OXFORD UNIVERSITY CHABAD SOCIETY
SUMMER TERM CARD, 2010
Sponsored by Flaggs - The College Store
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Week 0
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Oxford Chabad Society presents a private viewing
TALMUD: A Film by Pierre-Henry Salfati
Introduction by the Film Director Pierre -Henry Salfati
In this authoritative documentary, director Pierre-Henry Salfati traces the history of the Talmud the repository of millennia of Jewish wisdom. In doing so, he posits the question: What comprises this cardinal text of Judaism? Originally passed down orally from master to student, the Talmud is the hidden face of the Torah, or Old Testament. It is a vast body of legal, mythic, and philosophical texts, and a mixture of religious commentary and debate, of history and science, and of anecdote and humor. No other text has had such an influence on Jewish life as it details the principles, ethical codes, and laws that serve as a guide for conduct. In addition to an exhaustive exploration of the Talmud, the film also guides the viewer through the history of Jewish communities, concluding with present-day New York.
Tues, 20 April, 8pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
All welcome!
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Welcome Back
Meat Extravaganza Shabbat Dinner
Delicious Shabbat dinner with mouth watering assortment of Kosher meats, including succulent roast beef, lamb chops, sweet and sour wings, herbed patties and more…
Friday, 0 week, 23 April, Kabbalat Shabat at 7:30pm, dinner at 8pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
All welcome!
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Week 1
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Actor in the Movie 'Infidel'
Jewish Comedian Dave Schneider
Acted as a Jew in David Baddiel's film Infidel, starring a Muslim who discovered he was Jewish; Mission Impossible; Alan Partridge; Studied Yiddish in Oxford.
'Jewish Humour and the Infidel'
Tues, 27 April, 8pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
All welcome!
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In celebration of 150 years since the founding of modern Jerusalem
Please join us for
Israeli Wine Shabbat Dinner
Dr. Abigail Green
Abigail Green is Tutor and Fellow in Modern History at Brasenose College, Oxford. Her latest book, Moses Montefiore: Jewish Liberator, Imperial Hero has just been published by Belknap/ Harvard University Press to great acclaim.
'Moses Montefiore & the Founding of Modern Jerusalem'
Friday, 30 April, 7:30pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
All welcome!
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Week 2
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Lag B'Omer BBQ
Oxford Klezmer Band
Sun, 2 May, 7pm
At Chabad House, 75 Cowley Road
All welcome!
Lag BaOmer is a festive day on the Jewish calendar, celebrating the anniversary of the passing of the great sage and mystic Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, author of the Zohar. It also commemorates another event. In the weeks between Passover and Shavuot, a plague raged amongst the disciples of the great sage Rabbi Akiva. On Lag BaOmer it ceased.
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Week 3
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Baroness Vivien Stern of Vauxhall CBE
'Human Rights & Judaism'
Vivien Stern is Senior Research Fellow at the International Centre for Prison Studies (ICPS) at King’s College, London. She is also Honorary President of Penal Reform International (PRI), a non-governmental organisation promoting penal reform throughout the world which she founded with others in 1989. From 2003 to 2009 she was the Convenor of the Scottish Consortium on Crime and Criminal Justice; she has been a Crossbench Peer since 1999 and was a member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights from 2004 to 2008. From 1999 to 2003 she was a member of the House of Lords European Select Committee. She is a member of the Advisory Council of the International Legal Foundation in New York, and a member of the Advisory Council of the Legal Policy Research Centre in Kazakhstan. In September 2009 she was appointed by the UK Government to lead a review of how rape complaints are handled from when a rape is first disclosed until the court reaches a verdict and the Review was published in March 2010.
Her publications include Bricks of Shame: Britain’s Prisons, A Sin Against the Future: Imprisonment in the World, Alternatives to Prison in Developing Countries, Developing Alternatives to Prison in East and Central Europe and Central Asia and Sentenced to Die? The problem of TB in prisons in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (editor). Her latest book, Creating Criminals: People and Prisons in a Market Society, was published by Zed Books in May 2006.
She has Honorary degrees from Bristol, Oxford Brookes and Stirling Universities and is an Honorary Fellow of the London School of Economics.
Tues, 11 May, 8pm, reception at 7:30pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
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New York Deli Shabbat Dinner
Pastrami, Salt Beef, Sour Pickles, Rye Bread, Bagels, Mustard (Brown Spicy, not
French), Coleslaw, Matzo Ball or Chicken Noodle Soup, Knishes, Vegetarian Mock
Chopped Liver (lentils, walnuts, browned onions, etc), Potato Latkes.
Fri, 14 May, 7:30pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
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Week 4
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Shavuot Dinner & Tikkun Leyl
Cheesecake and blintzes buffet
Two stimulating talks by Rabbi Eli
‘Does Judaism believe in reincarnation?’
‘Chosen People: chosen for what?’
Traditional Festive Dinner - Kiddush*Handbaked Challah*Festive Dinner*Dessert
Tues (week 4), 18 May, 8pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
RSVP: info@oxfordchabad.org
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Ice Cream Party
Delicious DAIRY lunch with mouth watering assortment of dairy dishes, including cheese blintzes, cheese cake, followed by an assortment of scrumptious Israeli ice creams!
Thurs, 19 May, 2pm
At Chabad House, 75 Cowley Road
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2nd Night Shavuot Festival Dinner
Traditional Festive Dinner - Kiddush*Handbaked Challah*Festive Dinner*Dessert
Wed (week 4), 19 May, 9:30pm
At Chabad House, 75 Cowley Road
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Shabbat Dinner
With
Dr. Avihu Ronen
Avihu Ronen is a senior lecturer at Tel Hai Academic College, and an associate lecturer at Haifa University. His research interests are in the history of ideas and in Holocaust studies. At Oxford he is completing a book that examines the Ghetto Revolt and its impact upon Israeli society during the fifties. He is also working on new research in the framework of the Yad Vashem project on The Survivors and Israeli society, focusing mainly on Holocaust survivors in the Kibbutzim. Ronen has published several books and papers on Jewish youth movements during the Holocaust and on Holocaust education.
'The Impact of Holocaust Survivors on the Kibbutz Movement'
Friday, 21 May, 7:30pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
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Week 5
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Please join us for
Walking tour of Medievel Jewish Oxford
By Marcus Roberts, Director of National Anglo-Jewish Heritage Trail
View the medieval site of the Jewish cemetary, synagogue, Jews' Mount, Dead Man's walk, oldest college purchased from Jewish landowner, the old Jewish quarter, Great Jewry St (St Aldate's), and more.
Sun, 23 May, 11am
Meet at entrance to Botanic Gardens
RSVP: info@oxfordchabad.org
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Sobibor Victim Esther Jacobs Memorial Lecture
Survivor of the Sobibor Death Camp Uprising
Thomas Blatt
Thomas "Toivi" Blatt is one of the few survivors who successfully escaped Sobibór extermination camp and took part in the plot that led the 600-prisoner revolt on October 14, 1943. While fleeing the SS he was betrayed by a farmer who was hiding him resulting in a gunshot injury to the jaw. The bullet remains there to this day.
Toivi went on to write From The Ashes of Sobibor about his experience in Sobibór, including his part in the plot that led the 600-prisoner revolt, as well as his life before the war leading up to the German occupation of his village, Izbica.
Blatt also interviewed a former German guard from Sobibór, Karl Frenzel, who was given life in prison for his actions at Sobibór, but after serving 16 years, was released on appeal due to a technicality. Blatt believes his interview was the first time after World War II during which the accused spoke face-to-face with the victim. The award winning 1987 TV movie Escape from Sobibor depicts the events at the death camp Sobibór. Blatt was portrayed in the film as well as revolt leaders Leon Feldhandler and Alexander Pechersky.
Tues, 25 May, 8pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
RSVP: info@oxfordchabad.org
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Russian Shabbat Dinner
Dr. Elena Katz
Elena Katz is Max Hayward Fellow at Russian and Eurasian Studies Centre, St Antony’s College, Oxford. and author of "Neither with Them, Nor without Them. Russian Writer and the Jew in the Age of Realism" (Syracuse, Spring 2008). Ellena is former postgraduate student at Hebrew and Jewish Studies Centre of Oxford University, recieved her MA in Modern Jewish Studies from Leeds University with distinction (1998), and was Hanadiv Research Fellow in European Jewish Studies at the Hebrew and Jewish Studies Department at UCL.
'The Russian Jew: Neither with Them, Nor without Them'
Fri, 28 May, 7:30pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
All welcome!
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Week 6
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Launch Concert of
Oxford Klezmer Band
Sun, 30 May, 7pm
Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
RSVP: klezmer@oxfordchabad.org
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Special Lecture
Oxford University Chabad Society & The Ethox Centre invites you to a Lecture
Jewish Medical Ethics: may humans Play God?
‘Cutting edge scientific implementations – stem cell research & PGD: Ethical & Jewish perspectives’
Prof. Abraham Steinberg
Prof. Steinberg is the leading expert on Jewish medical ethics, an Israel Prize Laureate and author of the Encyclopaedia of Jewish Medical Ethics. Steinberg is also senior paediatric neurologist at Shaare Tzedek Hospital, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Introductory remarks by
Charles Foster
The Ethox Centre, University of Oxford, and Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford
Prof. Julian Savulescu
Director of Oxford Uehiro Centre in Practical Ethics
Closing remarks by
Dr. Guy Kahane
Deputy Director of Oxford Uehiro Centre in Practical Ethics
Tues, 1 June, 8pm, Buffet at 7pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
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Special Shabbat Dinner with
Mr. Speaker of Parliament John Bercow MP
'New Parliament, New Politics?'
John Simon Bercow, born in Edgware, London, is the first Jewish Speaker of the House of Commons in the United Kingdom, and has been the Member of Parliament for Buckingham since 1997. Until he became Speaker, he sat in the House as a member of the Conservative Party and served in the Shadow Cabinet under former Conservative leaders Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard, who appointed him Shadow Secretary of State for International Development. In 2005, Bercow won the Channel Four/Hansard Society Political Award for 'Opposition MP of the Year'.
Friday, 4 June, 7:30pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
RSVP: info@oxfordchabad.org
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Week 7
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Minister Mr. D. Osvaldo Marsico
Charge d'Affairs at the Argentine Embassy in London
& Carolina Pérez Colman
Pollitical Counsellor at the Argentine Embassy in London
'Challenges Facing Jews of Argentine'
Mon, 7 June, 8pm
Latin American buffet at 7pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
RSVP: info@oxfordchabad.org
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Special Hebraica Exhibition at Merton College
Viewing of 16th and 17th Henrew works including the Talmudic work Tishbi. in Latin & Hebrew. 1541 written by Elijah Levita, who is the great grandfather of new UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
Thurs, 10 June, 3pm
Meet at entrance to Merton College
Merton Street, Oxford
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Shabbat Dinner
With
The Right Honourable Paul Goodman MP
Member of Parliament for Wycombe
'Challenges Facing the British Jewish Community'
Friday, 11 June, 7:30pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
RSVP: info@oxfordchabad.org
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Week 8
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Special lecture
Biblical Archaeology of the Holy Land
Prof. Meir Ben Dov
One of Israel's most prominant Biblical Archaeologists; Fellow of Hebrew University
Tues, 13 June, 8pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
RSVP: info@oxfordchabad.org
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Shabbat Dinner
With renowned historian
Professor Norman Stone
'Turkish & Israel Relations'
Norman Stone is a member of the faculty of the department of International Relations at Bilkent University, Ankara. Former professor at Oxford and lecturer at Cambridge, adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, prize-winning author, and a leading public intellectual in the UK and Europe, Stone is one of the world's foremost historians writing in the English language.
Stone's books of greatest note are The Eastern Front 1914-1917 (1975) which won the Wolfson History Prize. Also, Hitler (1980), and Europe Transformed 1878-1919 (1983), which won the Fontana History of Europe Prize. He is nearing the completion of a general history of the U.S., Russia, and Europe, post-1945.
Friday, 18 June, 7:30pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
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Changing Face in Poland: From Skinhead to Orthodox Jew
Pawel in the Warsaw synagogue. A former truck driver and neo-Nazi skinhead, Pawel, 33, has since become an Orthodox Jew, covering his shaved head with a yarmulke and shedding his fascist ideology for the Torah.
Date to be confirmed
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
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Shabbat Dinner
with Professor Glenda Abrahamson
Formerly Cowley Lecturer in Post-Biblical Hebrew; Fellow of St Cross College); Professor of Hebrew and Jewish Studies. Her recenlt book is Hebrew Writing of the First World War (Vallentine Mitchell 2008)
Friday, 2 July, 7:30pm
At Chabad House, 75 Cowley Road
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Yom Iyun, Summer, 2010 - Oxford Jewish Study Seminar
Sunday, 11 July, 1-6pm
At the Slager Jewish student centre, Tajelbaum Jewish study hall, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Professor Irven M. Resnick
'Medieval Jewish & Christian Polemics on Circumcision and Sexuality'
Irven Resnick is Professor and Chair of Excellence, Department of Philosophy and Religion, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Dr. Israel Sandman
'Medieval Jewish Philosophy'
Israel Sandman is Fellow at University College London’s Department of Hebrew & Jewish Studies. His areas of research include medieval Jewish thought, and medieval Hebrew manuscripts.
Dr. Naftali Loewenthal
'Traditional Jewish Responses to Science 18th-21st Centuries'
Naftali Loewenthal is lecturer on Jewish spirituallity at University College London’s Department of Hebrew & Jewish Studies, and author of Communicating the Infinite (Chicago University Press)
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Oxford University Chabad Society is honoured to invite you to a lecture by
Nobel Prize Laureate
Professor Ada Yonath
'Climbing Scientific Everests'
The Martin S. and Helen Kimmel professor of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science; Director of The Helen & Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure & Assembly, and Director of The Joseph & Ceil Mazer Center for Structural Biology.
In 2009, she received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her studies on the structure and function of the ribosome, becoming the first Israeli woman to win the Nobel Prize out of nine Israeli Nobel laureates, the first woman from the Middle East to win a Nobel prize in the sciences, and the first woman in 45 years to win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
Tues, 13 July, 6pm-7pm
Buffet dinner & talk
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
£5
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Shabbat Dinner
Dr. Joseph David
Friday, 3 Sep, 7:30pm
At Chabad House, 75 Cowley Rd
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Courses & Classes
At the Slager Jewish student centre, Tajelbaum Jewish study hall, 61 George St
For complete programme of stimulating classes and courses in Judaism click here
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Lunch 'n' Learn
By Rabbi Eli Brackman
Jewish Ethical Dilemmas
Tues, 27 April, 1pm; Mondays, 3 May-15 June
Platnauer Room, Brasenose College
All welcome!
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Introduction to the Talmud
The Talmud, written in Aramaic, is the second most important work in Judaism after the Pentateuch and the Prophets and was completed by the two great sages, Ravina and Rav Ashi, in the 5th century in Babylon. The work consists of over 73 tractates and pertains to every area of Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history. This course will offer an introduction to this major work allowing you to get a basic grasp of the style and methodology of this eternal text of Judaism.
By Rabbi Eli Brackman
Mondays, 26 April-15 June, 6pm
At the Slager Jewish student centre, Tajtelbaum Jewish Study Hall, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Email: study@oxfordchabad.org
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Jewish Mysticism - Tanya
A principle work on Jewish mysticism, written by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), covering many of the major topics in Jewish mysticism
By Freidy Brackman
Mondays, 26 April-15 June, 8pm
At Chabad House, 75 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1HR
Email: study@oxfordchabad.org
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Torah Study
This course will guide you how to read the Biblical Text with medieval to modern Rabbinical commentaries
By Rabbi Eli Brackman
Tuesdays, 27 April-14 June, 6pm
At the Slager Jewish student centre, Tajtelbaum Jewish Study Hall, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Email: study@oxfordchabad.org
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Jewish Medical Ethics
Sex selection; mirror neurons & Judaism; sex change; human enhancement; end of life; memory improvement; Surrogate motherhood, and more...
Wednesdays, 28 April-16 June, 1pm
At Cairns Library study room, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford
Email: study@oxfordchabad.org
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Hebrew Reading for Beginners
By professional Hebrew language teacher Esteban Hubner
Wednesdays, 28 April-16 June, 5pm
At the Slager Jewish student centre, Tajtelbaum Jewish Study Hall, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
£5.50 per class
Email: study@oxfordchabad.org
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Maimonides
This introductory course to Maimonides (1135-1204) will cover all his major works, including his Guide for the Perplexed, Mishneh Torah, Commentary to the Mishnah (based on the Oxford manuscript edition), Epistle of Taiman, Epistle of Apostasy and Thirteen Principles of Faith.
By Rabbi Eli Brackman
Wednesdays, 28 April-16 June, 6pm
At the Slager Jewish student centre, Tajtelbaum Jewish Study Hall, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Email: study@oxfordchabad.org
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Gateway to Judaism
This introductory course will go through various parts of the abridged book of Jewish law based on the code of Jewish law by Rabbi Joseph Karo (Toledo, 1488 – Safed, 1575), Rabbi Moses Isserles (1520 - 1572) and abridged by Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried (Hungary 1804 - 1886).
By Rabbi Eli Brackman
Thursdays, 29 April-17 June, 6p
At the Slager Jewish student centre, Tajtelbaum Jewish Study Hall, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Email: study@oxfordchabad.org
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Ethics of the Fathers – Pirkei Avot
This course will cover one of the greatest works of Jewish ethics and wisdom, which have guided the Jewish people throughout the ages to live a moral and upright life, compiled in 3rd century.
By Freidy Brackman
Every Shabbat, Sat, 7pm, followed by traditional third meal of Shabbat
At Chabad House, 75 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1HR
Email: study@oxfordchabad.org
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Introduction to the Jewish Prayer Book
This course will explore the deeper meaning of the prayers based on the commentaries and mysticism.
Every Shabbat, Sat Morning, 9:15am
At the Slager Jewish student centre, Tajtelbaum Jewish Study Hall, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Email: study@oxfordchabad.org
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Responses to Biblical Criticism
If you wish to discuss your course on Theology and hear about Jewish responses to Bibilical criticism, contact Rabbi Eli Brackman to have a session on this subject.
Email: study@oxfordchabad.org
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Study One on One
With Rabbi Eli or Freidy
For a variety of topics click here or feel free to suggest a subject or text to study.
Email: study@oxfordchabad.org
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Other classes outside Oxford
Lunch & Learn in Shoreditch
Mondays, 1pm
At Chabad-Lubavitch Centre of Shoreditch, London
For more info: study@oxfordchabad.org
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JP Morgan
125 London Wall, City of London
Thursdays (once a month), 1:30pm
For more info: study@oxfordchabad.org
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If you would to suggest a topic for a future course or class, please email study@oxfordchabad.org or call 01865 200 158 / 01865 204 757.
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Summer Torah Study Programmes
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The Ivy League Torah Study Experience
Explore the contemporary relevance of Torah study and Jewish observance
The Ivy League Torah Study Experience strives to present an overview of Torah-true tradition through a rigorous presentation of core components of Torah and the analytical tools necessary for its proper understanding.
The ILTSE is open to undergraduate and graduate students who have minimal or no background in Torah learning; the objective is not to "convert" or coerce, but to provide an accurate understanding of Torah teachings and a meaningful experience of the traditional Jewish lifestyle.
Each student receives full room and board and a fellowship of up to $2,000. Admission to the ILTSE is selective, and is based on academic excellence, sincerity and degree of previous exposure to authentic Torah study and observance.”
The 2010 ILTSE men’s program will run from June 16 - July 25, and the women’s program from June 20 - July 25.
All academic sessions are held in our two Shaloh Centers in Upstate New York, USA.
To apply, go to: www.iltse.org
For more information contact: 00-1-718-735-0200 or E-Mail: info@iltse.org
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Oxford Kosher Cafe
Enjoy all this in our spacious lounge with internet wireless connection, Wii sports, newspaper and satellite tv, in addition to our well stocked and diverse Judaica library with over 2000 interesting titles. Drop by for soups, deluxe sandwiches, bagels, salads, schnitzel, soft drinks and a range of delicious pastries.
OPEN daily: 10:30am-5:30pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St
Info: cafe@oxfordchabad.org
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Sign Up
If you or a friend would like to sign up to the Chabad Society, please email info@oxfordchabad.org
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Oxford University Chabad Society Committee
Executive directors: Rabbi Eli & Freidy Brackman
Executive Student Committee: Emily Plotkin, Undergraduate President (Mansfield); Yishai Mishor, Graduate President (Lincoln); Elliot Friedland, Vice-President (Mansfield); Sam Lindley, President of Brookes Chabad Society (Brookes); Esteban Hubner, Treasurer (Hertford); Gaston Yalonetzky, Library officer (Oriel); Melissa Friedman, Secretary & Klezmer Band Director (St John's); Ruvi Ziegler, Law officer (Lincoln); Mark Tilse, Contemporary Jewish Review (Oxon), Drinks officer; Philippe Petrov, Mayanot officer (Linacre); Madeleine Victoria Bell (Brookes); Harry Orlans (Merton), Medical school officer; Guy Sela (Keble); Dani Rabinowitz, development officer (Somerville); Babak Somekh, Former President (Keble); Shiva Greenfield, Presidential Adviser; Jonny Hyams; Harry Orlans, Medical School Officer (Merton); Guy Sela (Keble); Claire Strauss (Trinity); Adam Etinson (New); Raviv Murciano-Goroff (Green-Templeton); Zac Feldberg; Johnny Hyam (Wolfson); Robert Harris (New); Jessica Cohen (Pembroke); Adam Etinson (New); Ronit Shmaryahu (Brookes); Esther Menashy (Brookes)
