Adult Jewish Learning
2023/2024
The Gerson D. Cohen Institute for Adult Jewish Learning
CSAIR is committed to providing a range of Jewish learning for the Riverdale community. Classes and programs are open to all. Most of our programs are free and subsidized by CSAIR. For more information or to sponsor an adult education program, please contact Rabbi Katie Greenberg, Director of Engagement and Programming at 718-543-8400 ext. 1 or engagement@csair.org.
Classes, Events & Programs at a Glance
Check your emails or the website for additional programming and updates throughout the year.
* Represents an ongoing program. Additional ongoing programming can be found below.
DECEMBER 2023
Pirkei Avot: Ethics of Our Ancestors *
What’s the Buzz in Israel *
Chinese Food and Movie (Songs) *
JANUARY 2024
Pirkei Avot: Ethics of Our Ancestors *
Intimate Voices World-Class Chamber Music
What’s the Buzz in Israel *
Poet's Corner: A Round Robin of Poetry from CSAIR's Poets
Book Club Meeting: Kantika
FEBRUARY 2024
Pirkei Avot: Ethics of Our Ancestors *
Celebrating 50 years of women in the Rabbinate in America
What’s the Buzz in Israel *
MARCH 2024
Pirkei Avot: Ethics of Our Ancestors *
Intimate Voices World-Class Chamber Music
Israeli Society: The Religious-Secular Divide and The Meaning of a Jewish State
What’s the Buzz in Israel *
APRIL 2024
Pirkei Avot: Ethics of Our Ancestors *
What’s the Buzz in Israel *
MAY 2024
Pirkei Avot: Ethics of Our Ancestors *
A Concert Celebrating New Jewish Music
What’s the Buzz in Israel *
JUNE 2024
What’s the Buzz in Israel *
Note: Check your emails or the website for additional programming and updates throughout the year.
DECEMBER 2023
Pirkei Avot: Ethics of Our Ancestors
Wednesday, December 13, 20, 10:30 AM | Zoom
What wisdom is worth passing on to the next generation? The rabbis asked this question thousands of years ago, and the result is a text that continues to inspire us with its moral and ethical insight. This year, join Rabbi Katz and Rabbi Greenberg to study the last half of chapters four and five of the book together. We will look at classical and modern commentary by women and men. No experience is necessary. All texts are provided in English along with Hebrew.
Sponsored by the CSAIR Sisterhood.
Chinese Food and Movie (Songs)
Friday, December 22 | 5:45 PM
Join us for a spirited and joyful Kabbalat Shabbat and Maariv led by Gedalia Penner Robinson. During our delicious Chinese food dinner, Gedalia will lead us in singing songs from some classic and modern movies.
RSVP is required by Wednesday, December 20th.
JANUARY 2024
Pirkei Avot: Ethics of Our Ancestors
Wednesday, January 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, 10:30 AM | Zoom
What wisdom is worth passing on to the next generation? The rabbis asked this question thousands of years ago, and the result is a text that continues to inspire us with its moral and ethical insight. This year, join Rabbi Katz and Rabbi Greenberg to study the last half of chapters four and five of the book together. We will look at classical and modern commentary by women and men. No experience is necessary. All texts are provided in English along with Hebrew.
Sponsored by the CSAIR Sisterhood.
Book Club Meeting: Kantika
Sunday, January 21, 10:00 AM | Zoom
A dazzling Sephardic multi-generational saga that moves from Istanbul to Barcelona, Havana, and New York, exploring displacement, endurance, and family as home.
A kaleidoscopic portrait of one family’s displacement across four countries, Kantika—“song” in Ladino follows the joys and losses of Rebecca Cohen, the feisty daughter of the Sephardic elite of early 20th-century Istanbul. When the Cohens lose their wealth and are forced to move to Barcelona and start anew, Rebecca fashions a life and self from what comes her way, a failed marriage, the need to earn a living, but also passion, pleasure, and motherhood. Moving from Spain to Cuba to New York for an arranged second marriage, she faces her greatest challenge, her disabled stepdaughter, Luna, whose feistiness equals her own and whose challenges pit new family against old.
Exploring identity, place, and exile, Kantika also reveals how the female body, in work, art, and love serves as a site of both suffering and joy. A haunting, inspiring meditation on the tenacity of women, this lush, lyrical novel from Elizabeth Graver celebrates the insistence on seizing beauty and grabbing hold of one’s only life.
Book Review: ‘Kantika,’ by Elizabeth Graver - The New York Times
This book is available for purchase online from several booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Books, etc.
You may also borrow a copy from the New York Public Library (NYPL), where you can obtain either a hard copy or e-book, although, there appear to be more hard copies available. If you need help in setting up an NYPL account, downloading or setting up an e-book from the NYPL, or have other related questions, please feel free to Marshall Kaminer.
FEBRUARY 2024
Pirkei Avot: Ethics of Our Ancestors
Wednesday, February 7, 14, 21, 28, 10:30 AM | Zoom
What wisdom is worth passing on to the next generation? The rabbis asked this question thousands of years ago, and the result is a text that continues to inspire us with its moral and ethical insight. This year, join Rabbi Katz and Rabbi Greenberg to study the last half of chapters four and five of the book together. We will look at classical and modern commentary by women and men. No experience is necessary. All texts are provided in English along with Hebrew.
Sponsored by the CSAIR Sisterhood.
Celebrating 50 Years of Women in the Rabbinate in America
Saturday, February 10, after kiddush
In 1972 Sally Preisand was the first woman ordained to be a rabbi in America, and 50 years later, CSAIR is the home to nine women members of the rabbinate. Join us for a panel of some of these CSAIR rabbis, to be followed by breakout sessions exploring where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’d like to go.
MARCH 2024
Pirkei Avot: Ethics of Our Ancestors
Wednesday, March 6, 13, 20, 27, 10:30 AM | Zoom
What wisdom is worth passing on to the next generation? The rabbis asked this question thousands of years ago, and the result is a text that continues to inspire us with its moral and ethical insight. This year, join Rabbi Katz and Rabbi Greenberg to study the last half of chapters four and five of the book together. We will look at classical and modern commentary by women and men. No experience is necessary. All texts are provided in English along with Hebrew.
Sponsored by the CSAIR Sisterhood.
The Religious-Secular Divide and The Meaning of a Jewish State
Saturday, March 16 after kiddush
Dr. Steven Bayme served for almost four decades as the American Jewish Committee’s Director of Contemporary Jewish Life and also as Director of AJC’s Koppelman Institute on American Jewish-Israeli Relations. He has lectured widely, written several books, and published numerous articles on intermarriage, liberal Judaism, Jewish attitudes toward terrorism and violence, and modern Orthodoxy in America. He has been named three times on the Forward’s annual list of the top 50 Jewish leaders who “make a difference.”
Sponsored by the Israel Committee.
APRIL 2024
Pirkei Avot: Ethics of Our Ancestors
Wednesday, April 3, 10, 17, 10:30 AM | Zoom
What wisdom is worth passing on to the next generation? The rabbis asked this question thousands of years ago, and the result is a text that continues to inspire us with its moral and ethical insight. This year, join Rabbi Katz and Rabbi Greenberg to study the last half of chapters four and five of the book together. We will look at classical and modern commentary by women and men. No experience is necessary. All texts are provided in English along with Hebrew.
Sponsored by the CSAIR Sisterhood.
MAY 2024
Pirkei Avot: Ethics of Our Ancestors
Wednesday, May 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 10:30 AM | Zoom
(Note: May 8, In person, May 29, in person, last class)
What wisdom is worth passing on to the next generation? The rabbis asked this question thousands of years ago, and the result is a text that continues to inspire us with its moral and ethical insight. This year, join Rabbi Katz and Rabbi Greenberg to study the last half of chapters four and five of the book together. We will look at classical and modern commentary by women and men. No experience is necessary. All texts are provided in English along with Hebrew.
Sponsored by the CSAIR Sisterhood.
A Concert Celebrating New Jewish Music
Sunday, May 19, 5 PM
Join us for a live concert of new music by Jewish composers and performers! This diverse program will feature vocal and instrumental music by artists who explore Jewish identity through their work. Exact artists to be publicized closer to the event.
JUNE 2024
ONGOING PROGRAMMING
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Pirkei Avot: Ethics of Our Ancestors
See program dates through May 2024 above.
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Hug Ivri
Sundays, 11:00 AM
A Hebrew discussion group to talk about politics, literature, current events, and more.
For more information and to confirm meeting dates, email Yaakov Taitz.
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Yiddish Vinkl
Sundays, 10:00 AM
(approximately 90 minutes)
Enjoy the joys of Yiddish with a group that meets to schmooze together.
For more information, email Charlie Goldfischer. Feel free to email Charlie to confirm a scheduled meeting date.
Scheduled dates are as follows:
In-Person
November 18, December 16, January 20, February 17, March 16, April 20, May 18, June 15, July 20, August 17, September 21
Zoom
November 5, December 3, January 7, February 4, March 3, April 7, May 5, June 2, July 7, August 4, September 1
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Israeli Dancing
Thursday evenings at 8:00 PM at CSAIR. All are welcome. Click here to be added to the mailing list.
Sat, December 9 2023 26 Kislev 5784