The City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism

a welcoming community of cultural, secular Jews and their families

Home

Who We Are

WELCOME

A Diverse Community

Our Beliefs

What Our Members Say

Leadership

Meet Rabbi Schweitzer

History

Affiliation

Membership

Celebrations

Shabbat

High Holidays

Holidays

Commemorations

Life's Passages

Listen to our music

Learning

Welcome to KidSchool

KidSchool Daily Schedule

KidSchool Curriculum

Bar/Bat Mitzvah

Adult Education

Community

Bettering the World

LGBT + J

Caring Community

Social Events

Community Programs

Board Matters

TCC Newsletters

TCC In The Media

Members' Businesses

Calendar

TCC Calendar 10-11

Shabbat Programs 10-11

Adult Education 10-11

KidSchool Schedule 10-11

Spring Open Houses

Programs From Past Years

Resources

Rabbi Peter's Writings

Presentations by Members

Bar/Bar Mitzvah Papers

T-Shirts & Tote Bags

Liberated Haggadah

"Jew(ish)" - The Movie

FORMS

Links

Humanistic Judaism

Rabbi Sherwin Wine

Intercultural Connections

Study

Books & FIlm

Magazines, News, Journals

Contact Us

How to Contact Us

How to Find Us

How to Make Donations

Community Programs 2009-2010

Free Public programs--Open to All

Two Locations: 40 E. 35th Street, Community Church of New York (CCNY) or 15 West 86th Street, Society for the Advancement of Judaism (SHJ) in Manhattan.

All dates and programs are subject to change. To confirm events and for more information, contact the office at 212-213-1002 or info@citycongregation.org.

Reservations are required. Please RSVP to 212-213-1002


Wednesday, Sept. 9, SAJ, 7:30pm
Rethinking the High Holidays for Secular Jews - Rabbi Peter Schweitzer will explore how secular Jews can celebrate the High Holidays and how Humanistic Judaism and the City Congregation give us a way to maintain our Jewish identity.

Saturday, Sept. 11, CCNY, 6:30pm
Shabbat - Service and Dinner at 6:30pm, followed by Program at 8:15pm. CCNY
The Bintel Brief: The Original Advice Column - Then and Now
Rabbi Peter Schweitzer will pose questions from the original Bintel Brief and then entertain contemporary questions that we face today.

Sunday, Oct. 4, SAJ, 3:30pm
Celebration Of Anne Shonbrun’s New CD of The City Congregation’s Music

Friday, Oct. 9, CCNY, 7:30pm
Shabbat - Service at 7:30pm, followed by Pot-Luck Dessert. Program at 8:30pm.
Fighting Back: Strategies for Responding to Modern Anti-Semitism. In tribute to the 150th birthday of Alfred Dreyfus. Rabbi Schweitzer will explore ways to approach this problem.

Sunday, Oct. 18, SAJ, 3:30pm

The Search For Meaning In Jewish Writing: Survival, Hope And Comedy
Mindy Greenstein, a clinical psychologist specializing in cancer as well as a writer, will focus on the interplay between survival, hope and humor in Jewish writing.

Friday, Oct. 23, CCNY, 6:30pm

Shabbat - Service and Dinner at 6:30pm, followed by Program at 8:15pm. CCNY
Jewish Sing-A-Long with Michelle Lang Zalph
Adults and kids are invited to join us for a fun-filled evening singing easy-to-learn Jewish songs in Yiddish, Hebrew and English!

Sunday, Nov. 1, 11am-2pm

Tour and lunch at Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue & Museum on the Lower East Side

Friday, Nov. 6, CCNY, 6;30pm
Shabbat - Service and Dinner at 6:30pm, followed by Program at 8:15pm. CCNY
Life And Rights In Israel: Where do Women and Gays/Lesbians Fit in?
Lilly Rivlin, journalist, writer, filmmaker and political activist, will discuss these and other questions in dialogue with Rabbi Schweitzer

Sunday, Nov. 8, SAJ, 3:30pm
Jews And Journalism: Where we fit in and how we are depicted
A panel presentation with TCC members Andy Cohen, Nancy Friedman, Daniel Radosh, and Judy Schoolman. Moderated by Carol Sternhell.

Friday, Nov. 20, 14th St. Y, 7:30pm

Shabbat - Service at 7:30pm, followed by Pot-Luck Dessert. Program at 8:30pm. NOTE: This program will be at the 14th Street Y (344 E. 14th St.)
This I Believe: City Congregation Members Join the Conversation
Based on NPR’s long-running radio show, an eclectic group of City Congregation members will offer their own reflections and then welcome us all into this now-international conversation. Moderated by Carol Sternhell.

Sunday, Nov. 22, SAJ, 3:30pm
Humanism 101: Its History, Development, and Current Challenges
Joseph Chuman, Leader of Ethical Cultural Society, Bergen County, NJ, has been a popular speaker at TCC and we’re pleased to have him back to talk with us about this important subject.

Sunday, Dec. 6, SAJ, 3:30pm
Feminist/Progressive Mothers Raising Sons: What Sort of Men are These Boys Becoming?
How do we raise feminist sons - especially during their adolescence? How do teenage boys go along with or resist our ideals? How do we help them to negotiate critical issues of development and individuation consistent with our values? A panel of TCC mothers will join together to address these challenging questions.

Sunday, Dec. 13, SAJ, 4pm

KidSchool Chanukah Celebration with Yale Strom
Yale Strom is an award-winning Klezmer musician (violin), children’s author, documentary filmmaker, photographer, playwright, ethnographer, and great entertainer! Don’t miss this wonderful program.
Followed by our annual Chanukah party in the Social Hall. Guests are welcome for $10 donation.

Friday, January 8, CCNY, 7:30pm
Shabbat - Service at 7:30pm, followed by Pot-Luck Dessert. Program at 8:30pm. CCNY
You Should Grow Like An Onion With Your Head In The Ground: Wise Jewish Sayings, Practical Wisdom, and also some Colorful Curses
Rabbi Peter Schweitzer will share a wide variety of time-honored Jewish sayings from the Bible, the Talmud, as well as Yiddish and Ladino culture, that reflect on heath, justice, children, destiny, interpersonal relations, and many other topics.

Friday, Jan. 22, CCNY, 6:30pm and Sunday, Jan. 24, SAJ, 3:30pm

People Of The Libretto: A History and Celebration of Jews in Musical Theater
TCC members, Jack Lechner and Peter Mones will review the colorful history of Jews in American musical theater, while Trudy Elins, Michelle Lang Zalph, Anne Shonbrun, and Dan Wyman will perform musical selections to illustrate significant developments, accompanied on piano by Louise Moed.
(This program will be repeated on these two dates.)

Friday, Feb. 5, CCNY, 7:30pm
Shabbat - Service at 7:30pm, followed by Pot-Luck Dessert. Program at 8:30pm. CCNY
Outrageous Heresies Or Daring Truths: A Tribute to Baruch Spinoza
What was Spinoza’s message and legacy? Led by Rabbi Peter Schweitzer.

Sunday, Feb. 7, SAJ, 3:30

Israeli Folkdancing led by Steve Zalph

Friday, Feb. 26, CCNY, 6:30pm
Purim Celebration and Dinner
Purim service and dinner at 6:30pm, followed by Special Purim program at 8:15pm. CCNY
Join us for our annual Purim Celebration.

Sunday, March 7, SAJ, 3:30pm
The TCC Bar/Bat Mitzvah Experience
Learn about our exciting and creative Bar/Bat Mitzvah program from the people who have lived it – our parents and mentors. Find out what lies ahead.

Friday, March 12, CCNY, 6:30pm

Shabbat - Service and Dinner at 6:30pm, followed by Program at 8:15pm. CCNY
Let My Name Be Recalled With Laughter Or Not At All: In Celebration of Shalom Aleichem – The Jewish Mark Twain
Join us for a delightful evening that pays tribute to this beloved humorist.
Special Feature: Alicia Svigals, renowned klezmer violinist and TCC member, will participate in the program.

Sunday, March 21, SAJ, 3:30pm
Taking Care Of Our Aging Parents: A Responsibility? An Opportunity? A Challenge? A Burden?
A panel discussion with TCC members Myrna Baron, Bob Liebeskind, Carol Sternhell, and Rabbi Peter Schweitzer. Moderated by Helene Lauffer.

Friday, April 9, CCNY, 7:30pm
Shabbat - Service at 7:30pm, followed by Pot-Luck Dessert. Program at 8:30pm. CCNY
Yom Hashoa - Holocaust Commemoration
Memorial Candlelighting Ceremony, Music, Guest Speaker
Co-sponsored with The Generation After / Holocaust Survivors USA.

Sunday, April 11, SAJ, 3:30pm

Nothing Makes You Free: Reflections on the Writing of Jewish Descendants of Holocaust Survivors
Presented by Melvin Jules Bukiet, who is the author of seven books of fiction as well as the editor of three anthologies. He teaches at Sarah Lawrence College.

Friday, April 23, CCNY, 6:30pm

Shabbat - Service and Dinner at 6:30pm, followed by Program at 8:15pm. CCNY
Israeli Folk Dancing for Adults and Kids with Steve Zalph
No experience needed - all ages welcome and we'll teach all the dances, so come join the fun!

Sunday, April 25,SAJ, 3:30pm

Sex On The Brain: Should the Bible be R-Rated?
Rabbi Peter Schweitzer will examine Biblical texts and rabbinic commentary that reveal the true nature of this literature, its authors, and our culture.

Friday, May 7, CCNY, 6:30pm

Shabbat - Service and Dinner at 6:30pm, followed by Program at 8:15pm. CCNY
Everyone Has A “Once Upon A Time”: Stories that Make you Care as well as Laugh
Presented by Roslyn Bresnick-Perry, a celebrated storyteller, whose stories span decades of the twentieth century and great distances, from a Belarus shtetl in pre-Holocaust Europe where she spent her childhood, through immigration, to post-war New York City, and her years in the garment industry as a senior designer.

Sunday, May 16, SAJ, 3:30pm

Small Decencies – And Do They Matter?
In a tiny Black Forest village, Christian and Jewish neighbors "all got along before Hitler." What happened to those relationships during and after Nazi times is the focus of Mimi Schwartz's talk and reading from Good Neighbors, Bad Times: Echoes of My Father's German Village, a winner of the 2008 ForeWord Book of the Year Award in Memoir.

Friday, May 21, CCNY, 7:30pm

Shabbat - Service at 7:30pm, followed by Pot-Luck Dessert. Program at 8:30pm. NOTE: This program will be at the 14th Street Y (344 E. 14th St.)
Yiddish Women’s Poetry with Nikolai “Kolya” Borodulin
Nikolai “Kolya” Borodulin is Assistant Director of the Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring Center for Cultural Jewish Life.