Events and Programs
FROSTY
Your FROSTY Executive has been a busy bunch planning some great activities for Temple Israel Youth! We had a wonderfully successful Chanukah Shul-In in December, and were happy to help out at the TIRS Chanukah Festival.
In early December, 14 FROSTYites travelled to Toronto for Winter Kallah, where the theme was Israel. We had a great time and were thrilled to have bus transportation! We definitely travelled in style...!
Next up is LaserQuest on January 8th. Stay tuned for more information...! Be sure to check out our up-to-date bulletin board in the lower social hall at Temple, and be sure to keep checking the FROSTY website for upcoming events!
Hana Shusterman
* For more information on FROSTY, please see the website.
International Women’s Day Program
Thursday March 8, 2012 from 7:30 to 9:30 pm
Temple Israel, 1301 Prince of Wales Drive, Ottawa,
“Women Unchained”
Documentary Film and Discussion
(2011, 60 minutes, English and Hebrew with English subtitles)
Deidre Butler will introduce the film and lead the discussion after the viewing. Deidre is Assistant Professor, Carleton University and Associate Director for the Max and Tessie Zelikovitz Centre for Jewish Studies.
“….Women Unchained [is] an important new film documenting the experiences of modern-day “agunot,” or women whose husbands refuse to grant them a Jewish divorce. According to traditional Jewish law, a woman who is an “aguna” (from the Hebrew word meaning “chained”) cannot re-marry.
Shot in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles and Israel, Women Unchained includes illuminating interviews with leading women’s rights advocates, rabbis and experts. The film provides helpful historical background on the state of women’s rights in Judaism and details of “get-o-nomics” and the outlandish extortion schemes levied against some women.
Women Unchained documents the religious court established by the late Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, which frees women from recalcitrant husbands through the issuing of annulments, and the efforts of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes on behalf of Jewish victims of domestic violence and “get” extortion.
Narrated by actress Mayim Bialik (Blossom, The Big Bang Theory) and featuring an original score by guitarist C Lanzbom, lead singer of Soul Farm, Women Unchained offers strategies for what women can do to protect themselves and why the issue matters to all Jews.
"Thought provoking, unexpected yet uncomfortably familiar, this documentary tells the stories of five Orthodox women, each a victim of her husband’s refusal to give her a get, a Jewish divorce, without which they cannot remarry. Viewers live through their travails in this film, which also features interviews with experts, by writer-director Beverly Siegel and co-director-editor Leta Lenik. Actor Mayim Bialik’s clear narration leads to the conclusion: Have your daughter sign a prenuptial agreement to prevent her from becoming an aguna." —Rachel Levmore, Hadassah Magazine (12/2011)
source: http://www.jewishfilm.org/
Books and Bagels
Books are available through the Ottawa Public Library and the Greenberg Families Library at the JCC. The Malca Pass Library and the Temple Israel Library also carry some of these titles. For more information please contact Shayla Mindell at booksnbagels@templeisraelottawa.ca. Everyone is invited to enjoy a complimentary breakfast beginning at 9:30 am, followed by a presentation and discussion at 10:00am. Pre-registration is not required, nor is it necessary to have read the book to enjoy the session. There is no charge but a voluntary donation to cover the cost of breakfast is appreciated.
Sunday March 25, 2012 at Temple
Free World
by David Bezmozgis
Reviewed by Sophie Kohn Kaminsky.
Leap back to the summer of 1978. Among the thousands who have landed in Italy to secure visas for new lives in the West are members of the Krasnansky family -- three generations of Russian Jews. Follow the adventures of Samuil, an old Communist and Red Army veteran, who reluctantly leaves the country to which he has dedicated himself body and soul; Karl, his elder son, a man eager to embrace the opportunities emigration affords; Alec, his younger son, a carefree playboy for whom life has always been a game; and Polina, Alec’s new wife, who has risked the most by breaking with her old family to join this new one.
Free World is a New York Times Notable Book for 2011 and a Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011.
Join us for breakfast at 9:30 am followed at 10:00 by Sophie’s presentation and discussion.
Pot Luck Suppers and the Caring Committee
The Caring Committee continues to take names of people who would also like to attend and, or, host one of the neighbourhood pot lucks we began organizing last spring. So please let the Caring Committee know if you would like to host and, or, attend a neighbourhood pot luck at a fellow Temple members home. People are of course welcome to go to neighbourhood pot lucks as well as the ones held at Temple. If you are a family with children who would like to have a pot luck with other families with children the Caring Committee can help connect you with other families. We have been the catalyst for two family based pot lucks already.
The Caring Committee is delighted to report that the Pre- Chanukah Temple Havdalah Pot Luck held Dec. 3 was once again enjoyed by many in the Temple community. Are you curious who came to the Pot Luck? 6 families came with 9 children among them, 14 came singly and 28 came as couples, for a total of 63 attendees.
An abundant variety of tasty savoury dishes and scrumptious desserts, were served as a buffet, all brought by the participants.
Allan Silburt played his guitar to accompany us for havdalah and taught us a niggun in two part harmony. Phil Kretzmar taught us several Israeli dances enjoyed by the young and the young at heart. What a wonderful multigenerational gathering!
The Caring Committee is already planning the Havadalah Pot Luck of the year for Febuary 25, 2012 at 6 pm. Don't miss it.
Annette Werk
