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jewish journey p roject fall 2012 course catalog a pilot project

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jew ish journey p roj ect welcome to the jewish journey project jjp a new initiative designed to revolutionize jewish education day camp-style courses that will take place during school vacations and independents courses tailored to the individual every participant will work closely with a jjp advisor to help craft the ideal combination of courses each semester jjp values the vision and culture inherent to every synagogue community in order to strengthen ties between participants and their congregations all jjp participants will attend a regularly scheduled meetup at their home synagogue or at the jcc this catalog includes details about our amazing courses from creating torah animation to exploring hebrew in high tech from learning about social justice and taking action to studying jewish history and identity at the jewish museum and provides helpful information about registration please pass along this course catalog to any friends who may be interested in learning more about jjp and please contact me with any questions i look forward to beginning this new journey with all of you rabbi lori forman-jacobi director jjp provides participants from 3rd to 7th grades with rich opportunities to engage in extensive educational opportunities outside of the classroom making use of the vast jewish resources of our great city of new york each jjp participant plans and builds a personalized journey choosing courses and workshops that match his or her passions and curiosities as well as preferred mode of learning the jjp model is based on flexibility and creativity with participants working collaboratively with excellent educators from a variety of backgrounds at jjp we broaden jewish learning and deepen jewish living by providing experiences that involve the individual the family the synagogue the jcc in manhattan the 14th street y and the larger new york jewish community we re excited that participants will meet study and grow with a wide range of fellow learners jjp offers courses along five distinct pathways torah god spirituality jewish peoplehood hebrew and tikkun olam we offer courses every monday thursday afternoon on shabbat afternoons and on sundays jjp also offers intensives 2

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jjp lexicon courses independents intensives courses are enriching learning experiences that impart the core values lessons and skills of jewish life through an integrated approach that fuses jewish learning with other disciplines courses take place outside of the traditional classroom each semester participants will travel new courses along different pathways and receive stamps in their passport as they build their jewish journey passport all jjp participants receive a passport to help track their journeys along pathways upon completion of a course you will collect a distinctive stamp for that pathway participants will be able track their progress over the years on an interactive website and create a travel journal of pictures videos and written entries about their jjp experience participants who have particular areas of interest they d like to pursue or passions that they d like to explore anew from a jewish angle are encouraged to design their own courses of independent study with their jjp advisor and family jjp participants can also choose to participate in our school vacation intensives these day camp-style courses provide opportunities for participants to explore various pathways in-depth pathways the major themes of jewish learning and living there are five pathways to explore meetup a home base for every participant meetup provides time and space for jjp participants to gather together as a synagogue community or at the jcc on a regular basis meetup allows synagogues to impart their vision to jjp participants and provides a forum for participants to share their jewish journey experiences with fellow travelers torah god spirituality hebrew jewish peoplehood tikkun olam 4

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begin your how it works · afternoon and weekend courses will take place at synagogues jccs museums parks and other locations around manhattan · your child can take courses that fit his or her schedule including school vacation intensives and independent journeys · once you are a jjp participant your child can travel any pathway any course anywhere · that s right you can but do not need to travel courses solely at your home synagogue · each jjp participant will meet with an advisor twice a year to choose courses at least one parent is encouraged to take part in these meetings advisors will also stay in touch through phone calls or e-mail correspondence throughout the year · you pay tuition to your home synagogue or to the jcc in manhattan · requirements including those for bar and bat mitzvah will be set by each participating synagogue journey course descriptions fall 2012 6

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pathway torah pathway torah 3rd­5th 3rd­5th 3rd­5th 6th­7th bible raps presents ethan witkovsky and joseph robbins have you ever wondered how abraham would tell his story if he had to rap it to a beat using the key elements of hip-hop poetry and rap we will explore different narratives from the bible and try to gain a new understanding of their meaning as we consider ways to express these timeless stories participants will take a fresh look at music videos to consider the way in which rap lyrics tell a story listen to old and new explanations of biblical tales and share their own opinions to express their connections to torah by the end of the course each participant will create and record a series of bible raps poems or songs to be collected in a class album a giant book of jewish wisdom ellen alt pirkei avot teachings of our fathers is one of the greatest sources of jewish wisdom based on the sayings of rabbinic sages in this course we will look at and talk about how these important jewish sayings can help us in our lives each participant will design and create one large page of our oversized book based on one of the sayings we ve learned we will paint draw cut paper collage and use photographs and other materials to make beautifully layered pages at the end of the course every participant will get his/her own reproduced copy of all the pages our giant book biblical heroes and heroines a bookmaking project tirtzah bassel the heroes and heroines of the bible are complex characters who embody a range of values leadership styles failures and successes in this hands-on workshop we use the art of bookmaking to study these characters in-depth and to discover what we can learn from them each participant will choose one heroic figure such as david samson deborah or esther as a focus for the project over the course of the semester participants will research their character create text and images and assemble the book structure itself pop-up books accordion books scrolls etc through this combination of study and craft participants investigate their personal connection to these characters and develop a multi-layered approach to jewish stories i am commentary mick fine for jews the main activity after reading the torah is commenting on and wrestling with its meaning in this course we will read famous comments by both ancient and contemporary thinkers on significant biblical verses we will ask questions such as how can we truly practically follow `love your fellows as yourself in our everyday lives what are the boundaries of love and who exactly are our fellows participants will then become commentators themselves adding their voices to the tradition and asking their family members friends neighbors and teachers what they think to further expand the discussion we ll be using digital tools such as voice stream 3rd­5th 3rd­5th 6th­7th biblical studio printmaking and the joseph narrative tirtzah bassel this hands-on workshop combines the art of printmaking with a visual investigation of the characters and themes of the joseph story over the course of the semester we will learn the foundations of printmaking and experiment with a range of techniques as each participant develops an original series of artwork we will explore many stories of this biblical hero from his grandiose dreams to his rise to power in egypt and use them as a springboard for our imagination and creativity talmudic stories in stop-motion animation merav ezer do you like to build with legos would you like to learn stories about the rabbis in the talmud and midrash in this class participants will explore adventurous stories of the early rabbis and recreate them using legos once we ve re-written the story and built our scenes we ll produce a motion video using a stop-motion animation technique during class participants will be in charge of directing and creating the audio track for each scene copies of all short movies will be uploaded to youtube and will be available for participants and families midrash manicures rabbi yael buechler midrash manicures combines judaism and creative nail art during this course we will be studying the torah portion of the week and looking closely at midrash creative rabbinic interpretations of the text and then applying what we learn by depicting the stories on our fingernails we will also learn about the latest nail art techniques so that you can sport your very own midrash manicure 6th­7th animatorah william levin let s learn about the parsha weekly torah portion through the process of computer animation using popular flip boom all-star animation software for participants we will explore various animation stages and techniques and use them to demonstrate lessons in the torah and together create a collaborative cartoon of biblical proportions 8

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pathway 3rd­5th pathway g o d spirituality god spirituality 6th­7th 5th­7th in partnership with the teva learning center 6th­7th spiritual workshop for questioning kids judaism offers many many ways for us to connect to god to our people and to the world around us in this course we will experience some of the pathways that lead us to a spiritual connection with god participants will learn how judaism helps us pay attention to the really important things in life each week a different spiritual aspect will be experienced gratitude humility courage restraint faith/trust joy patience and compassion our tools will be jewish stories and songs that highlight these spiritual values along with short meditations exploring nature journal writing singing and art projects create your own hip-hop siddur hineini here i am finding our jewish voices samuel klein everything in your jewish life from the mundane to the extraordinary is a story waiting to be told whether you are acting on broadway giving a presentation in class or standing up for your bar or bat mitzvah you need stage presence confidence and the ability to take your audience on a journey judaism is a faith made of up personal narratives from abraham and moses to ben stiller and natalie portman jews have a special story to tell and a unique way to tell it join samuel klein in a supportive fun and dynamic space in which to develop these skills together we ll delve into our everyday experiences at home school or synagogue to discover our own powerful personal narratives through creative writing movement exercises and drama improvisation we ll dig deep to find our authentic voice along with a way to express it our goal is to uncover the power of performance to transform the way we communicate to our listeners and ourselves wilderness jew torah and ecology on the trail connect with judaism s ecological and seasonal cycles as we journey through the torah s models of leadership community and environmental ethics on the trail each session will include time for prayerful reflection in nature team challenges inspired by experiences from the bible and midrash and training in basic wilderness and ecology skills we will begin our journey close to home with two foundational hikes one in central park and one in inwood park our third hike will continue the adventure on the trails of henry kaufmann campgrounds in long island for our final class like moses ascent we will bring our learning to a mountain trail that overlooks the beautiful woods of the hudson valley in cold spring ny daniel raphael silverstein many of us find it difficult to relate to the language of the siddur or prayer book and may not even realize that our tradition warmly invites us to create our own prayers in our own language the participants in this course will explore the contemporary relevance of the siddur from both a macro and micro perspective both its overall shape and the fine detail of some of its key texts they will then be guided to engage one prayer at a time and to vocalize it in their own words and in their own voice participants may use hip-hop slam poetry other styles of verse or even prose with musical accompaniments if they choose over the course the participants will create a substantive body of material their own siddur which will be recorded and shared where appropriate 3rd­5th finding god through hip-hop daniel raphael silverstein often we don t know what we really think about something until we re pushed to explain it in this course participants will be given the inspiration guidance and space to create their own poems raps songs or other works that reflect their own unique and dynamic relationships with god among the themes to be considered are ecology prayer social justice body image and relationships with family this process will be a rare and deeply exciting opportunity for the participants to explore and discover themselves and there will be opportunities for sharing and recording 10

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pathway hebrew pathway hebrew 3rd­4th 5th­7th 3rd­5th and 6th­7th hebrew detective society i mirit hadar learning hebrew is now a multisensory experience thanks to the hebrew language lab at the jcc beginning hebrew participants will learn to decode hebrew using a variety of software and internet resources on apple macbooks at the jcc we will also get to leave the lab to explore the hebrew in the world around us and take walks to discover where we find hebrew in the jcc building and in the neighborhood hebrew detective society ii mirit hadar in this course participants will learn how hebrew words are interconnected through the study of four thematic areas nature science culture and communication participants will not only increase their hebrew vocabulary but also grow to understand and love the semantic connections between hebrew words participants will have access to a variety of software and internet resources that will help them explore their hebrew learning in a creative way basic hebrew required hebrew ulpan 4th­7th meira marom and mirit hadar learning a new language can be daunting and frustrating but it can also and should always be fun these hebrew ulpan courses will focus on oral communication participants will spend time using hebrew in active ways including play-acting listening to hebrew music cooking gymnastics movies card games and other entertaining activities these courses are a great way to supplement efforts to read hebrew fluently and become familiar with liturgical hebrew live from new york it s saturday night gadna amit shukar gadna is a training program for israeli high school participants designed to prepare them for the army in the jjp version of gadna participants can expect physical challenges such as obstacle and ropes courses team and trust building exercises and israeli sport games all led by a former idf lieutenant who will introduce hebrew language skills and vocabulary throughout each activity and loads of fun no prior hebrew experience needed 12

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pathway jewish peoplehood pathway 3rd­5th in partnership with dorot 3rd­5th 3rd­5th tell me a story yael rooks-rapport do you like a good story our tradition is full of stories that give us an insight into the culture and history of jewish communities all over the world in this class students will gain exposure to the legacy of jewish stories by such famous writers as sholom aleichem and isaac bashevis singer and by contemporary storytellers such as howard schwartz and peninnah schram the cultural and historical backdrops of each story will be explored as participants engage in multisensory activities to further explore each story s central conflicts and moral questions interested participants will also learn how to become storytellers themselves back to the future of jewish history mick fine what do the knights of the round table and the jewish people have in common where were the jews when christopher columbus set sail being jewish means that you have a past an epic complex history that makes you who you are today but in order to really understand jewish history you have to travel back in time and get a sense of world history the big picture in this course participants will explore the changing identity of the jews over the last three and a half thousand years and travel back in time to the ancient world medieval times and eventually the land of israel jewish peoplehood 3rd­5th dorot s kitchen an intergenerational cooking experience nancy wolfson-moche across time and space an interactive exhibit of family stories amanda gelb who has the most dynamic family in the torah what makes a family halfway around the world different from yours where is your own family from we will discover what family is and what holds families together across generations from abraham and sarah to your ancestors abroad to your own grandparents the things that families pass down help define the glue that holds a family together as a group we ll share questions and research explore create and curate our ideas as we construct an exciting hands-on museum in which to exhibit of our findings dorot s kitchen is an intergenerational cooking program for participants and dorot seniors participants gather together to cook traditional jewish foods share stories and explore jewish culture and traditions through recipes and tasty dishes don t miss out on licking the spatula and hearing some incredible life stories from dorot seniors participants will take away a recipe book to help them share their experience with their family 3rd­5th in partnership with the jewish museum 5th­6th in partnership with r&r at the jcc culture and continuity art and artifacts from the jewish museum explore the distinctive ways in which objects tell important jewish stories as we closely examine the jewish museum s permanent exhibition culture and continuity the jewish journey spanning 4,000 years the works on display present unusual opportunities to study jewish survival and jewish identity participants will learn about the daily lives of the ancient israelites through a mock excavation in the museum s simulated archaeological dig explore chanukah lamps torah arks and other valuable objects and study the work of modern artists like reuven rubin and kenneth aptekar with inspiration from the artwork and ideas of the museum participants will express their own thoughts in art projects and writing jjp book club if you love to read join the jjp book club and delve into a world of exciting stories we ll pay close attention to award-winning jewish novels for children that mirror the challenges and issues facing kids as they grow up every week we will come together and discuss what we have read as a group this book club meets during r&r shabbat at the jcc a program series with extensive free programming for the entire family on shabbat afternoons 14

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pathway jewish peoplehood pathway tikkun olam 6th­7th all ages the jewish food network nancy wolfson-moche there is much more to jewish food than brisket and gefilte fish come learn about jewish communities and jewish cultures around the world by cooking their food from ethiopia to iraq to argentina jewish cooking reflects a remarkable blend of local culinary traditions and jewish cooking techniques that have been passed down for centuries as we sharpen our skills in the kitchen we will learn about the network of jews around the world and how we are connected through the food we eat the jjp family chorus adam feder love to sing then the jjp family chorus is for you we will learn songs from different jewish communities around the world in hebrew english yiddish and the other languages jews have sung in over the course of history we will sing traditional melodies that have been passed down for generations and learn new melodies that define the modern jewish community today we will also develop vocal skills learn to sing in harmony and perform throughout new york city together we will build the jewish journey project family chorus no previous singing background required pathway tikkunolam 3rd-5th in partnership with areyvut 7th head to toe tikkun olam in this introduction to tikkun olam participants will learn to connect their five senses to concepts of social justice in ways that can positively impact others projects will be based on questions such as can seeing something beautiful make a person feel better how can a blanket and pillow comfort someone how do you feel when you smell warm bread or fresh cookies baking how do you feel when you are hungry does it make you feel better when your friends call you if you are home sick from school each session will end with a hands-on art project that helps synthesize the relationship between understanding people s needs and taking action to meet those needs mitzvah corps missy bell we can change the world in mitzvah corps you will become empowered to respond to important societal issues such as education senior citizen care diversity hunger homelessness and climate change each unit whether about feeding the hungry respecting the elderly or other topics includes separate learning action and reflection sessions this course meets 3 times a month for 2 hours each participants have a choice of participating in the learning and reflection sessions on sundays or wednesdays in addition to an opening session there will be three units 6th­7th in partnership with moving traditions movies gangsters and divas jewish values in film and tv david weinreb lights camera action this course investigates what popular culture teaches us about jewish values looking closely at the sometimesconfusing messages that are transmitted through the lens of film and television we will explore such topics as defiance and conformity fear and courage what are the ethical questions raised by such popular books and movies as the hunger games twilight and harry potter these questions and more including film clips will guide our discussion as we learn more about how what we see on the big screen influences who we are as jews off screen unit 1 lechem l reyvim providing food for the hungry unit 2 check our website for more classes to come mishneh habriyot respect for all human life unit 3 l hader pnei zaken respect for the elderly advisors will be able to explain the timing of these sessions for interested participants 16

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planning your schedule dates times and places planning your schedule dates times and places monday courses run for 9 sessions oct 15 22 29 nov 5 12 19 26 dec 3 10 animatorah 6th­7th 5­6 pm held at the jcc create your own hip-hop siddur mondays 6th­7th 4:30­5:30 pm held at central synagogue talmudic stories in stop-motion animation 3rd­5th 4­5:30 pm held at the jcc hebrew detective society i 3rd­4th 3:45­4:45 pm held at the jcc 5th­7th 5­6 pm held at the jcc wednes days wednesday courses run for 10 sessions sept 19 oct 3 10 17 24 nov 7 14 28 dec 5 12 please note there will be no courses on october 31 due to faculty in-service or on november 21 due to the thanksgiving holiday hebrew detective society ii bible raps presents 3rd­5th 5:15­6:15 pm held at east end temple tuesdays tuesday courses run for 9 sessions oct 16 23 30 nov 5 13 20 27 dec 4 11 biblical heroes and heroines a bookmaking project 3rd­5th 5:15­6:15 pm held at the 14th street y biblical heroes and heroines a bookmaking project 3rd­5th 4:30­6 pm held at b nai jeshurun i am commentary 6th­7th 4­5 pm held at saj please note this course will start on october 10 all other wednesday courses begin on september 19 hineini here i am finding our jewish voices 6th­7th 4­5 pm held at the jcc 18

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planning your schedule dates times and places wednes days continued hebrew detective society i 3rd­4th 3:45­4:45 pm held at the jcc 5th­7th 5­6 pm held at the jcc thursdays thursday courses run for 12 sessions sept 20 27 oct 4 11 18 25 nov 1 8 15 29 dec 6 13 hebrew detective society ii please note there will be no courses on november 22 due to the thanksgiving holiday biblical studio printmaking and the joseph narrative 3rd-5th 4:15­5:45 pm held at saj tell me a story 3rd­5th 5:15­6:15 pm held at east end temple bible raps presents 3rd­5th 5­6 pm held at saj 3rd­5th 5­6 pm held at saj across time and space an interactive exhibit of family stories 3rd­5th 5:15­6:15 pm held at the 14th street y 6th­7th 4­5:30 pm held at saj spiritual workshop for questioning kids the jewish food network finding god through hip-hop 3rd­5th 4­5 pm held at b nai jeshurun movies gangsters and divas jewish values in film and tv hebrew ulpan i 6th­7th 5:30­7 pm held on the upper west side 3rd­5th 3:45­4:45 pm held at congregation habonim mitzvah corps hebrew ulpan i 7th 4­6 pm held at temple emanu-el of nyc 3rd­5th 4­5 pm held at east end temple hebrew ulpan ii 6th­7th 5­6 pm held at congregation habonim back to the future of jewish history 3rd­5th 4­5 pm held at saj 20

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planning your schedule dates times and places thurs days continued dorot s kitchen an intergenerational cooking experience 3rd­5th 3:30­5 pm held at the jcc 3rd­5th 4­5 pm held at saj sundays midrash manicures please note there will be no courses on november 25 due to the thanksgiving holiday head to toe tikkun olam 6th­7th 6 sessions oct 14­nov 18 9­10 am held off-site at an upper west side nail salon a giant book of jewish wisdom shabbat afternoons sat u r day nigh ts live from new york it s saturday night gadna 4th­7th 4 sessions october 6­27 6­7:30 pm held at the jcc 3rd­5th 9 sessions oct 14­dec 16 10:30 am­12:30 pm held at the jcc wilderness jew torah and ecology on the trail 5th­7th 4 sessions sept 30 oct 7 14 21 9:30 am­noon on average some are longer hikes meeting point jcc culture and continuity art and artifacts from the jewish museum 3rd­5th 8 sessions october 14­dec 9 10:30 am­noon held at the jewish museum jjp book club 5th­6th dates to be announced 4­5 pm during r&r shabbat at the jcc held at the jcc the jjp family chorus all ages 9 sessions oct 14­dec 16 4:30­5:30 pm held at the jcc mitzvah corps 7th 4 sessions dates to be announced 9:30­11:30 am held at temple emanu-el of nyc 22

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embark on an independent tikkun olam jordan s grandmother recently moved to a retirement community every other weekend jordan and her family visit her there although there are other jewish people who live in the community there is not a great deal of jewish programming and jordan s grandmother expresses her wish for a greater sense of jewish community in her new home together with her sister and parents jordan decides to turn one of her family s visits every month into a 2-hour jewish activity open to the entire retirement community over the course of the year jordan comes up with eight activities and leads them with her family at the end of the year jordan presents a scrapbook to the community with one page dedicated to each of their sessions together journey participants who have particular areas of interest they d like to pursue or passions that they d like to explore anew from a jewish angle are encouraged to design their own courses of independent study with their jjp advisor and family here are some examples of independent journeys jewish peoplehood alison is very dedicated to her passion the violin she takes lessons and practices for several hours every day alison s advisor suggests that she integrate her love of violin with her jewish learning and create an independent journey based on jewish music and music by jewish composers for the violin with help from her parents guidance from her violin teacher and some independent research alison learns three new compositions and writes a brief sketch for each piece describing its origin in the jewish community at the end of the semester she performs the pieces and presents the sketches in a recital at her synagogue torah eric is all about baseball he loves to play go to games and watch it on tv but he especially loves to track the stats of his favorite team the yankees eric has a book about sandy koufax and has learned about the famous jewish baseball players of past and present when eric tells his advisor how much he loves baseball his advisor says okay but what position would abraham play eric thinks about it but isn t sure thus begins eric s semester-long project to learn more about the characters of the hebrew bible in order to craft the first-ever fantasy baseball team made up entirely of biblical characters for each position on the field he also creates a batting order and makes individual baseball cards for each player at the end of the semester eric presents his bible baseball team at his synagogue and scans and uploads the baseball cards to the jjp website for the entire jjp community to share hebrew god spirituality for years marc has helped his parents cultivate the garden that they have at their country home this spring marc decided to take on a more active role and learn about gardening and farming as a spiritual practice with help from his advisor marc and his parents develop a series of eight lessons that draw from a jewish understanding of the earth and our relationship to the environment marc experiments with planting different flowers and herbs he also tries out different techniques of spiritual mindfulness in the garden and learns that he can turn his time outdoors into a silent retreat he tracks his progress through a photo journal in which he documents both the physical growth of the garden and his own spiritual growth as a mindful gardener jeremy has an incredible collection of board games from playing classics like monopoly and battleship to newer games like settlers of catan jeremy has become a strategist and a creative thinker when he meets with his parents and his advisor he becomes incredibly animated when talking about gaming his advisor asks him if he has ever thought about making his own board game what about creating his own board game in hebrew over the course of the semester jeremy develops and creates his own interactive board game the board the pieces the cards while the theme of the game is not overtly jewish the entire game is in hebrew in order to do this jeremy works to increase his hebrew vocabulary and grammar skills at the end of the semester jeremy brings his game to his jjp meetup at his synagogue and teaches his friends to play the game becomes a regular option for jjp participants who want to work on their hebrew skills at synagogue 24

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jjp participants can also choose to participate in our school vacation intensives these day camp-style courses provide opportunities for participants to explore various pathways in-depth intensives meetup meetups will be held throughout the year at partner synagogues for their members participating in jjp each synagogue is designing jjp meetup to impart the congregation s culture values music and vision to all jjp participants participants and families will have opportunities to share their jjp experiences and achievements and some meetups will include family activities families who enroll through the jcc will participate in meetup a number of times a year to share friday night dinners together at the jcc december intensive at the jcc december 24 26­28 9 am­2 pm 3rd­7th jjp music factory with adam feder and naomi less calling all kids who like to rock out and perform in this music-infused program participants can choose to either participate in a musical theater production or in a rock band both tracks build a collaborative jewish learning atmosphere where kids are encouraged to place their voices and opinions in the center to take safe risks and to support each other in experimentation jewish songs and themes will be woven throughout daily swimming will also be part of this program participants who want to be in a band must either bring their own instrument or be willing to rent one for the week at the end of the week we will have a showcase for all participants to perform for family and friends mondays 4­6 pm at b nai jeshurun 5:30­7 pm at congregation habonim tuesdays 4º6 pm at saj wednesdays 4­5 pm at east end temple february intensive february 18­22 9 am­2 pm 3rd­7th shabbat mornings 10 am­noon at saj stay tuned for more information 26

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introducing the jjp ellena lt faculty jjp faculty merav ezer has exhibited her mixed media artwork in the us israel germany former soviet union china and england one of her pieces was presented to hillary clinton in jerusalem on the occasion of the peace treaty between israel and jordan ellen received a bfa in art education from the massachusetts college of art and an ma in studio art from new york university she is an instructor in the graduate education program at brandeis university in new york city she is the artist-in-residence at the park avenue synagogue and teaches mixed media art courses to adults at the 92nd street y in addition ellen organizes community sculpture and mural projects in the middle east india england and throughout the united states ellenalt.org is an israeli artist who has studied drawing and painting in jerusalem italy and the us now an mfa candidate in painting at boston university tirtzah taught visual arts at prozdor hebrew high school at hebrew college in newton massachusetts before moving to the states in 2008 tirzah worked as senior educator and program coordinator for the nesiya institute in jerusalem for four years designing and leading programs in experiential education and leadership training for high school and college age israelis and americans most recently she served as the head teacher at the society for the advancement of judaism saj in new york city tirtzahbassel.com is a tel aviv-born sculptor and video artist who has been living in new york city since 2002 she holds a bachelors of education from the beit-berel college and an mfa from suny purchase merav has taught for over 15 years in a variety of settings including beit rabban day school the havurah program at the jcc in manhattan and at beth elohim in park slope among others ezer has participated in new york and international exhibitions her work has been shown at the andy warhol factory hendershot gallery the cypress video art festival williamsburg video art scope new york and the abington arts center among other venues her work received favorable reviews in such periodicals as sculpture magazine the journal of international woman studies the jewish press and world sculpture news she has been an artist in residence at the santa fe art institute the virginia center for the creative arts and makor artists-in-residency in 2007 ezer won the finishing funds award in 2007 for her work air condition her first book second skin was published in 2009 merav lives in williamsburg with her husband artist adi shniderman arteducation.meravezer.com adam feder tirtzah bassel is the musical director of the shul band and a teacher at temple sholom in greenwich ct and at the congregation for humanistic judaism in westport ct a guitarist singer and composer since the age of ten his love of jewish music has its roots in memories of his grandmother s yiddish melodies her cooking and years of passover seder musical marathons accompanying his father s accordion along the way adam has studied the philosophy of religion at sarah lawrence college meditated at too many week-long retreats to count grown and developed a network of inner-city community gardens in yonkers new york received an msw from hunter college school of social work and served as a hospice social worker for five years for adam music and synagogue have been the common denominator throughout his life he has produced multiple cd projects and is continuously working with new musicians and communities to ignite `heart and soul within the synagogue and jewish community through music completed his ba in hebrew language and literature at the ohio state university and continued his studies as a delet fellow at brandeis university where he completed an ma in teaching hebrew mick has spent the past several years working in jewish education first as a hebrew school teacher and then as a full-time jewish studies educator at the solomon schechter school of manhattan and more recently editing and writing curriculum for hazon teva and jdc he worked as a rabbinic intern in youth and family education at b nai jeshurun in new york city in addition to being a faculty member for many years at the rebecca and israel ivry prozdor high school mick is now in his last year of studies in the rabbinical school at the jewish theological seminary missy bell mick fine is the coordinator of youth learning and engagement at congregation emanu-el of the city of new york missy has master s degrees in jewish education and jewish communal service from hebrew union college­jewish institute of religion in los angeles california she completed her undergraduate education at washington university in st louis spending her junior year at hebrew university of jerusalem and is an alumna of the urj goldman union camp institute is the founder of midrashmanicures.com an educational venture that features workshops and weekly manicures for a torah portion holiday or lifecycle event midrash manicures classes have been featured in the new york times and on america online rabbi buechler began doing manicures when she was a middle school participant at the solomon schechter day school of suffolk county and by the time she entered brandeis university she began her own nail business nails co in addition to doing text-based manicures she has served as the program director at congregation beth el in south orange rabbi buechler who now serves as the coordinator of participant life for the middle school at the solomon schechter school of westchester received rabbinic ordination from the jewish theological seminary in 2011 midrashmanicures.com rabbi ya elbu ec hler amanda gelb is fascinated by the process of bringing information and ideas to life she received her bachelors of commerce in social innovation from mcgill university and has enacted imaginative programs with communities of all ages on topics such as social justice literacy and free choice she won the 2012 jewish futures competition for her million museum project a methodology for interactive project-based learning that results in the creation and curation of jewish traditions experiences and material 28

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