This Saturday, Apr 21
10am-12pm
@ Makom – 402 College St
FREE | RSVPs Appreciated
Want to know how to navigate and find meaning in a traditional Shabbat morning service? Join us for this abridged, explained service for pre-teens (grade 5 and up) with their parents, teens, and adults.
Co-led by Rabbi Aaron and Rabbi Emma, we’ll learn the service structure, sing key prayers, discuss the Torah portion, and enjoy a light kiddush (snacks). [This service will be mixed seating and egalitarian.]
Join us for an evening celebrating the historic and present-day Kensington Market and Spadina Avenue through photography and film. View architectural photographer David Kaufman’s new portfolio on display at Makom of the contemporary urban landscape of Chinatown and Kensington Market. Watch the classic documentary Spadina (1984) by David Troster, incorporating interviews with community members as well as archival footage and images of one of Toronto’s first Jewish neighbourhoods. The screening will be preceded by remarks from Kaufman about his documentation of the evolution of Spadina and the Market.
The area’s history is equally honoured in the current FENTSTER exhibition in Makom’s storefront window. A Place for Wholesome Amusement by Chinese-Canadian artist Shellie Zhang illuminates how Toronto’s Jewish and Chinese communities fostered their cultures in the same theatre at Spadina and Dundas.
Screening followed by light refreshments.
Presented by Makom: Creative Downtown Judaism, Toronto Jewish Film Festival and FENTSTER
[IMAGE: David Kaufman, Flash Back Used Clothing, 2015]
5 Tuesdays, Apr 10 – May 8
10:30am-12:30pm
@ 65 Harbour Sq (Queen’s Quay W & York St)
$125 for the series
Come learn Torah! In our ongoing, multifaceted study of the Torah, we’ll learn and discuss Devarim (Deuteronomy) chapters 25-29 from a great variety of perspectives: ancient and modern, traditional and academic, literary and historical, etc.
No prior Jewish study or Hebrew knowledge required. Contact Rabbi Aaron for more info and to register.
February 26 – May 22, 2018
@ Makom – 402 College St
In a striking new neon light installation, Toronto-based and Beijing-born multidisciplinary artist Shellie Zhang reimagines marquee signage to represent two significant cultural institutions established by Chinese and Jewish newcomers to Toronto in the same building at the corner of Dundas and Spadina. First known as the Standard Theatre, the venue opened as a Yiddish theatre in 1922 and five decades later hosted Chinese cinema as the Golden Harvest Theatre. The artist considers how one building served as a locus for cultural expression and cohesion for two different communities. Accompanied by a detailed overview of the building’s colourful history and reproductions of archival materials, the exhibition surfaces immigrant narratives embedded in the architecture of the Kensington Market-Chinatown neighbourhood, revealing little-known points of connection and breaking down siloed conversations about our city’s past.
Presented by FENTSTER and the Ontario Jewish Archives, Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre as part of the 2018 Myseum Intersections city-wide festival
Curated by Donna Bernardo-Ceriz, Dara Solomon and Evelyn Tauben
Sunday, Apr 29
7:00 – 8:30 PM
@ MNJCC – 750 Spadina Ave
Advance Tickets – $10, Door – $15
Tickets Here
World-Renowned Torah scholar and Professor of English Literature Dr. Avivah Zornberg joins us from Israel for a richly textured exploration of biblical narratives, modern midrash and the biblical unconscious.
Dr. Avivah Zornberg was born in London and grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, where her father was a Rabbi and the head of the Rabbinical Court. She studied with him from childhood; he was her most important teacher of Torah. She holds a BA and PhD in English Literature from Cambridge University. After teaching English Literature at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, she turned to teaching Torah. For the past thirty years, she has taught Torah in Jerusalem at Matan, Yakar, Pardes and the Jerusalem College for Adults. Dr. Zornberg also holds a Visiting Lectureship at the London School of Jewish Studies. She travels widely, lecturing in Jewish, academic and psychoanalytic settings.
Dr. Zornberg is the author of five books, some of which will be available for purchase at the event: Moses: A Human Life, The Murmuring Deep: Reflections on the Biblical Unconscious, The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis, The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus, and Bewilderments: Reflections on the Book of Numbers.
Co-sponsored by Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto, City Shul, Congregation Shir Libeynu, Danforth Jewish Circle, First Narayever Congregation, Kiever Synagogue, Makom: Creative Downtown Judaism, and Miles Nadal JCC.
Partners: Annex Shul
Sundays, April 15 – May 13, 10 – 11:15am
Makom: Creative Downtown Judaism – 402 College St.
$75 for 5 weeks
For details and to register: HERE
PJ Plus is a parent/grandparent & tot (2&3 yr olds) weekly class, based on PJ Library books.
This Spring session come and experience: Celebrating Israel and Yom Haatzmaut, Shavuot Shakes, Mother’s Day Magic and much more through hands-on Jewish learning, crafts, music & movin’ based on PJ Library books. Have fun and connect with other young Jewish families downtown!
Questions? Contact Adina Lipson at alipson@ujafed.org or 416-621-5675.
Sunday, Mar 25
7:30-9pm
@ Makom – 402 College Street
PWYC $15-$30 donations suggested
RSVP required
Chanting, singing, guided and silent meditation to prepare ourselves for Passover and our liberation.
Everyone is welcome. No previous experience necessary.
Led by meditation teacher, musician and prayer leader Aviva Chernick.
Please arrive before 7:30 to set up. We have chairs; feel free to bring a cushion for the floor and a blanket to wrap up in for warmth and comfort. Registration required; please email Aviva.
Saturday March 24
9:30 PM – Doors Open
9:45 PM – Concert Starts
@ Creeds Coffee Bar – 390 Dupont St.
FREE Tickets HERE
Deborah Sacks Mintz (from NYC), a rising star in the Jewish music world known for her soulful, beautiful prayer leading, original songs, and niggunim (wordless melodies), will lead a musical havdalah and melaveh malkah – a spiritual singalong to bid adieu to Shabbat. Joined by our own, amazing Avivah Chernick.
Presented by Beth Tzedec Congregation, Annex Shul, Holy Blossom’s Young Professionals & Makom: Creative Downtown Judaism
Sponsored by Jeffrey Gertner and Family
Sunday March 25
12:00 – 2:00 PM
Dufferin Grove Park – North End
$5/person
Get your Tickets Today
Join us for a fun afternoon of making and baking Matzah! See if you can mix, kneed, roll and bake in 18 minutes or less!
We will have Passover stories for the kids to hear and we will have tents, so come rain or shine!
Find us at the North end of the park near the bread ovens. Looking forward to seeing you there!
February 26 – May 22, 2018
OPENING RECEPTION | Thursday, March 15 | 7 – 9PM | FREE
@ Makom – 402 College St
In a striking new neon light installation, Toronto-based and Beijing-born multidisciplinary artist Shellie Zhang reimagines marquee signage to represent two significant cultural institutions established by Chinese and Jewish newcomers to Toronto in the same building at the corner of Dundas and Spadina. First known as the Standard Theatre, the venue opened as a Yiddish theatre in 1922 and five decades later hosted Chinese cinema as the Golden Harvest Theatre. The artist considers how one building served as a locus for cultural expression and cohesion for two different communities. Accompanied by a detailed overview of the building’s colourful history and reproductions of archival materials, the exhibition surfaces immigrant narratives embedded in the architecture of the Kensington Market-Chinatown neighbourhood, revealing little-known points of connection and breaking down siloed conversations about our city’s past.
Presented by FENTSTER and the Ontario Jewish Archives, Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre as part of the 2018 Myseum Intersections city-wide festival
Curated by Donna Bernardo-Ceriz, Dara Solomon and Evelyn Tauben