Jewish Study Center

Like many individuals and organizations, the Jewish Study Center was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of legendary political journalist Walter Shapiro. Our specific connection to Walter: He participated in our 2023 Latke-Hamentaschen debate. He made us all laugh – and you can relive his presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOgFsS1a21o

May his memory – and his comedy – be a blessing.

Jewish Study Center September classes:

Text study on Jews and refugees,
September 23

The world of Romaniote Jews, September 30
Jews and Refugees: Text versus Experience
Two Thousand Years of Tradition and Two New Histories

September 23rd, 2020, 7:00 pm - 8:15 pm (20F1)L
Free with registration at www.JewishStudyCenter.org

Instructor: Thomas Timberg
A study of classic texts on the duty of hospitality, beginning with the story of Sodom—the traditional prototype of inhospitality—and continuing onward through two thousand years of texts that shed light on hospitality to refugees, and on the excuses for being inhospitable. With the help of recent academic histories, we will consider the actual experience of Jewish communities and refugees after the Spanish Expulsion in 1492, during the period of the Chmelnitsky massacres in the seventeenth century, after Polish Jewish flight in the late 19th century, during the 1930s, and more.

Thomas Timberg is a consultant and published author on subjects concerning economic and social development. In recent years he has done several studies on the confrontation of the older Jewish traditions with modern issues.

Romaniote Jews: One of the oldest, but least known, Jewish communities
September 30th, 2020, 8:00 pm - 9:15 pm (20F2)
Free with registration at www.jewishstudycenter.org
Instructor: Marcia Haddad Ikonomopolous

Romanaiote Jews, native to the Eastern Mediterranean, are still active in communities in Greece, Israel, New York and beyond. With a rich heritage of their own, neither Sephardi or Ashkenazi, Romaniote Jews have their own traditions, including their own Judaeo-Greek dialect, a distinct order of service, special holiday observances and cuisine.
Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos, a member of this community, with expertise in its history and culture, will provide a very special introduction to this venerable but little-known, world.

Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos is the Director of the Kehila Kedosha Janina Museum in New York City, associated with the Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue, an active Romaniote congregation.

All classes are free and on Zoom. Register to receive the link.

Jewish Study Center It’s been a tumultuous few months, and we hope you’ve been safe and well. Along with all the heartache, upheaval and trauma in our perilous pandemic world, there has also opened up a surprising new space for online education—in particular, online Jewish education.