New Lehrhaus

Upcoming Program on Intermarriage by Dawn Kepler, New Lehrhaus Board Member

Nu, what do you think about Intermarriage? On January 19th Professor Bruce Phillips (Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles, and USC: https://crcc.usc.edu/people/bruce-phillips/) will present: How Interfaith Marriage is Changing the American Jewish Community – But Not Necessarily in the Ways We Think/Fear. This is a topic that every Jew, should find intriguing and important, not just those who have married non-Jews. Prof. Phillips, or as I…

Holidays

Happy Hanukah – Banishing the Darkness

David Waksberg, recently shared these thoughts with me. These days, the reminder that goodness can prevail against seemingly impossible odds helps to keep despair at bay. This story is from former Soviet prisoner Ari Volvovsky. Among the things I like about this story (contra to what some take away from the Hanukah tale) is the cooperation among prisoners of different faiths and backgrounds. This was...

Jewish Adult Education

Standing on the shoulders of our predecessors

Board member David Waksberg reflects on his participation in New Lehrhaus My earliest memory of Jewish schooling was learning about Abraham smashing his father’s idols. No surprise, this midrash about Abraham as a child is accessible and relatable for young children and it introduces the foundational Jewish concept of monotheism. It is a common bible story for young children. After learning about how our patriarch challenged the beliefs...

Lehrhaus past & future

Zipperstein – Biale Friendship as Old as Lehrhaus Judaica

I asked three of our New Lehrhaus leaders, Rachel & David Biale and Steve Zipperstein to reflect on their longtime friendship. Rachel Biale says this: David and I met Steve Zipperstein at UCLA in 1973, when we were all studying with legendary professor, Amos Funkenstein.* There we became life-long friends. In Santa Monica we lived about a mile apart. After grad school our academic and...

Classes

Hebrew & Yiddish Classes!

Whether you were born Jewish and never learned Hebrew (perhaps despite hours warming the chair at Hebrew School...) or you chose Judaism as an adult, tackling a new language IN A NEW ALPHABET is daunting. Yet mastery of even the alef-bet and some words of Hebrew is tremendously empowering and, the way our teachers teach, great fun! Over the years Lehrhaus had offered numerous Hebrew...

Classes

Reading Yiddish Lit with Naomi Seidman

Naomi Seidman is one of our most popular teachers and we are thrilled she is returning this fall with this remarkable class. You've no doubt heard of Sholem Aleichem, but perhaps not the other Yiddish writers she will discuss. I'm excited to see two women poets included here. Reading Yiddish is a time traveling experience. Using language, you step into the world of Ashkenazic Jewry,...

Jewish Adult Education

Bible Class with UCB Professors

Let’s take a look at an exciting class that is coming in November, The Bible Now: Literature and History of the Hebrew Bible. This course is a multilayered introduction to the Bible, addressing such issues as the relation of traditional texts to history and what constitutes history-writing, the relevance of literary analysis to biblical narrative, the uses of philology, and the ancient Near Eastern background. The...

In The News

And We’re Back in Business!

We hope you saw the latest article in the J-weekly, It’s back! New Lehrhaus to kick off first classes next month. That's right, our classes begin in October. There is tremendous excitement and enthusiasm amount instructors and students. We hope you'll find something of interest in our list of offerings. If you have a particular interest that you don't see covered feel free to email us...

In The News

“New Lehrhaus” in the News

We thought it would be useful to give everyone a recap on what's happened in the last two months to Lehrhaus. The J-weekly has covered it well. First, there was the announcement of the closure of HaMaqom (formerly Lehrhaus Judaica). Have a look at the article here. You'll see a photo of our stalwart instructor, Jehon Grist, in the early days of both Lehrhaus and Jehon!...

Uncategorized

The Mission of the Free Jewish Lehrhaus

The Jewish community was heartbroken at the news that HaMaqom (formerly Lehrhaus Judaica) is closing its doors after forty-seven years of providing outstanding adult Jewish education. Inspired by Franz Rosenzweig’s “Free Jewish Lehrhaus,” which was established in Frankfurt in 1920, our Lehrhaus was one of the crown jewels of the Bay Area community and was unique in North America. Spearheaded by David and Rachel Biale,...

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