Join the Wake County Public Libraries for Jewish American Heritage Month!

Artist Evelyn Goldman’s papercutting work is deeply influenced by Jewish stories and tradition, where each piece is a story, a blend of cultural heritage and personal narrative. Drop by to view her artwork and watch as she works on a current piece. Evelyn is happy to answer questions about her artistic process and where she gets her inspiration!

Click here for more information.

Join the Wake County Public Libraries for Jewish American Heritage Month!

Artist Evelyn Goldman’s papercutting work is deeply influenced by Jewish stories and tradition, where each piece is a story, a blend of cultural heritage and personal narrative. 

Drop by to view her artwork and watch as she works on a current piece. Evelyn is happy to answer questions about her artistic process and where she gets her inspiration!

Visit her website to see more of Evelyn's work!

Click here for more information.

Join the Wake County Public Libraries for Jewish American Heritage Month!

In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, read Ping-Pong Shabbat, learn about Estee Ackerman and play balloon ping-pong!

Click here for more information.

Join the Wake County Public Libraries for Jewish American Heritage Month!

Artist Evelyn Goldman’s papercutting work is deeply influenced by Jewish stories and tradition, where each piece is a story, a blend of cultural heritage and personal narrative. 

Drop by to view her artwork and watch as she works on a current piece. Evelyn is happy to answer questions about her artistic process and where she gets her inspiration!

Visit her website to see more of Evelyn's work!

Click here for more information.

Join the Wake County Public Libraries for Jewish American Heritage Month!

Dive into the rich tapestry of Jewish culture by exploring its vibrant traditions, the lively sound of klezmer music, and a sampling of delicious Jewish cuisine. We guarantee that you won’t be disappointed!

Click here for more information.

Join the Wake County Public Libraries for Jewish American Heritage Month!

From challah to matzoh, come learn about Jewish culture and traditions through food! Samples of food will be provided during the program.

Click here for more information.

Enjoy a day of learning, laughter, and connection at Temple Beth Or’s 14th Annual TBO University!

Join old friends and make new ones at this enriching, day-long program designed to inspire and engage. Start your morning with a delicious continental breakfast provided by Magnolia Glen before enjoying a thought-provoking keynote address featuring the esteemed David Crabtree and Rabbi Lucy Dinner.

The day continues with three engaging learning sessions on a variety of fascinating topics, along with a wonderful catered lunch by Bread & Butter. Whether you love history, culture, current events, or thought-provoking discussions, there’s something for everyone.

Come for the knowledge—stay for the friendship! We look forward to seeing you there.

Click here to register.

This years annual commemoration features:

Holocaust Education Panel Discussion

Three NC educators discuss their recent eight-day teacher training seminar in Poland, sponsored by the NC Council on the Holocaust and the North Carolina Association for the Advancement of Teaching.

Candle Lighting Ceremony in honor of all the victims of the Holocaust.

Program Description: “An American in Jerusalem: Israeli Power and Vulnerability Up Close” with Elana Stein Hain

Since 1948, we are in a rare moment in Jewish history, one in which we possess actual power but retain real vulnerability. Join Elana Stein Hain she explores how power and vulnerability intersect in American and Israeli Jewish life with an eye toward what we can learn from each other in shaping our shared future.

When: Tuesday, April 22 from 12-1pm

Where: Zoom

Click here to register.

Please join us as we explore the oldest Kabbalistic text-Sefer Yetzirah. Classes are open to all levels from beginner to experience. No knowledge of Kabbalah, Hebrew or meditation is needed. Classes are free. Attendance to all classes is not required. They will be facilitated by Hal Marcus.

Email hmarcus.pam@gmail.com with any questions. RSVP is appreciated.

Program Description: Are you ready to meet your NC Beshert? Join us for a night of fun, connection, and maybe even a little romance!

• Speed dating

• Curated mini-dates (you will have the opportunity to be matched with someone based on pre-event survey responses)

• Couples Cocktail making classes (we will assign couples for this)!

• Open mingling and dancing

• Vegetarian snacks

• One alcoholic beverage included with each ticket

Open to Jewish Singles ages 22-39.

In order to be matched at our event, please complete this survey prior to April 3 in order to be matched at the event.

Where: Kingfisher Bar, 321 E. Chapel Hill Street, Durham, NC 27701

When: Thursday, April 3 from 7-10pm

Cost: $15 Ticket Event Price
$25 Ticket plus add on Partner Cocktail Making Class

For more information: Tamara Zishuk, tamara.zishuk@gmail.com

Program Description: “The Jewish State and the Jewish Soul: Unpacking the link between Zionism and Judaism” featuring Josh Ladon 

In the post-October 7th reality, there has been a growing effort to separate Zionism from Judaism—and Judaism from Zionism.   This session explores how Israel and Zionism are not merely political movements for Jewish safety but represent a profound, contemporary evolution of the Jewish story.

When: Tuesday, April 1 from 7-8pm

Where: Zoom

Click here to register.

Join the NCMA for our fifth annual Freedom Seder featuring Different Ships, Same Boat, an interactive, multidisciplinary performance combining powerful spoken word, music, and song to explore the multifaceted ways Americans risk, live, love, and laugh. Literary performer Regie Gibson and composer/story catcher Guy Mendilow guide audiences with podcast-like narration through a series of chapters that relate real-world stories.

The dialogue, over an evocative musical score, is at turns humorous, poignant, and poetic. With stories from small towns, cities, and ports of entry; music such as lyrical American blues; and songs from Americans’ ancestors (for example, Ottoman Jews from present-day Greece and Hungary), Different Ships, Same Boat offers a stirring exploration of the joys, tensions, and complexities of who we are and who we wish to be.

A Q&A takes place after the performance.

Written and directed by Guy Mendilow and Regie Gibson
Script by Regie Gibson, Guy Mendilow, and Alison James
Music composed and arranged by Guy Mendilow and Chris Baum
Performed by Regie Gibson (host/narrator), Guy Mendilow (host/narrator, piano, voice, guitar), Chris Baum (violin), Courtney Swain (voice, keyboard, bass)

This event is part of the NCMA’s Initiative for Jewish Art and Culture, made possible, in part, by major contributions from Lilly Endowment Inc.; the Samuel P. Mandell Foundation; Lisa and Steve Feierstein; Stefanie and Douglas Kahn; Marion Meyer-Robboy and Stanley Robboy; Carol and Eric Meyers; and The Slomo and Cindy Silvian Foundation, Inc.

Click here to register.

Morris, Ida and Alan Heilig Lecture in Jewish Studies and Annual Holocaust Studies Lecture

”The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt”

Terezín, as it was known in Czech, or Theresienstadt, as it was known in German, was operated by the Nazis between November 1941 and May 1945 as a transit ghetto for Central and Western European Jews before their deportation for murder in the East. Today, Theresienstadt is best known for the Nazi propaganda of the International Red Cross visit, cultural life, and children. But these aspects explain little what defined the lives of its 140,000 inmates. The Last Ghetto offers both a modern history of this Central European ghetto and the first in-depth analytical history of a prison society during the Holocaust.

Anna Hájková is Reader for modern European continental history at the University of Warwick where she co-directs the Centre for Global Jewish Studies.

Website for More Info: https://jewishstudies.unc.edu/event/hajkova/

Let’s play Mah Jongg to help raise awareness and funds for Pancreatic cancer!

This event is open to anyone who likes to play Mah Jongg!

On Saturday, March 22nd at Pine Acres Community Center, 402 Mc Lean St, Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526

Grab a few friends to play a fun, friendly, social Mah Jongg game! Don’t worry if you don’t have a group of 4 to play with, we will have players available for a game for you. We plan on grouping players according to skill level, unless you have friends to play with.

Fee: $20 donation to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network which will also include a breakfast item, one water bottle and one raffle ticket.

We’re fortunate to have several local businesses from our community donate gift cards and we'll have some other great prizes! You will use your raffle ticket to choose which raffle prize you like best and then at the end the winners will be drawn. And we will have more raffle tickets available for purchase!

The more tickets you buy, the more chances you have to win raffle prizes: $2 per raffle ticket and $5 for three tickets

You must have a 2024 National Mah Jongg League Inc Card in order to play.

No refunds will be given. American Mah Jongg rules will be applied.

All proceeds will be donated to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. If you are affected or know someone who has been affected by Pancreatic cancer, please check out pancan.org for more information.

Any questions, please contact Jennifer Kublin at 561-789-6553 or email Jkublin@hotmail.com.

Don’t miss this fun, engaging and worthwhile social fundraising event! Sign up via the participant entry form today in order to participate (required to participate) - https://forms.office.com/r/XPPhturbqW

Here is the FB event with all the information - https://www.facebook.com/share/187uDEUPav/

Program Description: Calling all high schoolers! Curious about how things work? Love engineering, tech, or science? Dream of inventing the next big breakthrough?

Join us for a hands-on STEM experience and hear from Israeli Technion students—leaders in tech innovation! Explore new ideas, get inspired, and discover what YOU want to be when you grow up!

Where: Temple Beth Or, 5315 Creedmoor Rd, Raleigh, NC 27612

When: Sunday, March 9 from 6:30-8pm

Click here to register.

You are invited! Members and friends, please join us on Saturday, March 8, 2025 to joyously mark an extraordinary milestone and ‘sheheheyanu moment’ — 150 years of Jewish life at Beth Meyer Synagogue. Journey through our Jewish community’s history, dance the night away, enjoy heavy hors d’oeuvres and desserts, and toast to Beth Meyer Synagogue’s next 150 years.

This adults-only evening kicks off at 7 p.m. with Havdalah in the Sanctuary, followed by a party at 7:30 p.m. in both the Social Hall and a heated tent on the Field. Cocktail attire is requested, and the deadline to RSVP is February 17. For more event information or media inquiries, contact Jonathan Wertheim, Executive Director, at jonathanw@bethmeyer.org. 

Please note, personal finances are NEVER a barrier to participation at Beth Meyer Synagogue. Financial assistance is available for members and their guests — no questions asked. If you cannot afford the ticket price ($118 per guest) for any reason, let us know before registering.

Click here to register.

NC Warn empowers us to tackle the accelerating crisis posed by climate change.

Jim Warren, Executive Director and Sara Heilman, Energy Policy Coordinator with NC Warn, will describe their effective strategies, including Carboro's 'Climate Deception Lawsuit' against Duke Energy.

One of the largest climate polluters in the world, Duke Energy has known for decades that burning fossil fuels is driving the climate crisis and ever more destructive storms like Hurricane Helene. Instead of taking action to transition off fossil fuels, Duke Energy has helped lead a campaign to deceive the public about these dangers, delaying the necessary transition off coal, oil and gas.

Everyone is invited to learn and engage in hands on, local strategies to preserve a liveable habitat for all beings.

Everyone is Welcome. Hosted by the Dayenu Triangle Circle - A Jewish Call to Climate Action: DayenuTriangle@gmail.com

Click here to register.

Kalimian Family Lecture in Sephardic Judaism

“Beautiful Friendships: Jewish Refugee Writers in Mexico”

At first glance, Ruth Rewald (1906-1943) and Egon Erwin Kisch (1885-1948) may not have much in common. She wrote realistic novels about feisty, yet principled boys (and sometimes girls) for young audiences, while he gained fame writing literary reportages about his worldwide travels. Rewald was put to death at Auschwitz, while Kisch had the necessary documents, funds, and connections that enabled him to flee from occupied Europe and find refuge in Mexico. Despite these differences, Rewald’s and Kisch’s paths crossed, most visibly in their relationship –or beautiful friendship– with Mexico. This presentation will recount their respective stories of flight, loss, and grief, provide a sense of Jewish experiences along routes to (relative) safety in the Americas, and reflect on the significance of memories of displacement.

Tabea Linhard is a Professor of Spanish, Global Studies, and Comparative Literature at Washington University in St. Louis.

Website for More Info: https://jewishstudies.unc.edu/event/linhard/

Join the Friends of the Judaic Art Gallery for a modern masquerade Purim celebration.

The Purim story is replete with mystery and surprise. Esther masquerades to the Persian court, becomes queen, foils Haman’s evil plot, and saves the Jewish people. In Hebrew the name Esther means hidden.

For this year’s Purim celebration, we encourage you to disguise your identity, whether dressed in cocktail attire, black tie, or

… cloaked in French or Venetian masquerade regalia for a timeless look of elegance.

… veiled in a vintage ensemble for a retro nod to mod fashions.

shrouded in an antistyle genre of punk rock, grunge, or goth garb to unleash your inner rebel.

Embrace your mysterious alter ego—dress up, wig out, and arrive masked for a modern masquerade.

What awaits after you make your grand reveal

• Sparkle and bling station: Have your face painted and bedazzled to replace your mask.

• Glitter bar: Sip shimmering cocktails, beer, and wine.

• Savory and sweet delights: Nosh on delectable bites that satisfy every craving.

• Glitz ’n’ glam photo booth: Step into the spotlight with fun props and strike a pose.

• Dance floor extravaganza: Shake and shine under the disco lights as you dance the night away!

Space is limited; advance tickets are required. Per IRS advisory no portion of the admission is tax deductible unless otherwise noted. For more information about the event and sponsorship opportunities, contact Billy Wilson at (919) 664-6824 or bwilson@ncartmuseum.org.

All proceeds benefit the Judaic Art Fund.

Click here to register.

Looking for A Trip To Israel This Summer?  Beth Meyer Synagogue Has Spots Available!

Looking to visit Israel this summer? Rabbis Eric and Jenny Solomon of  Beth Meyer Synagogue are leading a trip from June 16-26, 2025 and there are spots being made specially available to the Raleigh Jewish community.

For information on the itinerary and costs, read this PDF.

February 15, 2025 is the deadline for submitting your deposit. Questions? Feel free to contact Rabbi Eric Solomon: erics@bethmeyer.org

This year in Jerusalem! 

Sylvia and Irving Margolis Lecture on the Jewish Experience

A Pogrom in Chicago: Antisemitism and Free Speech in Modern America

Can we stop antisemitic hate speech before it turns violent? In 1949 a five-day pogrom rocked Chicago and led to a revolutionary First Amendment ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. In this lecture, historian James Loeffler explores this forgotten episode and its meaning for the questions of public protest, civil rights, and violence that we face today.

James Loeffler is Felix Posen Professor of Jewish History at Johns Hopkins University.

Website for More Info: https://jewishstudies.unc.edu/event/loeffler/

Sing your way out of Shabbat at this melavah malkah (literally, “escorting the [Shabbos] queen”) gathering. Join us from 7-7:30 p.m. for a dessert oneg reception before heading into the Social Hall for a lively and engaging collaborative concert with Rabbi Josh Warshawsky. Community members ($18) are welcome to attend!

The event will be on Saturday, Jan. 25, from 7-9 p.m. in the Social Hall at Beth Meyer Synagogue in Raleigh.

Click here for more details and to register.

About Rabbi Josh: Rabbi Josh Warshawsky is a nationally touring Jewish musician, song leader, composer, and educator, who has shared his original melodies and teachings with over 150 Jewish communities throughout the United States, Canada, the UK, and Israel. Josh seeks to build intentional praying communities, and composes melodies to open up new possibilities for understanding the deep meaning of the words of our tradition. He has released five albums of Jewish music and has been featured on eight music anthology publications. You can learn more about Rabbi Josh at joshwarshawsky.com.

Gateways to Judaism is a 10-session introduction to Judaism class taught in partnership with Temple Beth Or (TBO). Instructors include Rabbis Eric and Jenny, and Rabbi Lucy Dinner. This course is a perfect follow-up to Jewish Essentials or as a standalone course. Gateways is designed for those in the process of conversion, those who are already Jewish, and those who are spiritual seekers and curious about the foundations of Jewish living and learning.

This class is open to the community. The cost of participation is: TBO and Beth Meyer members, $120; prospective members, $180. If you are in need of some financial assistance, contact our Executive Director, Jonathan Wertheim at 919-848-1420 or jonathanw@bethmeyer.org.

This class is available both in-person and on Zoom. Zoom information will be sent upon registration.

Click here to register.