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Membership
Members meet for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk at Sherwood Island State Park.
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Community Service
As a member of local community and religious groups whose goals and values we share, we volunteer where help is needed.
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Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah eve service ends with a blessing and an Oneg.
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Yom Kippur
The shofar is heard at CHJ Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Family Services.
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Social Justice
After Charlotttesville
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We’re a Cooperative!
Members all play a role in making the congregation work. Read about how CHJ is organized.
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Tu B’Shvat
Celebrating nature at the Tu B’Shvat seder is a joyous event filled with music and good food.
Hanukkah
Hanukkah is the eight-day Jewish winter celeration. For Humanistic Jews, Hanukkah is a tribute to human power and courage. Judah Maccabee was a man who was willing to fight for what he believed, although like his enemy Antiochus Epiphanes, he was a religious zealot who denied freedom of worship to those who opposed him. Despite… Read More
Shabbat & Adult Education Continue on ZOOM!
CHJ has adapted to the new reality since the start of the coronavirus pandemic! The celebration of Shabbat is integral to Jewish tradition, too important to let lapse for an undetermined period. And our Adult Ed programs offer another opportunity to listen, learn and discuss topics relevant to Humanistic Judaism. Read more about Adult Education… Read More
Invitation to Join
Families are the future of CHJ. Our inclusive, warm, welcoming Congregation includes families of all stripes coming together to celebrate Judaism and being Jewish. From Baby Naming to Sunday School to Bar & Bat Mitzvah to the Teen Tzedakah Group to Adult Ed, you’ll find a community for families and kids of all ages. Humanistic… Read More
Letter from the President
Responding to Darkness
Hanukkah 2020 is coming and will of course, be different from those CHJ Hanukkah celebrations we have known in the past. While no annual Hanukkah party this year, CHJ will be offering two Hanukkah events for members that you will want to check out.
Brisket and latkes. On Sunday, December 13 CHJ’s programming committee will host an inter-generational, family-friendly Hanukkah Cooking Lesson with CHJ member and Sunday School teacher Taegun Moon.
This is a wonderful opportunity for a shared, intergenerational Hanukkah activity. Those who know Taegun’s cooking talents, enjoy cooking or simply want to share the experience with loved ones will be richly rewarded by joining in.
Under the direction of committee member Rachel Albanese, this event follows the recent and successful session on challah-making which Rachel also organized.
Creating Light in the Darkness is the theme of another Hanukkah event from the programming committee scheduled for Friday, December 18. Led by committee member Gail Ostrow it will feature a Shabbat and last day of Hanukkah service followed by a look at how we can deal with darkness, both literally and figuratively and a short guided meditation relating to the evening’s theme.
Details concerning both events can be found in CHJ’s calendar of events and elsewhere.
In addition, as members of CHJ you have access to a number of other online and free Hanukkah activities offered through the Federation of Jewish Philanthropy of Upper Fairfield County (Federation) and the Society for Humanistic Judaism (SHJ). Please consult their respective websites for details.
This year’s Hanukkah will be different. But what will not be different is the Jewish tradition of taking action in response to the darkness by bringing light and to maintain hope for brighter days ahead. That tradition and its message can serve us well during this difficult and historic time.
CHJ members, watch the listserv for the Zoom link a day before the presentation.
Free and open to the public. To receive a Zoom invitation the day before the presentation, please register by emailing events@
I hope to see you there.
President
Upcoming Events
Join us for Dave Shafer’s edifying and entertaining slideshow on Kabbalah and its Secrets.
Zoom link will be sent in early December.
You may have heard that Madonna is “into” Kabbalah or noticed that Michael Cohen was wearing a red string around his wrist when he testified before Congress. What do these celebrities know that you don’t? Probably not much, though they may be dabbling in Kabbalah, or think they are. We will survey this ancient body of belief and practices representing an esoteric side of Judaism – an odd mixture of spirituality, superstition, “secret knowledge”, and a mystic world-view spanning the broad gulf between hidden messages encoded in the Torah, to the Golem, to ecstatic spiritual experiences.
Coffee, bagels and schmear on your own. The Zoom room will open at 9:30 AM for schmoozing; discussion will begin at 9:45 AM.
For additional information, please contact jwolfds@gmail.com.
Open to all CHJ members.
Please RSVP to Steven Getz.
Lydia Quixano Pérez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable.
Even though she knows they’ll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store. And then one day a man enters the shop to browse and comes up to the register with a few books he would like to buy—two of them her favorites. Javier is erudite. He is charming. And, unbeknownst to Lydia, he is the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city. When Lydia’s husband’s tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same.
Watch for the zoom link on the listserv.
Cooking brisket and latkes with CHJ
This is an inter-generational family-friendly event
Get your aprons ready and heat up the kitchen! Our own mitzvah class teacher and beloved chef of CHJ past events, Taegun Moon, will lead a Hanukkah cooking lesson. He will be cooking up brisket and latkes with members and guests in their own kitchens following along. Vegetarians among us will be happy, as a variety of “main veggies” will also be featured. Recipes will be sent ahead of time.
Watch the listserv for the zoom link.
CREATING LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
Our program will feature a Shabbat and last day of Hanukkah service that acknowledges the darkness of the season. We will explore the different ways we dispel darkness—both literally and metaphorically. We will end with a 15-minute guided mandala meditation about impermanence, which is what time and the seasons are all about.
Shmoozing at 9:40am
Meeting at 10:00am.
Watch for the zoom link.
Join our Rap session. It’s a great way to get to know one another.
RSVP Roberta Frank rcfnpl2@gmail.com
Watch the listserv for a zoom link.
In this deeply etched and haunting memoir, Vivian Gornick tells the story of her lifelong battle with her mother for independence. There have been numerous books about mother and daughter, but none has dealt with this closest of filial relations as directly or as ruthlessly. Gornick’s groundbreaking book confronts what Edna O’Brien has called “the prinicpal crux of female despair”: the unacknowledged Oedipal nature of the mother-daughter bond.
Facebook Activity
Former SHJ President Richard Logan received the Sherwin T Wine Lifetime Achievement Award last night!
www.instagram.com/p/CHcShCUJIEa/?igshid=1iamuql9t3e72Former
Congregation for Humanistic Judaism - High Holiday Services
Congregation for Humanistic Judaism - High Holiday Services
l.facebook.com
Check out the latest community post from one of your neighbors. (The views expressed in this post are the author’s own.)Check it out!
humanisticjews.org/resources/social-media/
Social Media | Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Fairfield County
l.facebook.com
We have two members-only Facebook Groups that provide forums for members to talk with each other, brainstorm ideas and share stories. These are the spots for camaraderie and community. In addition, our Facebook Page is public and open to everyone on Facebook. This is where we post about events, and....
