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AUGUST 2023 PROGRAMS

THE TASTE OF JEWISH CULTURE

The Walnut Street Synagogue is pleased to present The Taste of Jewish Culture series.  Join us in September for our seventh program,  Not Just Apples and Honey: Rosh Hashana Foods and Their Many Meanings, on Wednesday, September 6 at 7:00 pm EDT.  Please visit our event webpage for more details and to register.
The Taste of Jewish Culture details

 

CSP

The Walnut Street Synagogue is pleased to be a partner congregation of the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program.  Please join us at an upcoming program!

All the Honor of the King’s Daughter Is Within – Imma Shalom and the Feminine Ideal

Who, according to rabbinic literature, is the perfect woman? Does Imma Shalom, Mother Peace, fulfill this ideal? And what has this to do with the greatest story the Talmud has ever told? Join us for a four-part series exploring the tragedy of Imma Shalom through the Bible, Midrash, and Talmud; Xenophon, St. Paul, and Muhammad; Tennyson, Dickens, and Patmore; Ruskin, Rav Kook, and Betty Freidan.
Gila Fine is a teacher of Aggada at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, exploring the tales of the Talmud through philosophy, literary criticism, psychoanalysis, and pop-culture. She is also a faculty member of the London School of Jewish studies, the Nachshon Project, and Amudim Seminary, and has taught thousands of students at conferences and communities across the Jewish world. Gila’s dynamic literary method and unique intertextual approach – ranging from folktales to fiction to film – bring the stories of the Talmud to life, revealing their relevance for our time. Haaretz has called her “a young woman on her way to becoming one of the more outstanding Jewish thinkers of the next generation.”

 

The Dynamic Interplay Between Religion, State, and National Identity in Israel

Over the past three decades, Israel has experienced significant changes in its religious landscape, with shifts in secular and religious Zionism, as well as challenges faced by the Ultra-Orthodox community. This series will explore the emergence of diverse Jewish voices in Israel today and analyze the impact of these changes on the nation’s identity and democratic ideals.
Part 1 – Israel at 75: Jewish Identity – Tensions and Trends – Over the last thirty years major changes have transformed the Jewish religious field in Israel. Secular Zionism, which held undisputed hegemony, has crumbled. Religious Zionism, at first evincing a triumphant Settler movement, has lost its thrust, and the Ultra-Orthodox are in a crisis of leadership. We shall analyze and understand the many and varied Jewish voices emerging today in Israel.
Part 2 – Is There Such a Thing as an Israeli? – Jews always had a complicated relationship with nationality. Within the budding nation states in Europe they struggled for equal rights while suspected of being “a nation within a nation” and founding the state of Israel put the shoe on the other foot: now they had to accommodate a large minority into their democracy. If that’s not enough, the very structure of Judaism seems to challenge the simple logic of Liberal Democracy, at least as it plays out in the United States. We shall examine why that is, and try to assess the integrity and equity of modern Jewish nationalism, fluctuating as it does between the modern abstract individual and the specific Jew.
Part 3 – Religion and State in Israel: The End of the Status Quo – Religion and State relations were never simple in Israel, yet over the last three decades they’ve entered a dramatic overhaul. The famous “Status” agreed between Ben-Gurion and the Ultra-Orthodox in 1947, is today a dead letter, highlighting the growing gap between public opinion in Israel and the formal word of the law. The Chief Rabbinate has lost public legitimacy, and diverse “Judaisms” challenge the traditional divisions in Israeli society. We shall examine the social conditions for these developments, as well as their political ramifications, such as were witnessed in the Israeli October 2019 elections.
Part 4 – Jewish Nationalism and the Temple Mount: The End-Point of Zionism – While historical Secular Zionism wanted little to do with the Temple Mount, and Haredi and Religious Zionism shied away from the site for Halakhic reasons, the last decade witnessed a dramatic change in the attitude of secular and religious Zionism toward the Temple Mount, as for many, including high-ranking Israeli politicians, it now functions as a national symbol of sovereignty, while for fundamentalist Jewish groups it has become the object of messianic yearnings. It’s interesting to analyze past and present dispositions, ask why now, and of course to notice the dangers it carries.
Dr. Tomer Persico is a Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, a Rubinstein Fellow at Reichman University and a a Senior Research Scholar at the UC Berkeley Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Between 2018 and 2021 he was the Koret Visiting Assistant Professor at the UC Berkeley Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies. His fields of expertise include contemporary spirituality, Jewish modern identity, Jewish renewal, and forms of secularization and religiosity in Israel. His first book, The Jewish Meditative Tradition (Hebrew) was published by Tel Aviv University Press, and his second book, In God’s Image: the Making of the Modern West (Hebrew) was published by Yedioth.
Program video – Part 1
Program video – Part 2
Program video – Part 3
Program video – Part 4

 

 

 

YAD CHESSED

Yad Chessed helps Jewish individuals and families who struggle with financial hardship pay their bills and buy food. As a social services agency rooted in the Jewish values of kindness (chessed) and charity (tzedakah), they are committed to helping those in need navigate a path toward financial stability while preserving their privacy and dignity.  They provide emergency financial assistance, grocery gift cards and compassionate advice for those trying to make ends meet. Hundreds of families and individuals throughout the state rely on Yad Chessed to provide for their essentials, and even at times, a Jewish burial for a loved one.  Members of our community, as well as others in the Jewish community, who need assistance may contact Yad Chessed by phone at 781-487-2693 or by Email at intake@yadchessed.org for a confidential conversation.    Questions can be directed to info@yadchessed.org.
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COMMUNITY PROJECTS

CJP Plan to Combat Antisemitism

Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP) has developed a plan to combat rising antisemitism in Massachusetts.  They have also recently launched their Face Jewish Hate campaign.  Their campaign combines the real-life stories of antisemitic incidents happening in Greater Boston to draw attention to this issue and provides a resource center focused on educating, mobilizing and empowering our community.
Learn more