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February 2020
Season of Mussar with Rabbi Judith Edelstein
This February - April, Ansche Chesed member Rabbi Judith Edelstein will lead a 13 week (seven session) Mussar course, following up on A Taste of Mussar. The class will meet every other week; individual meetings occur on off weeks. Mussar is a thousand-year-old body of teachings and practices that provide Jewish answers to the questions we all ask about life and struggle with. Mussar guides you in identifying your unique, personal path of spiritual growth and offers practices to assist you develop…
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The Accidental Rise of the Modern Yiddish Theater
As part of our weekend focusing on the American Jewish Theater experience, join us for Shabbat Dinner and to hear from Ansche Chesed member, and Senior Scholar at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Alyssa Quint for a talk entitled "The Accidental Rise of the Modern Yiddish Theater". As the history books tell us, the modern Yiddish theater was founded in Iasi Romania in 1876 by Avrom Goldfaden who drew on an energetic tradition of shtetl-bound folk performance. Indeed, this narrative…
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The Ancient Law: A Cine-Concert, with Alicia Svigals and Donald Sosin
As part of our weekend focusing on the American Jewish Theater experience, please join us for The Ancient Law: A Cine-Concert, with Alicia Svigals and Donald Sosin With an original live score composed and performed by renowned klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals and silent film music legend, pianist Donald Sosin. Director E.A. DuPont’s 1923 silent film, The Ancient Law (Das Alte Gesetz) is about a rabbi’s son who runs away to become an actor and is disowned by his father. Digitally restored in 2017, it paints…
Find out more »March 2020
Anchors of Identity: A Sculptor’s Search for Jewish Russian and Artistic Tradition
Join figurative sculptor James Sondow as he explores his current exhibition, which employs biblical narrative to allegorize his journey from the upper West Side to his ancestral roots in Russia. As the first American sculptor to graduate from Russia’s oldest art Institute, he describes finding refuge in Jewish community through the rigors of culture shock and his decade of academic training. With slides of his work portraying transformative moments of biblical matriarchs and patriarchs reconnecting to their essential ancestral lineage,…
Find out more »Understanding Advanced Directives: A What Matters Program
Join the “What Matters” program for an early Brunch and to learn from Carolyn Wolf. Join Carolyn, a former hospital administrator and current head of Mental Health Law Practice, to better understand the nuances of health care proxies, living wills, and end of life decision making. There is a great deal of misinformation out there and we will try to explain what the law, documents and implications are for individuals and families, in lay terms, as well as what it…
Find out more »Levana: A Rosh Chodesh Group For Women: Nisan Gathering
We look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones, over a Zoom Group Video Chat, at the next Levana, a women's Rosh Chodesh social group at Ansche Chesed. Bring your own cup of tea or glass of wine, as we check in with each other and prepare for the month of Nisan together. This month we are thrilled to learn with AC/Levana member Rachel Fremmer, who will dazzle us with a Pesach-friendly baking demonstration, from the comfort of…
Find out more »From Crisis to Community: Reading Martin Buber in a Time of Social Distancing with Rabbi Bill Plevan
More than a century ago, Martin Buber worried about a crisis in modern life: how would increased alienation and "social distance" of modern societies affect the well-being of humanity? Buber writes about the spiritual dimension of human relationships as the basis for creating genuine community as the response to this crisis. How might his writings help us reflect on the consequences of "social distancing" during current pandemic and appreciate the value of the communities in which we live? Join Ansche Chesed member Rabbi Bill Plevan to…
Find out more »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 »AC Brain Games!
Calling all 5th and 6th graders. Do you like math puzzles? Join this fun and interactive session on Zoom with AC teen Jacob Graybow, a ninth-grader and avid math student at Hunter College High School. He'll show you some cool math problems -- with no homework! RSVP's appreciated to jacob.graybow@gmail.com. Zoom-ins welcome.
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,…
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