Adult education
2011-2012 Sunday morning free adult education programs
This program receives assistance from UJA Federation.
Downtown Jewish Toronto bike tour
Sunday, September 25, 2011; 10 am -12:30pm
with Prof. Stuart Schoenfeld
Learn about past and present Jewish life in downtown Toronto while on a leisurely bike ride. We’ll ride past four of the existing six synagogues, see a few buildings that used to be shuls, go past the site of Doctor’s Hospital, go along College Street and through Kensington Market. Time permitting, we may get to Bond Street (to see what was the first Holy Blossom building), Christie Pits and the U of T Wilfond Centre.
Stuart Schoenfeld is past chair of the Downtown Jewish Community Council and has lived in the neighborhood since 1971.
FREE. Weather permitting. Wear a helmet! Presented in partnership with the First Narayever Congregation
The four faces of Bar/Bat Mitzvah
Sunday, December 4, 2011; 10 – 11:30am
with Prof. Stuart Schoenfeld
Bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah are not in the Torah or Talmud, but they have become important times for celebration in contemporary Jewish life. Where did this combination of ritual and celebration originate? What does their contemporary experience say about Jewish identity today? How do bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah connect with the identities of parents as well as life-cycle transitions of children? Are they times of family stress or times of family bonding, and what practical steps can be taken so they are more times of bonding and less times of stress?
Professor Stuart Schoenfeld is the Chair of the Sociology Department, Glendon College, York University. He has written extensively on contemporary Jewish life and also works on Middle East environmental issues.
FREE– Presented in partnership with the MNJCC & First Narayever Congregation
The Forgotten mourners: Jewish responses to bereaved children
Sunday, February 12, 2012; 11am – 12:30pm
with Rabbi Rena Arshinoff
How can you help grieving children in a Jewish way? Adapting Nichum avelim, the mitzvah of comforting the bereaved, for children.
Rabbi Rena Arshinoff was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in May 2008. Before becoming a rabbi, she trained as a nurse in Montreal and obtained a Master of Health Science specializing in Epidemiology at the University of Toronto . She spent 20 years working in epidemiological research, and now combines her interests in health care and rabbinics in her work as a chaplain at Toronto Western Hospital of the University Health Network with the Neuroscience program. Rabbi Arshinoff serves as a volunteer facilitator and professional advisor for the Children’s program and a faciliatator for the Infant Loss Program at Bereaved Families of Ontario and does community work with the elderly at Jewish Family and Child (JF&CS), as well as freelance congregational work and teaching. She recently received the credential of Specialist in Pastoral Care from the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care and is the second rabbi in Canada to hold this designation.
These adult education programs are FREE — Presented in partnership with the MNJCC & First Narayever Congregation.
