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March 2020
A Sweet and Kosher Pesach for 2020 With Rabbi Kalmanofsky
This year will present challenges for observing the holiday according to our customary standards and styles. Will we be able to obtain food in the typical way? How can we kasher and clean, especially if some friends and family are unavailable to help? What are the musts and what are the maybes of Pesach rules? Please join us to ask questions and share ideas on doing the best we can do under sub-optimal conditions. If you'd like, send questions in…
Find out more »Singing Our Way Into Freedom With Cantor Hirschhorn
It's impossible to imagine celebrating Passover without a song. From The Song of the Sea to Dayeynu to Chad Gadya, this season is brimming with great tunes that link us to our shared history and invoke many joyous, and sometimes poignant, memories of seders past. Listen to this beautiful setting of B'chol Dor Vador, and join Hazzan Natasha Hirschhorn on Tuesday night to sing it together, along with many other old favorites and new discoveries. This song invites you to imagine as if you,…
Find out more »April 2020
How Will This Feel Like Pesach? With Rabbi Lilly Kaufman
This year, our holiday of freedom, zman heruteinu, will pose unprecedented challenges. Some of us will feel isolated from friends and family, some unable to share favorite foods or songs, some unable to clean and cook as we are accustomed. How will we successfully create that holiday spirit? How will we deal with our worries and disappointment? Please join this Zoom call with Rabbi Lilly Kaufman to share our concerns and worries, plus our ideas and hopes for how to make this,…
Find out more »Scenes from the Haggadah and History
While the "Zoom Seders" of our current reality may seem unprecedented to many of us -- throughout Jewish history, our ancestors have had to adapt the traditional Seder time and time again to celebrate Pesach during unusual times and in unconventional circumstances. Join Rabbi Yael Hammerman to explore the themes of our Haggadah together, and be inspired by the resilience and experience of Seders past.
Find out more »Zoom Siyyum WIth Rabbi Kalmanofsky
On the Wednesday April 8, the morning before the Seder at 9am, please join Rabbi Kalmanofsky to conclude Tractate Berakhot.
Find out more »Second Night Seder
We wish we were hosting our usual public Seder, but that is obviously impossible. Under normal circumstances, we would not choose to have a seder through electronic media, but these are not normal circumstances. Given all the social distancing, we need some communal togetherness. So we are going to Zoom Through the Haggadah for those who want it. On Thursday, April 9 at 7 pm please join us at https://anschechesed.org/2ndSeder. No prior registration is necessary. But if you're planning on joining…
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Kaplan and Heschel on the Meaning of Freedom with Rabbi Bill Plevan
Mordecai Kaplan and Abraham Joshua Heschel offered starkly different theological orientations to Judaism. At the same time, they both believed that American Jews should participate in the pursuit of social justice within American society as an expression of Jewish ideals. In this session, join AC member, Rabbi Bill Plevan to look at Kaplan and Heschel's conception of freedom in light of their common concern for justice and each one's unique theological vision. JOIN VIA ZOOM
Find out more »August 2020
Days of Awe Amid Awful Days: Reflections from Covid Caregivers
We will celebrate the high holidays amidst a global pandemic, unimaginable loss and illness, and massive social disruption. As we approach a new year, we all carry much fatigue, uncertainty, hopelessness and unprocessed grief. To help reflect on those dynamics, please join us for a conversation with AC members who worked on the Covid front lines in NYC hospitals and clinics, nurse Brenda Dore, physician’s assistant Irene Soloway, and Rabbis Mychal Springer and Kara Tav, hospital chaplains. Their reflections can…
Find out more »Monday Meditation: Preparing for the High Holidays
As we prepare ourselves for the Awesome Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, just how do we learn from our mistakes, transform worry, and cultivate compassion as we greet the New Year? Contemplative meditation offers a mindful vehicle for Teshuvah (repentance--literally, return). By turning within, we can reflect on the past, let go, and move forward. Join us for Mondays in Elul to practice meditation with kavannot (focused intentions) to ready ourselves for the year to come. We invite…
Find out more »Creating a Holy Space (Wherever We Are): Making a “Shiviti”
For centuries Jews have created artwork to emulate G-d, to indicate the direction of prayer and as a means of protection. Join artist Elana Weinberg in this workshop where she will present a brief introduction to the “shiviti” and other Jewish hanging artwork for the home and synagogue (such as mizrachs). Participants will get an overview of how to create a piece like this on your own. Materials for such artwork range dramatically. For this workshop it is most important to…
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