Last year the Jewish Community Center changed the name of its adult education department to Jewish Life & Learning and began changing the focus of its programming for that audience. One of the most recent changes was to part ways with the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School after 18 years.
“The Center is proud of its long-term relationship with the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School and quick to laud the positive benefits that the program has conferred on our community,” said Jill Maidhof, the JCC’s director of Jewish Life & Learning.
In the spring of 2011 when the JCC was preparing to rebrand and restructure its adult education department, Maidhof told The Chronicle new class offerings would reflect what the JCC learned during surveys taken that winter. As the program year was outlined, the structure for Melton classes for 2011-12 was changed for a variety of reasons, including enrollment, financial and time commitment issues.
Maidhof reiterated that the JCC is strongly committed to comprehensive adult education programming. She explains that there will be many different ways for adults and families to engage in educational opportunities, including text study.
“The Center remains committed to Jewish text-based study and will continue to offer instruction that meets the standard we set in the Melton program. We are offering a dozen classes this fall and mindful of the feedback we received, we have shortened the time requirement to three or four weeks, and substantially decreased the cost of participation,” Maidhof said.
Students who wish to continue the type of commitment they made to Melton will have the opportunity to study with Edna Levy and Hazzan Rob Menes.
“Rob has moved to Las Vegas, but his students wanted to continue studying with him so he’ll be coming to us live via teleconference,” Maidhof said.
The overall theme of Levy’s classes is “How Jews Decide.” It will cover topics of critical interest in Jewish life today including: “War and Peace,” “Relationships in the Google Age,” “Eco-Kashrut,” “Modern Medical Miracles and Jewish Values,” “Sex and the Modern Jew,” and “Jews as Citizens of the World.”
Hazzan Menes’ classes will explore “Signposts” — famous, infamous and little known Jews and historical events that actually changed the course of Jewish thought and history.
“He’ll be looking at signposts relating to ‘Conceiving God, Land and Jewish Nationhood,’ ‘Ritual Practices and Jewish Observance,’ ‘Faith and Reason,’ ‘Hierarchy,’ ‘How Jews Relate to Each Other,’ and ‘How Jews Relate to Non-Jews and the Secular World,’ ” Maidhof said.
All these classes take place on Tuesday evenings and require no prerequisite to participate. Each topic is taught in three- to four-week sessions. Students can register by the class and receive escalating discounts for committing to multiple sessions in advance.
Many of the new educational programs offered this year will be produced as a joint effort by the JCC and other partners throughout the Jewish community including the Jewish Federation, synagogues and various organizations.
“The JCC believes it is best to carry out this ambitious agenda through collaborative efforts, and we are forming strategic partnerships throughout the Jewish and general community to make these programs happen,” Maidhof said.
A new twist in education programs this year are classes coordinated with JCC theater productions.
“An example of this ‘surround sound’ is an audiovisual presentation on ‘The Portrayal of Jewish Mothers in Popular Media’ during our production of ‘Gypsy!’ (Nov. 3-18),” Maidhof said.
Maidhof is also excited about “Awakenings: Images of Jewish Spirit.”
“This is a tremendously exciting initiative that feeds our community’s growing hunger for cultural arts programs that strengthen Jewish identity. During the year, groups will meet with a Jewish educator and professional artist for Jewish text study, personal reflection and the creation of visual art relating to one of four themes that hold particular significance to Jews. This year’s themes are gratitude, rebellion, identity and valor,” she said.
The artwork produced during this class will form installations that will be on display at the Jewish Community Campus.
The JCC will also expand its Ayeka program by offering “Personal Discovery and Spiritual Development Workshops.” It is also growing its Recollections program.
“This is an intergenerational initiative in which young adults capture on videotape the emotional force and wisdom of the sages in our community,” she explained.
Instead of offering a traditional book fair in November, Maidhof said the JCC will bring in several authors throughout the year including Calvin Trillin, Jesse Kellerman, Louis Sachar and Moshe Waldoks.
All Jewish Life & Learning programs and events are described in the online brochure, at jcckc.org.