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Rabbi Yohanan (d. 279 C.E.) had strong feelings about using the proper musical chant in reading the Torah, asserting: “Whosoever reads [the Torah] without melody and studies [Mishnah] without song, to him may be applied the verse: ‘Moreover I gave them laws that were not good, and rules by which they could not live.” (Talmud Bavli Megillah 32A). In this class we will begin unlocking the musical system of symbols that guides our Shabbat Torah reading, as we journey through the last four weeks of the Omer to our celebration of receiving the Torah on Shavuot.

Ability to read Hebrew is required, but no musical knowledge is necessary.

If you already have the basics, but would like to refresh your skills and move forward, please contact CantorNatasha@gmail.com; with enough interest, we will organize a more advanced level for this class.

While we can't be together in person that does not mean that we cannot learn from each other.

Forty years ago, AC member David Kronfeld put away a book that he had written, not sure if it would ever see the light of day. Now all these years later, "Tales of the Havurah" has been published and David is ready to share the story of the book, the stories behind the book, and some of the stories in the book. 

Tales of the Havurah is about life in the Jewish counterculture in post-1960's Boston. Narrated by a talkative, pot-smoking host named Solomon, the stories -- some funny, some serious -- introduce the reader into an off-beat little universe of educated but not-always-reverent young adults experimenting with creating a new style of close-knit Jewish community while also seeking to forge a meaningful yet contemporary spiritual life. 

Tales of the Havurah captures a particular moment in America, when a rebellious youth culture – influenced by rock music, psychedelic drugs, changing sexual ethics, and eastern philosophies – intersected with traditional Jewish practice, symbols and values, ultimately bringing profound changes to the American Jewish society at large. Many of these changes eventually found their way into Ansche Chesed.

David Kronfeld was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Flushing, NY. He moved to the Boston area for college and graduate school, during which time for several years he was also a member of Havurat Shalom, an experimental alternative Jewish community. After completing his graduate studies in literature, he spent a year in Paris and Jerusalem, where he wrote Tales of the Havurah. After moving back to New York City, he eventually transitioned into the business world and for over 35 years pursued a successful career in corporate communications and financial public relations. He lives on the Upper West Side with his wife, Sarah Jacobs, an artist who makes Jewish ritual objects in fabric. They have three grown children.

Rabbi Yohanan (d. 279 C.E.) had strong feelings about using the proper musical chant in reading the Torah, asserting: “Whosoever reads [the Torah] without melody and studies [Mishnah] without song, to him may be applied the verse: ‘Moreover I gave them laws that were not good, and rules by which they could not live.” (Talmud Bavli Megillah 32A). In this class we will begin unlocking the musical system of symbols that guides our Shabbat Torah reading, as we journey through the last four weeks of the Omer to our celebration of receiving the Torah on Shavuot.

Ability to read Hebrew is required, but no musical knowledge is necessary.

If you already have the basics, but would like to refresh your skills and move forward, please contact CantorNatasha@gmail.com; with enough interest, we will organize a more advanced level for this class.

Dan Lenchner is a collector of vintage images, mostly snapshots, from Germany in the 30’s and 40’s. Join him as he discusses these photographs which appear in his book Normal: How the Nazis Normalized the Unspeakable. The photographs highlight often banal human activities taking place within a totalitarian society. They address the knotty question of how normal people accommodate themselves to an ever-growing evil. The photos, while historical, also resonate as current events.

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