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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/37570/full/37570/feast-on-this-bje-rolls-out-some-changes-for-its-day-of-learning-for-young-/ <br /><br /> <b>Feast on this: BJE rolls out some changes for its day of learning for young adults</b> <br /> Thursday, March 19, 2009 | by stacey palevsky <br /><br /><p>In high school, Joshua Marder thrived on stage, as an actor. Now an adult, he is studying to become a certified drama therapist.</p> <p>He also takes to a different stage — the bimah — as an ordained rabbi.</p> <p>And on March 29, he’ll merge those pursuits at the Young Adult Feast of Jewish Learning.</p> <p>He chuckles at the idea that drama therapy and Judaism have no intersection.</p> <p>“Drama therapy can help us open an emotional block in our lives. It helps us to impassion ourselves, imbue ourselves with strong feelings and desires for growth and understanding of ourselves and others,” he said. “And that’s integral in our Judaism.”</p> <p>His class, “Find Yourself Here: A Self-Realization Workshop,” is one of 30 courses that will be offered at the Bureau of Jewish Education’s Feast of Jewish Learning of March 29 at the Jewish Community High School of the Bay in San Francisco.</p> <p>Several changes are in store for this fourth annual feast. (Don’t worry, it’s still free.)</p> <p>It’s the first year participants can attend three 75-minute workshops instead of two, a shift made because past attendants’ evaluations indicated they wanted more options.</p> <div class="capDivLeft" style="width: 360px;"><img alt="BAfeast" class="left" height="243" src="/images/uploads/z_photos_2009/zm_03_20_09/BAfeast.jpg" title="The logo for this year’s Young Adult Feast of Jewish Learning." width="360" /> <div class="caption">The logo for this year’s Young Adult Feast of Jewish Learning.</div> </div> <p>Expanding the classes from 20 to 30 allowed coordinator Mariana Roytman Schiffner, of the S.F.-based BJE, to offer more focused and provocative topics, taught by a diverse pool of Jewish educators, scholars and artists — ranging from secular to Orthodox and everything in between.</p> <p>“I was really able to check off of my list anything that would be interesting for viewers,” Roytman Schiffner said, rattling off a laundry list of topics: Dance, yoga, cooking, spirituality, sexuality, soulmates, Israeli music and film, conversion, counterculture and even HBO’s  “Flight of the Conchords.”</p> <p>The theme this year is “Lost and Found,” noted Roytman Shiffner, which “implies that we’re all seeking more.”</p> <p>Marder certainly subscribes to that theory. He moved to San Francisco six months ago to teach with the Jewish Study Network, a collective of rabbis and educators who teach in the Bay Area, and also to study drama therapy at the California Institute of Integral Studies.</p> <p>“Judaism is not just an intellectual pursuit,” he said. “And so while I want students to find insights into Jewish text [during my workshop], I also want to incorporate self-awareness and self-development.”</p> <p>In another change from the past, the feast is moving from the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco to the high school.</p> <p>“I think a lot of young adults miss school, and there’s something very fun about going back to the classroom,” added Roytman Shiffner.</p> <p>She also made an effort this year to include a number of new — and younger — teachers, including Marder, 28.</p> <p>All volunteer their time to teach at the event.</p> <p>Judith Gottesman is another younger instructor teaching at the feast for the first time. A matchmaker and Jewish educator, the 30-something Berkeley resident will be speaking about beshert, the Jewish concept of soulmates.</p> <p>“Whether or not people believe in it, it’s still something to consider and discuss,” she said. “I feel it’s a real mitzvah to help people meet their match. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of lonely people looking.”</p> <p>Gottesman attended the feast last year for the first time and was impressed by the huge turnout (400-plus) and the quality of the course offerings.</p> <p>She’s thrilled to be an instructor this year — but she made sure to only teach one session of her soulmates class.</p> <p>“I’m teaching once so I can attend two other sessions,” she said. “I enjoy teaching and learning.”</p> <p><br /><strong>Feast of Jewish Learning</strong> takes place 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. March 29 at Jewish Community High School of the Bay, 1835 Ellis St., S.F. <a href="http://www.bjesf.org">http://www.bjesf.org</a>.</p>

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