HODESH LIMUD/MONTH OF JEWISH STUDY BEGINS JANUARY 17

Acclaimed Religious Writer, Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, Kicks-off the Program

January 12, 2010 -- Siegal College of Judaic Studies is pleased to announce the fourth annual Hodesh Limud/Month of Jewish Study.  Beginning on Sunday, January 17, and extending through Sunday, February 14, 2010, the theme is “Navigating Today’s Challenges: Inspiration from Jewish Wisdom.”  This unique program seeks to engage adults in exploring how Jewish ideas and values around the theme may guide our daily decisions and interactions within our homes and neighborhoods, our behavior in the workplace, and how we engage in the social and political sphere of the wider community.  Hodesh Limud offers many avenues for participation with a wide-variety of esteemed teachers, rabbis and community leaders, through a Keynote program; a series of mini-courses and special programs at synagogues, libraries, and other locations throughout the community; and a Hadran (closing celebration).

The Keynote event will be held on Sunday, January 17, 2010, 7:30 – 9:00 p.m. at Siegal College with a talk from creative religious writer Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, who will discuss “Invisible Lines of Connection or It’s all God! A neo-kabbalistic Judaism,” followed by a question and answer session and book signing.   Traveling from San Francisco, where he serves as the Emanu El Scholar-in-residence at Congregation Emanu-El, Kushner is widely regarded as one of the most creative religious writers in America with more than 15 books including, Kabbalah, A Love Story; The Way into Jewish Mystical Tradition; and Invisible Lines of Connection: God Was in this Place and I, I Did Not Know, among others.

Offered throughout the month, eighteen mini-courses will feature such topics as Jewish ethics, stopping hate and repairing the world, the Jewish home, every day holiness, a Jewish guide to fitness, wisdom from Jewish women, and more.  There are seven special programs throughout the month that feature community rabbis presenting topics such as Revolution and Evolution in the Transformation of Jewish Life, Jewish Meditation, Women in Religion and Society and Jewish Business Ethics.   The Hadran (closing celebration) will be on Sunday, February 14, 1:30 – 4:00 p.m. at Siegal College and is entitled “To Serve and Protect (l’ovdah ul’shomrah): A Symposium Exploring Jewish Land-Based Initiatives for Northeast Ohio.”  The symposium will feature Ellen Bernstein, founder and former director of Shomrei Adamah – Keepers of the Earth, the first Jewish environmental organization, and Amalia Haas, a Jewish environmental activist and educator-gardener in Beachwood.

A fee of $18 covers one mini-course, and $36 admits the student to any and all mini-courses. The Keynote, Hadran, and most Special Programs are free.  Hodesh Limud is presented by the Adult Jewish Learning Council, sponsored by Siegal College in cooperation with the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland, the Greater Cleveland Board of Rabbis, and the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland.

For program and course description and to register, visit www.hodeshlimud.org or call 216-464-4050.

###