Join Ruth Light to celebrate the joys of being Jewish on those Fridays when there is no official “program.” Ruth will be lighting candles at her home online in a Zoom room at 7 PM on those Fridays. “This is a new thing for me: even my grandmothers didn’t light candles for Shabbos”, says Ruth.  We will take just a few minutes to schmooze, light candles if you like, perhaps share a little music or poetry or a short video, and touch base with our CHJ family.

A Zoom link will be sent closer to the date. Contact Ruth with questions.

All CHJ members are invited to join a discussion of  Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar via Zoom.

A deeply personal work about identity and belonging in a nation coming apart at the seams, Homeland Elegies blends fact and fiction to tell an epic story of longing and dispossession in the world that 9/11 made. Part family drama, part social essay, part picaresque novel, at its heart it is the story of a father, a son, and the country they both call home.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ayad Akhtar forges a new narrative voice to capture a country in which debt has ruined countless lives and the gods of finance rule, where immigrants live in fear, and where the nation’s unhealed wounds wreak havoc around the world. Akhtar attempts to make sense of it all through the lens of a story about one family, from a heartland town in America to palatial suites in Central Europe to guerrilla lookouts in the mountains of Afghanistan, and spares no one—least of all himself—in the process.

. Please let Irene Blumenthal know if you plan to attend..

Congregation for Humanistic Judaism Havdalah  on the Beach is one of our most popular events.

It is  low risk, outdoor, family friendly. There will be a short, sweet service, music performed by Rayhan Pasternak (folk and klezmer), a Jewish book give-away/exchange, and best of all, the chance to meet new friends.

Bring your own dinner – dessert and drinks provided – and a lawn chair.

“Free books on Jewish themes will be available at a book exchange! “

Free admission to the beach – just say you are with CHJ – there will be signage.

Non-members please fill out the form below.

All CHJ members are invited to this board meeting. Please contact Ruth Light if you are planning on attending.

Join Ruth Light to celebrate the joys of being Jewish on those Fridays when there is no official “program.” Ruth will be lighting candles at her home online in a Zoom room at 7 PM on those Fridays. “This is a new thing for me: even my grandmothers didn’t light candles for Shabbos”, says Ruth.  We will take just a few minutes to schmooze, light candles if you like, perhaps share a little music or poetry or a short video, and touch base with our CHJ family.

A Zoom link will be sent closer to the date. Contact Ruth with questions.

Join Ruth Light to celebrate the joys of being Jewish on those Fridays when there is no official “program.” Ruth will be lighting candles at her home online in a Zoom room at 7 PM on those Fridays. “This is a new thing for me: even my grandmothers didn’t light candles for Shabbos”, says Ruth.  We will take just a few minutes to schmooze, light candles if you like, perhaps share a little music or poetry or a short video, and touch base with our CHJ family.

A Zoom link will be sent closer to the date. Contact Ruth with questions.

WHAT IS SKEPTICISM AND WHEN IS IT GOOD OR BAD TO BE SKEPTICAL?

“A skeptic is a doubter. A cynic is a disbeliever “(even when there is evidence to the contrary).

Why do some people spell the word with a ‘k’ or a “c”?

Why are some people skeptics and what are they usually skeptical of?

What are the reasons why nurturing a healthy skepticism can be good for you. Is being a skeptic good for you?

How does being a skeptic affect our views of life and attitudes towards our religious and other beliefs

This zoom program will be led by Jeffrey (Jeff) Spieler, PHD, a retired Science Advisor in Population and Reproductive health at USAID Technology and Utilization Division. He has more than four decades of international experience in contraceptive research and development, family planning, and reproductive and maternal health, HIV and cervical cancer prevention, including three decades of scientific leadership experience at USAID, and as a Scientist in the Special Programme of Research, Development, and Research Training in Human Reproduction at the World Health Organization, Geneva, where he spent 11 years.  Jeffrey began his career doing research at a pharmaceutical company in New York.

After an introduction to the topic Jeff will invite you to weigh in on your thoughts and ideas.

A Zoom link will be sent closer to the date.

This event is open to the public. Non-members please fill out the form below.

All CHJ members are invited to join a discussion of  Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict via Zoom.

In 1909, Clementine steps off a train with her new husband, Winston. An angry woman emerges from the crowd to attack, shoving him in the direction of an oncoming train. Just before he stumbles, Clementine grabs him by his suit jacket. This will not be the last time Clementine Churchill will save her husband.

Lady Clementine is the ferocious story of the ambitious woman beside Winston Churchill, the story of a partner who did not flinch through the sweeping darkness of war, and who would not surrender either to expectations or to enemies.

. Please let Irene Blumenthal know if you plan to attend..

1. I0

As the CHJ Representatives to the CT Coalition of Reason (CT CoR), we are pleased to invite all CHJ members (including families and guests) to join us on Saturday August 13^th , starting at 11 am, at Wharton Brook Park in North Haven & Wallingford for a CT CoR Statewide Social Picnic.  It is a central location with easy access to Route 15 & I-91, parking and admission are free.

We have reserved Pavilion 1 at Wharton which is a covered area with picnic tables that seats 36.   Bring your own picnic and beverages (alcohol is permitted). There is a swimming hole so don’t forget your swimsuit.

CT CoR (Connecticut Coalition of Reason) is the liaison group connecting CT humanist organizations: Congregation for Humanistic Judaism, Connecticut Valley Atheists, Hartford Area Humanists, Humanist Association of Connecticut, Humanists and Freethinkers of Fairfield County.

THIS PICNIC WILL BE AN OPPORTUNITY TO MEET AND GET TO KNOW FELLOW SECULARISTS ACROSS THE STATE AND STRENGTHEN OUR COMMUNITIES.  WE HOPE YOU WILL JOIN US

All CHJ members are invited to join a discussion of  Writers and Lovers by Lily King via Zoom.

. Please let Irene Blumenthal know if you plan to attend..

SAVE THE DATE!!

All CHJ members are invited to join a discussion of  The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey  via Zoom.

1920s India: Perveen Mistry, Bombay’s only female lawyer, is investigating a suspicious will on behalf of three Muslim widows living in full purdah when the case takes a turn toward the murderous. The author of the Agatha and Macavity Award–winning Rei Shimura novels brings us an atmospheric new historical mystery with a captivating heroine.

. Please let Irene Blumenthal know if you plan to attend..

All CHJ members are invited to join a discussion of  The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey  via Zoom.

First published to critical acclaim in 1929, Passing firmly established Nella Larsen’s prominence among women writers of the Harlem Renaissance. The Modern Library is proud to present Passing—an electrifying story of two women who cross the color line in 1920s New York—together with a new Introduction by the Obie Award- winning playwright and novelist Ntozake Shange.

Irene Redfield, the novel’s protagonist, is a woman with an enviable life. She and her husband, Brian, a prominent physician, share a comfortable Harlem town house with their sons. Her work arranging charity balls that gather Harlem’s elite creates a sense of purpose and respectability for Irene. But her hold on this world begins to slip the day she encounters Clare Kendry, a childhood friend with whom she had lost touch. Clare—light-skinned, beautiful, and charming—tells Irene how, after her father’s death, she left behind the black neighborhood of her adolescence and began passing for white, hiding her true identity from everyone, including her racist husband. As Clare begins inserting herself into Irene’s life, Irene is thrown into a panic, terrified of the consequences of Clare’s dangerous behavior. And when Clare witnesses the vibrancy and energy of the community she left behind, her burning desire to come back threatens to shatter her careful deception.

. Please let Irene Blumenthal know if you plan to attend..

All CHJ members are invited to join a discussion of  The Doctors Blackwell by Janice P. Nimura via Zoom.

. Please let Irene Blumenthal know if you plan to attend..