Amos Oz: Between Canon and Controversy
Amos Oz (1939-2018) was for many readers worldwide Israel’s post 1948 canonical writer. His 40 books, including novels, short story collections, essays and reportage, and children’s books, translated into 45 languages, and his journalistic articles and public appearances made him Israel’s best-known writer and an icon of its peace movement. Following Oz’s death in 2018, renowned Israeli documentary film maker, Yair Qedar, worked closely with Oz’s family and closest…
New Lehrhaus Explodes—in a Good Way!
From The J., October 20, 2022: When HaMaqom | The Place — formerly Lehrhaus Judaica — announced it was closing its doors in June 2021, the move caught many by surprise... Thus, many in the community breathed a sigh of relief when the gauntlet was immediately picked up by with the creation of New Lehrhaus from the still-smoldering ashes of the old.“We couldn’t let it...
Fall 22 Programs At-A-Glance
We have a plethora of new programs starting right after Labor Day. Here’s the list: details and registration here (https://www.newlehrhaus.org/learn-with-us/). Programs are listed in chronological order. All on Zoom unless otherwise noted, and $12/session tuition unless noted as FREE. One-session Programs: Uri Schreter: Oh, the Hora!! American Klezmer and Israeli Folk Music in Conversation. In partnership with KlezCalifornia: Sunday, Nov. 6 @ 3:00 – 4:30…
Our First Year: A HUGE success
As we conclude our 1st fiscal year, we salute YOU, our students and supporters, for your enthusiasm and dedication! Thanks to you: We have reached 4,100 program registrations; There have been 4,840 views of our recorded programs; 1,357 of you have subscribed to our emails; 165 of you have made donations to support New Lehrhaus. And we salute our teachers! (How many can you identify?)…
Kiev: My Family’s Roots in the Jewish Metropolis by Linda Michels
I recently attended Natan Meir’s lecture, Kiev: Jewish Metropolis, offered by New Lehrhaus. Most of my maternal grandmother’s family emigrated from outside Kiev, Ukraine between 1902 and 1905. As a child, I asked my great grandmother many questions, but she answered very few. I often learned more about the pogroms, anti-Semitism and other traumas from what she didn’t say than from what she did. So,…
Welcoming New Lehrhaus’ FIRST staff member
A “she-hecheyanu moment:” Jim Mavrikios joins New Lehrhaus as our Program Manager. We are thrilled to welcome our first staff member (yes, up until now everything had been managed by volunteers)! Jim brings more than 20 years of continuing education experience to his role at New Lehrhaus. In 2001 he founded Pacific Arabic, a language school in downtown San Francisco. As director and registrar…
Care to Make it Interesting
In the 1990s, when I was directing the Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, a most unusual PhD student walked into my office: a former yeshiva bocher (Orthodox seminary student) who could recite both complex Talmud passages and entire Seinfeld episodes from memory – in one and the same breath! Ron Reissberg completed his doctorate and went on to teach…
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…
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
“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!...