Beth El LifeLong Learning

The Beth El Lifelong Learning Committee is made up of Beth El members committed to bringing a variety of Jewish learning classes and programs to the Beth El and greater Triangle Jewish Communities.

Programs:

Our Triangle Community School for Continuing Jewish Education offers classes covering diverse topics during semester schedules, including courses such as Prayerbook Hebrew, Mindfulness Meditation, Jewish Holiday Series, Torah and Haftorah Trope, Psalms.

Classes mostly take place Sunday mornings at Beth El, or in the evenings in people's homes in Durham or Chapel Hill. In 2006, we started designating month or two a year as a Kallah Period, a time of study opportunities with several sessions based on a single theme.

Most Saturday mornings at 9:00a.m., people meet in the Beth El Freedman Center to study Mishnah before Shabbat Services. There is also a text study on most Wednesday mornings (for approx. 20 minutes) following Wednesday morning minyan. Both of these study groups are open everyone whether you can come every week or only once in a while.

Another ongoing study opportunity is our Hevruta/Pair study program. Visit our Chevruta page for materials to study. Occasionally, we hold a Bet Midrash to share ideas with others who have been studying the same materials.

We sponsor an In-Town Shabbaton program, which begins with Friday community Shabbat dinner, continues through Friday evening services, Saturday services and Torah study, Saturday afternoon learning, evening Havdalah and social programming, and ends with Sunday morning discussions and learning. The community spends a special Shabbat together while able to sleep in our own homes.

Our annual Book Fair is a half-day book sale that offers books with Jewish Themes and Jewish Authors (including Beth El members)- Commentaries, Siddurim, Torah Texts, Novels, Biographies, Poetry Books, Cookbooks, Children’s Books, and more!

Please see our Activities Page for information on our two Book Groups!

Beth El also runs a special Shabbaton Weekend at Emerald Isle in December of every year.

Adult B'nei Mitzvah Program is an opportunity for adults to reconnect and recommit themselves to Judaism, studying together, learning to read Hebrew together, Torah trope, studying together, culminating in a special ceremony during Shavuot.

As our community continues to evolve, so do our needs for lifelong learning. The Lifelong Learning committee continues to develop programs and learning opportunities to address those evolving needs. To join this committee, contact our Lifelong Learning committee chair, Diane Markoff.

2008 Spring Kallah Schedule

The Lifelong Learning Committee is pleased to announce the Spring ‘08 Kallah, “Kitchen to Seder Table, Slavery to Freedom: Surviving and Enriching the Journey”. The following Kallah events are aimed at increasing comfort levels and introducing creative approaches to making the Pesach Seder an achievable and meaningful experience.

March 16th, Sunday, 4:00 pm, Beth El Freedman Center, “Songs of the Passover Hagaddah”. A workshop for anyone wishing to brush up on the seder songs, learn them anew, or share tunes with others. CDs, song sheets and histories of various songs will be provided.

March 23rd, Sunday, 10:00 a.m., Beth El Library, “The Same Journey – A New Year! The Seder is Ours”. How does your “dream seder” look? What most challenges you? Come and join James Tulsky for a workshop on leading the seder, finding your way through the Haggadah and making the seder your own. Following the workshop will be a bookfair featuring various Passover Haggadot for browsing and ordering.

March 26th, Wednesday, 7:00 pm, Beth El Evans Social Hall, Dr. Marcie Cohen Ferris will present a lecture, “Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Pesach Tales of the Jewish South”. Dr. Ferris’ teaching and research interests focus on the intersection of food and culture, and she has written extensively on how foodways and identity are intertwined for the Jews of the American South. She is the author of “Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales of the Jewish South (UNC Press, 2005). This lecture is made possible by a grant from the Charles H. Revson foundation in honor of Eli N. Evans and The Carolina Center for Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Following the lecture, sample some of the best Pesach desserts in the South, prepared by the legendary cooks of Beth El! We are also glad to offer a Kosher-for-Passover Wine Tasting, sponsored by Wines Authorities’ Seth Gross. The tasting will feature Israeli, Italian, Australian and Chilean wines, all from family owned wineries, which may be pre-ordered and picked up in time for the first Seder, April 19 th. A hearty “thank you” to Seth for bringing these wines to our area!

April 1st, Tuesday, 7:30 pm, UNC Hillel in Chapel Hill (note location change), Rabbi Sager will present “Exile to Redemption: From Question to Quest”. Questions are a main feature of the Pesach Haggadah.  Four questions are the gateway to the telling of the Pesach Story.  Four more questions, asked from the perspective of four different personalities help to shape the ways in which we tell one another our collective story.  The Talmud teaches that even if we know the story of Pesach, that story must always be unlocked by questions.  We will explore the question of “Questions”.  Why must we start with the questions?  Where do the questions lead us?

April 10th, Thursday, 7:30 pm, Freeman Center for Jewish Life at Duke, Rabbi Sager will lead a Bet Midrash, “Visions at the Red Sea: Zeh Eli, This is My G-d”, a study of Talmudic stories relating to Pesach.

Let's meet for a delicious kosher dinner beforehand at Henry's Place at the FCJL (dinner is served buffet style at a cost of $13.45 for the public and can be paid via cash or check http://fcjl.studentaffairs.duke.edu/location/more_info/kosher.html)

Recognizing the continuing suffering in our world caused by hunger and enslavement, Tzedakkah and food collection boxes will be placed at each Kallah event. Cash donations will be designated for the Israeli social justice organization, ATZUM (Avodot TZdka U’Mishpat) and earmarked for their Task Force on Human Trafficking. Canned goods will be accepted for Beth El’s Food Drive, benefiting the Interfaith Council Pantry and Food Bank of Central & Eastern NC.

Our selection of Passover Haggadot will be available at each of the above events for browsing and pre-ordering in time for the first seder.

The generation of the Exodus from Egypt fled Pharoah’s army into the desert, journeying toward Sinai and a future they could scarcely imagine. We know more than they did about what their future would be, and yet they were the ones who directly experienced what G-d did for them.  Full of questions about the layers of meaning in their experience, we journey with them anew each year but  from the perspective of our own identity as Jews.  It is 5768 and the seder is ours! 

How will we travel this year?  Our Kallah theme, Kitchen to Seder Table, Slavery to Freedom: Surviving and Enriching the Journey, represents an opportunity to add to the bedrock of our tradition with ideas, skills and reflective material to enliven and inspire us at this year’s seder table.  We hope this spring’s Kallah series may stimulate ideas from the most hands-on to the most spiritually reflective.  These include how to lead the seder, choose a Haggadah, learn the songs, choose a quality Kosher L’Pesah wine, strengthen ties to our community by sharing food, creative ideas and recipes, learn about Southern Jewish Foodways and culture, study with a chaver/study partner about Pesach related Talmudic stories in a Bet Midrash setting, and an exploration of asking questions as a key to unlock the deeper meanings of Pesach.  

The Lifelong Learning Committee