Adult Learning and Programmes
City Shul offers adult learning opportunities for all levels, from a Basic Judaism class to advanced studies. Shabbat evenings and mornings include Torah study. We also have adult programming that stimulates intellectually and builds social connections. and We encourage your ideas for adult learning and programming. To join the Adult Ed/Programming Task Force or to make suggestions, click here.
City Shul Picnic Theatre
Join us for a Pot-luck Picnic and pre-performance discussion with the Creative Team of this new theatre experience. Our picnic begins at 5:30; discussion at 6 and the play begins in the park at 7 so we will already be in "our" seats!
About the Play: Jews know how controversial and anti-Semitic the traditional passion plays could be. This play-about-a-play will explore the collision of religion, politics, and theatre, and how the stories we tell shape who we are as individuals and as a community. Written by Pulitzer Prize-nominee Sarah Ruhl (Eurydice, In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play) and wildly ambitious in theme and scope, Passion Play explores the staging of traditional passion plays at three historical moments: Elizabethan England, Nazi Germany and Reagan-era America.
An environmental, immersive production unlike anything Toronto audiences have ever experienced. Act One begins at Withrow Park, after which the audience and performers will parade across the street to the auditorium of Eastminster United Church for Acts Two and Three.
Passion Play features an all-star cast and creative team of 35 local theatre artists. From the creators of such hits as Terminus, Mr. Marmalade, The Gladstone Variations, YICHUD (Seclusion), Montparnasse and The Edward Bond Festival.
Read a review of the play here.
Order discounted City Shul tickets for this Picnic Theatre here.
NOTE: We will meet at Withrow Park rain or shine. The closest subway stop is Chester Station. Free street parking can be found on the surrounding neighbourhood streets (Regular parking restrictions apply). There is also meter parking on Danforth Ave. When you arrive, go to the west end of the park, north of the hockey rink, close to the intersection of Logan and Hogarth Avenues. You'll see a "City Shul" banner. In the event of rain, we will transfer to an indoor location but our meeting location will always be at Withrow Park.
Please bring your own picnic; to be sensitive to kashrut, we ask that your picnic be dairy or vegetarian. City Shul will provide deserts!
About the Play: Jews know how controversial and anti-Semitic the traditional passion plays could be. This play-about-a-play will explore the collision of religion, politics, and theatre, and how the stories we tell shape who we are as individuals and as a community. Written by Pulitzer Prize-nominee Sarah Ruhl (Eurydice, In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play) and wildly ambitious in theme and scope, Passion Play explores the staging of traditional passion plays at three historical moments: Elizabethan England, Nazi Germany and Reagan-era America.
An environmental, immersive production unlike anything Toronto audiences have ever experienced. Act One begins at Withrow Park, after which the audience and performers will parade across the street to the auditorium of Eastminster United Church for Acts Two and Three.
Passion Play features an all-star cast and creative team of 35 local theatre artists. From the creators of such hits as Terminus, Mr. Marmalade, The Gladstone Variations, YICHUD (Seclusion), Montparnasse and The Edward Bond Festival.
Read a review of the play here.
Order discounted City Shul tickets for this Picnic Theatre here.
NOTE: We will meet at Withrow Park rain or shine. The closest subway stop is Chester Station. Free street parking can be found on the surrounding neighbourhood streets (Regular parking restrictions apply). There is also meter parking on Danforth Ave. When you arrive, go to the west end of the park, north of the hockey rink, close to the intersection of Logan and Hogarth Avenues. You'll see a "City Shul" banner. In the event of rain, we will transfer to an indoor location but our meeting location will always be at Withrow Park.
Please bring your own picnic; to be sensitive to kashrut, we ask that your picnic be dairy or vegetarian. City Shul will provide deserts!
Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah: Registration now open!
Class will be Thursday nights, 7:30-9:30, beginning October 3, 2013. The Bar/Bat Mitzvah class is open to City Shul members only.
Did you miss this opportunity when you were 13? It is never too late! This unique 16-week class, team-taught by Rabbi Goldstein and special guest teachers will culminate in a group Bar/Bat Mitzvah service at City Shul.
Highlights:
Cost: $360
REGISTER HERE for the Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah class!
Did you miss this opportunity when you were 13? It is never too late! This unique 16-week class, team-taught by Rabbi Goldstein and special guest teachers will culminate in a group Bar/Bat Mitzvah service at City Shul.
Highlights:
- “Great Jewish Ideas": What are the philosophical underpinnings of Judaism?
- Biblical and Rabbinic Theology: What did “classical” Judaism teach about God?
- Modern Jewish Philosophy: How did Jewish ideas about God evolve?
- Torah and Tanach: What’s in the Five Books? What's in the other books? A Torah scroll up close and personal. The narratives we know and the ones we don’t. Intro to the Prophets and Writings.
- How and Why Jews Study: Intro to commentaries, chevruta, methodologies, etc.
- Great Jewish Texts: Talumd, Midrash, Siddur, Zohar
- A Brief Journey through Jewish History: Biblical, Rabbinic, and Modern
- The History of Israel and Zionism
- The Denominations and the Jewish Community
- The Choreography of a Shabbat Service: Friday night and Saturday morning, havdala
- Tallit and Tefillin
Cost: $360
REGISTER HERE for the Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah class!
Introduction to Judaism Classes cosponsored with Miles Nadal JCC
Noam Sienna teaches an introductory series co-sponsored with City Shul at the Miles Nadal JCC. Basic Judaism begins April 11. Reading Jewish (Jewish texts) begins May 23.
Noam Sienna is a dynamic young teacher, who has a BA in Anthropology and Classics, and a Masters in Jewish Studies from Brandeis University. He’s taught to rave reviews at Limmud – a massive festival of Jewish learning in England – as well as in various venues in our own community, most recently at the MNjcc/City Shul post-Passover Mimouna, a Moroccan celebration that concludes the Passover festival. In addition to his many teaching talents, he’s also a talented henna artist: you can see his work here.
Registration through JCC, 416-924-6211 x 0.
Noam Sienna is a dynamic young teacher, who has a BA in Anthropology and Classics, and a Masters in Jewish Studies from Brandeis University. He’s taught to rave reviews at Limmud – a massive festival of Jewish learning in England – as well as in various venues in our own community, most recently at the MNjcc/City Shul post-Passover Mimouna, a Moroccan celebration that concludes the Passover festival. In addition to his many teaching talents, he’s also a talented henna artist: you can see his work here.
Registration through JCC, 416-924-6211 x 0.
