Adult Education

Tuesday’s Hebrew at 7:30 p.m.

We will learn Hebrew using the materials provided by the National Jewish Outreach Program. The National Jewish Outreach Program’s innovative introductory Hebrew program teaches participants to learn to read Hebrew in only five 1-1/2 hour weekly sessions.

NJOP’s most popular program, has already taught more than 214,000* North American Jews to read Hebrew. Designed for Jews with little or no background in Hebrew, the free Hebrew Reading Crash Course concentrates on teaching the Hebrew alphabet, and reading skills.

77% of participants in this course go on to the Level II Hebrew course, or the Crash Course in Basic Judaism. (NJOP has also published Russian, Hungarian, & Spanish  editions of the Reishith Binah primer to meet the needs of Jewish communities around the world.)

The HRCC materials are easy to teach. NJOP provides every teacher with a teacher’s handbook that guides them, step-by-step, through the Hebrew Reading Crash Course (includes wall chart and flash cards).

Wednesday’s Jewish Phillosophy  at 11:00 a.m.

Each class session we will explore the life, history, and philosophy of Jewish thinkers that shaped our tradition: Maimonides, Isaac Luria, the Baal Shem Tov, Theodor Herzl, Leo Baeck, Abraham Isaac Kook, Abraham Joshua Heschel,, Mordecai Kaplan, Eugene Borowitz, Cynthia Ozick, Rachel Adler, Judith Plaskow, Elie Wiesel, and many others.

Sunday: Introduction to Judaism class at 10:15 a.m.

A course for anyone interested in exploring Judaism—interfaith couples, those considering conversion and Jews looking for adult-level basics.

For some things in life, it is never too late. Somehow, when you were younger, maybe you didn’t learn what you’d like to know about the culture and religion of the Jewish people. Perhaps, you grew up in a place where there was no synagogue. Perhaps, you weren’t quite ready to appreciate the Jewish education you were offered. Perhaps your parents didn’t think you needed a Jewish education. Perhaps you now seek a way to live a fuller and richer Jewish family life. Perhaps you now want to narrow the cultural gaps between you and your children. Perhaps you are seeking conversion to Judaism. Whatever the reason, this course offers you a time and place to broaden your Jewish awareness. This course can launch you on a path to authentic personal Jewish identity. This course can help you acquire a basic Jewish vocabulary. You can gain intellectual and experiential knowledge of Judaism as well as the skills necessary to “do Jewish.” This course  is designed to be a meaningful, educational experience for any person interested in knowing and understanding Judaism and Jewish life. The course is organized around the major themes of Judaism, and around the holidays and events in the Jewish life cycle.  These are some of the topics that we will learn:

• Birth
• Concepts of God
• Conversion to Judaism
• Death and Mourning
• Israel and Zionism
• Jewish Culture
• Jewish History
• Jewish Holidays
• Marriage and Family
• Personal Responsibility
• Repentance and the Path of Righteousness
• Worship and Spirituality