying, J Street is engaged in grassroots efforts, campus programs, a PAC that endorses candidates, and an education fund. Janette will have the latest on the peace process from the March 14 & 15 J Street Leadership Summit in Washin... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 28, 2010 |
| Title: | Liven Up your Seder with Seder Songs |
| Speaker(s): | Debby Gelber |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Come for a review of old favorites and learn some new tunes from Jewish communities all over the world! Includes fun songs for kids (with hand motions!) as well as interesting music for all ages. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Apr 04, 2010 |
| Title: | Omer Bartov: From Co-existence to Genocide: Reflections on Violence in Eastern Europe in the 20th Century |
| Speaker(s): | Omer Bartov |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Omer Bartov: From Co-existence to Genocide: Reflections on Violence in Eastern Europe in the 20th Century |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Apr 11, 2010 |
| Title: | Special Yom HaShoah program |
| Speaker(s): | Edgar Krasa, Survivor of Terezinstadt |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Description: | Edgar Krasa, was 21 years old when he was sent to Terezin, a German concentration camp in Czechoslovakia, where he survived as a cook for three years. Terezin was the showcase camp, run by the Gestapo, that deceived inspectors from the International Red Cross, while transporting 88,000 Jews to Auschwitz and other death camps and murdering another 33,000 by starvation, disease and mistreatment. Many prominent Jewish scholars, scientists and musicians were held in Terezin, and after days spent a... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Apr 18, 2010 |
| Title: | No Speaker - School Vacation Week |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Apr 25, 2010 |
| Title: | No Speaker - School Vacation Week |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 02, 2010 |
| Title: | No Speaker - Walk for Hunger |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 09, 2010 |
| Title: | TBA - Yom Hashoa |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 09, 2010 |
| Title: | TBA |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 16, 2010 |
| Title: | Community Meeting - No Speaker |
| Speaker(s): | Adeane Bregman & Stanley Sagov |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 23, 2010 |
| Title: | TBA |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 30, 2010 |
| Title: | No Speaker - Memorial Day Weekend |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
Recent Speakers
| Date | Time | Title | Speaker(s) |
| Mar 07, 2010 | 10:00 am | Karen Frostig: The Exiled Memory Project: A... | Karen Frostig |
| Feb 28, 2010 | 10:00 am | Joanna Michlic: Rebuilding Shattered Lives: ... | Joanna Michlic |
| Feb 23, 2010 | 7:00 pm | Breaking the Silence | Dana Golan |
| Feb 21, 2010 | 10:00 am | No Speaker - School Vacation Week | |
| Feb 14, 2010 | 10:00 am | No Speaker - School Vacation Week | |
| Feb 07, 2010 | 10:00 am | Community Meeting - No Speaker | Adeane Bregman & Sta... |
| Jan 31, 2010 | 10:00 am | Phil Warburg: Israel's Environmental Challen... | Phil Warburg |
| Jan 24, 2010 | 10:00 am | Boris Katz & Carol Clingan: Action for Post-S... | Boris Katz & Carol C... |
| Jan 17, 2010 | 10:00 am | No Speaker - Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend | |
| Jan 10, 2010 | 10:00 am | Guillermo Gonzales: Discovering My Buried Jew... | Guillermo Gonzales |
| Jan 10, 2010 | 10:00 am | Penina Weinberg: How Jews Make Meaning - Part... | Penina Weinberg |
| Jan 03, 2010 | 10:00 am | No Speaker - Winter Vacation | |
| Dec 27, 2009 | 10:00 am | No Speaker - Winter Vacation | |
| Dec 13, 2009 | 10:00 am | Linda Nathan: Teaching and Leadership in Urba... | Linda Nathan |
| Dec 06, 2009 | 10:00 am | Yaron Nili: Israel’s Supreme Court: Protectin... | Yaron Nili |
| Nov 29, 2009 | 10:00 am | No Speaker - Thanksgiving Weekend | |
| Nov 22, 2009 | 10:00 am | Climate Change and the Energy Challenge | Armond Cohen |
| Nov 15, 2009 | 10:00 am | Batsheva and David | Penina Weinberg |
| Nov 08, 2009 | 10:00 am | Once Jews: The Sephardic Jewish Community of... | Josette Capriles Gol... |
| Nov 01, 2009 | 10:00 am | Federal Health Reform in 2009: What Happened... | Eric Schneider |
| Oct 25, 2009 | 10:00 am | Penina Weinberg: How Jews Make Meaning - Par... | Penina Weinberg |
| Oct 24, 2009 | 5:00 pm | Spinning Text: Chapter Two in the Beautifica... | Catherine Tutter & P... |
| Oct 18, 2009 | 10:00 am | TBA | |
| Oct 11, 2009 | 10:00 am | No Speaker - Simhat Torah, Columbus Day Weeke... | |
| Oct 04, 2009 | 10:00 am | Confronting Racism, Materialism and Militaris... | Brian Corr |
| Sep 27, 2009 | 10:00 am | Sam Petuchowski: The Eloquence of Hope in Isa... | Sam Petuchowski |
| Sep 20, 2009 | 10:00 am | No Speaker - Second Day of Rosh Hashanahj | |
| Sep 13, 2009 | 10:00 am | Rabbi Liza Stern: Preparing for the Jewish N... | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| May 17, 2009 | 10:00 am | Deborah Davidson : Listening: An Artist’s Res... | Deborah Davidson |
| Apr 05, 2009 | 10:00 am | Joel Migdal: The New Middle East: A New U.S. ... | Joel Migdal |
| Mar 29, 2009 | 10:00 am | Stuart Hecht "American Dreams: Broadway as Ou... | Stuart Hecht |
| Mar 22, 2009 | 10:00 am | Paula Doress-Worters: How a Rabbi’s Daughter ... | Paula Doress-Worters |
| Mar 15, 2009 | 10:00 am | Ehud Eiran: New American & Israeli Leadership... | Ehud Eiran |
| Mar 08, 2009 | 10:00 am | Meir Lakein: A Jewish Response to the Econom... | Meir Lakein |
| Mar 01, 2009 | 10:00 am | Steve Lantos: Havana’s Communidad Hebrea and ... | Steve Lantos |
| Feb 01, 2009 | 10:00 am | Jeremy Sher: A New Look at the Birkat Hamazo... | Jeremy Sher |
| Jan 25, 2009 | 10:00 am | TBA | TBA |
| Jan 25, 2009 | 10:00 am | Jenny Rudacha and Peter Berman: Public Healt... | Jenny Rudacha and Pe... |
| Jan 04, 2009 | 10:00 am | Steve Cohen: Coming to Terms With Their Bomb | Steve Cohen |
| Dec 21, 2008 | 10:00 am | Rabbi Liza Stern: Why Hanukah | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Dec 14, 2008 | 10:00 am | Judith Smith, moderator Film: Brownsville Bl... | Judith Smith |
| Dec 07, 2008 | 10:00 am | Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg - Surprised By God: ... | Rabbi Danya Ruttenb... |
| Nov 23, 2008 | 10:00 am | Film: In Good Faith – The Making of a Mosque... | Matt Porter |
| Nov 16, 2008 | 10:00 am | Phil Brown - A Summer Eden: The Jewish Exper... | Phil Brown |
| Nov 09, 2008 | 10:00 am | Keshet Representatives - Tikkun Olam & Gender... | Keshet Representativ... |
| Nov 02, 2008 | 10:00 am | David Abromowitz: Bailouts & Bagels: What is... | David Abromowitz |
| Oct 26, 2008 | 10:00 am | Armand Cohen Climate Change: What Are the Rea... | Armand Cohen |
| Oct 19, 2008 | 10:00 am | Bob & Doris Gordon: The Kehilla Project: Rek... | Bob & Doris Gordon |
| Oct 05, 2008 | 10:00 am | Rabbi Liza Stern: "Anticipating Yom Kippur" | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Sep 28, 2008 | 10:00 am | Dr. Aaron Lazare: Understanding Our Painful E... | Dr. Aaron Lazare |
| Sep 21, 2008 | 6:30 pm | Elul Study (Session 3 of 3) | Penina Weinberg |
| Sep 14, 2008 | 10:00 am | Elul Learning (Session 2 of 3): "Looking Anew... | Penina Weinberg |
| Sep 07, 2008 | 6:30 pm | Elul Learning (Session 1 of 3) | Penina Weinberg |
| Sep 07, 2008 | 10:00 am | Rabbi Liza Stern: Welcome/Welcome Back to Eit... | Heidi Urich |
| Jun 15, 2008 | 10:00 am | Israeli-Palestinian peace and security negoti... | Gina Coplon-Newfield |
| Jun 05, 2008 | 7:15 pm | Women in the Bible | Penina Weinberg |
| May 29, 2008 | 7:30 pm | Women in the Bible | Penina Weinberg |
| May 22, 2008 | 7:30 pm | Women in the Bible | Penina Weinberg |
| May 11, 2008 | 10:00 am | Esther and Simon Adler: From Under the Heel ... | Esther and Simon Adl... |
| May 08, 2008 | 7:30 pm | Women in the Bible | Penina Weinberg |
| May 01, 2008 | 7:30 pm | Women in the Bible | Penina Weinberg |
| Apr 13, 2008 | 10:00 am | Andrea Silton & Jan Corash: Jazzing Up Your ... | Andrea Silton & Jan ... |
| Apr 10, 2008 | 7:15 pm | Women in the Bible | Penina Weinberg |
| Mar 30, 2008 | 10:00 am | Rachel Rosenbloom: “Treat the stranger as yo... | Rachel Rosenbloom le... |
| Mar 27, 2008 | 7:15 pm | Women in the Bible | Penina Weinberg |
| Mar 23, 2008 | 10:00 am | Steve Cohen: The War To End All War Doesn't ... | Steve Cohen leads ou... |
| Mar 16, 2008 | 10:00 am | First Speaker Series Event of 2008 - 2009 | Heidi Urich |
| Mar 16, 2008 | 10:00 am | Anna Swartz and Friends: Teens With Faith in... | Anna Swartz leads ou... |
| Mar 09, 2008 | 10:00 am | Joanne Peskowitz: Honoring and Caring for ou... | Joanne Peskowitz lea... |
| Mar 06, 2008 | 7:15 pm | Women in the Bible | Penina Weinberg |
| Mar 02, 2008 | 10:00 am | Rabbi Benji Samuels: While Standing on One F... | Rabbi Benji Samuels ... |
| Feb 21, 2008 | 7:15 pm | Women in the Bible | Penina Weinberg |
| Feb 10, 2008 | 10:00 am | “Knowledge is the Beginning” Film Screening ... | Film & Discussion le... |
| Feb 03, 2008 | 10:00 am | “From Swastika to Jim Crow” | Film & Discussion le... |
| Jan 27, 2008 | 10:00 am | Ezra Hausman: Energy Choices for a Warming W... | Ezra Hausman |
| Jan 24, 2008 | 7:15 pm | Women in the Bible | Penina Weinberg |
| Jan 06, 2008 | 10:00 am | “Hineini: Coming Out in a Jewish High School”... | Film & Discussion le... |
| Dec 09, 2007 | 10:00 am | The Unknown Black Book of the Holocaust | Joshua Rubenstein |
| Dec 02, 2007 | 10:00 am | December Dilemmas | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Nov 18, 2007 | 10:00 am | History of the Jews in Cambridge | Ellen Smith |
| Nov 04, 2007 | 10:00 am | Prospects for Peace in the Middle East? | Ehud Eiran |
| Oct 28, 2007 | 10:00 am | Jews and Medicine - Why? | Stanley Sagov |
| Oct 21, 2007 | 10:00 am | Can we Stop the Dafur Genocide? | Irit Tamar |
| Sep 30, 2007 | 10:00 am | The Power of Dialogue in Jewish-Muslim Relati... | Rabbi Jaffe and Salm... |
| Sep 23, 2007 | 10:00 am | Searching for Family in the Holocaust | Judy Rakowsky |
| Sep 16, 2007 | 10:00 am | Preparing for Yom Kippur | Our Wonderful Rabbi |
| Sep 09, 2007 | 10:00 am | Preparing for Rosh Hashanah | Our Wonderful Rabbi |
| Sep 05, 2007 | 7:30 pm | The story of Hannah (Part 4 of 4) | Penina Weinberg |
| Aug 29, 2007 | 7:30 pm | The story of Hannah (Part 3 of 4) | Penina Weinberg |
| Aug 22, 2007 | 7:30 pm | The story of Hannah (Part 2 of 4) | Penina Weinberg |
| Aug 15, 2007 | 7:30 pm | The story of Hannah (Part 1 of 4) | Penina Weinberg |
| Aug 13, 2007 | 7:30 pm | Yiddish Policeman's Union" by Michael Chabonn | Carol Kraus |
| May 20, 2007 | 10:30 am | Livable Cities are Walkable Cities | Wendy Landman |
| May 13, 2007 | 10:30 am | Women at the Center – the Book of Ruth and Sh... | Judith Kates |
| May 06, 2007 | 10:00 am | No Adult Education: Walk for Hunger | |
| Apr 29, 2007 | 10:00 am | Lorel Zar Kessler, Cantor Congregation Beth E... | Lorel Zar Kessler, C... |
| Apr 08, 2007 | 10:30 am | Child Survivor of the Holocaust | Peter Gossels |
| Mar 25, 2007 | 10:00 am | Mitchell Silver: | Mitchell Silver |
| Mar 18, 2007 | 10:00 am | Judy Smith: | Judy Smith |
| Mar 14, 2007 | 7:00 pm | Diana Lobel : A Sufi-Jewish Dialogue Philosop... | Diana Lobel |
| Mar 11, 2007 | 10:00 am | Imam Ibrahim Sayar: Understanding Islam | Imam Ibrahim Sayar |
| Mar 04, 2007 | 12:00 am | No Speaker - Enjoy PURIM!!! | No Speaker - Enjoy P... |
| Feb 11, 2007 | 10:00 am | Film by Eileen Douglas: My Grandfather’s Hou... | Eileen Douglas |
| Feb 04, 2007 | 10:00 am | Beth Wasserman: The Role of American Jews in ... | Beth Wasserman |
| Jan 28, 2007 | 10:00 am | Rabbi Ebn Leader and Randy Kafka: Semicha in... | Rabbi Ebn Leader and... |
| Jan 21, 2007 | 10:00 am | David Bernat: Civil Liberties in Stressful Ti... | David Bernat: |
| Jan 07, 2007 | 10:00 am | Marshall Gans: Hillel’s Three Questions | Marshall Gans |
| Dec 10, 2006 | 10:30 am | Our Rabbi: The December Dilemma | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Dec 03, 2006 | 10:30 am | Ann Braude and Andrea Silton: Raising Jewish ... | Ann Braude and Andre... |
| Nov 19, 2006 | 10:30 am | Julian Bonder:Preserving Memory in Memorials | Julian Bonder |
| Nov 14, 2006 | 7:00 pm | Penina Weinberg:The Garment of Torah:: Sessio... | Penina Weinberg |
| Nov 12, 2006 | 10:30 am | Ehud Eiran:Middle East Challenges | Ehud Eiran |
| Nov 06, 2006 | 7:00 pm | Penina Weinberg:The Garment of Torah:: Sessio... | Penina Weinberg |
| Nov 05, 2006 | 10:30 am | Hankus Netsky:Jewish Music, American Style | Hankus Netsky |
| Oct 30, 2006 | 7:00 pm | Penina Weinberg:The Garment of Torah: Session... | Penina Weinberg |
| Oct 29, 2006 | 10:30 am | Rabbi Lawrence Kushner: Kabbalah: A Love Stor... | Rabbi Lawrence Kushn... |
| Oct 15, 2006 | 10:30 am | Leonard Fein: Loving Israel, Warts & All | Leonard Fein |
| Sep 17, 2006 | 10:30 am | Preparing for Rosh Hasonah & Yom Kippur | Our Wonderful Rabbi |
| Sep 10, 2006 | 10:30 am | Opening Day 5767 - Preparing for Rosh Hasonah | Our Wonderful Rabbi |
| May 14, 2006 | 10:30 am | Boston and Its Jews | Alan Lupo |
| May 07, 2006 | 10:30 am | It Can Happen Here: Domestic Violence in the ... | Nicole Furie Lesser |
| Apr 30, 2006 | 7:00 pm | The History of Love | Nicole Krauss |
| Apr 23, 2006 | 10:30 am | I Refused to Die – Stories of Holocaust Survi... | Susie Davidson |
| Apr 09, 2006 | 10:30 am | Every Mother Is a Daughter | Perri Klass and Shei... |
| Apr 02, 2006 | 10:30 am | Your Money or Your Health? Prescription Drug... | Joel Weissman |
| Mar 27, 2006 | 7:30 pm | Israel Decides - A Town Hall Meeting | Gil Tamary |
| Mar 26, 2006 | 10:30 am | Reflecting on Passover: "Next Year in Jerusal... | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Mar 19, 2006 | 10:30 am | Rich or Poor, It Pays to Have Money | Steve Alexander |
| Mar 15, 2006 | 7:00 pm | Stars of David | Abigail Pogrebin |
| Mar 12, 2006 | 10:30 am | Prospects for Peace in the Middle East? | Ehud Eiran |
| Mar 05, 2006 | 10:30 am | Second Stage Parenting: Relating to our Adult... | Dr. Ruth Nemzoff |
| Feb 26, 2006 | 10:30 am | Growing Up Jewish in South Africa | Elivia & Stanley Sag... |
| Feb 05, 2006 | 10:30 am | Orthodox and Egalitarian: What is motivating... | Alanna Cooper |
| Jan 22, 2006 | 10:30 am | Affordable Housing from a Jewish Ethical Pers... | David Abromowitz |
| Jan 18, 2006 | 7:00 pm | Zeppo's First Wife: New and Selected Poems | Gail Mazur |
| Jan 08, 2006 | 10:30 am | The Israeli – Palestinian Conflict | Diane Balser |
| Dec 18, 2005 | 10:30 am | Bringing Chanuka to Light | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Dec 11, 2005 | 7:00 pm | Finding Home - In the Footsteps of the Jewish... | Jill Culiner |
| Dec 11, 2005 | 10:30 am | Building Communities in Our Own Backyards – M... | Ann Bookman |
| Dec 04, 2005 | 7:00 pm | Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers - An Inti... | Stephanie Wellen Lev... |
| Dec 04, 2005 | 10:30 am | Environmental Values in Judaism | Rabbi Ebn Leader |
| Nov 20, 2005 | 10:30 am | Secret Jewish Communities: From the Inquisiti... | Gloria Mound |
| Nov 13, 2005 | 7:00 pm | The Mystery of Breathing | Perri Klass |
| Nov 13, 2005 | 10:30 am | Healing the Abrahamic Triangle: Jews, Muslims... | Yehezkel Landau |
| Nov 06, 2005 | 10:30 am | Public Policy and Jewish Values | State Representative... |
| Oct 30, 2005 | 7:00 pm | Great Neck | Jay Cantor |
| Oct 23, 2005 | 10:30 am | The Women Who Changed American Religion | Ann Braude |
| Oct 02, 2005 | 10:30 am | Preparing for the High Holy Days | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Sep 25, 2005 | 10:30 am | Jews as Global Citizens - Our Responsibility ... | Ruth Messinger |
| Sep 18, 2005 | 10:30 am | The Case for Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conf... | Alan Dershowitz |
| Sep 11, 2005 | 10:30 am | On Apology | Dr. Aaron Lazare |
| Aug 25, 2005 | 7:00 pm | Book Discussion - "Everything is Illuminated"... | Carol Kraus |
| Jul 27, 2005 | 7:30 pm | Israel, Gaza, and the Withdrawal: The Ethica... | Herbert C. Kelman |
| May 08, 2005 | 10:30 am | A Holocaust Survivor Remembers | Janet Applefield |
| Apr 17, 2005 | 10:30 am | Living Wills and Health Care Proxies | Stanley Sagov |
| Apr 10, 2005 | 10:30 am | Preparing for Passover | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Apr 03, 2005 | 10:30 am | Young Refugees from Nazi Germany and Their Li... | Gerhard Sonnert, Ha... |
| Mar 20, 2005 | 10:30 am | Memory, Imagination and the Writing of "San R... | Leslie Epstein |
| Mar 13, 2005 | 10:30 am | Growing Up in the 80’s, As Told by a Young No... | Alison Pollet |
| Feb 06, 2005 | 10:30 am | "My Brother’s Wedding" Film Screening and Dis... | David Akiba |
| Jan 19, 2005 | 7:00 pm | Special Event - A Discussion of Palestinian E... | Steve Miller |
| Jan 09, 2005 | 10:30 am | The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict and its Impa... | Sara Roy, Harvard Un... |
| Dec 19, 2004 | 10:30 am | A Halachic Exploration of Gay Marriage | Ebn Leader, Hebrew C... |
| Dec 05, 2004 | 10:30 am | A Post-Election Look at the Israeli-Palestini... | Udi Eiran, former ad... |
| Nov 21, 2004 | 10:30 am | Communication with our Children about Inter-r... | Elana Kling Perkins,... |
| Nov 14, 2004 | 10:30 am | Caring for Jewish Cemeteries in Today's Germa... | Sven Riethmueller |
| Nov 07, 2004 | 10:30 am | The World Turned Upside Down | Ellen Kushner, Host ... |
| Nov 01, 2004 | 7:30 pm | Special Event - Israeli IDF Refusenik speaks ... | Noam Bahat |
| Oct 24, 2004 | 10:30 am | Amidst the Ashes - A Renewal of Jewish Life i... | Larry Mayer, author ... |
| Sep 26, 2004 | 10:30 am | Launching the New Center for Arts and Culture... | Shoshana Pakciarz, E... |
| Sep 19, 2004 | 10:30 am | Journey from Death to Life---Yom Kippur as R... | Rabbi Victor Reinste... |
| Sep 12, 2004 | 10:30 am | "But this year I Really Mean It": Allowing ou... | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| May 23, 2004 | 10:30 am | Mel Gibson's "The Passion Of The Christ" - Wh... | Philip Cunningham, B... |
| May 16, 2004 | 10:30 am | Israel And The Occupied Territories: How Can ... | Alan Meyers M.D. |
| May 02, 2004 | 10:30 am | Growing Up With The Holocaust | A Panel of Eitz Chay... |
| Apr 11, 2004 | 10:30 am | From "Mame-Loshn" To Literary Language: The E... | Catherine Madsen, Na... |
| Apr 04, 2004 | 10:30 am | Tikkun Olam (Healing The World) In A Mobile H... | Noah Levinson |
| Mar 28, 2004 | 10:30 am | The Origins Of The Seder | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Mar 21, 2004 | 10:30 am | Myths And Realities About Islam | Sameh El-Difrawy fro... |
| Mar 14, 2004 | 10:30 am | The Body In Jewish Thinking – Ancient And Mod... | Carol Kraus |
| Feb 08, 2004 | 10:30 am | The Song Of Songs | Ellen Kushner, host ... |
| Feb 01, 2004 | 10:30 am | Navigating Through The Siddur: An Introductio... | Constance Dinges, Ch... |
| Jan 25, 2004 | 10:30 am | Reinventing Mikveh For The 21st Century | Anita Diamant |
| Jan 11, 2004 | 10:30 am | Activating Teenagers’ Jewish Lives: Texts And... | Bonna Devora Haberma... |
| Dec 07, 2003 | 10:30 am | Raising Children In An Interfaith Family | Elana Kling Perkins |
| Nov 23, 2003 | 10:30 am | Paths To A Just Peace In Israel/Palestine | Daniel Moss and Nisr... |
| Nov 16, 2003 | 10:30 am | The Continuing History Of The Marranos | Gloria Mound |
| Nov 09, 2003 | 10:30 am | From Cradle To Grave – We Are There For Each ... | Community Concerns C... |
| Nov 02, 2003 | 10:30 am | Report From Berlin | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Oct 26, 2003 | 10:30 am | Where Is The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Goi... | Ehud Eiran |
| Sep 21, 2003 | 10:30 am | How To Raise A Mensch | Prof. Nehemia Polen |
| Sep 14, 2003 | 10:30 am | Ready Or Not, Here We Come | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 07, 2010 |
| Title: | Karen Frostig: The Exiled Memory Project: Art and Holocaust Legacies |
| Speaker(s): | Karen Frostig |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | As described by Karen Frostig: |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Feb 28, 2010 |
| Title: | Joanna Michlic: Rebuilding Shattered Lives: Jewish Children in Early Postwar Poland |
| Speaker(s): | Joanna Michlic |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | During WWII, a number of Jewish parents were able to hide their children with Polish families for safekeeping. Many of these parents did not survive the Holocaust and their children were orphaned. For those who survived, finding and reclaiming their children was often very difficult. In some cases, the children had bonded with their second families and experienced emotional turbulence when reclaimed by relatives or Jewish organizations. Joanna Michlic will discuss the hardships and complicat... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Feb 23, 2010 |
| Title: | Breaking the Silence |
| Speaker(s): | Dana Golan |
| Start: | 7:00 pm |
| End: | 9:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Israeli soldiers speaking on the moral price of occupation - Highlighting the experience of female soldiers |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Feb 21, 2010 |
| Title: | No Speaker - School Vacation Week |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Feb 14, 2010 |
| Title: | No Speaker - School Vacation Week |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Feb 07, 2010 |
| Title: | Community Meeting - No Speaker |
| Speaker(s): | Adeane Bregman & Stanley Sagov |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 31, 2010 |
| Title: | Phil Warburg: Israel's Environmental Challenges |
| Speaker(s): | Phil Warburg |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Phil Warburg: Israel's Environmental Challenges |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 24, 2010 |
| Title: | Boris Katz & Carol Clingan: Action for Post-Soviet Jewry The Situation of Jews in the Former Soviet Union |
| Speaker(s): | Boris Katz & Carol Clingan |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Boris Katz & Carol Clingan from Action for Post-Soviet Jewry: |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 17, 2010 |
| Title: | No Speaker - Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 10, 2010 |
| Title: | Guillermo Gonzales: Discovering My Buried Jewish Roots |
| Speaker(s): | Guillermo Gonzales |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Guillermo Gonzales: Discovering My Buried Jewish Roots |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 10, 2010 |
| Title: | Penina Weinberg: How Jews Make Meaning - Part 3: The Song of Songs: And the Fire Flashed Around Them? |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Penina Weinberg: How Jews Make Meaning - Part 3: The Song of Songs: And the Fire Flashed Around Them? |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 03, 2010 |
| Title: | No Speaker - Winter Vacation |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Dec 27, 2009 |
| Title: | No Speaker - Winter Vacation |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Dec 13, 2009 |
| Title: | Linda Nathan: Teaching and Leadership in Urban Schools: The Boston Arts Academy |
| Speaker(s): | Linda Nathan |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Linda Nathan: Teaching and Leadership in Urban Schools: The Boston Arts Academy |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Dec 06, 2009 |
| Title: | Yaron Nili: Israel’s Supreme Court: Protecting Civil and Human Rights Under a “Soft Constitution |
| Speaker(s): | Yaron Nili |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Yaron Nili: Israel’s Supreme Court: Protecting Civil and Human Rights Under a “Soft Constitution |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 29, 2009 |
| Title: | No Speaker - Thanksgiving Weekend |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 22, 2009 |
| Title: | Climate Change and the Energy Challenge |
| Speaker(s): | Armond Cohen |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Global warming is underway and policy solutions often point to the need to transform the Earth’s energy system. But how much leverage can we get on the climate problem through energy changes and how quickly? What is the relative role and scale of low carbon technologies such as energy efficiency, wind, solar, carbon capture from coal, and nuclear power? Do we need to think about large scale emergency atmospheric modifications to combat warming? What is the role of international cooperation i... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 15, 2009 |
| Title: | Batsheva and David |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast... The relationship between Batsheva and David is fraught with ambiguity. Was Batsheva a victim or a victor? Was David a hero or a heel? If Batsheva was not barren, could their son Solomon have been a rightful hero-king? Why does the story in Samuel and Kings differ from the story in Chronicles? Through stor... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 08, 2009 |
| Title: | Once Jews: The Sephardic Jewish Community of Curacao |
| Speaker(s): | Josette Capriles Goldish |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | The phrase “I am a Catholic, but I am Jewish” may seem contradictory to some, but in the Caribbean islands and the countries of the Caribbean periphery, there are hundreds and perhaps thousands of individuals who identify themselves in this manner. They trace their ancestry back to the early Sephardim of the Dutch island of Curacao. Josette Goldish will describe her quest to find out how these Sephardim got to Curacao, Santo Domingo, St. Thomas, Barranquilla, and other such places. She will... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 01, 2009 |
| Title: | Federal Health Reform in 2009: What Happened and What Still Needs to be Done? |
| Speaker(s): | Eric Schneider |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | The prospects for meaningful health reform were far better in 2009 than in 1993, yet the political challenges have been daunting. This session will review the proposals, the politics, and the important work that will still be ahead even if federal health reform is signed into law this year. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Oct 25, 2009 |
| Title: | Penina Weinberg: How Jews Make Meaning - Part 1: The Hannah Narrative: I Am a Woman of Stubborn Spirit? |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Penina Weinberg: How Jews Make Meaning - Part 1: The Hannah Narrative: I Am a Woman of Stubborn Spirit? |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Oct 24, 2009 |
| Title: | Spinning Text: Chapter Two in the Beautification of our Torah |
| Speaker(s): | Catherine Tutter & Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 5:00 pm |
| End: | 8:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Come enjoy an evening celebrating Jewish texts that both emanate from our lives, and are brought into our lives. Participants will learn how to spin their stories into yarn – yarn that will be woven to make a new Torah binder, or wimple, for our community’s Torah. Our experience of transforming the texts of our lives will be enriched by a study of biblical and rabbinic texts about women spinning in and out of the marketplace. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Oct 18, 2009 |
| Title: | TBA |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Oct 11, 2009 |
| Title: | No Speaker - Simhat Torah, Columbus Day Weekend |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Oct 04, 2009 |
| Title: | Confronting Racism, Materialism and Militarism in the 21st Century |
| Speaker(s): | Brian Corr |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | In 1968, Rev. Martin Luther King described the spiritual threat to American society. In his words, “We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” More than 40 years later, the country still faces these three existential challenges to our values ... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 27, 2009 |
| Title: | Sam Petuchowski: The Eloquence of Hope in Isaiah |
| Speaker(s): | Sam Petuchowski |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Sam Petuchowski: The Eloquence of Hope in Isaiah |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 20, 2009 |
| Title: | No Speaker - Second Day of Rosh Hashanahj |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 13, 2009 |
| Title: | Rabbi Liza Stern: Preparing for the Jewish New Year Here We Go Again: The Challenge of Authentic Renewal |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Rabbi Liza Stern will lead our discussion on "Preparing for the Jewish New Year Here We Go Again: The Challenge of Authentic Renewal" |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 17, 2009 |
| Title: | Deborah Davidson : Listening: An Artist’s Response to History |
| Speaker(s): | Deborah Davidson |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Deborah Davidson’s response to the political is the personal. She uses the artist book genre as a vehicle to articulate her family history –- to understand the past by examining a very specific story. In 1944, her great-grandmother wrote eight letters from an internment camp in Italy before being deported to Auschwitz; these letters became the lens through which the story is told. Through the exploration of scale and conception of the book as a container, Davidson pushes the boundaries of wha... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Apr 05, 2009 |
| Title: | Joel Migdal: The New Middle East: A New U.S. Administration and Israel Contemplate War and Peace |
| Speaker(s): | Joel Migdal |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | The Middle East regional system changed dramatically from the 20th to the 21st centuries in terms of the key powers, the motivating ideology, the central issues, and more. The two Gulf wars and the emergence of Iran as a regional power are recent examples. Professor Joel Migdal will analyze these changes and show how Israel and the United States have reacted to them. For both, the new Middle East presents unprecedented opportunities and challenges. The nature of their future relationship hing... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 29, 2009 |
| Title: | Stuart Hecht "American Dreams: Broadway as Our Theatrical Ellis Island" |
| Speaker(s): | Stuart Hecht |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | In this lecture, with the aid of musical accompaniment, Stuart Hecht will look at the evolution of the Broadway musical as seen through the shows themselves. He will consider how Jewish acculturation, offstage and on, was reflected in the changing face of the American musical during its Golden Age. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 22, 2009 |
| Title: | Paula Doress-Worters: How a Rabbi’s Daughter from Poland Became America’s First Feminist |
| Speaker(s): | Paula Doress-Worters |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Ernestine Rose was unique among the founders of the women’s rights movement. She was a Polish-Jewish immigrant whose compelling oratory linked three reform movements: women’s rights, the abolition of slavery, and religious free thought. She was a celebrated orator – logical, humorous and always inspiring – known as the “Queen of the Platform.” |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 15, 2009 |
| Title: | Ehud Eiran: New American & Israeli Leadership and the Challenge of Middle East Peace |
| Speaker(s): | Ehud Eiran |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: |
|
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 08, 2009 |
| Title: | Meir Lakein: A Jewish Response to the Economic Collapse |
| Speaker(s): | Meir Lakein |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | As the current economic situation worsens and people face the reality of job loss and shrinking financial safety nets, the need for creative solutions has intensified. The Greater Boston Synagogue Organizing Project has been working with congregations to prepare them respond externally with public action for the common good, and internally, with a commitment to chesed (loving kindness.) Through house meetings and conversations, participants are asked to tell their stories and share their ideas... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 01, 2009 |
| Title: | Steve Lantos: Havana’s Communidad Hebrea and the Jews of Cuba |
| Speaker(s): | Steve Lantos |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Prior to Castro’s rise to power, there were 15,000 Jews living in Havana in a thriving community that boasted 5 synagogues. On the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, there are 1500 Jews in all of Cuba and the country is without a single Rabbi. Yet there is hope as the small Jewish community struggles to maintain its traditions during these changing times - on both sides of the Florida Straits. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Feb 01, 2009 |
| Title: | Jeremy Sher: A New Look at the Birkat Hamazon |
| Speaker(s): | Jeremy Sher |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | We nourish our souls through thanksgiving, just as we nourish our bodies through food, says Rabbi Kamrass. The Birkat Hamazon, the Jewish blessing sung after meals, contains the strivings, longings and thanksgivings that build a Jewish home around any table anywhere. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 25, 2009 |
| Title: | TBA |
| Speaker(s): | TBA |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 25, 2009 |
| Title: | Jenny Rudacha and Peter Berman: Public Health in India - Four Years in the Trenches |
| Speaker(s): | Jenny Rudacha and Peter Berman |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | India has skyrocketed on the world scene as an economic and intellectual superpower. This India contrasts sharply with the dire poverty, malnutrition and newborn mortality from preventable conditions that threaten the dream for development. The government health infrastructure established to reach and treat every villager in the country is dysfunctional despite decades of attention or perhaps neglect. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 04, 2009 |
| Title: | Steve Cohen: Coming to Terms With Their Bomb |
| Speaker(s): | Steve Cohen |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | The atomic bombs that changed the world on August 6 and August 9, 1945 were the products of immense work. A large number of Jewish scientists were involved with creating the bombs. They were also divided about their usage. Can we learn anything from their debate over the bomb? |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Dec 21, 2008 |
| Title: | Rabbi Liza Stern: Why Hanukah |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Our fantastic Rabbi will lead a study session for those of you who love to ask “why”. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Dec 14, 2008 |
| Title: | Judith Smith, moderator Film: Brownsville Black and White |
| Speaker(s): | Judith Smith |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | This documentary explores the complex history of interracial cooperation, urban change, and social conflict in a Brooklyn neighborhood from the 1930s to the present. It revisits the 1968 Ocean Hill Brownsville school battles between the largely white and Jewish teachers union and black and white community school activists. It is a case study of urban American race relations, recounting the transformation of Brownsville from a poor but racially harmonious area made up largely of Jews and blacks ... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Dec 07, 2008 |
| Title: | Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg - Surprised By God: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg discusses her new book, Surprised By God: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 23, 2008 |
| Title: | Film: In Good Faith – The Making of a Mosque and a Community With filmmaker Matt Porter |
| Speaker(s): | Matt Porter |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | This new documentary takes an inside look at the Muslim community in Boston and the surrounding area. It highlights the recent construction of New England’s largest mosque in Roxbury and the controversy and dialogue it generated involving members of the local Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities. The film features interviews with Imam Basyouny Nehala (Islamic Society of Boston), Rabbi Moshe Waldoks (Temple Beth Zion), Prof. Dennis Hale (Boston College), Dr. David Gordis (Hebrew College), an... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 16, 2008 |
| Title: | Phil Brown - A Summer Eden: The Jewish Experience in the Catskills |
| Speaker(s): | Phil Brown |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | A Summer Eden: The Jewish Experience in the Catskills |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 09, 2008 |
| Title: | Keshet Representatives - Tikkun Olam & Gender Expression/Identity: A Jewish Look at the New Frontier in Civil Rights |
| Speaker(s): | Keshet Representatives |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Keshet Representatives |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 02, 2008 |
| Title: | David Abromowitz: Bailouts & Bagels: What is The Foreclosure Epidemic, Why is it Happening & What Should We Do to Get out of It? |
| Speaker(s): | David Abromowitz |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Bailouts & Bagels: What is The Foreclosure Epidemic, Why is it Happening & What Should We Do to Get out of It? |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Oct 26, 2008 |
| Title: | Armand Cohen Climate Change: What Are the Real Options? |
| Speaker(s): | Armand Cohen |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Climate change is one of the top U.S. environmental issues. But the discussion is often at the level of slogans and dangerous simplifications. What does the best science tell us about the momentum for climate change and the time we have left to change course? What are the truly viable options we have to reduce dangerous emissions and soak up existing emissions in the atmosphere? Is the emerging “green energy” industry substance, hype, or a little of both? |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Oct 19, 2008 |
| Title: | Bob & Doris Gordon: The Kehilla Project: Rekindling Jewish Life in Ukraine |
| Speaker(s): | Bob & Doris Gordon |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | The Kehilla Project: Rekindling Jewish Life in Ukraine |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Oct 05, 2008 |
| Title: | Rabbi Liza Stern: "Anticipating Yom Kippur" |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Please join Rabbi Stern in a group activity followed by text study on this Sunday between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. As we will be in the midst of our High Holy Days, we will explore what the tradition teaches us about this intensely significant time on our Jewish calendar. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 28, 2008 |
| Title: | Dr. Aaron Lazare: Understanding Our Painful Emotions |
| Speaker(s): | Dr. Aaron Lazare |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | How do we understand emotions such as shame, humiliation and guilt? Psychiatrist Aaron Lazare argues that these are moral emotions that make us human and signal to us that our image of ourselves is being threatened. They are emotions to befriend and respond to in constructive ways. Dr. Lazare has been studying these emotions in regard to physicians but they apply to everyone in every situation. He is currently writing a book entitled Doctors' Unspoken Emotions: Shame, Humiliation, Guilt, E... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 21, 2008 |
| Title: | Elul Study (Session 3 of 3) |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 6:30 pm |
| End: | 8:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | We will mostly be looking at the Rosh Hashanah Torah and Haftarah |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 14, 2008 |
| Title: | Elul Learning (Session 2 of 3): "Looking Anew at Sarah and Hagar" |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | The Hebrew month of Elul is traditionally the time when Jews prepare for the High Holy Days by studying. Led by Penina Weinberg, we will look anew at the story of Sarah and Hagar as it is found in Genesis 21, the Torah portion for the first day of Rosh Hashanah. We will examine traditional interpretations and consider new approaches as we look at questions such as Sarah's treatment of Hagar. Caution: it may not be so easy to get at the "simple" meaning of a text. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 07, 2008 |
| Title: | Elul Learning (Session 1 of 3) |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 6:30 pm |
| End: | 8:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | We will be looking mostly at the Rosh Hashanah Torah and Haftarah. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 07, 2008 |
| Title: | Rabbi Liza Stern: Welcome/Welcome Back to Eitz Chayim |
| Speaker(s): | Heidi Urich |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | We will explore how our tradition instructs us to prepare for the New Year. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jun 15, 2008 |
| Title: | Israeli-Palestinian peace and security negotiations - two personal views |
| Speaker(s): | Gina Coplon-Newfield |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | The opportunity to hear intimately from an Israeli and a Palestinian who have been directly involved in Israeli-Palestinian peace and security negotiations. Nisreen Abbas and Roy Keidar (see their brief bios below) have been classmates of mine this past year at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. I have become friendly with both of them, and they are smart, talented people who have and will continue to help shape the future and security for the Israeli and Palestinian people. We are so ... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jun 05, 2008 |
| Title: | Women in the Bible |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 7:15 pm |
| End: | 8:45 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | We will meet on alternate Thursday evenings from January to May. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 29, 2008 |
| Title: | Women in the Bible |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 7:30 pm |
| End: | 8:45 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | We will meet on alternate Thursday evenings from January to May. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 22, 2008 |
| Title: | Women in the Bible |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 7:30 pm |
| End: | 8:45 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | We will meet on alternate Thursday evenings from January to May. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 11, 2008 |
| Title: | Esther and Simon Adler: From Under the Heel of the Nazi Boot - A Journey to Freedom |
| Speaker(s): | Esther and Simon Adler leads our discussion |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Esther and Simon Adler were born in Germany and grew up under Nazi rule. Each managed to escape before WWII broke out, but not without leaving family members behind. They will talk about their childhoods in Nazi Germany and their journeys to Eretz Yisrael, where they survived during the Holocaust. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 08, 2008 |
| Title: | Women in the Bible |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 7:30 pm |
| End: | 8:45 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | We will meet on alternate Thursday evenings from January to May. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 01, 2008 |
| Title: | Women in the Bible |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 7:30 pm |
| End: | 8:45 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | We will meet on alternate Thursday evenings from January to May. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Apr 13, 2008 |
| Title: | Andrea Silton & Jan Corash: Jazzing Up Your Seder |
| Speaker(s): | Andrea Silton & Jan Corash |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Seders should be fun and meaningful for everyone around your table. They offer rich opportunities for participation and learning, creativity and connection. Ancient traditions and modern innovations can work together to enrich your Seder. In this program, we will explore different ways to make your Seder dynamic and relevant for people of all ages. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Apr 10, 2008 |
| Title: | Women in the Bible |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 7:15 pm |
| End: | 8:45 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | We will meet on alternate Thursday evenings from January to May. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 30, 2008 |
| Title: | Rachel Rosenbloom: “Treat the stranger as yourself” - How Federal Immigration Policies are Affecting Immigrant Communities in Massachusetts |
| Speaker(s): | Rachel Rosenbloom leads our discussion |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | With Passover just around the corner and the Exodus on our minds, consider how our nation’s immigration laws and policies are playing out in our own community - from workplace raids and heightened enforcement, to in-state tuition for undocumented college students. Are U.S. immigration policies in need of fundamental change? How does our deportation policy measure up to international human rights standards? |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 27, 2008 |
| Title: | Women in the Bible |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 7:15 pm |
| End: | 8:45 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | We will meet on alternate Thursday evenings from January to May. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 23, 2008 |
| Title: | Steve Cohen: The War To End All War Doesn't - World War I and the Roots of the Crisis in the Middle East |
| Speaker(s): | Steve Cohen leads our discussion |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | During World War I, the British promised different portions of the Middle East to allies, friends, possible allies, and potential friends. Once the war was over, sorting out these promises was impossible. The result?" |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 16, 2008 |
| Title: | First Speaker Series Event of 2008 - 2009 |
| Speaker(s): | Heidi Urich |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | First Speaker Series Event of 2008 - 2009 |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 16, 2008 |
| Title: | Anna Swartz and Friends: Teens With Faith in Their Future |
| Speaker(s): | Anna Swartz leads our discussion |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | For the past 2 years, Anna Swartz has been participating in Camp If, an interfaith program sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League’s Youth Leadership program. Starting with a week in the New Hampshire woods, Camp If teaches teens to fight prejudice by learning about each other’s spiritual traditions and by working together. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 09, 2008 |
| Title: | Joanne Peskowitz: Honoring and Caring for our Aging Parents |
| Speaker(s): | Joanne Peskowitz leads our discussion |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | What does it mean to honor one’s parents as they become elderly? How do we balance the needs of caregiving for others and for ourselves? This program will explore the practical and spiritual journey of caring for our parents as they are aging. Practical tools and resources will be offered along with reflections on the teachings of Torah, Talmud and Rabbinic scholars past and present. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 06, 2008 |
| Title: | Women in the Bible |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 7:15 pm |
| End: | 8:45 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | We will meet on alternate Thursday evenings from January to May. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 02, 2008 |
| Title: | Rabbi Benji Samuels: While Standing on One Foot: Rabbinic Visions of the Essence of Judaism |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Benji Samuels leads our discussion |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Rabbinic Judaism is known for its intricate debates, fine distinctions and detailed laws, but what of its broad vision? In this study session, we will look at Talmudic texts that aspire to an essentialist understanding of Judaism. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Feb 21, 2008 |
| Title: | Women in the Bible |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 7:15 pm |
| End: | 8:45 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | We will meet on alternate Thursday evenings from January to May. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Feb 10, 2008 |
| Title: | “Knowledge is the Beginning” Film Screening & Discussion led by Sharon Cohen |
| Speaker(s): | Film & Discussion led by Sharon Cohen |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 1:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Knowledge is the Beginning is about the Muslim-Jewish youth orchestra organized by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Saiid. The West Eastern Divan Orchestra has brought together talented young musicians from Israel, Palestine, the Middle East and Spain. The film follows them as they encounter each other, see their similarities and examine their differences. The film culminates in this historic 2005 concert held in the West Bank city of Ramallah as Israel was ending its long occupation of the Gaza St... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Feb 03, 2008 |
| Title: | “From Swastika to Jim Crow” |
| Speaker(s): | Film & Discussion led by Judy Smith |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Many Jewish scholars who were expelled from universities in Nazi Germany in the 1930’s found employment on the faculties of historically Black colleges in the South. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 27, 2008 |
| Title: | Ezra Hausman: Energy Choices for a Warming World |
| Speaker(s): | Ezra Hausman |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | What does it mean to be living in a warming world? How will it affect our lifestyles, the ways we use energy, how our energy is produced? How do the choices we as a society make today affect the climate of the world we will live in tomorrow? How should we value the risks to the climate for future generations against our quality of life today? What choices should we be making, anyway? Learn about the energy options for the future--improved efficiency, renewable energy, nuclear energy, carbon s... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 24, 2008 |
| Title: | Women in the Bible |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 7:15 pm |
| End: | 8:45 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | We will meet on alternate Thursday evenings from January to May. Exact schedule will be posted on www.eitz.org after the first class. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 06, 2008 |
| Title: | “Hineini: Coming Out in a Jewish High School” - Film Screening & Discussion with Judy Izen |
| Speaker(s): | Film & Discussion led by Judy Izen |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Hineini (Hebrew for “here I am”) chronicles the story of one student's struggle to establish a gay-straight alliance at Gann Academy, a Jewish high school in Waltham, and the impact of her campaign on her entire community. Shulamit enters 9th grade longing to connect more deeply with her Jewish identity without denying her sexual identity. A school-wide controversy erupts with students and teachers wrestling with the very definition of pluralism and diversity in a Jewish context. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Dec 09, 2007 |
| Title: | The Unknown Black Book of the Holocaust |
| Speaker(s): | Joshua Rubenstein |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | First-hand accounts by survivors of atrocities carried out by the Germans and their allies, which were recorded immediately after WWII, have been translated into English for the first time. The compiled testimonies will be published this month in “The Unknown Black Book: The Holocaust in the German-Occupied Soviet Territories,” in conjunction with U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. One of the book’s editors, Joshua Rubenstein of Amnesty International, will discuss the testimonies and how the mass... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Dec 02, 2007 |
| Title: | December Dilemmas |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Hanukah comes early this year – how can we get into the spirit of the holiday? Is there an art to celebrating Hanukah when surrounded by the trappings of Christmas? Join us for an adult conversation on how to make this holiday meaningful for our children and ourselves led by Rabbi Liza Stern. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 18, 2007 |
| Title: | History of the Jews in Cambridge |
| Speaker(s): | Ellen Smith |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Did you know that Cambridge once had four synagogues and a Jewish neighborhood? Learn about Jewish roots in Cambridge from Ellen Smith award-winning author historian |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 04, 2007 |
| Title: | Prospects for Peace in the Middle East? |
| Speaker(s): | Ehud Eiran |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Are there new grounds for hope in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Join us for a lucid analysis by Ehud Eiran, a recognized expert on the Middle East, who has briefed us in previous years on the changing political dynamics of the region. Mr. Eiran was an advisor to the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and is currently a Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Oct 28, 2007 |
| Title: | Jews and Medicine - Why? |
| Speaker(s): | Stanley Sagov |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Stanley Sagov, Eitz Chayim co-president and physician, explores why Jews have been so prominent in the medical field, historically and to the present. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Oct 21, 2007 |
| Title: | Can we Stop the Dafur Genocide? |
| Speaker(s): | Irit Tamar |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Irit Tamur, a memeber of the steering committee of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Dafur, will speak on "What is happening in the campaign against the genocide in Dafur and will it succeed?" |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 30, 2007 |
| Title: | The Power of Dialogue in Jewish-Muslim Relations |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Jaffe and Salma Kazmi |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | An opportunity for constructive conversation on divisive issues; Rabbi Jaffe and Salma Kazmi, from the Center for Jewish-Muslim Relations will discus this very vital topic to us all. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 23, 2007 |
| Title: | Searching for Family in the Holocaust |
| Speaker(s): | Judy Rakowsky |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Judy Rakowsky, Eitz Chayim member and former Boston Globe reporter and editor, shares her personal investigation of the fate of her relatives in Poland during World War II |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 16, 2007 |
| Title: | Preparing for Yom Kippur |
| Speaker(s): | Our Wonderful Rabbi |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Join Rabbi Liza Stern for more of our inspiring adult education program intended to help each of us prepare for Yom Kippur |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 09, 2007 |
| Title: | Preparing for Rosh Hashanah |
| Speaker(s): | Our Wonderful Rabbi |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Join Rabbi Liza Stern for more of our inspiring adult education program intended to help each of us get ready for Rosh Hashanah |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 05, 2007 |
| Title: | The story of Hannah (Part 4 of 4) |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 7:30 pm |
| End: | 8:45 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Study the haftarah for the first day of Rosh Hoshanah, the story of Hannah, a remarkably independent biblical woman who was a prophet and the mother of Samuel. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Aug 29, 2007 |
| Title: | The story of Hannah (Part 3 of 4) |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 7:30 pm |
| End: | 8:45 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Study the haftarah for the first day of Rosh Hoshanah, the story of Hannah, a remarkably independent biblical woman who was a prophet and the mother of Samuel. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Aug 22, 2007 |
| Title: | The story of Hannah (Part 2 of 4) |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 7:30 pm |
| End: | 8:45 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Study the haftarah for the first day of Rosh Hoshanah, the story of Hannah, a remarkably independent biblical woman who was a prophet and the mother of Samuel. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Aug 15, 2007 |
| Title: | The story of Hannah (Part 1 of 4) |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 7:30 pm |
| End: | 8:45 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Study the haftarah for the first day of Rosh Hoshanah, the story of Hannah, a remarkably independent biblical woman who was a prophet and the mother of Samuel. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Aug 13, 2007 |
| Title: | Yiddish Policeman's Union" by Michael Chabonn |
| Speaker(s): | Carol Kraus |
| Start: | 7:30 pm |
| End: | 9:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Community Room |
| Description: | Eitz Chayim Summer Book Club |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 20, 2007 |
| Title: | Livable Cities are Walkable Cities |
| Speaker(s): | Wendy Landman |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Good walking conditions are a matter of social justice. Over 30% of Boston households don't have a car, 50% of women over age 65 don't drive, and about 20% of the population is too young to drive. All of these people depend on walking for access to jobs, school, health care, and social life. Likewise - many health disparities among socio-economic groups are related to lack of physical activity and overweight – which are also linked to walking conditions. Walkable communities are livable commu... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 13, 2007 |
| Title: | Women at the Center – the Book of Ruth and Shavuot |
| Speaker(s): | Judith Kates |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Professor Judith Kates will lead a text study session focusing on the relationship between Naomi and Ruth. Through this lens, we'll try to understand the connection between the biblical Book of Ruth and the upcoming holiday of Shavuot. Prof. Kates recommends reading the Book of Ruth before the session and notes that it is quite short! |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 06, 2007 |
| Title: | No Adult Education: Walk for Hunger |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Apr 29, 2007 |
| Title: | Lorel Zar Kessler, Cantor Congregation Beth El of Sudbury – Sacred Space, Sacred Song |
| Speaker(s): | Lorel Zar Kessler, Cantor Congregation Beth El of Sudbury |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Melody, Harmony, Unity. We create sacred space within ourselves and within community. How does the beauty and power of song - meaningful words, the flow of melody, and, most particularly, the sharing of our voices - create holy space within us and around us? Together, we will study the texts, learn the melodies, and delight in the harmonies that can create sacred space for us wherever we are |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Apr 08, 2007 |
| Title: | Child Survivor of the Holocaust |
| Speaker(s): | Peter Gossels |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 25, 2007 |
| Title: | Mitchell Silver: |
| Speaker(s): | Mitchell Silver |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 18, 2007 |
| Title: | Judy Smith: |
| Speaker(s): | Judy Smith |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series, Author Series |
| Date: | Mar 14, 2007 |
| Title: | Diana Lobel : A Sufi-Jewish Dialogue Philosophy and Mysticism in Bahya ibn Paquda's Duties |
| Speaker(s): | Diana Lobel |
| Start: | 7:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | "This manuscript contains a subtle, probing, and rich exposition of the key |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 11, 2007 |
| Title: | Imam Ibrahim Sayar: Understanding Islam |
| Speaker(s): | Imam Ibrahim Sayar |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Imam Ibrahim Sayar, Imam to the Turkish community in Greater Boston, will discuss the basics of Islam and answer questions about Islam from the audience. His topics will include relations between Moslems and Jews and the teachings of the Koran about the treatment of Christians and Jews. He will also discuss interpretation of the Koran among Muslims and the Muslim experience in America. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 04, 2007 |
| Title: | No Speaker - Enjoy PURIM!!! |
| Speaker(s): | No Speaker - Enjoy PURIM!!! |
| Description: | No Speaker - Enjoy PURIM!!! |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Feb 11, 2007 |
| Title: | Film by Eileen Douglas: My Grandfather’s House in Post-Election U.S. Policy on Israel |
| Speaker(s): | Eileen Douglas |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | My Grandfather's House follows filmmaker Eileen Douglas's determined search to find her grandfather's house in Lithuania, the home he left behind in 1911, when he fled to America to escape the Czar's Army. Four decades after his death, with only fragments to guide the way, the documentary is Douglas 's attempt to lift the veil of darkness and discover "where it all began." Traveling to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, to her mother's attic in Syracuse, to the homes of relative... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Feb 04, 2007 |
| Title: | Beth Wasserman: The Role of American Jews in Post-Election U.S. Policy on Israel |
| Speaker(s): | Beth Wasserman |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | In the past two years, there have been drastic changes in leadership in Israel and in the Palestinian Authority; unilateral action by Israel soared in popularity and then lost favor; Israel endured a war with Hezbollah in Lebanon with troubling results; and the United States 110th Congress just took office. Given recent developments, what paths can Israel take to best achieve peace and security? And what is the role for the American Jewish community in this context? |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 28, 2007 |
| Title: | Rabbi Ebn Leader and Randy Kafka: Semicha in the 21st Century |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Ebn Leader and Randy Kafka |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | What is a rabbi? What does it mean when a person is ordained to the rabbinate, or to use the traditional Jewish phrase – when a person receives semicha? What does one have to do or know in order to receive semicha? How has this changed over time? Rabbi Leader and his student Randy Kafka will present the historical context for understanding the process of semicha and discuss some of the unique challenges of training rabbis for North American communities today. They will also discuss some of ... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 21, 2007 |
| Title: | David Bernat: Civil Liberties in Stressful Times |
| Speaker(s): | David Bernat: |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | In post 9-11 America, we struggle to balance our concerns for national security and individual liberties. This societal tension is not a new phenomenon. In Talmudic times, the Rabbis wrestled with the same problems. David Bernat will guide us through the ancient texts and help us see what our tradition has to offer. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 07, 2007 |
| Title: | Marshall Gans: Hillel’s Three Questions |
| Speaker(s): | Marshall Gans |
| Start: | 10:00 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Rabbi Hillel's three questions are a touchstone for Marshall Ganz, calling on us to reflect on the need for engagement and, ultimately, to take action, both individually and collectively. If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am for myself alone, what am I? If not now, when? |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Dec 10, 2006 |
| Title: | Our Rabbi: The December Dilemma |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | How do we make Hanukah both meaningful and fun, for our children and ourselves, without feeling we are in competition with the Big C? Join us for an adult conversation about one of our most beloved holidays. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Dec 03, 2006 |
| Title: | Ann Braude and Andrea Silton: Raising Jewish Kids in an Age of Anxiety |
| Speaker(s): | Ann Braude and Andrea Silton |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | How do we raise self-reliant, compassionate and ethical children in a society of ever-increasing materialism? Parents (past, present and future) are invited to join in a discussion of how to meet this challenge. Our point of departure will be a provocative book featured in the New York Times Magazine (October 1, 2006) entitled The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children, by Wendy Mogel. Child psychologist Mogel argues that Jewish teachings provide an... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 19, 2006 |
| Title: | Julian Bonder:Preserving Memory in Memorials |
| Speaker(s): | Julian Bonder |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | What is the purpose of memorials to human tragedy? What can architecture bring to our understanding and response to historic traumatic events? |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 14, 2006 |
| Title: | Penina Weinberg:The Garment of Torah:: Session 3 |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 7:00 pm |
| End: | 9:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Library |
| Description: | THE GARMENT OF TORAH: How do the texts help us to find and/or live with our values? |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 12, 2006 |
| Title: | Ehud Eiran:Middle East Challenges |
| Speaker(s): | Ehud Eiran |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | The autumn of 2006 brings with it dramatic challenges in the Middle East: an international showdown with Iran over its nuclear project, a shaky ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, an unstable Palestinian government in Gaza, and growing violence and chaos in Iraq. What do these crises mean for Israel and how is Israel likely to deal with them? How do they impact the prospects for regional stability or peace? Come join Ehud Eiran, on his 5th visit to Eitz Chayim, for an in-depth analysis and a... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 06, 2006 |
| Title: | Penina Weinberg:The Garment of Torah:: Session 2 |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 7:00 pm |
| End: | 9:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Library |
| Description: | THE GARMENT OF TORAH: How do we deal with texts that conflict with our values? |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 05, 2006 |
| Title: | Hankus Netsky:Jewish Music, American Style |
| Speaker(s): | Hankus Netsky |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | In recent years we have seen a burgeoning literature on the "Jewishness" of |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Oct 30, 2006 |
| Title: | Penina Weinberg:The Garment of Torah: Session 1 |
| Speaker(s): | Penina Weinberg |
| Start: | 7:00 pm |
| End: | 9:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim's Library |
| Description: | THE GARMENT OF TORAH: What does our Tradition say about Oral Torah and Torah study? |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Oct 29, 2006 |
| Title: | Rabbi Lawrence Kushner: Kabbalah: A Love Story |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Lawrence Kushner |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Through the medium of a novel, Rabbi Kushner introduces us to the beauty and emotional power of Kabbalah. According to playwright David Mamet, the book “ is not only about the Kabbalah, it effectively is the Kabbalah.” It is a beautifully written parable about life, love and the importance of finding meaning and joy when and where we least expect it. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Oct 15, 2006 |
| Title: | Leonard Fein: Loving Israel, Warts & All |
| Speaker(s): | Leonard Fein |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | What does it mean to be "pro-Israel" in times such as these? How do we understand Israel's actions in Lebanon and Gaza? What is the status of democracy in Israel? Is Iraq "good for the Jews"? How do we transmit love of Zion to new generations? |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 17, 2006 |
| Title: | Preparing for Rosh Hasonah & Yom Kippur |
| Speaker(s): | Our Wonderful Rabbi |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Join Rabbi Liza Stern for more of our inspiring adult education program intended to help each of us get ready for Rosh Hashanah |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 10, 2006 |
| Title: | Opening Day 5767 - Preparing for Rosh Hasonah |
| Speaker(s): | Our Wonderful Rabbi |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Eitz Chayim Community Room |
| Description: | Join Rabbi Liza Stern for an inspiring adult education program intended to help each of us get ready for Rosh Hashanah |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 14, 2006 |
| Title: | Boston and Its Jews |
| Speaker(s): | Alan Lupo |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Although a relatively recent and small segment of the Boston populace, Boston's Jewish community has played a significant role in the history of the city. Alan Lupo, a seasoned journalist and observer of the Boston scene, will offer a unique historical perspective on the social, political and economic aspects of the Boston Jewish community and its place in the life of the city. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 07, 2006 |
| Title: | It Can Happen Here: Domestic Violence in the Jewish Community |
| Speaker(s): | Nicole Furie Lesser |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | What is domestic violence? What are the warning signs? What are the unique aspects of domestic violence in the Jewish community? What can you do if you or someone you know is being abused? Nicole Lesser of Jewish Family and Children’s Services will discuss domestic violence and its presence in the Jewish community, as well as how, as individuals and a community, we can make a difference: from educating ourselves to helping to create a safe haven for victims. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series, Author Series |
| Date: | Apr 30, 2006 |
| Title: | The History of Love |
| Speaker(s): | Nicole Krauss |
| Start: | 7:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | The voice of Leo Gursky, one of the most memorable characters in recent fiction, surges ebulliently throughout Nicole Krauss’s eagerly anticipated new novel, THE HISTORY OF LOVE. Few have achieved the dizzying heights of this fresh and original work, first excerpted in the February 2004 issue of The New Yorker. With consummate grace, Krauss weaves together the stories of two unlikely heroes in Leo Gursky and Alma Singer. Both are searching for the one thing that might make them whole, and both ... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series, Author Series |
| Date: | Apr 23, 2006 |
| Title: | I Refused to Die – Stories of Holocaust Survivors and the Soldiers Who Liberated Them - Joined by Child Survivor Rosian Zernan |
| Speaker(s): | Susie Davidson |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Rosian Zernan, a child survivor of the Holocaust, will be joining Susie Davidson in this special Holocaust remembrance program. Rosian Zernan's life was saved when her parents pushed her through a hole they dug under the fence of the Kovno Ghetto. She is a former vice president of the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust and is active internationally in survivor affairs. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series, Author Series |
| Date: | Apr 09, 2006 |
| Title: | Every Mother Is a Daughter |
| Speaker(s): | Perri Klass and Sheila Solomon Klass |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Dr.Perri Klass and her mother, Sheila Solomon Klass will read and speak on their book: |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Apr 02, 2006 |
| Title: | Your Money or Your Health? Prescription Drugs and their Pricing |
| Speaker(s): | Joel Weissman |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Eitz Chayim member and Harvard Medical school researcher Joel Weissman will transform his audience (i.e. us!) into a focus group on how people think about and buy prescription drugs. The costs of prescription drugs are a major factor in today’s health care access debates. The first part of the session will be an open discussion on consumer perceptions about prescription drugs, their costs, availability and safety. In the second part, Joel will discuss his latest research on direct-to-consumer... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 27, 2006 |
| Title: | Israel Decides - A Town Hall Meeting |
| Speaker(s): | Gil Tamary |
| Start: | 7:30 pm |
| Location: | Temple Beth Shalom |
| Description: | On the eve of the Israeli elections, join the Jewish community for this up-to-the-minute briefing on the Israeli elections and its impact on Israel and the Middle East, and prospects for peace. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 26, 2006 |
| Title: | Reflecting on Passover: "Next Year in Jerusalem" |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | The affirmation "Next Year in Jerusalem," with which we conclude every Seder, expresses a hope beyond the desire to travel to an actual Jerusalem. It is code for a larger, eternal hope of return to an idealized state of being. Rabbi Stern will explore the origins of this ancient yet timeless hope, and she will share her observations of the ideal versus the real Jerusalem, drawing upon her recent trip to Israel. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 19, 2006 |
| Title: | Rich or Poor, It Pays to Have Money |
| Speaker(s): | Steve Alexander |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | If your plan for retirement is to win the lottery, this program is for you. Eitz Chayim member Steve Alexander will talk about his forthcoming book on personal finances that explains the stock market, how it relates to business activity, and presents smart strategies for most of us without the usual intimidating jargon. In addition, we will examine some of the Biblical and Rabbinic precepts regarding wealth, and try to resolve the ancient debate on which is more complex - Leviticus or the U.S.... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series, Author Series |
| Date: | Mar 15, 2006 |
| Title: | Stars of David |
| Speaker(s): | Abigail Pogrebin |
| Start: | 7:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | In Stars of David, Abigail Pogrebin shares intimate conversations with sixty-two well-known Jews about the role Judaism and Jewish identity (or lack thereof) play in their personal lives. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 12, 2006 |
| Title: | Prospects for Peace in the Middle East? |
| Speaker(s): | Ehud Eiran |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Is peace still a possibility in the Middle East? Or is a mutual cessation of violence the best to be hoped for? With Hamas participation in the Palestinian political process, Prime Minister Sharon’s sudden demise, and with Israeli elections coming up on March 28th, the Middle East is in turmoil. Will a new Israeli leadership offer hope to the region? Will withdrawal from Gaza be repeated in the West Bank? unilateral or negotiated? How will the Arab world respond? and Washington? Come join ... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 05, 2006 |
| Title: | Second Stage Parenting: Relating to our Adult Children |
| Speaker(s): | Dr. Ruth Nemzoff |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Who hasn't found moments of challenge in parenting their grown children? Have you been advised to bite your tongue? Is "biting your tongue" the best way to build a relationship with your adult children? Dr. Ruth Nemzoff will explore some of the historical roots of why the advice to keep quiet is part of the American consciousness. She will share her research on what parents are thinking and what adult children are thinking. As a group, we will |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Feb 26, 2006 |
| Title: | Growing Up Jewish in South Africa |
| Speaker(s): | Elivia & Stanley Sagov |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Two Eitz Chayim members describe their experiences growing up in middle-class Jewish homes in a racist police state, trying to make sense of the social justice agenda of our religion, while the majority of their elders thrived as collaborators or accommodators with the dictatorial regime of South African apartheid. They will also talk about members of the Jewish community who risked their lives in support of the struggle to end the apartheid regime. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Feb 05, 2006 |
| Title: | Orthodox and Egalitarian: What is motivating this movement? |
| Speaker(s): | Alanna Cooper |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | In the past five years, a small controversial movement has sprouted up which calls itself Orthodox, but allows for significant participation of women in the prayer service. Who are the people who started this movement and what is motivating them? If they want egalitarianism, why not look to the Conservative movement? And if they want Orthodoxy, why not stay in a traditional minyan? Why do they believe they can have both and why are they bothering to negotiate this difficult divide? In this ... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 22, 2006 |
| Title: | Affordable Housing from a Jewish Ethical Perspective |
| Speaker(s): | David Abromowitz |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | All around us we hear of a housing bubble, a crisis in affordability of homes and apartments not just for low but also middle income Americans and battles over efforts to build more affordable housing in many suburban communities. But just what is “affordable” housing? Why is it lacking in a society that is otherwise able to provide consumer goods on a low cost mass production basis? And what do Jewish ethics and values say about the need of a society to provide affordable shelter? |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series, Author Series |
| Date: | Jan 18, 2006 |
| Title: | Zeppo's First Wife: New and Selected Poems |
| Speaker(s): | Gail Mazur |
| Start: | 7:00 pm |
| Location: | Porter Square Books |
| Description: | Gail Mazur is distinguished Writer in Residence at Emerson College’s Writing, Literature and Publishing Program and founding director of the Blacksmith House Poetry Center. Her most recent book, They Can’t Take That Away From Me, was a finalist for the 2001 National Book Award. She has won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College as well as the St. Botolph Club Foundation Distinguished Artist Award |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 08, 2006 |
| Title: | The Israeli – Palestinian Conflict |
| Speaker(s): | Diane Balser |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Diane Balser of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom will discuss the current situation regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the prospects for peace in the Middle East. She will focus on the role of Jews in the United States in influencing our country’s foreign policy. Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace, is the fastest growing and largest grassroots Jewish peace organization in the United States. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Dec 18, 2005 |
| Title: | Bringing Chanuka to Light |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Our celebration of this beloved holiday will be enhanced by a deeper knowledge of its history. We will take a look at the texts (in translation) and traditions which have created the historical framework for Chanuka. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series, Author Series |
| Date: | Dec 11, 2005 |
| Title: | Finding Home - In the Footsteps of the Jewish Fusgeyers |
| Speaker(s): | Jill Culiner |
| Start: | 7:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Finding Home |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Dec 11, 2005 |
| Title: | Building Communities in Our Own Backyards – Meeting the Needs of Working Families |
| Speaker(s): | Ann Bookman |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | In her new book, Starting in Our Own Backyards: How Working Families Can Build Community and Survive the New Economy, Ann Bookman challenges our understanding of the current structure of work, family time, and community involvement. Job insecurity and demanding schedules have led families to build support systems outside the workplace via childcare centers, religious institutions, schools, neighborhood groups, and parent-to-parent networks - countering the view that community involvement is dec... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series, Author Series |
| Date: | Dec 04, 2005 |
| Title: | Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers - An Intimate Journey among Hasidic Girls |
| Speaker(s): | Stephanie Wellen Levine |
| Start: | 7:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | For more information on the book, please visit: |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Dec 04, 2005 |
| Title: | Environmental Values in Judaism |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Ebn Leader |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | What would it take to actually change our behaviors that damage the environment? What are the cultural aspects of such change from a Jewish perspective? How do the ways we think about God in Jewish teachngs impact the way we treat the environment? Which are the elements in our tradition that are supportive of environmental responsibility and which are not? Guided by Rabbi Leader, we will examine different Jewish theologies in light of this question. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 20, 2005 |
| Title: | Secret Jewish Communities: From the Inquisition to the New World |
| Speaker(s): | Gloria Mound |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Gloria Mound's discovery of secret Jews on two Mediterranean islands has grown into a worldwide project uncovering the remnants of Jewish communities that trace back to the Spanish Inquisition. The original secret Jews, also known as Marranos or Conversos, were compelled to convert to Christianity in medieval Spain and Portugal. Their descendants scattered throughout the Mediterranean region and other parts of Europe. We are now learning that substantial numbers found their way to the New Worl... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series, Author Series |
| Date: | Nov 13, 2005 |
| Title: | The Mystery of Breathing |
| Speaker(s): | Perri Klass |
| Start: | 7:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | For more information on the book, please visit: |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 13, 2005 |
| Title: | Healing the Abrahamic Triangle: Jews, Muslims and Christians after 9/11 |
| Speaker(s): | Yehezkel Landau |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Despite the commonly professed belief in one God, Jews, Muslims and Christians have tended to act as though that single God favors one faith community above others, deems only one theology to be valid and others erroneous, and will ultimately bless one chosen group of believers with “victory” in a centuries long spiritual marathon. The enormous suffering caused by religious triumphalism will only be diminished if a more inclusive, mutually affirming theological paradigm is adopted by adherents ... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 06, 2005 |
| Title: | Public Policy and Jewish Values |
| Speaker(s): | State Representative Alice Wolf |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | How do our elected officials develop public policy? What resources do they pull from when making difficult decisions and setting priorities? Representative Alice Wolf will discuss the connection between progressive public policy issues and Jewish values. She will reflect on her years of activism in politics and public life in Cambridge and the State House. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series, Author Series |
| Date: | Oct 30, 2005 |
| Title: | Great Neck |
| Speaker(s): | Jay Cantor |
| Start: | 7:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Jay Cantor, Professor of English at Tufts University, will be speaking about his latest book, "Great Neck". |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Oct 23, 2005 |
| Title: | The Women Who Changed American Religion |
| Speaker(s): | Ann Braude |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Pundits on both the right and the left portray religion and feminism as incompatible, as opposing forces in American culture. In fact, religious women have been at the forefront of the women’s movement, and vibrant women’s movements within faith communities have transformed the way religion is practiced. Ann Braude will present the dramatic stories of feminists in unexpected places, including Mormons, Muslims and Orthodox Jews, as told in her latest book and in accompanying videos. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Oct 02, 2005 |
| Title: | Preparing for the High Holy Days |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | What are the questions we need to ask ourselves this year? Here is an opportunity to begin the process of reflection and self assessment (“Kheshbon ha’Nofesh”) in anticipation of our holy days. Rabbi Liza Stern will lead this session. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 25, 2005 |
| Title: | Jews as Global Citizens - Our Responsibility in the World |
| Speaker(s): | Ruth Messinger |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | What are Jewish relief workers doing in places like Sudan and Tsunami-ravaged areas of South Asia? Ruth Messinger will discuss the work of the American Jewish World Service and its 270 projects in over 35 countries throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Russia and Ukraine She will provide a first-hand account of relief and reconstruction projects in the regions hit by the recent tsunami, the ongoing genocidal campaign in Darfur, and other long-term development projects around ... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series, Author Series |
| Date: | Sep 18, 2005 |
| Title: | The Case for Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can be Resolved |
| Speaker(s): | Alan Dershowitz |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Alan Dershowitz will discuss his latest book, “The Case for Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can be Resolved.” According to President Bill Clinton, “The simple chord that resonates through the complex scenarios described in The Case for Peace is one of decency and respect for Palestinians, for Israelis, and, ultimately, for humanity itself. With an eye toward shared benefits and lasting resolution, Dershowitz offers a pragmatic proposal rooted in the lessons of the past and the opportunitie... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series, Author Series |
| Date: | Sep 11, 2005 |
| Title: | On Apology |
| Speaker(s): | Dr. Aaron Lazare |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Why do some apologies heal while others fail – and even offend? Why is it so difficult to apologize? Do public apologies differ from private ones? What about repentance (Teshuvah) and forgiveness? Dr. Aaron Lazare will discuss the seemingly simple and commonly occurring act of apology to reveal what is at the heart of one of the most profound interactions that can occur between people. Dr. Lazare’s insightful book “On Apology” was published by Oxford University Press last fall and received... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Aug 25, 2005 |
| Title: | Book Discussion - "Everything is Illuminated" by Jonathan Saffron Foer |
| Speaker(s): | Carol Kraus |
| Start: | 7:00 pm |
| End: | 9:30 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Join Carol Kraus who will lead the discussion of Jonathan Saffron Foer’s debut book “Everything is Illuminated”. A great summer read - With only a yellowing photograph in hand, a young man - also named Jonathan Safran Foer - sets out to find the woman who might or might not have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Accompanied by an old man haunted by memories of the war, an amorous dog named Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior, and a young Ukrainian translator who speaks in a sublimely butchered Engli... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jul 27, 2005 |
| Title: | Israel, Gaza, and the Withdrawal: The Ethical Challenges |
| Speaker(s): | Herbert C. Kelman |
| Start: | 7:30 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Join Brit Tzedek v'Shalom at Congregation Eitz Chayim on Wednesday, July 27, 7:30pm for a lecture and dialogue on Israel's pullout from Gaza. The speaker, Herbert C. Kelman, is the Richard Clarke Cabot Research Professor of Social Ethics, Emeritus, Department of Psychology at Harvard University. Professor Kelman has recently been to Israel, and will talk about the challenges to peace activists posed by the Gaza withdrawal, how withdrawal is affecting the Sharon government and the peace movemen... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 08, 2005 |
| Title: | A Holocaust Survivor Remembers |
| Speaker(s): | Janet Applefield |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Janet Applefield, a survivor of the Holocaust, will speak of her childhood and years of hiding in wartime Poland. Following her discussion with us, she will meet with students from the Middle School. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Apr 17, 2005 |
| Title: | Living Wills and Health Care Proxies |
| Speaker(s): | Stanley Sagov |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Living wills/health care proxies -- also known as advance health care directives -- are a very good idea and are much in the news these days. Fortunately, it's quite easy to prepare a living will/health care proxy so that your family will know of your wishes in the event you cannot communicate. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Apr 10, 2005 |
| Title: | Preparing for Passover |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Rabbi Liza will conduct a teaching session on the origins of the Seder. Come and enrich your understanding. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Apr 03, 2005 |
| Title: | Young Refugees from Nazi Germany and Their Lives in the United States |
| Speaker(s): | Gerhard Sonnert, Harvard University |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Much has been written about the remarkable group of brilliant and accomplished intellectuals, scientists, and artists who, as refugees from Nazi Germany, found a haven in the United States. Relatively little is known, however, about the many children and young adults who were also part of this migration. Although they were brought up in the cultural milieu of Europe, they had to make their lives in America, often with the trauma of arriving without parents, with the burden of harrowing memories... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 20, 2005 |
| Title: | Memory, Imagination and the Writing of "San Remo Drive" |
| Speaker(s): | Leslie Epstein |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | The author of “San Remo Drive: A Novel from Memory” will speak about how the creative act draws on the earliest memories and experiences and how they are transformed by the artist’s imagination into the kinds of literature that this novel exemplifies. The novel opens in Los Angeles in the 1950s and depicts the family of a famous film writer and director who mocked the HUAC during his televised hearing. As the family story is told by the elder son, it reflects on the status of Jews and African-A... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 13, 2005 |
| Title: | Growing Up in the 80’s, As Told by a Young Novelist |
| Speaker(s): | Alison Pollet |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Alison Pollet writes fiction for middle grade readers. Her first novel "Nobody Was Here: 7th Grade in the Life of Me, Penelope" (Scholastic Books, 2004). is the story of 12 year old Penelope Schwartzbaum, whose mounting difficulties leave her feeling adrift both at school and at home. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly said: "Pollet gets all the details right, from how a clique attacks a victim to the trappings of a fancy bat mitzvah, and then delves beneath the surface to explore the pressu... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Feb 06, 2005 |
| Title: | "My Brother’s Wedding" Film Screening and Discussion with the Filmmaker’s Father |
| Speaker(s): | David Akiba |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | “My Brother’s Wedding” is a deeply personal film shot by Dan Akiba about his brother Jonah’s adoption of an ultra-orthodox life in a Hasidic community in Israel and it’s reverberations in their liberal Boston-based Jewish family. The filming of Jonah’s wedding in Jerusalem took place three weeks after 9/11. The film began as a graduate thesis and became an award-winning documentary screened at Jewish film festivals in Boston, Toronto and Atlanta, and at the Austin Film Festival. It was recently... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 19, 2005 |
| Title: | Special Event - A Discussion of Palestinian Elections |
| Speaker(s): | Steve Miller |
| Start: | 7:00 pm |
| End: | 10:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | An informal gathering, in collaboration with Brit Tzdek v'Shalom, to hear and discuss analysis of the implications of the new Palestinian election results. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 09, 2005 |
| Title: | The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict and its Impact on Palestinian Society |
| Speaker(s): | Sara Roy, Harvard University Center for Middle Eastern Studies |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Sara Roy will discuss the changing state of Palestinian society in light of the major events of the last four years. She will look at major trends, the Intifada, and the Oslo period, the defining context for what is happening today. She will also explore possible future scenarios in light of Gaza disengagement plans, Arafat’s death and the Palestinian election. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Dec 19, 2004 |
| Title: | A Halachic Exploration of Gay Marriage |
| Speaker(s): | Ebn Leader, Hebrew College |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Gay marriage is one of the most controversial and divisive issues on the national agenda and within the Jewish community. In this session we will trace some possible responses in Jewish law (Halacha) to the question of same sex relations. Is the prohibition in Leviticus 19 the final word on the subject? What role does the Bible play in the formation of actual Jewish practice? Is there one Halachic position on this issue that Jews can choose to accept or reject? And more broadly - how are Je... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Dec 05, 2004 |
| Title: | A Post-Election Look at the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict |
| Speaker(s): | Udi Eiran, former advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Barak; Senior Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Four years into the second Palestinian Intifada, things may be beginning to change. The Israeli initiative to dismantle the Gaza settlements, Arafat’s departure from the scene, the dramatic decline in the number of suicide attacks, and perhaps even a renewed American approach from the second Bush administration, may be signs that the political stalemate can be altered. Mr Eiran - on his third visit to our community - will discuss these developments and lead a discussion to explore the possible... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 21, 2004 |
| Title: | Communication with our Children about Inter-religious Dating and Marriage: What Do We Say to Them? |
| Speaker(s): | Elana Kling Perkins, JFCS |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | This will be a facilitated discussion about issues that face Jewish families with dating age children concerning inter-faith dating and marriage. We will address questions such as - What do we want for our children? Should we tell them? What is the best way to let them know? Does it matter what we want for them? How is this message different or similar to other messages we convey? |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 14, 2004 |
| Title: | Caring for Jewish Cemeteries in Today's Germany |
| Speaker(s): | Sven Riethmueller |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Germany’s once flourishing Jewish community no longer exists to care for its communal institutions including nearly 2,000 cemeteries throughout the country holding about 600,000 gravestones. Many of the these cemeteries were severely damaged during WWII and continue to be subject to acts of vandalism and desecration, neglect and deterioration. A non-profit organization based in Germany has stepped forward dedicated to identifying, restoring and maintaining these cemeteries. Some help is comi... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 07, 2004 |
| Title: | The World Turned Upside Down |
| Speaker(s): | Ellen Kushner, Host of Public Radio’s “Sound and Spirit” Show |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Around the world and through the ages there have been people and traditions that take our everyday, hum-drum reality... and turn it on its head! From Victorian nonsense poetry to the Hindu Festival of Colors to the mishigas of Purim, people have been turning the World Upside Down for millennia, and learning something about ourselves and how we see our world. Ellen Kushner explores how we play with reality through music and story. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 01, 2004 |
| Title: | Special Event - Israeli IDF Refusenik speaks on Israel's occupation of Palestine |
| Speaker(s): | Noam Bahat |
| Start: | 7:30 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | In September 2004, five young Israeli refuseniks who became prisoners of conscience when they refused conscription into the Israeli Defense Force, were released from Israeli prison. Now they are speaking out. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Oct 24, 2004 |
| Title: | Amidst the Ashes - A Renewal of Jewish Life in Poland |
| Speaker(s): | Larry Mayer, author of "Who Will Say Kaddish?"; teacher, Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 26, 2004 |
| Title: | Launching the New Center for Arts and Culture in Boston |
| Speaker(s): | Shoshana Pakciarz, Executive Director |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | The local Jewish community has proposed to build a major cultural center for all of Greater Boston’s residents and visitors on the planned Rose Kennedy Greenway in downtown Boston. The building has been designed by Daniel Libeskind, architect of NYC’s Ground Zero Memorial site, and the proposal is pending before the state’s power brokers. When approved, the New Center for Arts and Culture will offer revolving exhibits and events celebrating the city’s rich cultural heritage. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 19, 2004 |
| Title: | Journey from Death to Life---Yom Kippur as Renewal |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Victor Reinstein |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | On Yom Kippur, through ritual and words that approximate death, we are drawn back to life through the cycle of twenty-five hours. Our guest, Rabbi Reinstein, will look at the customs, traditions and prayers that take us on a journey away from the ways of life in order to help us gain perspective on life and to give us greater awareness of the blessings of life. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 12, 2004 |
| Title: | "But this year I Really Mean It": Allowing our High Holy Days to Actually Change Us |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Rabbi Liza will direct us to some texts on tshuvah [repentance] as we prepare to enter the High Holy Day season. We will have an opportunity to reflect on the teachings of our tradition and on our modern understanding of repentance and atonement. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 23, 2004 |
| Title: | Mel Gibson's "The Passion Of The Christ" - What Does It Say About Jews? |
| Speaker(s): | Philip Cunningham, Boston College |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | What message does Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ" communicate about Jews? How do Jews and Christians respond to this violent and disturbing film that is setting box office records? How should we respond? What are the implications for future Christian-Jewish relations? Philip Cunningham, a leader in the field of Christian-Jewish relations, will lead a discussion about Gibson's film and its implications. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 16, 2004 |
| Title: | Israel And The Occupied Territories: How Can The Palestinians Achieve Social Justice? |
| Speaker(s): | Alan Meyers M.D. |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Dr. Meyers traveled to Israel and West Bank in January as part of the Jewish American Medical Project, a joint venture of organizations within the Jewish peace movement in the U.S. The project looked closely at health problems suffered by Israelis and Palestinians and provided medical services at some West Bank locations. Dr. Meyers’ presentation focused on Palestinian health problems in the West Bank exacerbated by the occupation. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | May 02, 2004 |
| Title: | Growing Up With The Holocaust |
| Speaker(s): | A Panel of Eitz Chayim Members who are the Children of Holocaust Survivors: R. Bork, M. Blatt, D. Friedler, C. Kraus & H. Urich |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | A surprising number of Eitz Chayim members have parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and siblings who were victims of the Holocaust. Most of the victims who survived created new lives and new families. Yet the trauma of the Holocaust could not be erased from their lives or shielded from the lives of their children and grandchildren. Several Eitz Chayim members whose parents are Holocaust survivors will describe how the Holocaust has impacted their parents’ lives and continues to impact ... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Apr 11, 2004 |
| Title: | From "Mame-Loshn" To Literary Language: The Evolution Of Yiddish Literature |
| Speaker(s): | Catherine Madsen, National Yiddish Book Center |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Before the 1860s, Yiddish writing consisted mainly of religious texts for women and the occasional heroic romance. Yiddish became known as "mame-loshn", the mothers’ language. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Yiddish writers developed a varied, sophisticated, and highly entertaining modern literature. Competing literary movements, explosive revelations by women poets, and the anguish of the worsening situation in Europe made for a complex articulation of what it meant to be a modern Yi... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Apr 04, 2004 |
| Title: | Tikkun Olam (Healing The World) In A Mobile Health Clinic In Calcutta |
| Speaker(s): | Noah Levinson |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | In a society where young people commonly express a sense of hopelessness about the world and helplessness about what can be done, Noah Levenson has charted a different path. Drawing on inspiration from Judaism and his work with Mother Teresa, Levinson will discuss how he joined with an Iranian Muslim colleague to launch a successful mobile health clinic for street children in Calcutta. This innovative project includes local ownership, monitoring and evaluation. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 28, 2004 |
| Title: | The Origins Of The Seder |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | "Two Jews, three opinions" is an old standard, but there is virtual unanimity among Jews as to the central importance of Passover to Jewish life. How did this extraordinary ritual evolve, and what is its pull on the collective Jewish unconscious, even today? Rabbi Liza Stern will enrich our understanding of Passover as we approach the holiday. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 21, 2004 |
| Title: | Myths And Realities About Islam |
| Speaker(s): | Sameh El-Difrawy from the Islamic Society of Boston |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | What is Islam and who are the Muslims? It is difficult to answer these questions accurately if your only source of information is the mass media. In his talk, Sameh El-Difrawy will try to dispel some of the myths about his religion. He will discuss issues such as who is the God of the Muslims, what is the role of women, and what is Jihad? This will be an opportunity to raise all the things you wanted to know about Islam but were afraid to ask! |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Mar 14, 2004 |
| Title: | The Body In Jewish Thinking – Ancient And Modern |
| Speaker(s): | Carol Kraus |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Carol Kraus, a member of our Congregation and a health care practioner, will discuss Jewish perspectives on the human body, drawing upon symbolic and literal ideas originating in the Kabbalah (aka "The Book of Splendor") and the Torah. Current Jewish ways of regarding the body and modern healing modalities will also be examined with reference to these ideas. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Feb 08, 2004 |
| Title: | The Song Of Songs |
| Speaker(s): | Ellen Kushner, host of WGBH/PRI’s "Sound & Spirit" Show |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better than wine..." these words come from the Bible's greatest love poem, The Song of Songs. Over the centuries, it has been interpreted as everything from God’s love for the people Israel to the wedding erotica of the ancient world. Its delicious words have been set to music by some remarkable people, including medieval theologian Peter Abelard and Yemenite singer Ofra Haza. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Feb 01, 2004 |
| Title: | Navigating Through The Siddur: An Introduction To Our New Shabbat Prayerbook |
| Speaker(s): | Constance Dinges, Chairperson of Eitz Chayim’s Ritual Committee |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 25, 2004 |
| Title: | Reinventing Mikveh For The 21st Century |
| Speaker(s): | Anita Diamant |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | What's a famous, feminist Reform Jew doing building a mikveh? Come find out about how the Boston Jewish community is re-creating the ancient institution in ways that are deeply rooted in traditional practice and also meet contemporary needs -- for men as well as women. Although Jews have been using the mikveh for more than 2,000 years, it has been largely rejected by the non-Orthodox. To Anita Diamant, the mikveh is part of a contemporary reclamation of Jewish traditions and discovery of what’s ... |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Jan 11, 2004 |
| Title: | Activating Teenagers’ Jewish Lives: Texts And Social Change |
| Speaker(s): | Bonna Devora Haberman |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Can biblical and rabbinic texts engage contemporary Jewish teens? Bonna will demonstrate her method using the example of clothing and textiles. Revealing and concealing, seducing and beguiling, clothing is an identity, class, and ritual symbol, and a divine garment. Textiles contribute to our self-image, social status, and prosperity - issues which intrigue teens and lay bare our moral fiber. Could Bonna’s approach engage our post Bar-Mitzvah teens? |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Dec 07, 2003 |
| Title: | Raising Children In An Interfaith Family |
| Speaker(s): | Elana Kling Perkins |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | What are the decisions we need to make? How do we do make them? What is best for the children? For us? What are the pitfalls and possibilities? |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 23, 2003 |
| Title: | Paths To A Just Peace In Israel/Palestine |
| Speaker(s): | Daniel Moss and Nisrin Elamin, Grassroots International |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | This talk will highlight some of the work of the partner organizations of Grassroots International who are seeking to build peace and democracy facing the dual challenges of two undemocratic realities, the Israeli occupation and the rule of the Palestinian Authority and Legislative Council. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 16, 2003 |
| Title: | The Continuing History Of The Marranos |
| Speaker(s): | Gloria Mound |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | What began as a study of the history of Marranos on two Spanish Islands has grown into a worldwide project discovering and aiding people of Marrano descent, some of whom are eager to regain their Jewish identity. The original Marranos were Jews compelled to convert to Christianity in medieval Spain. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 09, 2003 |
| Title: | From Cradle To Grave – We Are There For Each Other |
| Speaker(s): | Community Concerns Committee of Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | As a Jewish community, Eitz Chayim has traditions to support us in times of Simcha and sadness. Learn how we can be there for each other as we are faced with life cycle events. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Nov 02, 2003 |
| Title: | Report From Berlin |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Today, the world’s fastest growing Jewish community is in, of all places, Berlin. Rabbi Stern will report on her recent visit to Berlin’s Jewish community. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Oct 26, 2003 |
| Title: | Where Is The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Going? |
| Speaker(s): | Ehud Eiran |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Ehud Eiran, a former advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Barak, will discuss recent developments in Israel, the underlying issues, and what the future may bring. Although the leaders on both sides seem intractable, the facts on the ground and the diplomatic initiatives keep changing. How do Israelis deal with the continuing terrorism and elusive prospects for peace? Ehud Eiran gave a highly informative and insightful talk last spring and we have invited him back to begin this year’s discussion. |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 21, 2003 |
| Title: | How To Raise A Mensch |
| Speaker(s): | Prof. Nehemia Polen |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | It has been said that a mensch keeps confidences under his/her hat, has strong arms ready for hugging, ears for friends in need but closed to gossip and slander, feet planted firmly on earth, heart and eyes open to heaven. So, in these confusing and turbulent times, how do we foster an environment to nurture the mensch within ourselves and our children? |
| Event Type: | Speaker Series |
| Date: | Sep 14, 2003 |
| Title: | Ready Or Not, Here We Come |
| Speaker(s): | Rabbi Liza Stern |
| Start: | 10:30 am |
| End: | 12:00 pm |
| Location: | Congregation Eitz Chayim |
| Description: | Rabbi Liza will direct us to some texts on tshuvah [repentance] as we prepare to enter the High Holy Day season. We will have an opportunity to reflect on the teachings of our tradition and on our modern understanding of repentance and atonement. |
