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Darchei Noam Academy

The Darchei Noam Academy, founded in 2012, is dedicated to creating and supporting a community of learners through small group opportunities for Jewish Studies. Our expert teachers guide students through critical, thoughtful and creative readings of traditional and non-traditional Jewish, Israeli and secular sources.

Registration is open to all. For more information, contact the synagogue office.

Course Offerings: Fall 2014

Truth and Power: The Development of Prophecy

     with Shayna Kravetz

Starting from Moshe, we will analyze how prophecy emerged as an element in Israelite history exploring “What is prophecy?”, “Moses, the first prophet”, “Moses to Joshua”, “ Judges and the descent into anarchy and the role of the prophet in the absence of stable government, “Samuel, the return of prophecy” and much more.

Shayna Kravetz is the product of the Winnipeg Talmud Torah and Jewish high school system. She studied at Yeshiva University's Stern College for Women, in New York, before returning to Winnipeg where she received her various degrees.

A six-week session beginning on Monday, October 20. 7:30—9:30pm

$100 for members, $120 for guests.

Register online.

“Funny, you don’t look Jewish”: Jewish Cultural Diversity

     with Noam Sienna

Join us for a multisensory tour of all the different ways to look Jewish, eat Jewish, sound Jewish, and be Jewish. This class will go beyond the “Ashkenazi-Sephardi" divide to examine how Jewish communities have created meaningful and diverse cultural expressions across the globe, from Beijing to Brooklyn, Kiev to Casablanca, India to Ethiopia, and everywhere in between.

Noam Sienna is a third-generation Jewish educator. He graduated from Brandeis University in 2012 with a Master's in Teaching TaNaKh, and has experience teaching Judaic subjects to all ages in a diversity of settings. He is especially interested in how stories in the TaNaKh speak to each other, to other moments in literature, and to our lives.

A six-week session beginning on Monday, October 27. 7:30—9:30pm

$100 for members, $120 for guests.

Register online.

 

Past Course Offerings (Fall 2013):

The Image of the Jew in Film and Television: Realities and Fantasies

     with Shlomo Schwartzberg

Though Jews essentially founded Hollywood and played a significant part in launching television in the United States, their portrayal in these media has been mixed and often depicted as being shorn of their Judaism.  It’s only in the last 30 years or so that the full spectrum of nuanced Jewish life has begun to be represented.

This 6-session course will look at such productions as The Jazz Singer, The Social Network, The Pawnbroker, Schindler’s List, The Goldbergs, The Good Wife and many other films and TV shows. It promises to be a provocative, compelling and fascinating trip through American popular culture and its representations.

Shlomo Schwartzberg is a film critic, teacher and arts journalist based in Toronto. He is well known to Darchei Noam audiences as the person who has been introducing and fielding questions at Israeli film screenings for the past number of years.

Jewish Literature: Israeli Second/Third Generation Holocaust Writing

     with Professor Yael Seliger

The Israeli nation is interlocked with dilemmas pertaining to Holocaust remembrance, and as often is the case it is best reflected in Israeli literature.

The notion of aesthetics related to Holocaust remembrance can be perceived as offensive.  Yet, as time moves on, and we find ourselves further removed from the actual occurrence of the catastrophe, it is through the reflective mirror of literature that a devastating past can be interwoven with a meaningful present and future.

Our sessions are aimed at illuminating the complexity of past, present and future Holocaust remembrance through reading and discussing literary exemplars of Israeli authors such as Ida Fink, Aharon Appelfeld, Michal Govrin, Saul Friedländer, Hanoch Bartov, and Nava Semel. Registrants will receive a list of readings upon registration.

Born in Israel, Yael Seliger was educated in Israel, England, the United States, and Canada. Formerly Director of Education of the Board of Jewish Education, UJA Federation.  Currently teaching at York University and completing her doctoral degree.   

Words, Words, Words:  The History of the Bible and Its Translations

     with Noam Sienna

This course will use the history of Bible translations as a lens to examine what issues are at the heart of reading and studying this sacred text. How can we translate Divine speech in human terms? What is the relationship between the content of the Bible and the language that it is expressed in? We will explore the history of Bible translations, both Jewish and non-Jewish, and the ways that Bible translation has interacted with some of the most significant movements of the past millennium: assimilation, interreligious dialogue, colonialism, feminism, and more. The course will include both a broad look at translation theory and general issues in Bible translation, as well as in-depth analysis of specific passages in a variety of translations to explore the nature of translation as commentary.

Noam Sienna is a third-generation Jewish educator. He graduated from Brandeis University in 2012 with a Master's in Teaching TaNaKh, and has experience teaching Judaic subjects to all ages in a diversity of settings. He is especially interested in how stories in the TaNaKh speak to each other, to other moments in literature, and to our lives.

Tue, 19 March 2024 9 Adar II 5784