We offer a wide range of courses for adults throughout the year, thanks to the generosity of the Koffler and Bornstein families. Registration details coming soon.
Click on any of the offerings listed below for more information, or scroll down to see information on all of our offerings
- Re/Introduction to Judaism - Tuesday Night Learning!
- Learn to Lead Us - Tuesday Night Learning!
- Jewish Views of the Afterlife - Tuesday Night Learning!
- Hug Ivri - Thursday mornings
- Parashat HaShavua - Friday mornings
Learn to Lead us: Synagogue Skills Workshop
Instructor: Rabbi Michael and Cantor Brian Mayer
Time: Tuesdays 8:30-9:15 PM. In person at Temple Emanu-El beginning October 19, 2021
Cost: $36 suggested donation to support educational scholarships. (Those not in a position to donate are more than welcome to attend.)
How to register: online registration will be available soon.
This class will consist of the following four modules:
- Synagogue Skills: Take an aliyah, Hagbah/Gelilah -Lifting and tieing the Torah, P’tihah - Opening and closing the Ark
- Leading Shabbat Torah Service: Themes and Meanings, Chantings
- Leading Shabbat Mussaf: Themes and Meaning, Chantings
- Leading Shiva Minyan: How to lead a shiva minyan, Comforting mourners, Learning Psalm 23, Choreography of the service
Jewish Views on Life After Death
Instructor: Rabbi Irvin Wise
Time: Tuesdays 7:30-8:15 PM. In person at Temple Emanu-El beginning November 2 (ongoing).
Cost: $36 suggested donation to support educational scholarships. (Those not in a position to donate are more than welcome to attend.)
How to register: online registration will be available soon. In the meantime, reserve your place by emailing TEProvAdultEd@gmail.com
Contrary to popular notions, Judaism has a lot to say about life after death. In this class we will look at a wide range of positions and reflections on the subject including biblical, rabbinic, medieval, Kabbalistic, Hasidic and contemporary teachings for the purpose of expanding and deepening our understanding of what Judaism has to say about this universal human interest and concern.
About the instructor: Rabbi Irvin Wise earned a Master’s in Hebrew Letters in 1978 from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Cincinnati and his rabbinic ordination there in 1979. He served as Assistant Rabbi and Director of Student Affairs at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem from 1979-1981 and then as Executive Director of the Hillel Foundation at Ohio University in Athens and at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis from 1984-1992. In 1992 Rabbi Wise became Senior Rabbi of Adath Israel Congregation, a Conservative synagogue in Cincinnati, serving there for 27 years. He retired in 2019 and now lives in Barrington, RI. Learn more here: https://www.brgri.org/rabbi-irvin-m-wise.html
Hug Ivri
Instructor: Rabbi Alvan Kaunfer
Time: Thursdays 9:00-10:00am (ongoing)
Rabbi Kaunfer leads this group, conducted entirely in Hebrew. It will continue its study and discussion of midrashim on biblical stories from Bialik’s Sefer Aggadah often moving into a variety of fascinating topics. If you are an advanced Hebrew speaker, join us!
For more information, please email Rabbi Kaunfer at akaunfer@cox.net
Parshat HaShavua
Instructor: Rabbi Alvan Kaunfer
Time: Fridays (beginning in October) after minyan/zman kodesh 8:30-9:15am (ongoing)
Join Rabbi Alan Kaunfer for a weekly study session to discuss highlights from the Torah portion of the week. This weekly discussion takes place on Friday mornings after Z’man Kodesh.
All are welcome!
For more information, please email Rabbi Kaunfer at akaunfer@cox.net
Delve Deeper is an adult education initiative that brings dynamic teachers to teach in-depth, university level Judaic courses to a diverse group of adult learners. Delve Deeper programs are presented in cooperation with the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and area synagogues, including Congregation Beth Sholom, Temple Beth-El, Temple Emanu-El, Temple Habonim, Temple Sinai and Temple Torat Yisrael.
“Creativity and Resilience: Jewish Life in Eastern Europe, 1500-2020”
Instructor: Dr. Natan M. Meir
Time: Wednesdays 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm beginning Oct. 6 (10 sessions)
Format: Online via Zoom
For many centuries, Eastern Europe was one of the great centers of Jewish civilization. This course explores the society that Jews created in the east European borderlands, a world unto itself but also closely interlinked with the surrounding Slavic and Christian milieu. Drawing on key documents from the world of Polish and Russian Jews, we will examine central phenomena such as the shtetl, the Hasidic movement, the emergence of modern Yiddish and Hebrew literature, the rise of modern Jewish political movements such as Zionism and Bundism, the creation of Soviet Jewry, and the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. We will also touch on the question of the outcasts of the Jewish community – beggars, disabled people, and others – who are the subject of the instructor’s recent book, Stepchildren of the Shtetl: The Destitute, Disabled, and Mad of Jewish Eastern Europe, 1800-1939.
About the instructor: Natan Meir is a scholar of Jewish social, cultural, and religious history, and he holds the Lorry I. Lokey Chair in Judaic Studies at Portland State University’s Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies. His latest book, Stepchildren of the Shtetl, recovers the histories of Jewish Eastern Europe’s social outcasts. He is currently engaged in a new project on the intersection of magic and sexuality in European Jewish culture. (Adapted from www.natanmeir.com/)
Winter/Spring 2022
“History of the Jews in Italy:
From Empire to Emancipation and the Opening of the Vatican Archives”
Instructor: Dr. Dana W. Fishkin
