Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Fairfield County

10:30 a.m. Sunday School Session
11:00 a.m. Congregation Service & BYO Picnic

Members’ Private Residence
Redding, CT

9:30 Nosh

10:00 Meeting

               Jewish Journeys Committee 

Our first fall program on Sunday morning October 3^rd at 9:30 AM via Zoom (link to be sent the week before) will be a slideshow talk on (in)famous author Isaac Bashevis Singer, presented by Dave Shafer.                                                                                

 Isaac B. Singer won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1978 for his writings in both Yiddish and English.

He was also irresistible to women. After abandoning his common-law wife and child in Poland, Singer had an affair with a married woman he met in the Catskills. She divorced her husband, Singer grudgingly married her, and for the next 50 years she worked to support them while his large harem of women “translated” his Yiddish writing. 

Singer’s main mistress was with him for 30 years.  His last conquest began when he was 72 and she was 21 and married.   

The slideshow talk will consider the author’s life and works along with the very interesting Singer family dynamics. Bring your curiosity!

        For additional information contact adulted@humanisticjews.org.

Inspired by the true story of a woman who changed the way we understand our world.

In 1933 three young, gifted anthropologists are thrown together in the jungle of New Guinea. They are Nell Stone, fascinating, magnetic and famous for her controversial work studying South Pacific tribes, her intelligent and aggressive husband Fen, and Andrew Bankson, who stumbles into the lives of this strange couple and becomes totally enthralled. Within months the trio are producing their best ever work, but soon a firestorm of fierce love and jealousy begins to burn out of control, threatening their bonds, their careers, and, ultimately, their lives.

Please RSVP Irene Blumenthal if you are planning to attend. The Zoom  link will be sent out just prior to the meeting.

The 200 Days of Dread

               Jewish Journeys Committee 

Our next fall program Sunday morning October 24th at 9:30 AM via Zoom (link to be sent the week before) will be viewing and discussing Paul Golin’s talk on the 2020 Pew Report on Jews in America.  

The Report identifies “Jews of No Religion” as a significant proportion of American Jews. What does this category mean and what is its relevance to us as Jewish Humanists? Join us October 24^th for a lively discussion on this and related topics.

“U.S. Jews are culturally engaged, increasingly diverse, politically polarized and worried about anti-Semitism.”

https://www.pewforum.org/2021/05/11/jewish-americans-in-2020/

             For additional information, contact adulted@humanisticjews.org

Join Women’s Rap vis Zoom, to stay connected at a distance. All CHJ women members are welcome. It’s a great way to get to know each other.

The Zoom link will be sent just prior to the meeting date.

 In partnership with the Westport Library, CHJ invites you to hear the refugee and author, Mondiant Dogon, tell his story: 

“Those We Throw Away Are Diamonds “

WHEN: Tuesday, November 9, 2021
7:00-8:00pm

WHERE: This event is both virtual AND in-person at the Westport Library

WHAT: Hear about life as a refugee from Mondiant Dogon, a Bagogwe Tutsi born in Congo. Rarely do refugees get to tell their own stories. An immersive, riveting look at one man’s singular journey from war in Congo to safety.

Please register to watch the FREE event at home or attend in the Trefz Forum (also free).  Signed copies of the book are available for pre-order and at the event. 

The refugee aid organization CIRI will be on site; learn how to get involved volunteering to support refugees.  

Megha Majumdar’s excellent debut novel begins with a pile-on, the kind of digital public shaming… . A young Muslim woman named Jivan reads on her phone about a terrorist attack at a railway station near the slum in Kolkata where she lives. More than a hundred people were killed in the blaze. She posts a question – simple, pointed, instinctive: “If the police didn’t help ordinary people like you and me, if the police watched them die, doesn’t that mean the government is also a terrorist?” Her question spreads across social media like forest fire. Monstrous accusations are hurled at her. She is alleged to have been spotted at the station carrying a bulky package and, worse, chatting online with someone the local police declare is a known terrorist recruiter. Charged with the heinous crime, she’s sent to jail to await trial.

A Burning isn’t just about Jivan. Her fate lies in the hands of two people who might be able to vouch for her character. One of them is Lovely, a young hijra (a long-established class of intersex and transgender people in India) to whom she has been giving English lessons. The other is a PE teacher, known as PT Sir, who sometimes fed her when she was one of his pupils. Both are set on changing their lives – Lovely is taking acting lessons to become a movie star; PT Sir, earnest and efficient, is courted by a political party that wants to be known for its law and order credentials. The novel is both a crime thriller in which Jivan battles to avoid execution, and a moral drama: will her old acquaintances risk their burgeoning careers to speak up for a vilified Muslim woman?

All members are invited to join the discussion. Please RSVP Irene Blumenthal if you plan to attend. A Zoom link will be sent out closer to the date.

Save the Date:
Federation for Jewish Philanthropy of Upper Fairfield County
Mitzvah Heroes Awards