Oxford University Chabad Society
MICHAELMAS TERM CARD 2022
Warm welcome to Oxford University Chabad Society Michaelmas Termcard '22! This term promises to be an exciting programme at the OU Chabad Society offering a wide variety of high profile and stimulating events, including world renowned speakers, delicious Friday night Shabbat dinners, stimulating classes, seminars and plenty of opportunities to meet other students and make new friends. Whether you’re looking for challenging discussions, classes in Judaism or a warm environment to hang out with friends, the Oxford University Chabad Society has something to offer everyone. Looking forward to meeting you over the coming term!
********
Week 2
********
Grand Simchat Torah Celebration
Join us for a socially distanced Simchat Torah celebration with a
buffet dinner with all the traditional Simchat Torah cuisine
* Hakafot (following Covid guidelines)
* L'chaim!
Mon night, 17 Oct, 8pm - 12am
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
All are welcome!
********
Friday Night Shabbat Dinner
Friday, 21 Oct, 7.30pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Click here to book.
All are welcome!
Shabbat Lunch
Sat, 22 Oct, 1.30pm
At Chabad House, 75 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1HR
Click here to book.
All are welcome!
********
Week 3
********
Dr Hananel Mirsky
Hebrew University and The Academy of Hebrew Language
‘The Grammatical Theory of Menahem ben Saruq’
Dr. Mirsky is 73 years old, born in Jerusalem. He studied in a Yeshiva for 6 years, served in the army as a
paratrooper and later as a tank commander, fought in the Yom Kippur war and was wounded in operation Shlom Hagalil. His academic studies were at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem for first, second and third degrees. The subject of his thesis was Hebrew Grammar in the 10th century. He published the book "The Grammatical Theory of Mahberet Menahem". (Mahberet Menahem is the first dictionary written in Spain by Menahem ben Saruq, Unlike previous biblical dictionaries which were written in Arabic, The Mahberet was written in Hebrew and was accepted by the Jewish communities in Latin Europe who did not know Arabic. Rashi quoted the Mahberet more then 100 time in his commentary to the Bible). During my 4 years of post-doctorate + 6 more years I worked on a new diplomatic edition of Mahberet Menahem, with an apparatus of the versions in the 39 manuscripts and Genizah fragments that reached us. A second apparatus explains Menahem's difficult words and sentences and compares Menahem’s explanations to biblical words with those of Rav Sa’adya Gaon, 2 other 10th century grammarians (Rav Yehuda ben Kuraish and David ben Avraham Al-fassi) and Rashi. The new edition is about to be published by the Academy of the Hebrew Language.
Tuesday, 25 Oct, 8pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
All are welcome!
********
Friday Night Shabbat Dinner
Friday, 28 Oct, 7.30pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Click here to book.
All are welcome!
Shabbat Lunch
Sat, 29 Oct, 1.30pm
At Chabad House, 75 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1HR
Click here to book.
All are welcome!
********
Week 4
********
Two part course in the Talmud
Rabbi Chaim Rapoport
Chaim Rapoport is former Rabbi of the Birmingham Central Synagogue, and served as a member of the Chief Rabbi's Cabinet advising former Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks on issues of Jewish medical ethics. He is author of many rabbinic works in Jewish law and an expert on the Talmud.Sunday, 30 Oct, 7-8pm
and Sunday, 6 Nov, 7-8pm
Dinner at 6.30pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
All welcome!
********
Dr. Moshe Lavee
Lecturer in Talmud and Midrash in the department of Jewish History in the University of Haifa
‘Reintroduction of Second Temple literature in Jewish Customs: The Case of Tobit’
Tuesday, 1 Nov, 8pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
All are welcome!
********
Online lecture
Professor Daniel Matt
‘Raising the Sparks: Finding God in the Material World'
Daniel Matt is a scholar of Kabbalah and the Zohar. Among his books are: The Essential Kabbalah (translated into eight languages), God and the Big Bang, and his 9-volume, annotated translation of the Zohar (The Zohar: Pritzker Edition), which has been hailed as “a monumental contribution to the history of Jewish thought.” Recently his biography of Elijah the Prophet was published in the series Jewish Lives: Becoming Elijah, Prophet of Transformation). He currently teaches Zohar online (www.sup.org/zohar/course)
How can G‑d be encountered in our daily life? Daniel Matt will explore this question with us by teaching passages (in Hebrew and English) from Kabbalah and Hasidism on: the nature of G‑d, the act of Creation, and the challenge of discovering G‑d in the material world.
Thursday, 3 Nov, 8pm
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 880 3037 2033
Passcode: 466427
The online lecture will be viewable also at the Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
All are welcome!
********
Friday Night Shabbat Dinner
Jake Wallis Simons
Jake Wallis Simons is an award-winning British journalist and novelist. In December 2021, he was appointed Editor of the Jewish Chronicle, where he has become known for publishing a number of world exclusives about the Mossad, including the inside story of the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and a major three-part sabotage operation in Iran. In addition, he is a writer for the Spectator, a commentator for Sky News and a broadcaster for BBC Radio 4 and the World Service. Previously he was Associate Global Editor for the Daily Mail Online, and a features writer for the Sunday Telegraph. He has also worked for the Times, the Guardian, CNN, the BBC and other outlets. Jake has written four novels, including the bestselling The English German Girl, which tells the story of the Kindertransport. It won the Fiction Uncovered prize and received widespread critical acclaim. Jake holds a First in English from St Peter’s College, Oxford and a PhD in Creative Writing from UEA, and has lectured at Oxford and elsewhere. He is a judge for the Reuters News Fixer Award, and a Visiting Fellow at Bournemouth University.
Friday, 4 Nov, 7.30pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Click here to book.
All are welcome!
Shabbat Lunch
Sat, 5 Nov, 1.30pm
At Chabad House, 75 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1HR
Click here to book.
All are welcome!
********
Week 5
********
Hebraica viewing at Christ Church
Dr. Rahel Fronda
‘Quenching Curiosity: Unusual Hebrew Books at Christ Church’
On display is a small number of unusual Hebrew and Yiddish books which have, intriguingly and some rather surprisingly, found their place in this Oxford college library. Drawn from the second phase of the college’s ambitious project to catalogue and digitise its historic Hebrew books and manuscripts, these volumes showcase a variety of places, themes and personalities connected with Jewish printed texts from the fifteenth century to 1800. The story of these books, told here for the first time, takes us on a journey from the North of Europe to the South, traversing the lands of Central and Eastern Europe, and from Italy to the Ottoman Empire.
Tuesday, 8 Nov, 1pm
At Christ Church, Oxford
All welcome!
********
Friday Night Shabbat Dinner
Professor Andrei Zorin
Friday, 11 Nov, 7.30pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Click here to book.
All are welcome!
Shabbat Lunch
Sat, 12 Nov, 1.30pm
At Chabad House, 75 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1HR
Click here to book.
All are welcome!
********
Week 6
********
Seminar in Jewish Studies - Yom Limmud
Sunday, 13 Nov, 2pm-5pm
Rabbi Eli Brackman, Oxford University Chabad Society
Dr. Naftali Loewenthal, University College London
Dr. Israel Sandman, University College London
Trevor Stern , University of Oxford
Avraham Kaplan
More speakers to be confirmed
The seminar will be held in person and also via Zoom
All are welcome!
********
Dr. Gila Prebor
‘The Censorship of Hebrew literature in Italy in 16th century’
Dr. Gila Prebor is a senior lecturer in the Department of Information Science at Bar-Ilan University. She received her Ph.D. in Information Science from Bar-Ilan University in 2004. Her research concentrated on the censorship of Hebrew books in 16th century Italy. Her areas of research interest are: History of the Hebrew book, Organization of information, Metadata, Bibliographic technique and Digital Humanities. From 2006 she has been associate editor of the scholarly journal “Alei Sefer: Studies in Bibliography and in the History of the Printed and the Digital Hebrew Book”.
Tues, 15 Nov, 8pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
All are welcome!
********
Friday Night Shabbat Dinner
Lord Wasserman
Friday, 18 Nov, 7.30pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Click here to book.
All are welcome!
Shabbat Lunch
Sat, 19 Nov, 1.30pm
At Chabad House, 75 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1HR
Click here to book.
All are welcome!
********
Week 7
********
Prof. Yitzchak Kerem
‘Sephardic Jewry: differing paradigms between East and West’ (Zoom)
Professor of History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Yitzchak is an historian on Sephardic Jewry and editor of Sefarad, the Sephardic newsletter, since 1991. He is also a former radio moderator of "Diaspora Jewry" (Reshet Bet and Aleph, 2004-2007), section editor for Encyclopedia of the Holocaust and New Encyclopedia Judaica, and visiting Israeli professor of Sephardic Studies at American Jewish University of Los Angeles. He is the founder and director of Institute for Hellenic Jewish Studies at University of Denver, and have given some 150 academic conference papers. He has contributed to numerous encyclopedias including Encyclopedia Judaica bi-annual yearbooks, Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press), and Chronology of World Slavery.
Tues, 22 Oct, 8pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
All are welcome!
********
CELEBRATE SHMULI'S BAR MITZVAH
With gratitude to the Al-mighty, Rabbi Eli & Freidy warmly invite the students and the whole community to celebrate with us the
BAR MITZVAH
of our dear son Shmuli
Bar Mitzvah Friday Night Shabbat Dinner
We're delighted to invite us to join us for the Bar Mitzvah Friday Night Shabbat dinner - celebrating the celebration of our dear son Shmuli's Bar Mitzvah on the night he turns 13!
Friday, 25 Nov, Kabbalat Shabbat service 7.30pm, followed by Shabbat dinner
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Click here to RSVP.
All are welcome!
***
Bar Mitzvah Shabbat Morning Service
Bar Mitzvah Torah reading of Toledot by Shmuli
Sat, 26 Nov, 10am
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Click here to RSVP.
All are welcome!
***
The Shabbat morning service will be followed by
Kiddush and Shabbat Buffet Lunch: Sat, 26 Nov 1pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Click here to RSVP.
All are welcome!
********
Week 8
********
We're delighted to invite you to join us for Shmuli's
BAR MITZVAH RECEPTION
* with MENDEL MOSES Music of London
* Horah dancing
* Delicious Food
* Drinks
* Special gift
Sunday, 27 Nov, 3.30-6pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Click here to RSVP.
All are welcome!
********
Week 8
********
End of Term Shabbat Dinner
Friday, 2 Dec, 7.30pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
Click here to book.
All are welcome!
Shabbat Lunch
Sat, 3 Dec, 1.30pm
At Chabad House, 75 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1HR
Click here to book.
All are welcome!
********
CLASSES AND COURSES
Hebrew Course for Beginners
Learn how to read, write and speak Hebrew at a beginner's level in just six weeks.
Qualified Hebrew teacher
Date to be confirmed
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
RSVP: [email protected]
All are welcome!
********
Sinai Scholars Course – ‘Think Jewish: Jewish Wisdom for Modern Life’
Explore the foundations of Judaism in 8 interactive sessions
Stipend offered by Sinai Scholars Society: $350 / £260
To apply: click here.
For more info, email [email protected]
The course covers the following topics: 1. Perspectives on Jewish Identity in the Modern World, 2. Foundational Elements of the Jewish Ethos, 3. Significance and Meaning of Jewish Observances, 4. An Oasis in Time: The Gift of Shabbat, 5. The Jewish secrets of Love and Marriage, 6. Jewish Ethics: Ancient System, Modern Applications, 7. An Overview of Jewish Mysticism, Kabbalah, and Chasidism, and 8. Forward Thinking: Examining Our Past to Forge Our Personal and Collective Future.
********
Talmud Class
Join us to study subjects in Judaism's all-important 6th century legal work of the Talmud that shapes Jewish law and thought up until today.
Every Sunday, 7pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
All are welcome!
********
Lunch 'n' Learn
Join us for a weekly delicious Lunch & Learn on a variety of contemporary stimulating topics in ethics and philosophy.
Every Monday, 1pm
Brasenose College, Platnauer Room
********
Lunch & Learn at Brookes University
Every Wednesday, 12pm
The Forum
RSVP: [email protected]
********
Parsha class
Join us for an in-depth study online of the weekly Torah portion with Rabbi Eli
Wednesdays, 7pm
ZOOM
All are welcome!
********
The Tajtelbaum Jewish Study Hall
The Tajtelbaum Jewish Study Hall is open daily for you to study with a fully stocked Judaica library, wireless internet and FREE coffee and refreshments on offer.
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
To receive self-access, please email [email protected]
********
Oxford Kosher Cafe
Enjoy a full menu of delicious Kosher food, which is situated in our spacious lounge with internet wireless connection, Wii, Jewish 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: 12pm-2pm
At Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ
*******
Sign Up
If you or a friend would like to sign up to the Chabad Society, please email:
********
Oxford University Chabad Society Committee
Boruch Epstein (Linacre) - President, Jake Masters (St John's) - Secretary, Herbie Rimerman (Christ Church) - Treasurer, Simon Ravid (Brookes), Tzivia Lish (Linacre), Jozef Kosc (Green Templeton), Trevor Stern (St Cross), Michael Kaye (LMH), Aaron Beaudin (St Hugh's), Topher Colby (Jesus), Andreas Halner (St John's), Sophie Cardin (Brasenose), Anke Halner (St Annes), Leora Shlasko (St Antony's), Yarron Sternberg, Josh Lasri, Maanya Patel (St Peter's), Rachel Ramaglia (Psychology)
Senior Member: Prof. Nir Vulkan (Worcester)
To join the committee, email: [email protected]
Directors
Rabbi Eli & Freidy Brackman
********
Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Www.oxfordchabad.org