Writing workshop offered by Kaye Linden

Temple member and published author Kaye Linden is offering a writing workshop at no cost to members of Temple Shir Shalom. Depending upon the number and interest level of participants, meetings would be arranged, probably once a month, during morning or evening hours. The workshop would focus on writing memoirs and short stories inspired by our own lives or the lives of those we know.  

Kaye has an MFA in fiction from the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts on Whidbey Island. Kaye was born and raised in Australia and now resides in Florida.  She is the short fiction editor of the Bacopa Literary Review, an annual print journal and teaches short fiction at Santa Fe College in Gainesville.

Kaye Linden’s short stories have appeared in multiple journals including: The Camel Saloon, The Soundings Review, The Bacopa Literary Review, The Raven Chronicles, Expressions, Breves No Tan Breves, Whispers from the Unseen, Danse Macabre, 6Tales.com, the Linnet’s Wings in narration at Theshorteststories.com, Dogzplot and the current edition of Six Minute Stories Magazine.

Kaye has just signed with Shelfstealers.com for publication of her first story collection: Fifty Tales from Ma’s Watering Hole.  She is currently writing her second book in the Ma series.

Contact Kaye directly for more information: 

kayelinden@gmail.com

http://www.kayelinden.com    

"Back to Basics: Midrash and Philosophy"

The next series of Temple Shir ongoing "Back to Basics" adult education program will explore the world of Jewish philosophy through the lens of midrash and storytelling. Jews have not often "done philosophy" in the way of other peoples -- until medieval confrontations with Christianity and Islam, Jews could hard1y be said to have done systematic philosophy at all. But this does not mean that Jews haven't thought or written about the great issues of philosophy - what does existence mean? What does life mean? What is our human place in the universe? How do we really know what we seem to know?

In fact, Jews have produced a vast trove of philosophical wisdom, a wisdom that can help us lead better lives today, through the medium of Midrash, stories told to illuminate the meaning of the Torah text. Using classic texts in translation as well as a classic modern "guidebook" to midrash and philosophy, these classes will provide a specifically Jewish perspective on the art of living.

''Back to Basics" classes in this series will meet on the following dates:

Wednesday, October 19

Thursday, November 3

Thursday, November 17

Thursday, December 8

All classes begin at 7pm, and all are free and open to the public. Please contact the Temple Shir Shalom office for further information.

Adult Education Update

Temple Shir Shalom has just completed a banner year in its adult education program, and plans are nearing completion to start strong in the next program year. Among this last year's highlights was Rabbi Joseph's Tuesday morning Torah study, which saw a significant increase in average attendance and lots of great conversation. The group started this year back again at Genesis 1, and worked it's way nearly through the Joseph cycle of stories. Pick up here and join the group at it's first meeting of the new year on Tuesday, September 27 at 9:30am. Everyone is welcome, no previous knowledge required.

Also this year Rabbi Joseph ran two very successful Back to Basics programs, one focusing on the spiritual vocabulary of Judaism, and one on the importance of Israel in Jewish life and thought. Attendance was consistently in the range of 12-20, with class participants representing all shades of knowledge and affiliation. The fall 2011 series of Back to Basics classes will begin on Wednesday, October 19 at 7:00pm - please see the Temple calendar for following sessions.

Last but not least, Bernie Zeldin returned to teaching for Temple Shir Shalom this past year, drawing a large and devoted group to Hebrew lessons in the fall and Yiddish lessons through the spring. Bernie’s group was able to use space in the Temple Annex, allowing a Sunday morning meeting time. His class helped lead a Shabbat service, and several students read a Yiddish “Four Questions” at the Passover Seder. Contact Bernie through the Temple office this summer to coax him into teaching again!