How to Chant Haftarah With Cantor Arik Luck
4 week virtual course leading up to the Passover festival service
Wednesdays, 12:00 – 1:00pm; March 3, 10, 17, 24
Free for members; sliding scale for nonmembers
REGISTER HERE
Please purchase the following book before the first class:  “The Art of Cantillation vol.2” by Marshall Portnoy and Josee Wolff

Did you know that there are different methods of chanting various types of Hebrew texts?  In this four part class, Cantor Arik Luck will provide a basic overview of biblical Hebrew chant, and will give you all of the tools that you need to chant ANY weekly Haftarah portion (the biblical readings that coincide with the weekly Torah portion).  The class will be invited to participate in the Haftarah chanting for our Passover morning service on Sunday, March 28!

(Participation in our Passover service is not mandatory. Rudimentary understanding of the Hebrew alphabet and vowels is required for this course, but no previous musical or chanting experience is needed.)

What are We Talking About When We Talk About Zionism?
Virtual Lunch and Learn with Rabbi Jonathan Singer
Free and open to the community
Wednesdays, ; April 7, 14, 21, 28; May 5, 12

12:00 – 1:00pm

REGISTER HERE
Join Rabbi Jonathan for a six week lunch and learn series starting in March as together we explores the Zionist idea and what it means for Jews today. We will both use text looking at early Zionist thinkers, contemporary thought about Jewish nationalism and invite guests from the diorama of Jewish perspectives to share what Zionism means to them both those who celebrate it and those who struggle with it.

We will use Gil Troy’s updated version of Arthur Hertzbergs’ “The Zionist Idea” as our text.

Conversation with Rabbi Jonathan Singer and District Attorney, Chesa Boudin
Free and open to the community, virtual event
Wednesday, April 7, 5:00pm

REGISTER HERE

Join Rabbi Jonathan Singer as he speaks to District Attorney Chesa Boudin about his work, his interaction with local police, and how Judaism plays a significant role in his personal and professional life.

Chesa Boudin is the elected District Attorney of San Francisco. DA Boudin’s commitment to promotion of social justice and the concept of Tikkun Olam stems from his early identity and experiences growing up in the Jewish faith. Personally impacted by parental incarceration and the failings of the criminal justice system, DA Boudin’s career has focused on reforming the criminal justice system from the inside.  

As District Attorney, DA Boudin works to make our communities safer by developing data-driven policies to expand alternatives to incarceration and treat the root causes of crime.  In his first few months in office, DA Boudin ended the office’s practice of asking for cash bail, eliminated status enhancements, implemented California’s first diversion program for primary caregivers, and ended the prosecution of charges resulting from racist pre-textual traffic stops. He has also implemented numerous police reforms; started an innovative Economic Crimes Against Workers Unit to protect workers from exploitation; and has succeeded in reducing the jail population in San Francisco even as crime rates declined.  His office has initiated historic prosecutions to hold law enforcement officers accountable when they break the law.  

DA Boudin remains committed to being a “rodef shalom” by pursuing reforms that promote racial and economic justice, center crime survivors, and protect public safety.

Reckoning with the Joys and Pain of Life: A Conversation with author, Adam Mansbach
Free and open to the community, virtual event
Thursday, May 6, 7:00pm

REGISTER HERE

“David has taken his own life.” These are the words Adam Mansbach heard his father say ten years ago. 

In his new book, I Had a Brother Once, the New York Times bestselling author of ‘Go the F’ to Sleep,’ reckons with the loss of a brother; what loved ones are leaving us with, and with a search for closure that just wouldn’t come.

Join us for a conversation about death and depression; joy and fun; the comfort of prayer and religious doubt, and how, in the end, it might all be connected.

Adam Mansbach is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Go the Fuck to Sleep, the novels Rage is Back, Angry Black White Boy, and The End of the Jews, (winner of the California Book Award) and a dozen other books, most recently the bestselling A Field Guide to the Jewish People, co-written with Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel. Mansbach wrote the award-winning screenplay for the Netflix Original BARRY, and his next feature film, SUPER HIGH, starring Andy Samberg, Craig Robinson and Common, is forthcoming from New Line. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times Book Review, Esquire, The Believer, The Guardian, and on National Public Radio’s This American Life, The Moth, and All Things Considered. His memoir in verse, I Had A Brother Once, will be published by One World/Random House on April 13. 

At Emanu-El, we are an active community of lifelong Jewish learners – in the endless pursuit of spiritual growth and exploration. As Jews, we are compelled to question and debate. These conversations energize us as we gain new perspectives and challenge our own long-held beliefs. Our shared desire for knowledge and for community enriches us as individuals and bonds us as a congregation. Emanu-El thrives when we are learning together. We hope that you will find time on your calendar and in your mind to join us on a thought-provoking and powerful Jewish journey.

To inquire about adult education, please contact Ariana Estoque, Director of Member Experience, at (415) 750-7552 or [email protected]