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Lusting for knowledge?: Wander over to BJE’s annual Feast

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Message: If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/41143/full/41143/lusting-for-knowledge-wander-over-to-bjes-annual-feast/ Lusting for knowledge?: Wander over to BJE’s annual Feast Thursday, January 21, 2010 | by amanda pazornik Months ago, the committee charged with planning the Bureau of Jewish Education’s annual Feast of Jewish Learning and South Peninsula Night of Jewish Unity converged for a brainstorming dinner to toss around ideas for a theme. What they came up with was Wander/Lust. “At a time like this, everyone is searching or seeking something out,” organizer Mariana Roytman Schiffner said. “We’re all wandering, and there are so many opportunities to feel segregated. But the feast has the power to unite us.” <div class="capDivLeft" style="width: 360px;"><img alt="BAfeast2" class="left" height="249" src="/images/uploads/y_photos_2010/zv01_22_10/BAfeast2.jpg" title="A Havdallah ceremony opened the 2009 Feast. photo/bob zimmerman" width="360" /> <div class="caption">A Havdallah ceremony opened the 2009 Feast. photo/bob zimmerman</div> </div> Dozens of Jewish educators and roughly 600 participants are expected to turn up Jan. 30 at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills for classes, interactive workshops, music and dancing, plus plenty of shmoozing and noshing. The free event is organized in partnership with the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto and co-sponsored by more than 20 local Jewish organizations and synagogues. Just about every South Bay rabbi — Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist and independent — will offer a class during the night’s two sessions, as will a wide array of professors, community leaders and artists. But don’t think the Feast ends when the last question is answered. For the first time, the oneg will be extended to include appearances by local Jewish authors, who will sell and sign copies of their books. Scheduled to appear are Keith Raffel (“Smasher: A Silicon Valley Thriller”), Ruthann Richter (“Face to Face: Children of the AIDS Crisis in Africa”) and Philip Spiegel (“Triumph Over Tyranny: The Heroic Campaigns That Saved 2,000,000 Soviet Jews”). Also, the Stagebridge Theatre Company’s musical theater director, Bruce Bierman, will teach the steps, stylings and gestures of Yiddish dance, accompanied by the music of the Klezmakers, who will make their first Feast appearance. “I mean, it’s Saturday night,” Roytman Schiffner said. “Let’s make it a real party, a fun celebration of community. If no one wants to leave then they don’t have to.” Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School faculty members Aviv Monarch and Ora Gittelson-David will look closely at a series of biblical, mishnaic and talmudic texts to uncover the meaning of the number “40” in Jewish literature and tradition. Palo Alto rabbis Ari Cartun and Yosef Levin, and Alan Sataloff, CEO of the Oshman Family JCC, will discuss their philosophies and strategies for identifying, reaching out to, welcoming and involving Jews who may have had no Jewish upbringing or negative experiences. Bringing the “wander” and “lust” together are Beth Am Rabbi Adam Rosenwasser and Shalom Rosenberg from the OFJCC. The pair will show a series of clips to spark conversations for two classes, “Men Who Lust” and “Women Who Wander.” “It’s a fun process trying to hit on something that has appeal and will inspire teachers to think differently,” said Eileen Soffer, BJE coordinator of educational programming, of this year’s theme. “Most of the educators are used to weekly Torah study. The Feast puts a different spin on something familiar and shakes them up a bit.” Feast of Jewish Learning and South Peninsula Night of Jewish Unity begins 7 p.m. Jan. 30 at Congregation Beth Am, 26790 Arastradero Road, Los Altos Hills. Free. Information: (415) 751-6983 ext. 223.

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