Faith In Brooklyn for April 3

April 3, 2014 By Francesca Norsen-Tate, Religion Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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Noted Arab Israeli Author, Satirist Speaks at Congregation Mount Sinai

Arab-Israeli writer and satirist Sayed Kashua comes to Congregation Mount Sinai next Monday for a talk and book signing.

Kashua is considered a talented and ambitious writer with a top-rated television comedy series. But as an Arab citizen of Israel, he never feels completely at home. He’s been called a walking, talking oxymoron, constantly called upon to justify himself, his work and even his decision to write in Hebrew. The community is invited to a public conversation and viewing of an episode of “Avodah Aravit” (“Arab Labor”), now in its third season, of which he is the writer and creator. Kashua will also share his reflections on his Arab-Israeli experience.

Kashua is the author of three novels: “Dancing Arabs,” “Let it Be Morning” and “Second Person Singular,” winner of the Berstein Prize. Kashua also writers a satirical weekly column in Hebrew for the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz. Utilizing a humorous, tongue-in-cheek style, Kashua addresses the problems faced by Arabs in Israel who are caught between two worlds. In 2004 Kashua was awarded the Prime Minister’s Prize in Literature. He is also the subject of the documentary “Forever Scared.”

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A book signing will follow the 7 p.m. presentation. Co-sponsors of this program are the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue, Congregation Mount Sinai and Brit Ye’ud: The Brownstone Brooklyn Shlichut.

Admission is $15/person & $10/student, payable at the door. For more information, contact the host synagogue Congregation Mount Sinai: [email protected], call 718-875-9124. Congregation Mount Sinai is at 250 Cadman Plaza West in Brooklyn Heights, near the 2/3, 4/5 and A/C subway lines.
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Pre-Passover Events

City Tech Faculty Group Will Honor Professor Mennella at Its Model Seder

Jewish Faculty & Staff Association (JFSA) at New York City College of Technology (City Tech) has a decades-old tradition of hosting a pre-Passover program.

The guest leader for this year’s festive holiday program and Passover demonstration Seder luncheon is Rabbi Seth Wax of Congregation Mount Sinai in Brooklyn Heights. The kosher luncheon begins at noon on Wednesday, April 9 at City Tech’s Grace Gallery, 11th floor, 300 Jay Street.

Rabbi Wax was ordained at Hebrew College Rabbinical School. He also holds a MTS in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School. He is interested in Kabbalah, Hasidut and comparative Jewish-Buddhist theology. He has written on the intersection of spirituality and work.

Rabbi Wax has taught at Hebrew College’s Prozdor program, Foundation for Jewish Camp, Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, Nishmat Hayyim, The Jewish Meditation Collaborative of New England and a number of synagogues.

Part of the JFSA’s Seder tradition is to honor an individual who has demonstrated commitment and dedication to the mission of JFSA. City Tech Professor Concetta Mennella, JD (CUNY School of Law), is this year’s honoree Professor Mennella also earned a B.S. from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY). A first vice president of the Columbian Lawyers Association (an association of attorneys of Italian American descent), First Judicial Department, Prof. Mennella specializes in real estate law, family law and immigration law.

The Jewish Faculty & Staff Association (JFSA) of New York City College of Technology provides a forum for understanding and celebrating the cultural, historical and religious heritage and traditions of Judaism. Its membership is open to all members of the college community. The JFSA fosters camaraderie among all members of the City Tech community.

Throughout its history of more than 35 years, the Association has always been pluralistic in perspective and respectful of all traditions.

The JFSA sponsors annual Passover programs and Chanukah celebrations. Additionally, for more than two decades, it has been presenting timely free cultural and educational programs to the college community, local colleges and schools and to the business and professional communities of Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope and the greater Brooklyn metropolitan area.

The JFSA’s Distinguished Speakers Series have included Holocaust studies author Susan Zuccotti, internationally acclaimed author and columnist Pete Hamill, Buchenwald liberation witness African-American Leon Bass, interactive design pioneer Edwin Schlossberg, whose firm designed the Ellis Island American Family Immigration History Center and internationally renowned architect Daniel Libeskind.

In November 2011 the featured speaker was Menachem Z. Rosensaft, founding chairman of the International Network of Children of Jewish Survivors, a leader of the Second Generation movement of children of survivors, and general counsel for the World Jewish Congress.

Nobel Laureate, Cornell University professor emeritus, Roald Hoffmann was featured in November 2012. A Holocaust hidden child survivor, he recounted his experiences before coming to the U.S. The general public invited to attend this Passover program. A minimum contribution of $15 is required and especially appreciated to partially offset the holiday program expenses and support JFSA programs during the year. As seating is very limited, advance reservations are required by no later than Monday, April 7. To Albert Sherman, [email protected], 718-260-5837; 300 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201; or to Allen Wolf, [email protected], 718-473-8910.

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Brooklyn’s Oldest Orthodox Synagogue’s Model Seder Is Outreach to New Residents of Williamsburg-Greenpoint

Congregation Beth Jacob Ohev Sholom, the only remaining non-Hasidic Orthodox synagogue in Williamsburg, hosts a pre-Passover Model Seder as part of its outreach to newer Jewish residents of north Brooklyn. This event, with free food, refreshments, music, toys and other gifts, will be held in the shul’s Dining Hall, this Sunday, April 6, from Noon-2 p.m. The synagogue is at 284 Rodney St. near Broadway, Williamsburg.

Co-sponsor for this model seder is Ag’Udath Av’reichim (AGAV), the Flatbush-Borough Park’s youth organization.

For RSVP and more info, send an email to: [email protected]
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Brooklyn’s Oldest Orthodox Synagogue’s Model Seder Is Outreach to New Residents of Williamsburg-Greenpoint

Congregation Beth Jacob Ohev Sholom, the only remaining non-Hasidic Orthodox synagogue in Williamsburg, hosts a pre-Passover Model Seder as part of its outreach to newer Jewish residents of north Brooklyn. This event, with free food, refreshments, music, toys and other gifts, will be held in the shul’s Dining Hall, this Sunday, April 6, from Noon-2 p.m. The synagogue is at 284 Rodney St. near Broadway, Williamsburg.

Co-sponsor for this model seder is Ag’Udath Av’reichim (AGAV), the Flatbush-Borough Park’s youth organization.

For RSVP and more info, send an email to: [email protected]
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Concerts

Longtime Heights Couple Presents Timeless Songs

St. Charles Borromeo Church’s spring concert series features a longtime Heights musical couple, Pat and Locke Wallace. They will present “Timeless Songs of Love and Jazz by Hoagy Carmichael Duke Ellington and Jimmy Van Heusen.”

The concert begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 5.

St. Charles Borromeo Church is at 19 Sidney Place, between Joralemon and State streets in Brooklyn Heights. Admission $15 at the door.
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Enjoy an Evening With Legendary Folk-Rock Duo Aztec Two-Step

Union Temple of Brooklyn’s first acoustic concert series brings in the renowned folk- rock duo Aztec Two-Step for an April 12 concert.

Bursting on the scene in 1972 with their self-titled debut on Elektra Records, Aztec Two- Step’s first album and three subsequent albums for RCA Records were staples of progressive FM and college radio, and helped usher the music of the 1960s into the ‘70s and beyond. Since then, Rex Fowler and Neal Shulman have spent a lifetime making music together as the folk-rock duo that takes its name from a poem by beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Fowler and Shulman have accumulated forty-plus years of awards, accolades and TV and radio appearances that include the David Letterman Show, World Café Live and the King Biscuit Flour Hour, and have graced countless stages including those of Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. In 1987, the duo’s “Living in America” received the New York Music Award for Best Folk Album and was named in Billboard’s year-end critic’s poll, and in 1999 they were the subject of “No Hit Wonder,” a documentary that aired on PBS. In 2005, they released a career-defining “Days Of Horses” CD to rave reviews. Five of the album’s 11 songs, including their baby boomer anthemic “Better These Days,” were penned by Neal Shulman. And, the title track “Days of Horses,” written by Rex Fowler, was used as the opening and closing music in the 2012 documentary “Selling Cars in America.”

Finally, in 2012, to commemorate their 40th Anniversary, the duo released its 10th studio CD “Cause & Effect” (Red Engine Records), a collection of 16 socially significant songs, produced by Paul Guzzone, who also produced their “Days of Horses” CD, and features their long-time bassist Fred Holman. The album is a combination of re-worked previously recorded songs and newly mined material defined by intelligent songwriting, dazzling acoustic lead guitar and inspiring two-part harmonies. Aztec Two-Step continues to be one of acoustic music’s most respected and enduring acts, forty-plus years after Fowler and Shulman serendipitously met at an open mic at a Boston coffeehouse.

Their concert begins at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 12. Tickets: are $30 advance/ $35 door , http://www.firstacoustics.org or 718-288-5994. Union Temple is at 17 Eastern Parkway, across from the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza.


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