Each year Temple Ner Tamid focuses on a particular theme as a congregation and as a community. This year we will be examining the  languages of Judaism.

Those of us who have studied foreign languages know that a language is not just a set of words and grammar, but a window into the values and world view of the language’s speakers. As Jews became assimilated into the larger world, we abandoned the languages that bound us together and made us unique. While Hebrew is spoken in Israel, you do not hear it spoken among Jews in other countries, the way Yiddish and Ladino was spoken among the Jews of Eastern Europe and the Sephardic countries.

This year’s adult education opportunities attempt to re-introduce you to some of the languages of the Jews.  We have performers and films in Yiddish and Ladino. Our Hebrew language courses will again be offered on Sunday mornings, including beginning, intermediate and conversational Hebrew. We will also have Yiddish classes. Rabbi Kushner will introduce a new course, “Jewish Values Through Hebrew Words ,”

which will do what the title suggests. Each week he will look at different expressions that have entered the popular language from a Jewish language, and examine its origin and meaning in the original and the current usage. The popular Lunch with the Rabbi will continue at the temple, where we will be discussing the book In the Beginning, a history of the Hebrew language.  The book’s author, Dr. Joel Hoffman will come speak to the temple in the spring. We have many other offerings for you, from T’ai Chi Chih to book

groups. Our most ambitious undertaking is the Scholar-in-Residence weekend, made possible by the generosity of Tamar Weiss in memory of her husband, Emil, z’l, who was a big supporter of continued Jewish learning. Our three wake up Shabbats will feature speakers on three languages of  Judaism: Hebrew, Ladino and Yiddish.

Finally, Adult Education will offer our regular staples, including our monthly Torah Tish with Rabbi Kushner (once-a-month for lunch following a Shabbat morning service) as well as Hebrew courses for both beginners and intermediate students. Cantor Greenberg will start a Rosh Chodesh group in the spring, commemorating the start of the new Jewish month, coinciding with the new moon. And as with last year, Temple Ner Tamid will be a participating congregation with Rimon, the cooperative adult learning program of MetroWest; we encourage our members to take advantage of their many courses as we open our classes to Rimon participants as well.

All of the currently planned adult programming is listed in this year's brochure.

Please join us for these exciting programs in the months ahead, and keep your eyes open for more details and even more events as the dates come closer.