Programs & Events

Upcoming CLC Programs & Events

Sisterhood Torah Fund Book Club
Join Rachel Kamin, Director of Lifelong Learning, in-person after Shabbat Kiddush on Saturdays for lively book discussions. New participants are always welcome! Click here for more information.

The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Saturday, March 18, 12:30 pm: In-Person Discussion (after Shabbat Kiddush)
Monday, March 20, 8:00 pm: Meet the author on Zoom
When her triplets leave for college, Johanna, faced with being alone for the first time, decides to have a fourth child and wonders what role the “latecomer” will play in her already fractured family.

 

Cyclorama by Adam Langer
Saturday, April 29, 12:30 pm: In-Person Discussion (after Shabbat Kiddush)
Monday, May 1, 8:00 pm: Meet the author on Zoom
The deeply moving, propulsive story of ten teenagers in Evanston brought together by a high school production of The Diary of Anne Frank that will shape and influence the rest of their lives.

 

Have You Seen Luis Velez? by Catherine Ryan Hyde
In-Person Discussion: Saturday, June 10, 12:30 pm (after Shabbat Kiddush)
Two strangers – one a lonely boy and the other a Holocaust survivor – develop an unlikely friendship while trying to track down the survivor’s missing caretaker.

 

Copies of the books are available in the Gray Cultural & Learning Center and from public libraries, as well as from local and online booksellers.

The Sisterhood Torah Fund Book Club is open to ALL STUDENTS. You do not need to be a member of Sisterhood to participate. Participants are encouraged to make a minimum annual donation of $54 to attend. The Sisterhood of NSS Beth El has a long history of supporting the Conservative/Masorti Movement’s Torah Fund through the sponsorship of an impressive array of annual classes, led by our clergy and talented staff and volunteers. Go to www.nssbethel.org/community/sisterhood/torah-fund/ for more information on how to make your donation.

Click here for more information including the complete 2022-2023 calendar.

Writer’s Beit Midrash
Wednesdays, 9:30am, March 22, April 19, May 3, 17, & 31, 2023
All fiction, non-fiction, poetry, memoir, and essay writers (published or not yet published) are welcome for discussions, exercises, camaraderie, and critique every other Wednesday morning in the Abbell Library. Contact Rachel Kamin for more information and to be added to the mailing list.

 

Violins of Hope
Tuesday, April 25, 7:00 pm
NSS Beth El is proud to partner with the JCC Chicago to bring Violins of Hope to our community. Israeli violinmaker Avshalom Weinstein, who has spent the last 20 years working with his grandfather to collect and repair Holocaust-era violins and other stringed instruments from around the world, will join us for a special reception, presentation and violin performance.

A selection of the Violins of Hope collection, played by Jewish musicians before and during the Holocaust, will be on display in the Rissman Kol Ami Museum April 21 – June 30, 2023.

Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema: America
Sunday, April 30, 3:30 pm
An Israeli swimming coach living in Chicago returns to Israel after his father’s death where an encounter with a childhood friend and his future wife changes his and everyone’s lives forever. NSS Beth El, supported by the Joseph and Mae Gray Cultural & Learning Center, will sponsor the film screening at The Glen (streaming also available). Go to https://israelifilmchi.org for more information about the Festival and to purchase tickets.

 

Looking for a book recommendation? Contact Rachel Kamin and/or Marcie Eskin – we are happy to recommend a good ebook that you can download from your local public library, an audio-book that you can listen to, or a print book that you can order online. Jewish or secular, fiction or non-fiction, for children or adults . . . we’re happy to help you satisfy your literary appetite! And if you would like to borrow a book from the Beth El library, just contact Rachel or Marcie and we will arrange a safe way to deliver it to you.