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APRIL 2025 PROGRAMS
JEWISH JOURNEYS TO THE FAR EAST
Join us for the first session in our series on April 9 at 7:00 pm ET when we will visit the Jewish community in South Korea. We will learn about how Jews have been residing in Korea since the 1950s due to the presence of American soldiers and since the beginning of this century, South Korea has grown into a popular global destination for business, education and travel. Our guide, Anna Jo, is the co-founder of Hakehillah Korea. She arrived in South Korea in 2010 and is among the first generation of Jews in South Korea to make real Jewish history and community there.
Register here
Learn more about the series here including information about an in-person series viewing opportunity for those in the Chelsea, Winthrop, Revere and East Boston areas.
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!
Intentional Beauty – Envisioning & Curating Boston’s First Judaica Gallery
Session 2 – Tuesday, April 1, 1:00 pm ET (online)
(online in partnership with the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program)
Curator Simona Di Nepi leads a two-part, in-depth virtual tour of one of the very first Judaica galleries in an encyclopedic art museum in the world. Explore the 27 works on view and the stories behind their recent acquisition (or unearthing): from an Italian Renaissance Torah binder and an Iraqi Torah case used in India, to a Yemenite woman’s festive headdress and a Torah Ark from 1920s Chelsea, Massachusetts. Spanning five hundred years and four continents, and featuring, silver, textiles, furniture, paintings, and books, these works highlight the extraordinary diversity of Jewish culture.
Simona Di Nepi is the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Curator of Judaica at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where she is responsible for building and displaying the Judaica collection, and for curating Intentional Beauty: Jewish Ritual Art from the Collection, the museum’s first Judaica gallery. Originally from Rome, before moving to the United States Simona studied and worked in London and Tel Aviv for 25 years. She filled curatorial roles, in both decorative arts and Old Masters, at the Victoria and Albert Museum, The National Gallery, and the Royal Academy of Arts in London, where she cared for permanent collections and curated exhibitions. In Israel, she worked as curator at Anu: The Museum of the Jewish People and as Lecturer in Italian Renaissance art at Reichman University, Herzelyia. Simona curated the exhibitions and wrote the accompanying catalogues for Reunions: Bringing Early Italians Paintings Back Together (The National Gallery, London, 2005), and Dreyfus: The Story of a French-Jewish Family (Anu: the Museum of the Jewish People, Tel Aviv, 2014). She is also the author of the National Gallery’s collection catalogue From Duccio to Leonardo: Renaissance Painting 1250-1500. In Judaica, Simona wrote the essays “Itinerant Sephardic Judaica: from Dutch Ports to the Harbours of Europe and the Americas,” “Jewish Things at the Museum of Fine Arts: a History,” “The Servi Shaddai: the Family History of an amulet at the MFA Boston”, and “Treasures from storage: Two Rediscovered Italian Jewish Textiles.”
Register here
From Exodus to Exodus – The Jews of Egypt
Thursday, April 3, 3:30 pm ET (online)
(online in partnership with the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program)
Join us as we retrace the history of Jews in Egypt, their contribution to the political, economic and artistic development of the country and the decline of the community following the birth of the state of Israel. The presentation will take you on a virtual tour of Jewish Egypt today, to show what remains of this once illustrious community, including the rededication of the iconic Eliahu Hanavi Synagogue in Alexandria.
Alec Nacamuli was born in Alexandria and he left at age thirteen following the Suez crisis. He is active in preserving the Jewish religious and cultural heritage in Egypt, and chairs Sephardi Voices UK, an oral history charity recording the memories of Jews who left the Middle East, North Africa and Iran to settle in the UK. He is also a volunteer guide on Ancient Egypt at the British Museum.
Louise Arwas is originally from grey and rainy London. Her father, grandparents and great-grandparents were all born in Egypt, and despite their traumatic expulsion and exile in 1956, she grew up on stories of the glorious days of Egyptian Jewry. In 2018 she returned to Egypt with her father, and ever since, has immersed herself in learning more about this somewhat forgotten period of Jewish history. She is involved in several related education projects, including organizing an upcoming heritage tour to Cairo and Alexandria with former community members who will share their personal stories. Louise works in marketing and now lives with her family in sunny Israel.
Register here
COMMUNITY PARTNER PROGRAMS
Tour the Walnut Street Synagogue with the JCCNS
Sunday, April 27, 9:45 am ET
(in person, bus leaves from the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore, 4 Community Road, Marblehead)
Join the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore (JCCNS) for a trip to the Walnut Street Synagogue in Chelsea including transportation, a tour and a kosher lunch. Space is limited, please register below by Monday, April 21. Cost is $30 for JCCNS members and $36 for community members.
Register here
Clash of the Early Zionists
Sunday, April 27, 11:00 am ET
(in person at the Adams Street Shul, 168 Adams Street, Newton, and online)
If you are familiar with Zionism’s popular history, but open to critically assessing your ideas and opinions in light of academic sources, you will find Brandeis University scholar Gilad Cohen’s presentation of Clash of the Early Zionists to be an engaging event. The speaker is a PhD candidate in the Department of Near Eastern & Judaic Studies at Brandeis University and is a fellow of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies. Tickets are free. Donations are welcome.
More information and registration
COMMUNITY PARTNER PROGRAMS FOR TEENS
Teens Feed
Wednesday, April 9, 6:00 pm ET
(in person at Temple Emanu-El, 393 Atlantic Ave., Marblehead)
Jewish teens in grades 7-12 are invited to participate in the mitzvah of caring for the stranger by preparing meals for Lifebridge North Shore. Teens learn about the connection between Judaism and social justice while contributing to the well-being of our community. Dinner will be served to teen volunteers. Sponsored by the Lappin Foundation
Teens Feed flyer
Register here
YAD CHESSED
Fulfill a Passover Mitzvah with Yad Chessed: “Let all Who are Hungry Come and Eat”
As Passover approaches, we all have the opportunity to fulfill the beautiful mitzvah of Maot Chittim (“wheat money”) by making a donation to Yad Chessed to ensure that every member of our community can afford food and joyfully celebrate this cherished holiday.
Maot Chittim is a mitzvah which dates to ancient times when individuals would contribute funds so that everyone in their community could afford the necessary provisions for the Passover holiday. Yad Chessed, an organization focused solely on assisting Jews in our community currently struggling with financial hardship and food insecurity, is committed to upholding this tradition by helping families purchase food on Passover. Your generous donation will contribute to ensuring that no one is left behind during this special time of year.
By giving to Yad Chessed, you are not only fulfilling a fundamental mitzvah but also spreading hope, joy, and unity throughout our community. And, if you know of someone in our community who is struggling with financial challenges, please encourage them to reach out to Yad Chessed (www.yadchessed.org/intake-form/) for assistance.
Support Yad Chessed