THE JEWISH CENTER SPRING PROGRAM GUIDE 2016/5776 Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman Erica Brown Noted Speaker and Author, The Jewish Center Ruth Calderon Former Member of Knesset Former Rabbi of The Jewish Center Community Scholar Professor Samuel Rascoff Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman Layaliza Soloveichik Faculty Director, New York University Rosh Yeshiva, RIETS, Assistant United States Attorney Center on Law and Security Yeshiva University at the U.S. Attorney’s Office The Modern Orthodox Center for Jewish Life and Learning INSIDE: Complete Spring JCU listings Upcoming Events and Programs The Jewish Center 131 WEST 86Th STREET NEW YORK, NY 10024 TELEPhONE: 212.724.2700 FAx: 212.724.5629 WWW.JEWISHCENTER.ORG CLERGY AND STAFF Yosie Levine Rabbi The Jewish Center, a cornerstone ofModern Orthodox Jewish Dovid Zirkind A SSISTANT Rabbi Life on the Upper West Side, inspires its members and embraces Chaim David Berson the broader Jewish community through vibrant prayer, serious Torah C ANTOR study, spiritual inquiry, charitable endeavors, appreciation of Daniel Fridman world culture and an abiding commitment to the State of Israel. R ESIDENT Scholar Ari Lamm R ESIDENT Scholar In these pages, you will discover a Center that is the religious, Erica Brown intellectual and spiritual home for each of its members as well C OMMUNITY SCHOLAR as a Modern Orthodox Center for Jewish Life and Learning that is Noach Goldstein welcoming to all. W ILLIAM FISCHMAN Rabbinic Intern Aaron Strum We invite you to explore the full gamut of our fresh classes and new EXecutive Director programs and we look forward to seeing you at The Jewish Center. Eliane Dreyfuss Glassman Director OF Programming & Communications Jenn and Gaby Minsky Y OUTH DirectorS X Inside these pages, you will find opportunities to: Ilana Gadish YETO ZET Halacha • Engage your children in enriching and meaningful Jewish activity • Thank our outgoing officers and welcome our new officers at our OFFICERS Annual Membership Meeting Avi Schwartz • Attend talks by top scholars and leading Jewish professionals President • Celebrate the State of Israel Andrew Borodach First VICE President Andrew Kaplan Table of contents: VICE President Tefillah at The JC ........................................................................ Page 3 Mark Segall Jewish Center University Course Listings and Descriptions Page 4 VICE President Shabbat Afternoons at The JC ............................................. Page 6 Rose Lynn Sherr VICE President Youth Department .......................................................................... Page 7 Michael Jacobs Upcoming Events and Programs ............................................. Page 10 A SSISTANT VICE President Celebrate Israel with The JC .................................................... Page 12 Yaron Kinar The Hanno Mott Lecture ........................................................... Page 13 T REASURER Spring Lecture Series ................................................................... Page 14 Len Berman A SSISTANT Treasurer Keter Torah Awards ...................................................................... Page 16 Miri Lipsky Shavuot at The Jewish Center ....................................................... Page 17 Secretary Support The Jewish Center ............................................................ Page 18 SHABBAT SERVICES X Cantor Chaim David Berson leads the service with melodies Main Sanctuary and songs that never fail to inspire. Rabbi Yosie Levine’s weekly 9:00AM sermons address timely and timeless issues and speak to the congregants’ relationships with one another and with Hashem. With a close-knit feel, this minyan features a 15 minute shiur Hashkama Minyan in conjunction with a hot Kiddush immediately following 7:45AM davening. This minyan is the nucleus of the Young Leadership Committee’s Young Leadership social and religious programming. Led exclusively by our young Minyan professionals and Assistant Rabbi, Rabbi Dovid Zirkind, the JC The at Tefillah 9:30AM minyan combines beautiful tefillah and conversation on relevant issues and Jewish ideas. Twice a year the YCF community organizes a minyan followed Young Couples & by a kiddush or a luncheon. This family-friendly environment Families Minyan is a wonderful opportunity to meet other couples, and to lead 9:30AM services. Please check our website to find out when the next minyan will be hosted. Led by Cantor Chaim David Berson, this service uses the tunes Friday Night of Shlomo Carlebach to inspire us and transform our Friday Carlebach Minyan night experience. MJE Beginners Led by Rabbi Mark Wildes, this Saturday morning service is Service designed for people who know little or nothing about Jewish 9:30AM prayer. Service is followed by kiddush, refreshments and 10th Floor socializing. No charge. Co-sponsored with NJOP. Friday Night Late Minyan This minyan meets in June and July. 8:00PM Sunday and Weekday Services On Sundays and legal holidays, Shacharit is held in the Max Stern Auditorium at 8:30AM. On weekday mornings, Shacharit is at 7:00AM and 8:00AM in The Max and Marion Grill Beit Midrash (4th floor). For Minchah and Maariv, Rosh Chodesh, fast days, Chol Hamoed and Selichot days, the times are adjusted (see calendar on our website). Women’s Tehillim 7:15PM Join us every other Monday as we recite the entire Book of Tehillim for those who need our spiritual support and for the safety and well-being of our brothers and sisters in Israel. Please visit our website for more information. The Jewish Center | Spring Program Guide 2016/5776 3 X Department of Tanach Hashkama Shiur Women of the Bible Nosh and Drash Rotating JCU Faculty Rabbi Yosie Levine Dr. Adena Berkowitz Shabbat mornings at Wednesday at 11:00AM Tuesdays 10:15-11:30AM 9:15AM 4th floor 4th floor 5th floor dance studio Beginning with Eve, this series Join us for this weekly Parsha shiur Taught in conjunction with a hot explores the lives and legacies of the focusing on the intellectual and Kiddush every Shabbat morning, women of the Bible. Through close spiritual insights from the Torah. this highly participatory class uses textual readings and exploration of For women only. topics that relate to the weekly the classic Biblical commentaries, Parshah as well as pertinent this class for women will attempt to The Book of Ruth contemporary halachic issues. gain a deeper understanding of the Rabbi Daniel Fridman characters we know so well. Wednesdays at 6:45PM 8th floor Department of Talmud Israel Friedman Daf Rabbi Israel Beit Hamikdash to Yomi Silverstein Mishnayot Barbecue: Exploring Rotating JCU Faculty Class the Mitzvah of Jewish Center University Center Jewish Weekdays at 7:45AM, Rabbi Yosie Levine Shechita Shabbat afternoon 45 Shabbat Morning at Rabbi Noach Goldstein, minutes before Minchah 8:30AM William Fischman Rabbinic Intern 1st floor classroom 1st floor Tuesdays at 7:45AM A free-wheeling discussion of (beginning May 10) Jewish law and custom. 8th floor 4 The Jewish Center | Spring Program Guide 2016/5776 X Department of History Jewish History: Judaism in a Christian Empire Rabbi Ari Lamm University Center Jewish Tuesdays at 7:00PM (beginning May 10) 4th floor In the modern world, Judaism and Christianity are seen as two great, but sharply divergent religious traditions. Yet too often we forget that, on the one hand, the earliest Christians actually identified proudly as adherents of the Torah, while on the other hand, many Jews, from the same period and later, espoused ideas that would eventually be thought of as originating with Christianity. In this course - suitable for advanced students and beginners alike - we will ask: to what extent were there sharp lines dividing early Jews and Christians, and to what extent were those lines blurred? At what point - and how - do Judaism and Christianity transform into completely separate religions? And, of foremost importance, how should these questions impact upon the lives of aspiring ‘ovedei Hashem? Department of Jewish Thought David, King of Israel Like Father Like Son: Contemporary Sadye and Henry Bayer Chumash Class Readings of Pirkei Avot Rabbi Yosie Levine Rabbi Dovid Zirkind Tuesdays at 8:15PM (from May 10- 24) Mondays at 7:00PM (from May 9-23) 4th floor 4th floor With an eye toward contemporary applications, This three-part series will study Pirkei Avot along this special class will look anew at the most charged the traditional cycle between Pesach and Shavuot. narratives in the life of Israel’s king. Using both Beginning with the second Chapter, the Mishnayot classical and contemporary commentaries, this class studied each week will serve as a platform to discuss will re-engage timeless questions in an attempt to the relationship between tradition and revolution, and unpack the human elements beneath the national Orthodox’s confrontation with the changing ethics of story. Western values. The Jewish Center | Spring Program Guide 2016/5776 5 X Jewish History Series Shabbat afternoons: One hour before Minchah May 7 at 6:15PM June 4 at 6:45PM Rabbi Noach Goldstein Talia Graff William Fischman Rabbinic Intern Between Two Worlds: Mendelssohn, Jews or Gentiles? Rabbinic and Wessely and the Move Toward Modernity Communal Responses to the Conversos of 1391 Talia Graff holds a BA and MA from Brandeis University in and their Descendants Near Eastern & Judaic Studies, as well as an MA in History from UCLA where she continues her studies toward a PhD in Jewish history. May 14th at 6:30PM Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman June 18 at 7:00PM Jews and Christians in the Medieval Tamara