Adult Jewish Education Program
Adult Jewish Education at the Jewish Community Centre is a program of interactive, seminar-style Adult Jewish learning. Topics include the full range of Jewish experience: belief, philosophy, arts, culture, history, Israel, and the interface between Judaism and the rest of the world. The courses are pluralistic in nature and provide a comfortable and stimulating environment for Jews from all different backgrounds.
Rock Stars: Jewish Sculptors of the 20th Century
Tuesdays: May 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd & 29th and June 5th, 2018 9:30-11:00am
Early Bird Special: Register early and save! Please note that places are limited and will be reserved on a ‘first pay, first served basis’. All reservations received and accepted by April 23, 2018 will get a $10 discount. The Early Bird fee for this 6-week course is $99/ student (regular fee $109).
Sonia Halpern is an Art Historian, and teaches in Western University’s Departments of English and Writing Studies, and Women’s Studies and Feminist Research. Sonia has received numerous honours and awards for her teaching, and has been recognized as one of Western’s most “Popular Profs.” She is the author of two collections of poetry, a book of original musical compositions, and multiple academic articles. Her most recent publication reflects her combined interest in issues of Jewish identity and police/correctional institutions, and is entitled “A Yiddishe Cop: Jewish Identity, Police, and Prisoners in Contemporary Law Enforcement,” in The Criminal Humanities, eds. Michael Arntfield and Marcel Danesi (New York: Peter Lang), 2016. Sonia has taught courses for AJE since its inception, and has a passion for offering the Jewish perspective on a variety of art historical periods and styles.
Rock Stars: Jewish Sculptors of the 20th Century
This course will examine selected Jewish sculptors of the 20th century in order to understand their significant contributions to the art world generally, and sculpture specifically. Moreover, the course will uncover the extent to which their Jewish identities informed their personal and professional choices, and influenced their aesthetic decisions.
From the Bible to Broadway –
a Survey of Jewish Lyricists in Poetry and Song
Tuesdays 9:30am-11:00am: October 9th, 16th, 23rd & 30th 2018
Early Bird Special: Register early and save! Please note that places are limited and will be reserved on a ‘first pay, first served basis’. All reservations received and accepted by October 2, 2018 will get a $10 discount. The Early Bird fee for this 4-week course is $75/ student (regular fee $85).
David Rosner is a retired Professor of Physics, with a specialty in Atomic Physics and Laboratory Astrophysics. His interest in music is long and deep, starting with juvenile piano lessons, and extending to a lifelong attachment to classical music and, more recently, choral singing. David currently serves on the Board of the Gordon Jeffery Music Foundation, conducts the Temple Israel Choir, and sings in the Amabile Primus Men’s Choir. He has been a popular AJE Facilitator in the past when he focused on Jewish Classical Composers. He is back by popular demand, this time focusing on Jewish Lyricists.
From the Bible to Broadway – a Survey of Jewish Lyricists in Poetry and Song
Jews have created great lyric poetry and song over the ages. We will talk about songs of the Hebrew Bible (e.g. Miriam’s song, Psalms, Song of Songs), lyrics from el-Andalus in the Golden Age of Spain (Yehudah Halevi), the Lorenzo da Ponte libretti written for Mozart’s greatest operas, and finish with the phenomenal influence of Jewish lyricists in modern popular music, especially American film and show music.