Hillel Community Newsletter
Weekly Events & Announcements
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With a range of events this week and Purim around the corner there's a whole lot to do before spring break! Here are some highlights:
- Join Moral Voices for the spring keynote event featuring Janet Mock next Monday night! Learn more and register below.
- Have a sweet tooth? Feeling artsy? Come enjoy cupcakes and create a masterpiece with First Year Students at Hillel during Canvassing and Cupcakes . Learn more below!
- J Street U Brown presents Breaking the Silence. Hear from a solider about being stationed in the West Bank. Learn more below.
- "What a Jewish Woman Looks Like" is opening this week! Come by Hillel at 8pm on Thursday to see the collection of pieces submitted by Brown and RISD women.
- Purim events kick off this Sunday with a hamentashen bake with the Jewish Cooking Club. Stay tuned for a full schedule. |
6:30pm: Brown Students for Israel Weekly Meeting (Meeting Room)
Tuesday, March 15
 7:30pm: Canvassing and Cupcakes (Social Hall)
Are you a first year student? Do you like cupcakes, painting, and Jewish camradarie? Then come to Hillel, kick back, and make a painting pretty enough to send home to bubbie! All art supplies and sugary treats will be paid for, but the experiences will be priceless. Make sure to RSVP and check out the Facebook event!
9pm: J Street U Brown (JSUB) Weekly Meeting (JWW 202)
6pm: Cookies and Conversation: Grad Event (Hillel Meeting Room)
Join us for casual conversation with fellow grad students and med students over delicious Meeting Street Cookies. Feel free to stop by for twenty minutes, an hour or anything in between and spread the word to others who might be interested.
Thursday, March 17
11am: Jewishly Inspired Meditation (JIM) (Beit Midrash)
The words mysticism or contemplative most commonly bring to mind Eastern contemplative traditions - but Judaism, too, possesses ancient and profound teaching in these realms. Please join Rabbi Dardashti and student leader Evan Chernov for our Jewishly Inspired Meditations on Monday at 3:30-4:30pm and Thursday from 11am-12pm in the Brown RISD Hillel. Seekers and "sitters" of all stripes, faiths, and non-faiths warmly welcomed - no prior experience necessary!
4pm: Challah for Hunger Baking and Braiding (Hillel Kitchen)
Join Brown's Challah for Hunger chapter for weekly challah bakes in three shifts (baking, braiding, and packaging) featuring returning flavors and weekly specials. The challah is sold in the Blue Room on Fridays, with all proceeds going towards social justice awareness.
5:30pm: J Street U Brown Presents: Breaking the Silence (Salomon 003)
Join J Street U Brown for a conversation with Avner Gvaryahu of Breaking the Silence. Avner, a veteran of the Israel Defense Forces, will talk about his experiences as a soldier stationed in the occupied West Bank.
Breaking the Silence (BTS) is an organization of veteran combatants who have served in the Israeli military and have taken it upon themselves to expose the Israeli public to the reality of serving in the Occupied Territories. They endeavor to stimulate public debate about the price paid for a reality in which young soldiers face a civilian population on a daily basis, and are engaged in the control of that population's everyday life.
J Street U Brown (JSUB) is the campus chapter of the national J Street U student movement. We support the rights to self-determination and human rights for both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, and believe that a two-state solution and an end to the occupation is the framework which best supports this vision. Our work also centers around creating space in the American political landscape, and also within the American Jewish community, for more nuanced conversations around Israel/Palestine, and for understanding how we as Americans are complicit in the continuation of this conflict. We are excited for this opportunity for the Brown community to engage critically with a powerful and challenging Israeli narrative. This event is open to all--please bring any and all thoughts, questions, and opinions.
Co-sponsored by Brown RISD Hillel. See Facebook for more information.
All are welcome, email Talia with any questions.
8pm: "This is What a Jewish Woman Looks Like" Gallery Opening (Hillel Commons)
This exhibit features artwork and photographs of Jewish women in the Brown and RISD community. The focus of the show is celebrating the beauty and diversity of Jewish women and challenging the often negative representation of Jewish femininity in mainstream culture. Come to the exhibit to see that there is no one way to "look Jewish." Light refreshments will be served. Check out Facebook for more details.
8pm: J-MI (Jews of Mixed Identity) Weekly Meeting (Student Lounge)
If you consider yourself to be a Jew and... (multiracial, from an interfaith household, or anything else!), then this is a group for you! We will be holding weekly Thursday night discussions to plan events to talk about how these other identities inform our Judaism and how being a 'Jew of mixed identity' informs our lives. If you are interested in participating in or facilitating discussion, planning events, and chatting with other people who have similar life experiences as you, come check out a meeting. E-mail Hannah for more information.
9pm: HIRAJ Book Club Meeting #2
This semester we will be reading "This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color". Contact Natalia for information on joining HIRAJ's book club.
Friday, March 18
11am: Arabic Conversation Hour (Hillel Commons)
Come learn/speak Arabic! Contact Elan Cohen with questions.
11am-1pm: Challah for Hunger Sale (Blue Room)
50% of the funds raised by our delicious go the Challah for Hunger's national cause - the American Jewish World Service's Sudan Relief and Advocacy Fund. The other 50% go to our chapter's local cause of choice - the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. Thank you for your support!
3pm: Cookies & Community Baking (Address provided w/ RSVP)
What's sweeter than homemade cookies? Homemade cookies for the community! Come take a break from dorm life while helping out a local men's shelter and participate in a Cookies & Community bake. All ingredients (and snacks) are provided, so just bring yourself and a friend! Our next bake is this Friday, March 18th at 3pm; email cookies@brownrisdhillel.org to get updates about bake times and locations.
3:15pm: Pre-Shabbat Yoga (Chapel)
Usher in Shabbat with mindfulness of body and spirit. Carly's gentle yoga class is a perfect way to wind-down from the week and start Shabbat.
Shabbat Services and Dinner
This week we welcome 20 prospective students to spend Shabbat with our community and get a taste of Jewish life at Brown and RISD. We hope you'll introduce yourself and tell your stories.
6:15pm: Havurah* (Beit Midrash), Reform** (Student Lounge) Services
Some background on our two service options.
*Havurah Services: Based on the Hebrew word for "friend," Havurah service at Brown RISD Hillel is a moving, melodic way to welcome the Sabbath. Though our liturgy follows the Conservative movement and our tunes are usually Carlebach, Havurah is pluralistic and open to everyone. This service focuses on creating a room full of ruach, meaning spirit or energy. Please feel free to join us in the Beit Midrash (Study Room) on the second floor. Sit on chairs or comfy cushions; whatever makes you comfortable!
**Reform Minyan is an open, inclusive service that draws from the music and traditions of the Reform movement. We welcome participants of all backgrounds to sing, pray, and discuss. This week,come enjoy History shabbat lead by Noah and Claire.
7:30pm: Kiddush (Lobby) and Dinner (Social Hall)
All are welcome to join us for dinner.
Saturday, March 19
12:30pm: Shabbat Lunch (Social Hall)
1:30pm: "Sabbath of Remembering" - Shabbat Afternoon with the Rabbi (TBD)
Join Rabbi Dardashti for a reflective entrance to Purim this Saturday, Shabbat Zachor - "Sabbath of Remembering." Dig into the deeper meaning of Purim by exploring who and what we need to most recall at this moment in the year. This conversation will occur in either the Commons or Beit Midrash - check in when you arrive.
5pm: Third Meal and Havdalah (Social Hall)
Enjoy the third meal of Shabbat before concluding with Havdalah, the short weekly musical ceremony marking the end of Shabbat.
Sunday, March 20 11am: Music in the Lives of the Crypto-Jews of Portugal (Hillel Meeting Room) Almost exactly a century ago, the Polish Jewish mining engineer Samuel Schwartz was working in Belmonte, Portugal, and came across a member of its hidden Jewish community. The rest, as they say, is history: he wrote a book about them, "the apostle of the Marranos", Captain Artur de Barros Basto began to visit them in both Belmonte and more remote villages, and today they are living openly and many have moved to Israel. Since the mid-1990s Dr Judith Cohen (York University) has been conducting ethnomusicological fieldwork in Belmonte itself, as well as villages in the northeast of Portugal, Tras-os-Montes, exploring the use of music in their lives, as they have moved from the end of a traditional, semi-secret society to a vibrant and open one - but , ironically, now living what seem to be its last years as the younger people look for more integrated , "ordinary" Jewish lives elsewhere. Judith will talk about her work with them, how they use local songs in coded ways, and how the internet has changed their musical lives, and will also sing extracts of songs from the regions they live in, with the traditional square frame drum, the "adufe", used in women's songs in the area.
Sponsored by the Program in Medieval Studies, the Program in Judaic Studies, the Program in Religious Studies, Department of History of Art and Architecture, Brown RISD Hillel, the Program in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies,and Dean of the Faculty Office.
12pm: Cookies and Community Interested in seeing Cookies & Community in action? Join us as we deliver homemade cookies to a low income neighborhood on March 20 from 12-4pm. The cookies we deliver will be part of a meal put together by local churches and faith organizations. You will have an opportunity to volunteer and work directly with those receiving the meals. For more information, or to sign up, email Anna Ressel.
1pm: JSUB Skillshop: A Space for Sharing Leadership Skills (Wilson 302) Skillshop is a space for students to share community organizing leadership skills with other students. (also - there will be food!) Breakout sessions include: J Street U Brown (sponsor): The 101s of One on Ones; Brown Democrats (sponsor): The Basics of Canvassing; Brown Political Forum (BPF): Constructive Discussions, not Crazy Debates; Effective Altruists at Brown: Strategic Outreach Through Affiliation; No Labels: Problem Solving; American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU): Team Building and (Internal) Organizing; with a keynote by Zack Mezera, Executive Director of Providence Student Union. Note: No experience in organizing is necessary! And no organization to organize around is necessary either! Learn more at the Facebook event.
2pm: Hungry for Hamantaschen?! (Hillel Kitchen) Can't wait for Purim? Have a hankering for delicious Jewish pastry? Join the Jewish Cooking Club as we gather together to make these delicious, triangular Purim pastries (filled with chocolate, raspberry...you name it!). All are welcome, please RSVP on Facebook.
4pm: 'For Such a Time as This': From the Creation of Stories to the Formation of Identity (Hillel Meeting Room)
Join HIRAJ as we explore themes of racial and gender-based justice, group/community formation and paradigms of change. We will be analyzing the Purim text using contemporary theories of racial formation and analysis to explore what the story teaches us about the building of identity and justice in our time. See Facebook for more information.
Monday, March 21
7pm: Moral Voices Keynote: Redefining Realness with Janet Mock (Salomon 101)
Join Moral Voices for a very special keynote event, featuring TV host, New York Times bestsellingauthor and nationally known advocate for trans women's rights Janet Mock. Janet will share her raw and honest experiences growing up young, multiracial, poor and trans in America. Her book, "Redefining Realness," published last year, is "a powerful vision of possibility and self-realization, pushing us all toward greater acceptance of one another-and of ourselves-showing as never before how to be unapologetic and real." Her talk will be followed by a book signing. A limited number of books are available free of charge for those students who have financial hardship. Please indicate your interest in a complimentary book by emailing moralvoices@brownrisdhillel.org. If you require any special assistance, such as an ASL interpreter, please let us know.
Register here! Tickets are free and open to the public. This event is brought to you by Moral Voices and co-sponsored by Brown Center for Students of Color, Sarah Doyle Women's Center, LGBTQ Center, Sexual Assault Peer Educators, Swearer Center for Public Service, Office of the Chaplains, RISD's Office of Intercultural Student Engagement, and Brown RISD Hillel. *About Janet Mock* Janet Mock is a writer, cultural commentator, advocate for trans women's rights and the New York Times bestselling author of Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More. Feminist cultural critic bell hooks called Janet's memoir, "A lifemap for transformation," while Melissa Harris-Perry said "Janet does what only great writers of autobiography accomplish-she tells a story of the self, which turns out to be a reflection of all humanity." A board member at the Arcus Foundation, Janet has been called one of the smartest women on Twitter by Fast Company and her work has been recognized by the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, the Anti-Violence Project, and Planned Parenthood. Hailing from Honolulu, Hawaii, Janet lives and writes in New York City, and has been fan-girling over Beyonce for 16 years.
*About Moral Voices* Moral Voices is a student led initiative, run through Brown RISD Hillel, which focuses its efforts on a different issue of universal moral importance each year. In 2015-16, we are highlighting violence against LGBTQ+ individuals and communities. We have focused primarily on violence on the national level, partnering with relevant groups and individuals in order to implement changes that will extend far beyond this year.
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Be a Part of Hillel's New Graphic Design Team
Do you have design skills that you'd like to use? Are you interested in helping Hillel advertise for all our great events? We're looking for students with design experience to join the new graphics team. This committee will be responsible for creating posters for all Hillel events and will get paid to do so. Experience with and knowledge of graphic design programs is required. Interested students should e-mail Abby Kaye-Phillips with a short paragraph describing previous design experience.
New Reform Minyan Service Rotation
This week is the fourth week of our new rotating service plan! Through the course of the semester, the Reform Community will be rotating between five different kinds of services, all detailed below, that feature new amazing leaders and fascinating and engaging methods of gathering for prayer or discussion on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons! Four of these service styles will be new: Musical, Contemplative, Science, and Learning. We hope that you join us every week and/or come to the weeks that you feel will be most meaningful to you, and either way, bring a friend! If you want to know more about each service than what is included in the flyers, feel free to contact the leaders of that service listed here!
Join the Shabbat Cooking Team
Whether you're a seasoned chef or the only thing you're comfortable making in the kitchen is cereal, there's always room for more! Join us in the kitchen on Thursdays and Fridays to help cook delicious meals for any students to enjoy on Saturdays/Shabbat. You can just stop by, volunteer or become a regular. Guaranteed friendship and snacking privileges! E-mail Sienna with questions.
Submit to Mahberet Magazine
Mahberet Magazine, the literary magazine of Brown RISD Hillel, is looking for submissions! We publish art, poems, essays, photos, and more related to Jewish life. Did you write a great essay for your Judaic Studies class? Did you write a great poem or reflection about a Jewish holiday? Did you take an awesome photo of an event at Hillel? If so, we would love to consider your work in our first round of submissions! Submit your work by emailing it to mahberet@brownrisdhillel.org. Deadline for submissions is March 1st!
Jewish Penicillin Hotline Up and Ready to Deliver Soup to Sick Students
Want to get involved in a Hillel group? Contact the Hillel Leadership!
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Judaic Studies DUG Movie Night
Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi: A Film by Neal Broffman
Monday, March 14 at 6 p.m., Salomon Hall, The College Green
Themes of suicide and depression in an age of social media unfold in this award-winning documentary which follows the heart-breaking search by a family and Brown University for a missing student, as it intersects with law enforcement's investigation of the Boston Marathon Bombing. Hosted by the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life. Admission is free and open to the public.
"Don't Let my Baby Do Rodeo"
Boris Fishman, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award, reads and discusses his new book "Don't Let My Baby Do Rodeo". The author of the critically admired, award-winning A Replacement Life turns to a different kind of story--an evocative, nuanced portrait of marriage and family, a woman reckoning with what she's given up to make both work, and the universal question of how we reconcile who we are and whom the world wants us to be...Don't Let My Baby Do Rodeo is a novel about the mystery of inheritance and what exactly it means to belong."--publisher description Boris Fishman was born in Belarus and has lived in the United States since the age of nine. He is the author of the novel A Replacement Life, which was chosen as a "New York Times" Notable Book of the Year and a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection, and won the Sophie Brody Medal from the American Library Association. His writing has appeared in "The New Yorker," the "New York Times Magazine", "Wall Street Journal," "London Review of Books," "New Republic," and other publications. He lives in New York City, New York. Location: Brown Bookstore, 244 Thayer Street, Providence
OCRL Thursday Night Interfaith Supper Program (TNS)
TNS dinners are a weekly gathering of students, faculty, and staff over dinner and conversation with invited speakers who discuss how the life of the spirit guides their professional and personal lives. Attendees represent the full breadth of the Brown community as well as a wide range of religious, faith, spiritual, and ethical perspectives. TNS is free and open to the community, kosher meals are available upon request and a vegetarian option is always available. E-mail Sana Parvaiz_Siddiq, Diego Arene-Morley or t hursdaynightinterfaith@gmail.com to sign-up for the TNS listserv. Suppers begin at 5:30 p.m. and end by 7:00 p.m at the home of the Chaplain of the University, the Reverend Janet M. Cooper Nelson. Directions: 58 Keene Street, Providence. Walk through the Faunce Arch on Waterman Street (walking north). Go straight for 8 blocks. Turn right. The house is on the left.
OCRL Bereavement Group Established nearly 30 years ago, this informal gathering is for students who have suffered the loss of a loved one and are struggling with grief. Neither clinical nor religious, the group offers time with others who truly understand. Bereavement Group will meet each Monday in J. Walter Wilson, Room 411. Attend regularly or occasionally; tea and goodies will be served. Call the Office of the Chaplains at 401-863-2344 for more information.
CAPS & LETS Groups at Brown
All groups open to Brown undergraduate, graduate and medical students.
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Be sure to follow us on Tumblr at http://brownrisdhillel.tumblr.com for all the latest updates! We'll post job and internship listings, as well as opportunities for volunteer work, travel, and study abroad! INTRODUCING: a specific job board directed at seniors! If you are looking for work/opportunities after graduation, like our BRH Post-Graudate Opportunities facebook page and keep checking back for more postings, we get them often! |
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