Where: F.O.R. 521 North Broadway, Nyack NY 10960

Cost: to be determined

Ÿ Eco Menorah candle lighting

Ÿ Dreidle Tournament

Ÿ Holiday foods

Ÿ Entertainment - Trio Shalva, the Israeli Jazz band, with Assaf Gleizner

Ÿ Food drive – bring non-perishable foods to the party and we will donate it to

Ÿ People to People of West Nyack

The creative Eco-Menorah project will enhance this year’s celebration. Each Learning Circle will build a uniquely designed menorah to reflect the theme of preserving the environment and saving energy to be presented and lit at the party.

Now, what does Hanukkah have to do with the environment, you may ask? Just like in the Hanukkah miracle story - “a one-day flask of lamp-oil magically burned for eight days” – so too we can and must use “oil” (or any energy source) efficiently so we get much more production out of much less fuel for the preservation of the planet.

Jewish tradition charges us to be the “guardians” of the earth. Waste and destruction are clear prohibitions according to Jewish law, thus we are emphasizing the theme in relation to Hanukkah this year.

Finally, we are now gathering the organizing team and volunteers.

Needed are:

1. A raffle coordinator

2. A flyer maker and distributors

3. A Shopper for latkes and donuts

4. Set up/clean up people

Your help would be so much appreciated.

Please let us know which of the above jobs are calling to you.

We look forward to seeing you at the party.

]]> http://hebrewlearningcircles.com/2011/12/01/hanukkah-party-tuesday-december-20th-600-to-800-pm/feed/ http://hebrewlearningcircles.com/2011/09/02/high-holiday-services-5772-nyack-ny/ http://hebrewlearningcircles.com/2011/09/02/high-holiday-services-5772-nyack-ny/#comments Fri, 02 Sep 2011 10:54:18 +0000 Rabbi Modek http://hebrewlearningcircles.com/?p=225 Mindful New-Year Celebrations for the Open Minded

Reserve your seats now

845 641 1106 and/or hlchighholidays@gmail.com

Evening Service (Kol Nidrei): Friday, 10/7   7:30-8:45

Daytime Service: Shabbat, 10/8 (Yizkor included)

Silent meditation 8:30 am to 8:50 am

Service 9:00 am – 1:00 pm

Concluding Service (Ne’ila): 5:30 – 7:45 pm

With Rabbi Reuben Modek, Chani Getter, Judith Rose

Musical support by Assaf Gleizner of Trio Shalva

Suggested Contribution per the holiday:

$60 per person /$30 per child under 13

Family package $170

[Parent/s and dependent children]

Make check payable to Hebrew Learning Circles

Mail to P.O. Box 212, Nyack NY 10960

Childcare provided for Yom Kippur Day services only.

All are welcome! Financial considerations will be honored.

Location: Lift Nyack Yoga & Wellness Center

42 Main Street, Nyack NY 10960

]]> http://hebrewlearningcircles.com/2011/09/02/high-holiday-services-5772-nyack-ny/feed/ http://hebrewlearningcircles.com/2011/04/17/join-friends-of-hebrew-learning-circles/ http://hebrewlearningcircles.com/2011/04/17/join-friends-of-hebrew-learning-circles/#comments Sun, 17 Apr 2011 19:52:17 +0000 Rabbi Modek http://hebrewlearningcircles.com/?p=217 Dear Friend,
Happy Spring! As Hebrew Learning Circles continues to grow and bring Jewish education into homes, I’m excited to share with you our plans for development - and offer you an opportunity to belong to our exciting community.

Our immediate goal is to make this unique Jewish educational and community model accessible to 300 students by 2014. We aim to make quality Jewish home-study widely available, well recognized in the Jewish community and delivered with state-of-the-art educational tools and resources. We are hard at work offering students and families a connection to a vital and positive Jewish identity on a scale that would truly make a community-wide difference. But we can’t do this without you.

Become a Friend of Hebrew Learning Circles.
As a member of Friends of Hebrew Learning Circles you will enhance your connection with our learning and celebration community and have a vehicle through which to gift others with the benefits you’ve already received. Choose from three levels of membership. If you make your donation by April 30th, your membership will come with a special gift in gratitude for your contribution.

1. FRIEND at $360 a year. You will receive free Chanukah party tickets, priority access to the Rabbi during critical life-cycle events HLC and a special gift - Embroidered Yarmulke
2. SUPPORTER at $1,800 a year. You will receive free 2 high-holiday tickets, Hanukkah party tickets, priority access to the Rabbi during critical life-cycle events and a special gift - Kiddish Cup
3. SUSTAINER at $5,400. You will receive free 4 high-holiday tickets, Hanukkah party tickets, priority access to the Rabbi during critical life-cycle events and a special gift - Silver Mezuzah

I invite you to take part in offering a vibrant alternative for Jewish children and families. Help us transform Jewish education in 21st century America. Support an engagement with Jewish tradition that is based in vitality, joy, relevance and the warmth of home replacing a message that was once rooted in guilt and obligation. Help us make a difference.

We would like to send you a copy of our business development plan. Please request the business development plan by e mailing us at hlcoffice@mac.com.

With blessing,

Rabbi Ruben Modek
hlcoffice@mac.com

Itinerary
(The following is a draft itinerary. A detailed itinerary will be provided 45 days before the tour.)

Day 1 – Sunday
Arrive at Ben Gurion Airport and drive south to the Negev.
Desert Experience: our journey begins in open wilderness incorporating learning, hiking and soul immersion.
“Various peoples have lived in the Negev since the dawn of history: nomads, Canaanites, Philistines, Edomites, Byzantines, Nabateans, Ottomans and of course Israelis. Presenting stunning natural desert beauty, which covers almost half of the
total land area of Israel, the Negev has become a center for advanced desert agriculture and ecological projects.”

Check into the guesthouse and a refresh before departing for the evening program.
Explore Shivta - the remains of an ancient desert community.
“Shivta began life as a caravan stop in the Negev for the Nabatean masters of the Incense Route, and flourished in the fourth century before being abandoned at the time of the Muslim Conquest. Because of its distance from the population centers in the Negev the city’s houses, public buildings and streets have been remarkably well preserved. Dinner will be at the site accompanied by a desert-true drumming circle.”

Overnight: Mashabei Sade

Day 2 – Monday
Eco Judaism - explore the relationship between Ecology and Judaism, as applied to desert agriculture and living by visiting Kibbutz Revivim. There we will discover how saltwater agriculture is used with stunning success.
“Kibbutz Revivim cultivates the largest saltwater olive grove in the world and their olive oil is renowned for its excellent quality. A visit to the Mitzpe (observation point) offers an opportunity to relive the early days of the settlement, which was founded in the early 1940’s by a small group of pioneers who initially lived in the Byzantine underground water reservoirs and later moved to the traditional stockade.”

Hands-on Mitzvah Project - meet and work with special needs youth at the Beit HaShanti Home For Distressed Youth. Most residents are formerly dispossessed and alienated youth from the streets of Tel Aviv. This desert Youth Center, recently opened, uses art and music therapy to reach out to the teenagers.

Neve Midbar, Desert Spring and Spa - relax in the hot water desert springs.
Moonlight tour - take a journey on foot through the Biblical wilderness of Zin, for a glimpse of some of the flourishing night wildlife, guided by a local expert.
Overnight: Mashabei Sade or Nitza

Day 3 – Tuesday
Drive north to Tel Aviv
“The Israeli Museum at the Yitzhak Rabin Center is the first and only in Israel to explore the development of the State of Israel as a young democracy. Built in a downward spiral, the museum presents two parallel stories:! the history of the State and Israeli society, and the biography of Yitzhak Rabin.! The museum exhibits focus on historical turning points in the country’s development, presenting the conflicts, social challenges and dilemmas the country faced at that time.! Along the inner corridor and interwoven with the exhibits’ narratives is the story of the life of Yitzhak Rabin, the connecting thread in the country’s history.”
Drive along Tel Aviv’s coastline to Jaffa.! Visit the artists’ quarter and Jaffa’s ancient flea market. Jaffa! (founded by the Canaanites in 18 th century B.C.)! has been historically important largely because of its port that dates back over 4000 years.

“The biblical account mentions that the cedars from Lebanon for the construction Solomon’s Temple came in via Jaffa to Jerusalem.! Jonah departed from this city in his flight from God to then be thrown into the ocean and engulfed by a whale. Simon the Tanner lived in Jaffa, and it was here that the apostle Peter performed a miracle. Jaffa is a major tourist attraction with an exciting combination of old, new and restored.”!

Pass by Jaffa’s recently renovated Turkish governor’s offices (the Seraya Building).! Proceed to the area of the old Turkish train station, now called “HaTachana”! (literally the station).!
“Built in 1892 as the final stop of the Jerusalem-Jaffa railroad line, the station has been renovated into a stylish complex that houses boutiques, restaurants in addition to many other community events .An old railcar sits on train tracks in front of the station’s original building, greeting visitors.”
! Proceed to Neve Tsedek (Oasis of Justice), Tel Aviv’s first neighborhood outside of Jaffa. South of the Yemenite Quarter, Neve Tzedek was the first neighborhood built in the “new” city of Tel Aviv, back in 1887.!

“At the beginning of the 20th century Neve Tzedek was the home of many artists and writers, such as Brenner and Agnon (a Nobel Prize winning author).! The 1980’s and 1990’s saw Neve Tsedek recapture its former prestige, and has since become gentrified with plenty of restaurants, galleries and designer shops.! The architecture of Neve Tzedek is definitely one of the highlights in the area.! Beautiful old houses restored to grandeur by modern architects.”

On to Rothschild Blvd where there are over 5000 Bauhaus buildings, the largest number in any one city in the world; a fact that led UNESCO to recognize it as a “World Heritage Site.”
On to Rabin Square, the large public square in front of Tel Aviv’s city hall, where, in November 1995 Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated.

Drive further north to the beautiful lower Galilee.
Check in.

Tour and experience Hararit, a modern Israeli village in the Galilee, founded by the Transcendental Meditation community.
Outdoor dinner in the Galilean Hills Overnight: kibbutz guesthouse

Day 4 – Wednesday
Tour the mystical city of Safed. Sea of Galilee - swimming/hiking in the footsteps of our forbearers.
Participate in a Listening Circle - surrounded by nature, experience an innovative Israeli dialogue technique for introspection and non-judgmental communication led by Jewish and Arab facilitators. The Circle experience will conclude with a dinner at an Arab village.
Overnight: kibbutz guesthouse

Day 5 – Thursday
Drive to Jerusalem –
Head to Gviley Ha’aish, ”Scrolls of Fire”, a large memorial to the Holocaust nestled in the Martyrs Forest on the outskirts of Jerusalem - On site, take a special musical workshop in preparation for entering Jerusalem. This experience will include the study
of “piyutim” (ancient liturgical poetry) and Shehecheyanu, the blessing for a pending first.
Enter Jerusalem via Ein-Kerem – take an introductory Kabalah lesson or visit an Artist’s workshop.
“The village of Ein-Kerem, just outside Jerusalem, has been inhabited since Biblical times and retains its individual character in the old stone houses and tiny streets.”
Check in and enjoy a free evening in Jerusalem. Overnight: Jerusalem

Day 6 – Friday
Afternoon free time
Tour the Old City of Jerusalem
“Jerusalem was divided in the 16th century by walls into 4 quarters: Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Armenian. Residents from each of the religions meeting and mingling daily have created an interfaith culture that is unique only to this holy city of Jerusalem.”
Attend Friday night observances with one of the liberal communities of Jerusalem (possibly “Nava Tehila”). “Nava Tehila- “beautiful praise”- is an emerging prayer and study community in Jerusalem, which welcomes people of diverse backgrounds into an ecstatic yet contemporary expression of Jewish spirituality and living.”
Overnight: Jerusalem

Day 7 – Shabbat
Early morning: “Around the World in Jerusalem” – a multi-ethnic synagogue tour in the eclectic neighborhood of Nachlaot.
“Built between 100 and 150 years ago, Nahlaot is actually a collection of 32 neighborhoods, each with its distinctive flavor and synagogue.”
Optional: Shabbat Shacharit (morning) services with one of the various exciting Jerusalem communities (possibly Shira Hadasha, a cutting-edge Orthodox Egalitarian minyan).
Traditional Shabbat Lunch (including joyous ritual and Zmirot, songs) Afternoon free time
Late evening: movement and wellness workshop followed by Havdala (end-of-Shabbat candle lighting) overlooking the Old City.
Overnight: Jerusalem

Day 8 – Sunday
Depart Jerusalem for Kfar Carlibach (The Carlibach Village) for a Liturgical workshop titled: A Nigun’s Journey - from The Ba’al Shem Tov to Reb Shlomo Carlibach.
This interactive session includes singing, storytelling and teachings in the Hasidic tradition of the late Reb Shlomo Carlibach enhanced by the generous and open- hearted hospitality of the village’s colorful residents.

Drive to Tel Aviv
Independence Hall – visit the place were Israel was founded and relive the moment
‘Eight hours before the termination of the British Mandate, in what was then Palestine, the members of the People’s Council and a host of Zionist dignitaries,
listened with emotion as David Ben- Gurion, head of the People’s Council, the Zionist Executive and the Jewish Agency, declared the creation of the State of Israel..”
Free time to explore “the Israeli city that never sleeps”
Take a Segway (personal green transportation) tour through the Old Port
Farewell dinner at Bariba, famous for its health conscious Mediterranean cuisine Return flight to the USA

Israel Tour cost per individual (on a sliding scale per group size)
Group of 6 to 9 - $2954
Group of 10 to 14 $2700
Group of 15 or more $2515
Reservation deposit: $300 refundable deposit will reserve your spot on the tour (costs are subject to change).
Make check payable to Hebrew Learning Circles, Inc. and mail to: P.O. Box 212 Nyack, NY 10960.

Cost Includes:
• 8 days of Government licensed English-speaking tour guide as per itinerary. (Please note that according to Israeli law a tourist bus must be accompanied by a licensed guide.)
• Deluxe air-conditioned motor coach for 8 days & airport transfer upon departure • 7 nights hotel accommodation at mid-level hotels • Meals: 7 daily full Israeli breakfast at the hotel, 6 dinners, 1 sit down lunch • 1 or 2 free passenger sharing a twin room on the groups board
• Entrance fees as per program

Cost Excludes:
• Airfare • Expenses of a personal nature • Medical insurance • Airport taxes, border taxes, visa fees • Tips to driver, guide, hotel and restaurant staff
Produced and managed for Hebrew Learning Circles, Inc. by Kenes Tours, Israel, www.kenestours.com

Today’s world and workplace is complex, stressful and often illogical. We, the employees often worry about job retention, relationships, making ends meet, stresses that may compromise our ability to get along in harmony with coworkers and minimize our productivity. We all know that the happier a workplace is……. a more productive workplace we will have.

Sometimes, all an employee needs is a boost to refresh and sharpen his or her mind as well as unburden his or her heart. Interactive engagement in good old-fashioned logic and creative thinking does just that. A break during the workday for fun and intellectual stimulation is known to uplift the thinking worker’s spirit and reduce his or her level of workplace stress.

The proposition? It doesn’t get any more logical than this! A course series titled: The Talmud – The Jewish Rubik’s Cube with master Talmud teacher Rabbi Efraim Baer.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS/LOGISTICS

You must enjoy logic and creative thinking! This class is a learning laboratory. Employees’ participation is vital to the process making it fun and stimulating!

A one hour “lunch and study” session (BYOB…..bring your own bag….for lunch) over a period of either six or ten weeks will take place on the company’s premise.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The Talmud, an anthology of hair-splitting debates among ancient scholars, is the basis for legal, philosophical, and ethical thinking in Judaism and beyond. It’s principles of profound analysis are relevant today as ever and apply to all aspects of human life….. especially…. the workplace.

The course offers a delightful synthesis of logic, creativity and analytical skills as well as exposure to the ancient Rabbis’ depth and wisdom. The employees’ capacity to think sharply and decisively is bound to improve by the end of this learning experience! The study of the Talmud, the Jewish “Rubik’s Cube”, will enhance logical decision-making related to work projects, ethical issues, relationships and much more.

WHAT WILL THE EMPLOYEE GAIN?

Participants will develop a working vocabulary of the most common analytical terms and conceptual constructs used in Talmudic debates. Employees will learn how to anticipate the logical next step in the flow of a text. They will learn how to breakdown complicated discussions into their component parts and search for the appropriate questions to ask at each step. The art of framing a fitting question at any given moment is the key to expediently resolving presented challenges, whether in a Talmudic text or in life itself. Participants will be inspired as they gain the tools for unraveling initially complex mental challenges. Employees will walk away from each session feeling intellectually stimulated and mentally energized, refreshed for the remainder of the workday. Additionally, they will gain analytical and assessment skills transferable to real life workplace challenges.

OUR INSTRUCTOR:

Rabbi Ephraim Baer has been offering expert Jewish education to adults and children for over 25 years. During the past 12 years he has taught at Yeshiva Ohr Samayach in Monsey, NY where he introduced his highly innovative and very successful Talmud-skills-for-beginners program.

Over the past decade Rabbi Baer has been giving a weekly Talmud skills class for beginners in Manhattan, Fairlawn, NJ, White Plains, NY and Passaic, NJ. Rabbi Baer has also taught for over 20 years at Jewish day schools in Virginia Beach, VA, Edison, NJ and Monsey, NY. Rabbi Baer is a master teacher and the author of a CD series on Jewish classical texts.

Cost:
6 one hour sessions (Materials included) $2940
10 one hour sessions (Materials included) $4250 (discounted)

LOCATION: CAFE TASCHA, 140 Main Street - Nyack, NY 10960
(corner of Main Street & Franklin)

The Program
* Candle lighting and prayers with Rabbi Modek
* Latkes and jelly doughnuts available for purchase at Cafe Tascha’s counter
* Live Band, starring our teacher Assaf Gleizner and his band Trio Shalva
* Poetry Jam
o by kids
o by adults
* Dreidel contest with prizes for the kids
* Hanukkah crafts for the kids
* Raffle and awesome prizes

Sponsors Invited

Would you donate in honor of a relative or friend by covering
the cost of one of the items listed below? We would like to
publicly acknowledge your donation and the person (and
cause) to whom the donation is dedicated.

* the band ? ($500)
* the raffle prizes? ($150)
* the chocolate Hanukkah Gelt for the kids? ($100)
* the Dreidel contest prizes? ($50)

Great volunteering opportunities during the party:

1 volunteer for the admissions’ table
1 volunteer to be the Master of Ceremony of the Poetry Jam
1 volunteer to run the Dreidel contest
1 volunteer for the Hanukkah crafts with the children
1 volunteer to coordinate and draw the raffles
3 volunteers to sell the raffle tickets

Call (845) 348-9810 or email hlcoffice@mac.com to sign up!

Warmly, Rabbi Reuben Modek

In the 1960s, when a young Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz embarked on the mammoth task of translating the ancient Jewish texts of the Talmud into modern Hebrew and, even more daringly, providing his own commentary alongside those of the classical sages, the state of Israel was still in its teens, there were no home computers, and man had not yet landed on the moon.

The monumental work took 45 years. But this month in his hometown, Jerusalem, Rabbi Steinsaltz, now 73, marked the end of the endeavor, as the last of the 45 volumes of his edition of the Babylonian Talmud, originally completed 1,500 years ago, rolled off the press.

“When I began it I did not think it would be so difficult or so long,” the rabbi said in a meandering interview that went late into the night at his Steinsaltz Center for religious studies in the city’s historic Nahlaot neighborhood. “I thought it would take maybe half the time.”

First, he said, there was the arrogance of youth, then financial and political obstacles, several spells in the hospital and the disruptive effect of a few wars.

Rabbi Steinsaltz, frail after a recent illness, sealed his achievement on Nov. 7 with a modest closing ceremony at City Hall here and a live video linkup connecting 360 Jewish communities across 48 countries on a global day of Jewish learning in the spirit of the Talmud.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, sent greetings by video and, recalling his private Talmud sessions with the rabbi in the past, said they were among the most rewarding intellectual experiences of his life.

The original Talmud, written in a mixture of old Hebrew and Aramaic, is all about learning. The act of learning, according to the rabbi, is the “central pillar” or “backbone” of Judaism — what connects Jews with the Almighty above, with their roots below and with one another.

“This book is essential for our existence,” Rabbi Steinsaltz said.

The Talmud, a compilation and analysis of oral Jewish law and ethics governing everything from marital relations to agriculture, is written as a flowing rabbinic discourse. Though the terms are archaic, many say the Talmud contains founding principles that can still be applied today. But its condensed and obscure style made it largely incomprehensible to all but serious scholars.

By adding vowel markings and punctuation to the ancient text, a modern Hebrew translation that fills in gaps, and contemporary interpretations, the Steinsaltz edition aims to make the Talmud accessible to everyone.

Rabbi Steinsaltz, a diminutive man with straggly hair and an unruly white beard tinged yellow after decades of smoking a pipe, is widely considered one of the most brilliant Jewish scholars of his age.

He was born into what he described as a “not especially religious home”; his father was a Zionist socialist who volunteered in the international brigades in Spain. The rabbi says his religious belief developed gradually in his teens.

“By nature I am a skeptical person, and people with a lot of skepticism start to question atheism,” he said.

His father sent him to a Talmud tutor at the age of 10 so that he would not grow up an “ignoramus.” Later, in college, he specialized in mathematics and physics. As a result, the rabbi has an unusual ability to move easily between different worlds — secular and sacred, scientific and spiritual, earthly and divine.

Though born sickly, Rabbi Steinsaltz has long compensated for the limitations of the human condition with intellectual and metaphysical flights. Among his most popular works is “The Thirteen Petalled Rose,” a journey into Jewish mysticism that he described as “a book for the soul.”

Asking questions, he said, is both the secret of science and the essence of the Talmud, the dialectic forming the character of the Jewish people.

He denied that his translation detracted from the book’s inner complexity and mystique. “I am not simplifying the Talmud; I am cutting some of the technical difficulties,” he said. “I am paving roads, opening doors. Not more.”

Just finding the right format for the millions of words of the Talmud was a challenge. Each page consists of a central block of the original text bordered by the classical commentary, alongside the translation, new analysis and notes, each part distinguished from the others by different typefaces and fonts.

Rabbi Steinsaltz began the task alone, but later found people “willing to lend a hand.” It became easier with computers — not least, he said, because his handwriting is so atrocious that he himself finds it hard to read.

Some in the traditional establishment were suspicious, even hostile at first. The rabbi’s level of religiosity was in doubt, and there was a reluctance to open up locked treasures.

Since he started work on it, three million volumes of the Steinsaltz edition are said to have been sold, and it has been partly translated into several other languages, including English.

Today, the rabbi bridges different streams and communities within Judaism, an unusual feat helped by the fact that he chose not to associate himself fully with any one religious group, according to his son, Rabbi Menachem Even Yisrael.

Rabbi Steinsaltz is now eager to get on with his other work, including a concise commentary of the Bible. He says he regularly puts in a 17-hour day.

He leads Shefa, an umbrella organization for all his activities and educational institutions, including schools, seminaries and less formal centers of learning for men and women. Rabbi Even Yisrael is the executive director of Shefa, which has a United States affiliate, the Aleph Society.

Known as a sharp social critic, Rabbi Steinsaltz seems to have lost none of his bite. He has little patience for vanity or pretense, and says he admires the unsparing honesty and curiosity of small children, finding them more inspiring than some adult members of the species.

He is also fond of animals and spent time at the zoo, where he says he discovered how a peacock looks “undressed.”

“A peacock without feathers is like a very unappealing, big chicken,” he said, adding, “There are a lot of people like that.”

Rosh Hashanah
Evening Service: Wednesday, September 8, 2010, 7:45 pm–9:00 pm
Morning Service: Thursday, September 9, 2010, 9:30 am–12:00 pm,
followed by Kiddush and Tashlikh at Hook Mountain, 1 pm

Yom Kippur

Evening Service: (Kol Nidrei): Friday, September 17, 2010, 7:45 pm-9:00 pm
Morning Service: Saturday, September 18, 2010, 9:00 am-1:00 pm
(Yizkor included)

Contribution: $60 per person per holiday ($20 per child under
Bar/Bat Mitzvah age). Childcare will be provided for morning services.

Maximum: $150 per family per holiday.
(No one turned away for lack of funds/College students attend free)

Location: Nyack

Advance reservation is required. Contact: 845-709-0026