“Itzhak Perlman: In the Fiddler’s House”
With
Virtuoso violinist Itzhak Perlman takes viewers on an eye- and ear-opening tour of klezmer music, from New York to Krakow. This traditional music of Yiddish-speaking cultures, which infuses other Eastern European influences from Romania, Greece, Turkey, Russia, Poland, and Ukraine, remains important in Jewish immigrant culture. In addition to guest stars Red Buttons and Fyvush Finkel, klezmer groups such as Kapelye, the Klezmer Conservatory Band and the Klezmatics perform.

08/18/2010 -08/18/2010
12:00 PM
$8.00 per person, film program and lunch

Marlyn Cheses: My Life and Art
With
Join us for a conversation with artist Marlyn Cheses, who will discuss the work in her retrospective show on display at the Boulder JCC. Marlyn has been creating art her entire life, but in 1990 went back to art school and began a mid-life professional transformation as a serious sculptor, photographer and artist. One of her sculptures, a life-size bronze, The Last Butterfly, dedicated to the children who perished in the Holocaust is on display at the Jewish Museum of Belgium, in Brussels. Another collection of photographs, Reflections Without a Voice, and a bronze sculpture, Shoah, are in the possession of The Florida Holocaust Museum in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Marlyns Ground Zero photographs, have been shown by the Mizel Museum in Denver. (The opening reception for her show is Sunday, Sept. 19 at 6 pm at the Boulder JCC.)

09/15/2010 -09/15/2010
12:00 PM
$8.00 for lunch and talk

Marlyn Cheses: My Life and Art
With
Join us for a conversation with artist Marlyn Cheses, who will discuss the work in her retrospective show on display at the Boulder JCC. Marlyn has been creating art her entire life, but in 1990 went back to art school and began a mid-life professional transformation as a serious sculptor, photographer and artist. One of her sculptures, a life-size bronze, The Last Butterfly, dedicated to the children who perished in the Holocaust is on display at the Jewish Museum of Belgium, in Brussels. Another collection of photographs, Reflections Without a Voice, and a bronze sculpture, Shoah, are in the possession of The Florida Holocaust Museum in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Marlyns Ground Zero photographs, have been shown by the Mizel Museum in Denver. (The opening reception for her show is Sunday, Sept. 19 at 6 pm at the Boulder JCC.)

09/15/2010 -09/15/2010
12:00 PM
$8.00 for lunch and talk

Marlyn Cheses: A Retrospective
With
Art Exhibit and Wine and Cheese Reception

A lifelong artist, sculptor and photographer, Marlyn Cheses has lived in far-flung communities around the world with her husband Martin, a US Ambassador assigned to remote and exotic locales. They now make their home in Nederland, where Marlyn continues to create her unique artwork.

09/19/2010 -09/19/2010
6:00 PM

“The Assisi Underground”
With
In anticipation of Menorah’s Celebration of the Jews of Italy, we reveal a little-known story of the rescue of Italian Jews by Catholic priests during the Holocaust. Set in the Italian town of Assisi during World War II, the film tells the true story of a network of Catholic clergy, nuns, and lay persons who secretly provided shelter and aid to Jewish refugees escaping from the ravages of the war, German pursuers, and Fascist loyalists. Ben Cross, James Mason, Irene Papas, and Maximillian Schell star in this thrilling tale of heroism.

More on the Italian Jews and the Holocaust: The Italian Jewish community, one of the oldest in Europe, numbered about 50,000 in 1933. Jews had lived in Italy for over two thousand years. By the 1930s, Italian Jews were fully integrated into Italian culture and society. There was relatively little overt anti-Semitism among Italians. Despite its alliance with Germany, the Fascist regime responded equivocally to German demands first to concentrate and then to deport Jews residing in Italian occupation zones in Yugoslavia, Greece, and France to killing centers in the German-occupied Poland. Italian military authorities generally refused to participate in mass murder of Jews or to permit deportations from Italy or Italian-occupied territory; and the Fascist leadership was both unable and unwilling to force the issue. Italian-occupied areas were therefore relatively safe for Jews. Between 1941 and 1943, thousands of Jews escaped from German-occupied territory to the Italian-occupied zones of France, Greece, and Yugoslavia. The Italian authorities even evacuated some 4,000 Jewish refugees to the Italian mainland. Incarcerated in southern Italy, these Jewish refugees survived the war.

10/14/2010 -10/14/2010
12:00 PM
$8.00 for lunch and film

“The Language That God Talks”: Contemplating Herman Wouk’s life, writing and Jewish faith
With
Join us for a conversation about Herman Wouk and his new book, “The Language that God Talks,” in which the author draws on stories from his life as well as on key events from the 20th century to address the eternal questions of why we are here, what purpose faith serves, and how scientific fact fits into the picture.

“At age 94, Wouk embarks on an autobiographical journey through his monumental writings (“The Caine Mutiny,” “The Winds of War,” “War and Remembrance,” “Marjorie Morningstar”), people he has met in his life, world events, and books he has read (including the Talmud) to weave a testament of faith. Throughout the book, he returns to his friendship with Nobel laureate Richard Feynman, whose work as a scientist on the atomic bomb and life as a humanist challenge the author’s Orthodox Jewish beliefs. Along the way the reader meets other scientists and their accomplishments and also some of Wouk’s fictional characters. Ever so faithful to his Jewish heritage, he discusses how research in the scientific and secular world strengthened his faith. This book will interest any person of faith who has followed Wouk’s storied career and read his fiction. - Publisher’s Weekly

11/11/2010 -11/11/2010
12:00 PM
$8.00 for lunch and discussion