Category Archives: Learning

Religious School To Be Virtual For the Remainder of the Month

Dear Parents,

A few weeks ago, it was decided to hold virtual classes until February 10th. However, after careful consideration by the Religious School teachers and myself, it was decided that we will remain virtual until the end of the month. With the COVID rates where they currently are and the short month, it is best for us to spend the last few classes of the month at home. I have faith that, with the downward trend of infections, there is a very good chance we will be back to in-person by next month. The Board of Directors has also decided to continue having Zoom-only Services, aiming to open back up for the Friday Evening Shabbat Service on the 25^th (hopefully!).

I know some of you will not agree with our decision. But there are only four more classes left for the month- it will go quickly! Virtual classes seem to be going very well, and our teachers are making learning effective and fun. Please remember that during mid-winter break, there will be NO school on the 20^th and 24th.

Shalom,

Cantor Colman Reaboi

Adult Study Opportunities

Sunday Speaker Series- Sundays 9:30am-11:30am

We are currently updating our Guest Speakers Series.

Please RSVP: office@tauntonshul.com or (508) 822-3230

MOVIES AND MORE CLUB

The Movies and More Club meets monthly to discuss* the meanings of a variety of Jewish-themed movies and television series. We’ll also learn about notable Jewish actors, directors, and screenwriters.

Tuesday, April 26th 6:30-7:30

April Movie: Keep Quiet (In Hungarian, on Netflix)

This documentary focuses on what happened to Csanad Szegedi, a prominent politician in Hungary who was known for helping to start an anti-Semitic nationalist party, after he discovered that part of his family is Jewish. Seeking to learn more about his ancestry, he begins to learn more about Judaism and ends up with an entirely new outlook on life.

Please RSVP to office@tauntonshul.com or (508) 822-3230

*Please watch the movie before you come to the discussion.

Lunch and Learn

Come learn about various Jewish topics with Cantor Reaboi! Lunch and Learn meets every Wednesday from 12-1:30pm in the Korff Library. Bring a lunch, share some Jewish wisdom and learning,

Sunday Speaker Series

Sundays, 9:30am – 11:30am

Jewish Community House Korff Library, 133 High Street, Taunton

Come explore a variety of Jewish-related topics every Sunday

November 14, 2021: Reminisce and Study with Arthur Arkinase
- Arthur was a long-time member of Agudath Achim. He taught in the religious school and lead services for a time. Listen to old stories and learn something new!
November 21, 2021: Financial Talk & Q&A with Will Goldsmith
- Financial advisor, husband and father Will Goldsmith will talk about the latest in financial and investment news and answer your questions.

More information can be found by clicking here.

November Learning Opportunities

Join Cantor Colman for a ‘Nosh and Drash’!

Lunch and Learn with Cantor Reaboi

Wednesdays, Noon-1:30pm

Jewish Community House Library, 133 High Street, Taunton

Come explore a variety of Jewish-related topics every Wednesday

This Month’s topic: Basic Jewish Literacy: Things every Jewish Adult Should Know

Bring a Kosher-Style Lunch and an open mind!

Adult Study Opportunity! ‘Basics in Jewish Literacy’

Need a better grasp on Jewish basic knowledge, or do you need to refresher course?

YOU’RE NOT ALONE!

Join Cantor Reaboi as we round out your Jewish literacy on:

Navigating the Tanakh (Jewish Bible)
Basic Jewish History
Israel
Basic prayers and their meaning
The Jewish Calendar

Basics in Jewish Literacy meets November 8^th, 15^th and 22^nd. Please RSVP if you plan on attending to office@tauntonshul.com or (508) 822-3230

MOVIES AND MORE CLUB

The Movies and More Club meets monthly to discuss the meanings of a variety of Jewish-themed movies and television series. We’ll also learn about notable Jewish actors, directors, and screenwriters.

Tuesday, November 23^rd 6:30-7:30

November Movie: “A Serious Man”

Movies and More Meets the 4th Tuesday of every Month.

Please RSVP to office@tauntonshul.com or (508) 822-3230

The Hotel Neversink – February 27 Book Discussion

There’s still time to get reading before we gather for our monthly book discussion on Saturday evening, February 27th at 6:30 PM for Havdalah and a book discussion.

Here’s more about this very intriguing novel. See what you think. Email us at jewishtaunton@gmail.com for Zoom information.

THE HOTEL NEVERSINK BY ADAM O’FALLON PRICE
“A gripping, atmospheric, heart-breaking, almost-ghost story. Not since Stephen King’s Overlook has a hotel hiding a secret been brought to such vivid life.” -Lydia Kiesling, author of The Golden State Thirty-one years after workers first broke ground, the magnificent Hotel Neversink in the Catskills finally opens to the public. Then a young boy disappears. This mysterious vanishing-and the ones that follow-will brand the lives of three generations. At the root of it all is Asher Sikorsky, the ambitious and ruthless patriarch whose purchase of the hotel in 1931 set a haunting legacy into motion. His daughter Jeanie sees the Hotel Neversink into its most lucrative era, but also its darkest. Decades later, Asher’s grandchildren grapple with the family’s heritage in their own ways: Len fights to keep the failing, dilapidated hotel alive, and Alice sets out to finally uncover the murderer’s identity. Told by an unforgettable chorus of Sikorsky family members-a matriarch, a hotel maid, a traveling comedian, the hotel detective, and many others, the book is the gripping portrait of a Jewish family in the Catskills over the course of a century. With an unerring eye and with prose both comic and tragic, Adam O’Fallon-Price details one man’s struggle for greatness, no matter the cost, and a long-held family secret that threatens to undo it all.

Join us online for a Yom HaShoah: Holocaust Memorial Day Service

This evening, Monday, April 20, at 7:00 PM, we will gather online using Zoom for a Yom HaShoah v’HaGevurah Memorial Service to honor those who perished in the Holocaust and those who perished in the struggle against the Holocaust. Our siddur will be available online as it is during Shabbat services. It would be appropriate for you to have a small candle available (if safely possible) for this service.

Shalom,
Mike Peckman

*NOTE: If the link above doesn’t work for you then you don’t have access to our PRIVATE congregation Facebook page and would need that for access. If you have Facebook and are a member of the congregation then I can help get you access. Just email us here and we will make sure that you get the Zoom instructions to join us!

Alef Beats on Oct 27 – Featuring “There Must Be Another Way” – JArts Boston Arts Matter Shabbat

Join us at the synagogue on Saturday morning, October 27, 2018, at 9:00 AM for services and then stay for the Alef Beats a cappella performance from 10:45 to 11:30 AM. We’ll end with a festive Kiddush/social time in the vestry/lower level. All are welcome. Of course, it’s Shabbat, there is no charge. We’re part of Greater Boston JArts Arts Matter Shabbat programming. More here.

Coming from Brown/RISD Hillel, the Alef Beats perform for us every couple of years and it’s always great to have their musical presence and energy enliven our community. Learn more about them by clicking here. Their repertoire contains some contemporary Israeli songs in Hebrew, a Yiddish classic or two and some recent American offerings.

One featured song for this visit by the Alef Beats is “There Must Be Another Way” which was the Israeli entry to the 2009 Eurovision music contest with Israeli musical artists Noa (Jewish) and Mira Awad (Muslim). The lyrics are in Hebrew, Arabic and English (English translation below the video).

The lyrics “speak” for themselves:

There Must Be Another Way

There must be another
Must be another way

Your eyes, sister
Say all that my heart desires
So far, we’ve gone
A long way, a very difficult way, hand in hand

And the tears fall, pour in vain
A pain with no name
We wait
Only for the next day to come

There must be another way
There must be another way

Your eyes say
A day will come and all fear will disappear
In your eyes a determination
That there is a possibility
To carry on the way
As long as it may take

For there is no single address for sorrow
I call out to the plains
To the stubborn heavens

There must be another way
There must be another way
There must be another
Must be another way

We will go a long way
A very difficult way
Together to the light
Your eyes say
All fear will disappear

And when I cry, I cry for both of us
My pain has no name
And when I cry, I cry
To the merciless sky and say
There must be another way

And the tears fall, pour in vain
A pain with no name
We wait
Only for the day to come

There must be another way
There must be another way
There must be another
Must be another way

Jewish Music Roundup – Today’s Find – 9/28/2018

Sweet song by Jane Bordeaux. Part of the ongoing project to document popular Israeli music of many varieties across the 70 years since the founding of the State of Israel in May 1948. An approximate Hebrew-to-English translation from Google Translate appears below the video, with some emendations to render the ideas understandably.

If there is somewhere far away
A small quiet oasis
Even a veranda of wood
And she was busy there.

La la la…

If there is somewhere far away,
And even if there are thousands of horses,
Grandmother to her granddaughter
We will sing a song louder than their thundering noise.

La la la…

Because then I’ll fly there
One evening
And we’ll be together again
Counting the stars

Shalom Kids and PJ Library – Summer 2018

You’re invited to join us this summer as we explore the themes of cooperation, perseverance and creativity during hour-long story times with stories, music, crafts and fun. Designed for kids ages 3 – 7 and their grownups. Here’s our schedule:

Taunton Public Library – 12 Pleasant Street – In the Auditorium, Lower Level

Monday June 18 at 10:30-11:30 – Cooperation
Monday August 20 at 10:30-11:30 – Perseverance

Middleborough Public Library – 40 North Main Street – Large Meeting Room

Tuesday June 19 at 1:30-2:30 – Creativity
Tuesday July 24 at 10:30-11:30 – Perseverance
Tuesday August 21 at 10:30-11:30 – Cooperation

Raynham Public Library – 760 South Main Street – Meeting Room, Lower Level

Wednesday June 20 at 10:30 to 11:30 – Perseverance
Thursday July 26 at 10:30 to 11:30 – Cooperation
Wednesday August 22 at 10:30 to 11:30 – Creativity

Be Our Guest at Religious School This September

Religious School Begins Sept 8th – Visiting Families Welcome – No Strings Attached – Read More !!

Congregation Agudath Achim and The Jewish Community House of Taunton, MA invite children being reared Jewishly (1st through 5th grades) and their parents to attend our early fall Hebrew school/religious school classes and family holiday experiences at no charge. Come to one or come to all – try us out !!

Religious School – Thursdays from 4:00 to 5:30 PM – September 8, 15, 22, and 29 at The Jewish Community House, 133 High Street, Taunton
Family Rosh Hashanah Experience – Sunday from 9:30 to 11:30 AM – September 25 at our synagogue, 36 Winthrop Street, Taunton – intergenerational: all ages welcome
Learn to Blow Shofar Workshop – Sunday from 12:00 noon to 1:00 PM – October 2 at our synagogue, 36 Winthrop Street – bring your own shofar, please
Religious School – Sunday from 9:30 to 11:30 AM – October 9 at The Jewish Community House, 133 High Street, Taunton

In order for our teachers to know you’re coming and for us to assign a host family to greet you, please contact Rabbi/Cantor Anne Heath in advance at jewishtaunton@gmail.com or by cell phone 781-956-8673. Small class sizes, credentialed teachers (all with master’s degrees and many years experience), laptop language learning lab, teen Hebrew buddies, and host family assigned to each visiting family help make the Hebrew school/religious school at Congregation Agudath Achim in Taunton so much different from “your father’s Hebrew school.”

Come explore the difference. Interfaith families welcome. There is no charge for these September get-acquainted classes. Attendance after the October 9th Sunday morning session requires formal enrollment, tuition and synagogue membership. We work hard to make your participation affordable.