Experiences

Lunch & Learn Series at the JCC with Union County Clergy

Join us for this free inspirational series where you can learn, engage, and explore meaningful topics with our local spiritual leaders in a warm, welcoming setting. Bring your own lunch or purchase a delicious meal from our Schwartzies Kitchen Café.   

Oy to Joy: Transforming Daily Life the Jewish Way with Rabbi Steven Stern Of Temple Beth O'r/Beth Torah

Wednesday, February 18 • 1:00 - 2:15 p.m. 
This engaging and accessible session explores practical tools, spiritual insights and meaningful traditions that can help us cultivate resilience, gratitude and genuine happiness. Find out how Judaism guides us each moment of the day to find joy in spite of daily challenges.

Between Purim and Passover: The Call of Two Holidays with Rabbi Howard Tilman of Congregation Beth Israel

Wednesday, March 18 • 1:00 - 2:15 p.m.
Separated by only a single month, Purim and Passover offer two very different approaches to joy, identity and communal responsibility. Rabbi Tilman will guide us through a rich discussion on how these holidays contrast, complement and ultimately deepen our understanding of Jewish life and one another.

Midrash – The Stories Behind the Stories with Rabbi Victor Appell of Temple Emanu-El

Wednesday, April 29 • 1:00 - 2:15 p.m.
When the Biblical text is terse and leaves us wanting more, we turn to midrash (Hebrew for interpretation or seeking). Whether written over 1,000 years ago by rabbis steeped in Torah – or by creative modern scholars and writers – midrash offers us an imaginative and sometimes controversial window into the meaning of our most sacred text.

Leaving a Spiritual Legacy – Exploring and Creating a Jewish Ethical Will with Rabbi Emily Losben-Ostrov of Temple Sholom 

Wednesday, May 13 • 1:00 - 2:15 p.m.
As we each think about the future, many of us consider what we want to leave behind. Often this is in the context of our belongings and money, but what about our ethical values, ideals, beliefs and our Jewishness?  Together we will explore the concept of ethical wills and how we can use this traditional Jewish practice with a modern resonance. Examples from the Torah to today, will help guide the discussion about the spiritual legacy we want to share for the future.

Lunch & Learn Registration

Baked by Melissa is back with her new cookbook!

Meet Melissa Ben-Ishay, Author of COME EAT: 100 Nourishing Recipes to Eat Every Day

Tuesday, April 28 • 7:30 p.m.

Melissa Ben-Ishay is back with her highly anticipated new book, COME EAT: 100 Nourishing Recipes to Eat Every Day – a vibrant, flavor-packed collection of delicious, nutritious meals that make it easy to nourish your family every day.

“Food – and the recipes in this book – are all about bringing the people you love most together around the table. It’s about creating time and building connections. [But] after a long day at work, I don’t want to spend hours making dinner, so I’ve mastered the recipes that come together quickly that everyone in my family loves,” writes Melissa.

Packed with stunning photography and colorful, mouthwatering recipes that focus on fresh produce and big flavors, COME EAT features a variety of Melissa’s favorite weekly go-to recipes, from lunch to dinner to dessert – and all the snacks, sides, tips and tricks in between.

With helpful tips and easy-to-follow instructions, Melissa shows you how to easily adapt meals for your family, from breaking down the components of the perfect salad to making soup with ingredients you have on hand. Whether you’re a novice cook eager to gain confidence in the kitchen or a seasoned pro looking to save time and effort, Come Eat makes creating and planning meals easy every day—one perfect bite at a time.

Melissa Ben-Ishay is the New York Times bestselling author of Come Hungry and CEO of Baked by Melissa, a New York-based dessert company known for its bite-size cupcakes. Since 2008, Baked by Melissa has celebrated more than one million birthdays across the country and is recognized nationally for its premium gifts for every occasion. In addition to the cupcake empire, Melissa has built an engaged social community in recent years inspired by her food philosophy: if you get your nourishment from mealtime, you can absolutely indulge in dessert every day.

Price: $35 (includes book), Member Price: $28 (includes book)

Register by April 20; seats are limited!

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This event is part of the Irving and Anne Nevard Sherr Annual Arts & Culture Series - The Stories That Connect Us – a fun and welcoming series of cultural arts programs that bring community together through music, food, film and storytelling. Each event is a chance to share and celebrate the unique traditions and experiences that connect us all.

Mock Mini Mah Jongg Tournament

Monday, May 4 • 6:00 - 9:30 p.m.

Learn • Play • Compete with Confidence 

Try playing Mah Jongg tournament-style - in a comfortable, non-intimidating setting!  Join us for a Mock Mini Mah Jongg Tournament – a fun, educational and supportive evening designed to prepare players for competitive Mah Jongg play in a low-pressure environment.

Led by Linda Rosenson, one of the moderators on the largest mah jongg Facebook groups: “Mah Jongg, That’s It!”

This experience is designed to help participants:

• Understand the structure of a mini-tournament
• Learn and appreciate tournament rules
• Prepare for timed competitive play
• Learn skills and strategies used in tournament settings
• Understand scoring and table rotations
• Reduce fear or anxiety associated with official tournaments
• Participate in a safe learning environment (even if a hand is called dead, the player continues playing)
• Enjoy a fun yet competitive evening where learning is the primary goal

Schedule

Welcome, overview of mini-tournament play, rules, scoring, rotations, and Q&A and dinner! (Please arrive on time!)
6:00-6:30 p.m.

Two 70-minute rounds 
6:30 - 9:00 p.m.

• Four games per round
• Approximately 17-18 minutes per game

Scores tallied and prizes awarded to the top three-four highest scores at the conclusion of play
9:00 - 9:30 p.m.  

Price: $64, Member Price: $54.40

Register by April 24

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