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September 27, 2002/Tishri 21 5763, Vol. 55, No. 5
Temple Chai hosts national intro to Judaism
BARRY COHEN
Editor
Temple Chai will serve as the host congregation for a national multi-week introduction to Judaism course in the fall. The course, created by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the national umbrella of the Reform Jewish movement, begins Wednesday, Oct. 9, and lasts 18 weeks.
"This will be a comprehensive introduction to Judaism," said Rabbi Peter Levi of Temple Chai and local co-coordinator of the course. The other coordinator is Bethany Friedlander, Temple Chai's assistant director of Jewish education.
Subject matter includes holidays, life cycle events, history, theology, Israel and Jewish peoplehood.
The classes are geared toward adults who grew up without Jewish learning, who dropped out after their bar or bat mitzvah, who are not Jewish and want to learn about the religion or who want to convert, said Levi.
A goal of the course is to provide national standardized levels of Jewish proficiency for Jews, non-Jews and prospective converts, he said.
Tuition for the course is $325 per couple, which includes $120 in required books. For dues-paying members of a UAHC affiliated congregation, the tuition is $250 per couple.
"We hope that the program will be supported by the Reform community," said Levi.
Opportunities exist for local Reform rabbis to teach the Wednesday evening sessions.
In addition, Levi said while he wants rabbis to refer prospective converts to take the course, he hopes the rabbis will remain their sponsors, providing counseling through the conversion process.
Along with class sessions, the UAHC Introduction to Judaism class includes two "Shabbat experiences," each with a Sabbath dinner, evening and morning worship and an afternoon lunch.
Temple Chai was chosen to be the local host congregation because Levi helped develop and implement the curriculum when he attended the New York and Los Angeles campuses of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the Reform movement's seminary, and when he served Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, he explained.
Levi hopes class sessions will move from Temple Chai to the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus.
"Moving classes to a neutral site may make them less threatening" than having adults attend sessions at a synagogue, Levi explained.
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