Past Events

Join us as we invite Ansche Chesed member Susan Chira to speak about her work leading The Marshall Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system. The Marshall Project, is a journalism organization  and does not advocate positions or policy prescriptions, but rather seeks to expose the systemic discrimination that distorts the criminal justice system. It does so by writing with care, fairness, and humanity…

Paula Weiman-Kelman’s moving documentary, Dying Doesn’t Feel Like What I’m Doing, celebrates the life of Rachel Cowan—a beloved rabbi and influential mindfulness teacher, who is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Living each day fully, she turned dying into an opportunity to experience gratitude. Paula will join us live from Israel for a conversation about the experience of filming this intimate portrait of Cowan’s final year, and an opportunity to reflect on Rachel Cowan, who played such an important part in  sustaining Ansche…

Technology, as they say, is always changing. We have gone from three television networks, to hundreds of channels, renting video tapes at our local store, to streaming our content from one of the many streaming options now available. And talk radio, well that has been replaced as well, by  audio on demand in the form of Podcasts. Join Ansche Chesed member Liel Leibovitz, host of the Unorthodox, Page One and Hebrew School podcasts from Tablet Magazine and Ansche Chesed Director…

Starting with her own mishpucha from Poland and Galicia, Barbara Sontz has been researching Jewish family histories since 1999, She travelled on paths that led her back in time to the 18th century and on present-day trips to Poland, Israel and Argentina. She has a special connection to her mother's birthplace in Ilza, Poland, where she visited and organized projects devoted to restoring the history of the town's former Jewish residents. Barbara will share her journey with you. A member…

As a follow-up to her presentation "Connecting To My Shtetl",  join Barbara Sontz to explore how YOU can connect to your genealogy. In this intimate workshop, Barbara will explore the steps you can take to learn about where your family comes from. This is a four-session workshop, and we hope that you will attend all of the sessions. Session 1- May 19: Locating your ancestral town. Session 2- June 2: Researching your town's history. Session 3- June 30 (RESCHEDULED): Finding…