Adult Education

• Book Discussion Group
• Yiddish Group
• Jewish Culture Study Group

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Book Discussion Group

We meet regularly in a member's home to discuss, often with passion, their chosen book of fiction, biography or social history.  We've met for 13 years, but it's a drop-in group: all are welcome.  Our choices have ranged from "Landscape and Memory" (of European land, Jews, history and art); to the historical fictions, "Mr. Mani" (Sephardic Jews and their Mediterranean surroundings in the 19th and 20th centuries) and "The Known World" (slaves and owners, white and black, in ante-bellum America); to a Nadine Gordimer novel of 21st century. South Africa and the Arab world; to "Desert Queen", a biography of the British adventuress who defined 20th century Iraq.  Many of our books have taken as their theme the tension, and sometimes the clash, that occurs between disparate  cultures, Jews and other,  in the modern world.
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Yiddish Group

Begun in 1998, our group has been led by our engaging Yiddish speaker and teacher, Selma. We have been meeting once a month since then. It's been a delightful four years of freylach (joy, pleasure), sometimes speaking a zerbrochene (broken) Yiddish, having a gut gelechter (good laugh) many times during a meeting, singing Yiddish songs, and becoming a close-knit group of chaverim (friends, comrades). We translated some stories from English to Yiddish in the form of short plays. In so doing we honored one of the richest contributions of Jewish secular-humanistic culture, the brilliant Yiddish theater of 19th and 20th century Eastern Europe and the United States. Please check the calendar for upcoming meetings.
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Jewish Culture Study Group

This study group uses the syllabus designed by Rabbi Adam Chalom of the Society for Humanistic Judaism (SHJ) of a three-part series, "Introduction to Secular Humanistic Judaism."  Part I offers a study of Jewish history, ancient to modern, our topic from 2003-2005.  In 2008 we delved into Part II, the influence of Jewish culture upon Humanistic Judaism.  Part III, a work in progress, will focus on the philosophy of Humanistic Judaism.

Participant-led small group discussions have a basis in traditional Judaism where rabbis and scholars met (and still meet) in small groups in a beit midrash (house of learning) which is separate from the sanctuary in the synagogue.

In the yeshiva (seminary)  partners read the text, discuss it, test each other, ask questions and encourage each other. While we may not be as intense as these scholars, nor as formal, we are inspired by them.

The Study Group meets on the 2nd Saturday of the month, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m., at the Kol Shalom Center. It is open to non-members and there is no fee. Participants are responsible for paying for books and other materials. Please call the Kol Shalom Center, or email Irv Adler, the Adult Education liaison to the board at imadler@verizon.net.
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