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January 2011

Dear Fellow DJC members,
As I write this, many of you are preparing for your winter holidays, perhaps anticipating celebrations with friends and family. And I'm reflecting on how the Danforth Jewish Circle offers our members a welcoming space to celebrate the Jewish holidays and our spirituality together.

The recent women's retreat was an amazing weekend of song, study and stories. Led by Rabbi Miriam, the retreat focused on helping each woman discover her spiritual voice in a Jewish context. As with previous years' retreats, it created a deep sense of connection and community amongst all who attended.

On a different, but equally community-building note, this year's annual Chanukah party was a smashing success. Rabbi Miriam and Cantor Lisa led us in a lively celebration of the holiday. Many thanks to Larry Nusbaum, who brightened the party with beautiful music as everyone lit the menorah and enjoyed yummy treats. What a wonderful and joyful way to end the year!

And so we look forward to a new year filled with many more celebrations and opportunities to connect with old friends, make new ones, and be a part of our incredible DJC community. Happy holidays and all the best for 2011 to all of you!

Warmly,
Josie Lalonde
Chair, Danforth Jewish Circle

IN HOME SHABBAT VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

It's a relaxed & informal way to get to know community members in a home setting. *If you would like to host an in-home Shabbat please contact Kathy by e-mail: info@djctoronto.com

JANUARY NEWS... AT A GLANCE

DATE	TIME	EVENT/Details	LOCATION
Friday, January 14	7:00 pm	Bethminster Shabbat - THEME: TU B'SHVAT Led by Rabbi Miriam with Cantor Lisa	Eastminster - Auditorium **JACKMAN ST ENTRANCE** Kiddush to follow service Child care provided
Sunday, January 16	2:00-7:00 pm	DJCYG: Grades 8 & 9 Scavenger Hunt: Eaton Centre	See details in news... Rsvp: Mika Gang, e-mail: mika.gang@gmail.com
Saturday, January 22	10:30am-1:30pm	Hebrew Marathon For youth grades 5, 6, 7 & parents welcome	Riverdale Presbyterian: 662 Pape Avenue. Banquet room (basement) Rsvp required, e-mail Nadya Burton: nadya.burton@ryerson.ca
Saturday, January 22	7:30 pm	DJC MOVIE CLUB! DIVIDED WE FALL	19 Playter Blvd., hosts Daphne Woolf, Rex Hagon *Rsvp: Daphne Woolf, 416.461.5600, email: dwoolf@collinbaer.com
Wednesday, January 26	7:30 pm	DJC Reading Circle NATIVE REALM By Czeslaw Milosz	Location to Rsvps only To Rsvp: info@djctoronto.com
Friday, January 28	6:15 pm	DJCYG: Grades 10-12 Eastminster OOTC + discussion/subway/dinner	See details in news... Rsvp: Mika Gang, e-mail: mika.gang@gmail.com
Saturday, January 29	10:30am-1:30pm	Hebrew Marathon For youth grades 5, 6, 7 & parents welcome	Riverdale Presbyterian: 662 Pape Avenue. Banquet room (basement) Rsvp required, e-mail Nadya Burton: nadya.burton@ryerson.ca

STAY TUNED… MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
(More details in February News edition online January 24^th)

• FEBRUARY 11: Bethminster Shabbat LED BY CANTOR LISA
• FEBRUARY: In-Home Shabbat TBD

JANUARY SHABBAT SERVICE

BETHMINSTER SHABBAT

Led by Rabbi Miriam with Cantor Lisa
THEME: TU B'SHVAT

Eastminster: 310 Danforth Avenue - Auditorium
When: Friday, January 14
Time: 7:00 PM

*Free childcare; Dessert Kiddush following services
*Please use Jackman St. Entrance; Hurndale entrance is closed *

JANUARY EVENT DETAILS

DJCYG

*For grades 8 & 9

Jan. 16^th: Join us for a scavenger hunt around the Eaton Centre. We'll meet at the South East corner of Dundas and University. We'll explore the history of the Eaton Centre, and the concept of a place where we exist solely as consumers- where else do we see this trend? Meeting at 2pm we'll have a fast paced scavenger hunt where groups will interact with other people at the Eaton Centre, and get to check out a ton of interesting parts of the mall. After this activity everyone will have some time to wander, indulge and observe in the Eaton Centre and we'll meet up again for dinner in the mall. This event will end at 7pm and everyone should bring at least $10 for dinner!
Please Rsvp by Jan. 9^th if you'll be coming.

Details at a glance...

*For grades 10, 11, 12

Jan. 28^th: Volunteering at Eastminster's OOTC (Out of the Cold) begins at 6:15pm, following this activity we'll be discussing the debate on homelessness, different perspectives on causation and responses. We'll learn a bit about Guerilla theatre and the art of public engagement and ride the subway while doing some of our own Guerilla Theatre! Bring money for dinner (which we'll go for after volunteering) and bus fare! The night will end around 10:00 pm.
*Please Rsvp by Jan. 21^st if you will be coming.

Details at a glance...

MESSAGE FROM DJC JEWISH STUDIES PRINCIPAL

Hello everyone!

We have had an amazing first term at the JS School.  We have focused on our sense of community as a school, by building a repertoire of songs, having classes lead activities for the rest of the school, and coming together as a group for activities and celebrations.  We recently had our very first school/community Chanukah celebration, in which the students made beautiful art, learned to play dreidel, and the older students presented a wonderful short play for the younger classes.

This was followed by a community celebration led by Rabbi Miriam and Cantor Lisa with guitar music by Larry Nusbaum, in which we lit our channukiahs and sang together. We then enjoyed delicious Chanukah foods!

We are already looking forward to next term's activities!

I hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing December break.

Alysse

**THANKS FOR YOUR DONATIONS**

We'd like to extend a big thank you to everyone who donated toys for our Toy Drive at the Chanukah party. We collected 2 very large bags of toys which were delivered to the June Callwood Centre for Women and Families (formerly known as Jessie's Centre). They are having a Holiday party this week so the generous donations were very welcomed & appreciated!

For more information about June's Centre, visit the website: junecallwoodcentre.org

MOVIE NIGHT! DJC STYLE...
DIVIDED WE FALL
A World War II Czech film that is both heart warming and funny; nominated for best foreign film in 2001.... and highly recommend by our own Emil Sher!

WHEN: SATURDAY, JANUARY 22 @ 7:30 PM
WHERE: 19 Playter Blvd (home of Daphne Woolf, Rex Hagon & family)
WHAT TO BRING: Your favourite snack!

*Rsvp: Daphne Woolf
416.461.5600
dwoolf@collinbaer.com

DIRECTIONS to 19 Playter Blvd.:
By subway:
Go to Chester Station.
Walk out of the station. Turn left and turn left again to go down a lane-way that runs beside the subway building. Turn right onto Jackman Avenue. Turn left onto Playter Crescent.
Turn right onto Playter Blvd ... we are the 3rd house on the right (beige).
The walk from the subway will take 5 minutes.
By car:
Go east on Danforth, past Broadview.
Turn left at the first lights - Playter Blvd.
Go to the end of the street (2nd stop street).
Turn right onto Playter Crescent.
After about 50 feet, you will reach a fork in the road.
Take the left side of the fork - this gets you back onto Playter Blvd.
We are the 3rd house on the right (beige).
416.469.1300 ... in the event you get lost.

LEARN TO READ HEBREW IN 6 HOURS!!!

As part of the DJC Children's Jewish Studies curriculum for the grade 5, 6 and 7 classes this year, we are offering a 6-hour "Hebrew Marathon" taught by Nirit Gruber. This is a great opportunity for you to learn to read Hebrew and to launch any further Hebrew study you may be doing in preparation for bar/bat mitzvah - or just for the pleasure of learning the language.
We'd like to extend an invitation as well to all youth (school grades 5, 6, & 7) in the DJC community & parents are welcome too!

The program is free for all JS students in the final three years of the program & a $25 fee for non-JS program families for each session. The program works especially well when kids and parents attend together - and so we encourage students to attend with their parents (who also can participate at no cost).

DJC READING CIRCLE: JANUARY SESSION
(To Rsvp, e-mail: info@djctoronto.com)

Wednesday, January 26, 2011
NATIVE REALM, BY CZESLAW MILOSZ
FACILITATED BY KALMAN WEISER

Czeslaw Milosz, winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize for Literature, lived through many of the upheavals that defined the first half of the twentieth century. In Native Realm, his compelling memoir of his early life, the author sketches his moral and intellectual history from childhood to the early fifties, providing the reader a glimpse of a way of life radically different from anything a North American or Western European could know. Using events in his life as a starting point, Native Realm sets out to explore the consciousness of a writer and a man, examining the possibilities of finding glimmers of meaning in the midst of chaos, while remaining true to oneself. This book is an attempt to share those experiences, to give insight into a shadowy corner of the world and the lessons it holds. "Powerful…Native Realm is a sinewy, joyful book." (Newsweek)

Kalman Weiser is the Silber Family Professor of Modern Jewish Studies at York University. He is the author of "Jewish People, Yiddish Nation: Noah Prylucki and the Folkists in Poland", and co-editor of "Czernowitz at 100: The First Yiddish Language in Historical Perspective".

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT - MAZEL TOV!

"Ryan and I are pleased to announce the arrival of our daughter, Adelaide Bea Kluger Merkley. She was born on November 23 at Mount Sinai Hospital and weighed in at 7lbs, 9oz. Ryan and I are super excited about our baby girl and are adjusting to our role as new parents. We couldn't have asked for a better Chanukah present!"

- DJC members Ryan Merkley & Melissa Kluger

COMMUNITY NEWS

Dear friends and fans!

I hope you can make my debut at Mezzetta Café Restaurant with guitarist Ted Quinlan fresh from his New York City sabbatical!

Wednesday December 15, 9-11 PM
681 St. Clair Avenue West (at Christie)
Tel: 416.658.5687
mezzettarestaurant.com
Cover: $7 (reservations recommended)

Mezzetta is an intimate, cozy, concert environment with excellent, moderately priced Mediterranean food!

Hope you can make it!
Lara Solnicki
www.larasolnicki.com

JEWISH PATHS INTO UNDERSTANDING ILLNESS AND HEALING
*Taught by Rabbi Miriam Margles*
At the Miles Nadal JCC

Wednesdays, 7:30 - 9:30 PM, February 2011
(4 sessions), Feb 2, 9, 16 & 23
The experience of illness and the process of healing touch us all, body and soul, and Jewish tradition has a rich store of responses to physical suffering. Explore Biblical and Talmudic teachings about pain, comfort and resilience through creative, embodied text study – a dynamic method of learning that combines movement, writing and storytelling exercises with the study of traditional Jewish texts and images. Join us as we bring the texts to life and bring our lives and experiences into vibrant conversation with the texts.
For more information contact Kolel @ 416.638.1881 www.kolel.org

Interested in a trip to Israel in 2012?  I am!  I'm not sure of any of the details at this point and am completely open to suggestions.  Please contact me - Sara Novak- at saranoh@rogers.com

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