Join us on Sunday, December 8, for an exclusive Japan performance as Lenka Lichtenberg and her ensemble will perform songs from her award winning albums Thieves of Dreams + Silent Tears, the Last Yiddish Tango and other songs written during the Holocaust. ‘Silent Tears, The Last Yiddish Tango’ is a concert program based on testimonies...
Nearly every Jewish person in Japan has heard of Chiune Sugihara, the only Nihonjin recognized in Yad VaShem’s Righteous Among the Nations. The story is typically told as a Japanese diplomat going rogue in Kovno, Lithuania to issue visas over the objection of his bosses in Tokyo losing his job but saving the lives of...
As the JCC’s Monegasque Dior devotee likes to remind your fashionably challenged rabbi, the best way to spruce up an outfit is to accessorize. When you look at Jewish celebrations, it becomes apparent that the Sages of Olde have known this for thousands of years. Jewish holidays are filled with accessories: Graggers/noisemakers on Purim, dreidels/spinning...
***Note updated times: Erev Simchat Torah on 10/24 will begin at 5:15pm. Kabbalat Shabbat on 10/25 will begin at 5:00pm with dinner to follow. Please register for Sukkot meals ASAP https://jccjapan.jp/high-holidays-2024/ *** Before arriving in Japan, I asked a rabbinic predecessor whether getting the four species (lulav/etrog) for Sukkot ‘just happens’ at the JCC. His...
***Note time changes: Erev Simchat Torah on 10/24 will begin at 5:15pm. Kabbalat Shabbat on 10/25 will begin at 5:00pm with dinner to follow. Please register for Yom Kippur and Sukkot ASAP https://jccjapan.jp/high-holidays-2024/ *** Kol Nidre, perhaps the greatest known prayer and melody in the High Holiday liturgy was described by Lord Chief Rabbi Jonathan...
***Note time changes below. Erev Rosh Hashana Services begin at 6:00pm. Simchat Torah Night begin at 5:15pm. Please register for High Holidays ASAP https://jccjapan.jp/high-holidays-2024/ *** The calendar for 5785 will be immensely complicated on the personal and communal levels with one exception. Rosh Hashana’s falling out on Wednesday night means that (outside of Israel) three...
***Please register for High Holidays ASAP https://jccjapan.jp/high-holidays-2024/ *** The Rosh Hashana service seems custom built for those who prefer arriving fashionably late to the synagogue. The introductory prayers, while beautiful, do not nearly approach the weight attached to the blowing of the shofar which is heard much later in the liturgy. Why delay blowing the...
Join us after Shabbat dinner in the Sukkah as JCJ member Eva Izsak-Niimura discusses her recently published book Songs My Mother Taught Me on Friday, October 18 from 8:00 pm. Songs My Mother Taught Me follows the narrator, confronted with the imminent death of her mother, on a voyage to share the final leg of...
The first thing you need to know about making a shofar is that it smells terrible. Really god-awful. If you’ve ever picked up a shofar at a Judaica store or even one that’s been sitting in a synagogue cabinet for 20 years, you might have noticed the formidable scent that stings the nostrils not always...
***Comedy Show at JCC tonight. 8pm English 9pm Hebrew*** Toronto’s visionary 20th century Rabbi Gedaliah Felder received an interesting question in one of the earlier pulpits he served. A congregant asked whether he and his wife could celebrate their 50th (Golden) wedding anniversary with a big party and a renewal of vows. Despite his ecumenical...