In planning these events, we have been guided by a vision of Westminster as a community of learners in which we study deeply and regularly together, developing our Jewish skills and strengthening our practice and knowledge. We are excited to explore new texts and different styles of learning with each other over the coming months. In addition to our regular monthly Oneg Shabbatot, there are plenty of opportunities to come together and learn.
Oneg Shabbat
“Immediately Compassion was stirred up,” (Lamentations Rabba, Proem 24) finding an emotional appeal in Rabbi Friedlander’s teachings and a Rabbinic short story
Saturday, 27 July, 2024, 12.45pm-2.15pm
We will find guidance in what to look for in literature from some of Rabbi Albert Friedlander’s teachings, woven into his groundbreaking 1968 Out of the Whirlwind: A reader of Holocaust Literature. We will then apply such an approach to a Rabbinic short story in which our Rabbis explore who and what can move God to give us hope. In the creative Rabbinic commentaries of Lamentations Rabba (Proem 24) our Biblical ancestors testify one after the other in order to move God to relent and bring us from suffering to redemption. As God is eventually moved, I hope that we will be too. This Oneg will also introduce us to the annual Three Weeks of Mourning in our calender, that bring us from recalling the breach of Jerusalem’s walls to its destruction, and which will have just begun. This year sadly has further poignant resonances of destruction, and I hope our learning will help us feel these, and feel for hope beyond them.
Training Thursdays
Zoom, 6,30pm-8pm.
Deep dives into understanding parts of our Jewish lives in these mini-series's of learning throughout the year.
12, 19, 26 November - Learn to Leyn
4, 11, 18, 25 March - Service Leadership Course with Rabbi Kamila
6, 13, 20, 27 May - Decoding Rabbinic Text with Rabbis and Yael
Intensive Days
28 September & 5 April, 3pm-9pm
Full days of learning and exploring different themes in Jewish life.
