Workshop - "Raising Respectful, Responsible and Resilient Children in a Privileged World"

Karen Jacobson and Lauren Bondy presented this fun, interactive workshop providing practical, creative tips on how to navigate the challenge of parenting in today's privileged world. The program including ideas on how to avoid raising over-indulged children, communicating values, deepening connections among family members, encouraging responsibility and meaningful family activities and enjoying being a parent.

Karen has her master's degree in Counseling Psychology and is a licensed marriage and family therapist and licensed clinical professional counselor with over 15 years counseling experience. Lauren received her master's degree in Clinical Social Work and has extensive experience in school social work and child welfare. She helped implement a comprehensive bully prevention program in the schools.

"Jews and Muslims in the Arab World"

Dr. Jacob Lassner spoke about the book he recently co-authored, Jews and Muslims in the Arab World: Haunted by Pasts Real and Imagined. The book, which has received praised from scholars nationwide, looks at the effects of historical memory on the Arab-Israeli conflict. It shows how Jews and Arabs use stories of distant pasts to create their identities and shape their politics. Whether real or imagined, the past filtered through their collective memories continues to exert enormous influence on how Jews and Arabs perceive themselves and each other.

Dr. Lassner is Professor of Jewish Civilization at Northwestern University and the author of seven previous books, most recently The Middle East Remembered.

Adult Retreat - "Prayer and Reform Judaism: Oxymoron or Theological Pillar?"

Rabbi Cohen explored the nature of our relationship to prayer using Mishkan T'filah, the Reform Movement's new prayer book, as our study guide. The retreat took place at scenic Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.

Participants looked at the evolution of the prayer book, from its earliest text to its latest version, and questioned whether this is a spiritual snapshot of our community or the latest attempt to reshape a more traditional Reform Movement.

To view the brochure distributed for this event, click here.

Rabbi's Reading Table

North Shore Kallah

"The Book of Psalms"

Dr. Benjamin Sommer, Director of the Crown Family Center for Jewish Studies and an Associate Professor of Religion at Northwestern University, gave an introductory lecture on the Book of Psalms, covering its origins, its use in ancient Israelite worship in Biblical times and its literary forms.

Dr. Sommer teaches about the Hebrew Bible, ancient Judaism and religions of the Near East. He has been a visiting faculty member at various institutions including the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His first book, A Prophet Reads Scripture: Allusion in Isaiah 40-66, received the Salo Baron Prize by the American Academy of Jewish Research. Dr. Sommer is currently working on several books, including Artifact or Scripture? The Jewish Bible between History and Theology, which will examine whether the Bible as an ancient Near Eastern document is revelevant for modern Jewish thought.

Film - "Close to Home"

Temple Jeremiah and the Dawn Schuman Institute presentd this film chronicling the day-to-day lives of two young Israeli women soldiers, Smadar and Mirit, who are forced to overcome their differences when a tragic event occurs.

The story follows these women of differing values as they face overwhelming duties as Border Police in the Israeli Defense Force. Mirit and Smadar are assigned to make their presence known on the street, registering any Arabs they encounter, watching for suspicious activity, and conducting end-of-day searches of Arab women going back across the border. Tensions are high not only between the soldiers and the Palestinian civilians but between the Israeli soldiers themselves over how to deal with the impossible conflict. Dr. Liora Sion led a discussion following the film.

Pulse of Our World: A Mideast Update

Guest speaker was Micah Halpern, host of the weekly talk radio feature "A Safer World," a terrorism analyst commentator on USA Radio Network and CBS Network and a frequent guest speaker on CBS, FOX and MSNBC as well as documentaries on PBS, The Learning Channel, The History Channel, Discovery and the Food Network. Mr. Halpern is the author of What You Need to Know About Terror and, most recently, THUGS: How History’s Most Notorious Despots Transformed the World Through Terror, Tyranny and Mass Murder.

A syndicated columnist, Mr. Halpern is also a well-known social and political commentator, educator and historian. In 1997 he was appointed Israeli columnist for American Online and continues to this day to write a weekly column on foreign affairs, the Middle East and terror. For fun, Mr. Halpern writes a column on Kosher wines and is the only exclusively Kosher wine reviewer in the world.

Discussion: The Book Thief

Congregant Ruth Adler led a discussion of the award-winning bestseller, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Death himself narrates this World War II-era story of a young German woman, Liesel Meminger, from the time she is taken as a young child to live with a foster family in a tough, working class neighborhood after stealing her first book. Over the years Liesel steals more books as events in her life become inextricably tied to the events of World War II and she watches her family and friends succumb to Death.

Ecology and the Torah

Temple Jeremiah and the Dawn Schuman Institute presented this program concerning what Judaism says about our responsibility to the environment, recycling and global warming. Rabbi Joseph Ozarowski explored Jewish attitudes toward ecological issues through discussion of Jewish texts throughout our history.

Hebrew Refresher Class

North Shore Senior Center (NSSC) 12th Annual Joan Golder Distinguished Senior Lecture

"How to Keep Life Interesting: Pursuing New Opportunities" with Award-Winning Broadcaster Bill Kurtis

Returning to Chicago in 1985, Kurtis began his career as a documentarian, founding Kurtis Productions and producing programs for A&E Network. In his home state of Kansas, he is a rancher, radio station owner, art gallery owner, small businessman, supporter of small-town America and conservationist. In 2005, Bill founded Tallgrass Beef Company to champion the environmental and health benefits of grass-fed cattle ranching. Mr. Kurtis is the recipient of numerous humanitarian, journalism and broadcasting awards including Emmys, CableACE Awards and the Thurgood Marshall Award for his Investigative Reports installment on the death penalty.

The North Shore Senior Center (NSSC) lecture series was established in 1996 by the Golder family after Joan Golder completed four years as President of NSSC's Board of Directors. The Lecture honors her and celebrates others who are 50 and older.

Rabbi's Reading Table

Maimonides: The Life and World of One of Civilization's Greatest Minds

Joel Kraemer, Professor Emeritus at University of Chicago’s Divinity School and author of the newly released biography, Maimonides: The Life and World of One of Civilization’s Greatest Minds, shared insights on Maimonides’ life against the social, religious and political issues of his time. A philosopher, physician and law-giver, Maimonides’ monumental compendium, the Mishneh Torah, became the basis for Jewish code. Born in Spain and raised in an Arab-Islamic environment during the peak of the Crusades and Reconquista or expansion of Christianity in the Iberian Peninsula, Maimonides’ life, career and writings were the highest expression of the intertwined worlds of Judaism and Islam.

Drawing on a wealth of original sources, Professor Kramer portrayed this great historical figure and recreated this remarkable period of history when Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions clashed and mingled amidst intense intellectual exchange and religious conflict.

"Jews & Power"

This course, offered by Dawn Schuman in collaboration with Indiana University’s Judaic Studies program, looked at the myth of Jews, on the one hand, wielding power world-wide and, on the other hand, feeling completely powerless until the rise of modern-day Israel. In fact, Jews have forged a middle ground, exerting some control over their own lives even under the direst circumstances. Indiana University Professors Dr. Steven Weitzman and Dr. Jeff Veldinger examined some of the sources of Jewish power through the ages.

Part 1 (November 2) "Jews and Divine Power" - In antiquity, Jews lived in a world largely out of their control, first under the domination of the Babylonians, followed by the Persians, Greeks and Romans. But they had one popular ally capable of defeating any divine foe. This session will look at the Dead Sea Scrolls, the narratives of the 1st century historian Josephus and other ancient Jewish sources to see how ancient Jews living under Greek and Roman rule enlisted divine power against their enemies in order to gain control over their own destiny

Part 2 (November 9) "Jews and Secular Power" - Turning to modern times, this session will look at efforts Jews have historically made to negotiate political power for themselves in a secular state. The session will begin with an evaluation of Jewish political autonomy in modern Europe, then explore the different ways Jews have interpreted political freedoms and civil and national rights and conclude with the implications this has for defining Jewish identity in the globalized world of the 21st century.

"Pedagogy of Hate"

Itamar Marcus took attendees on a journey to the Palestinian classroom, exposing the indoctrination of Palestinian youth through textbooks and television.

Mr. Marcus is the founder and director of the Palestinian Media Watch. He was appointed by the Israeli government as the Israeli representative (communications specialist) to the Trilateral (Israeli-Palestinian-American] Anti-Incitement Committee established under the Wye Accords. From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Marcus served as Research Director of the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, writing reports on Palestinian Authority, Syrian and Jordanian schoolbooks.

"The Lotan Story"

Alex Cicelsky, a founding member of Kibbutz Lotan in Israel, talked about the amazing work taking place at his kibbutz and how we can all put our environmentalism to work.

Founded by graduates of the Reform Youth movements of the United States and Israel and affiliated with the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism and the “Green Kibbutz” group, Kibbutz Lotan has profoundly impacted Reform Jewish communal life in Israel as well as the environmental movement.

"Praying with Lior"

Temple Jeremiah's Adult Learning Committee and the Dawn Schuman Institute presented this documentary about Lior Liebling, a young man with Down's Syndrome who has spent his life praying with utter abandon. Is he a "spiritual genius," as some around him claim, or simply a vessel containing others' unfulfilled wishes and expectations? While his family members agree Lior is close to God, they also view him as a burden, a best friend, an inspiration and an embarrassment depending on who is speaking. As Lior approaches his Bar Mitzvah, different characters offer a window into a life spent "praying with Lior." The movie poses such questions as "What is a disability?" and "Who really talks to God?"

"Praying with Lior" is not just a documentary film, it is the centerpiece of an ambitious outreach campaign to change the way people with disabilities are perceived and received by faith communities.

Russell Vincent, the Director of Vocational Education at the Northwest Academy Behavioral Health Center, a private psychiatric hospital, led a discussion following the film. Mr. Vincent taught special needs students at Beth Tikvah Congregation and has served as a consultant for various synagogues.

Workshop - "Raising Respectful, Responsible & Resilient Children in a Privileged World"