Get Involved

Rabbi Jake will be teaching a wonderful variety of class topics this winter and spring.  These classes are free-standing events.  Join us for one or all.   The Saturday classes will be held following Shabbat morning services both in-person at the Edlavitch D.C. Jewish Community Center and virtually. The Wednesday classes will be held virtually only.

Sing a New Song - A Survey of New Melodies for Ancient Texts - Wednesday, March 15th, at 7:30 pm.  (Rescheduled from December 14th). We all have the melodies to certain prayers and texts that speak to us - perhaps something from childhood or something we’ve learned somewhere along our Jewish journeys.  Jewish musicians and composers are always finding new ways to bring meaning to ancient texts, and we’ll hear how some of them have interpreted them through song.  We’ll hear examples from Israeli artists, queer Jews, and camp song leaders, and do some singing along as well.

A Deep Dive into the Haggada - Saturday,  March 25th, at 12:30 pm.  Haggada literally translates to “telling.”  This text helps us tell the story of our own liberation at the Pesach Seder.  However, it isn’t just the story as it appears in the book of Exodus.  There is an order to the telling and to the meal, with songs, rabbinic tales, and instructions for eating.  Let’s take a look at why our Seder looks the way it does, and uncover the greater lessons that the Haggada tries to teach us each year.

Elisha ben Abuya - The Story of An Excommunicated Rabbi - Wednesday, April 19th, at 7:30 pm.  There is a rabbi in Talmudic literature known as “Acher/The Other.”  Elisha ben Abuya was shunned by his community, but why?  How did the exiled rabbi come to be an outcast, and how do we draw boundaries for Jewish communities today?  His story inspired the wonderful book, As a Driven Leaf and can teach us something as well.

The Zoom invitations will appear closer to their dates in the weekly newsletter, “This Week and Beyond,” and on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/betmish.  Classes are always free for members of Bet Mishpachah.  There is a suggested donation of $10 for nonmembers which may be made on our website.