Many classes will be held

WOODBRIDGE — The Center for Jewish Life and Learning will hold its annual Taste of Honey program Jan. 28 and 29 at the Jewish Community Center, 360 Amity Road.
Taste of Honey is designed to provide classes for almost every taste and interest. Offerings range from Rabbi Benjamin Scolnic’s session, “Is the Penn (State Brand) Mightier than the Truth? Judaism and Moral Responsibility”;  a presentation by Yonatan Moss, a post-doctoral fellow at Yale, on “How an Iraqi Bishop Helped Invent Jewish Philosophy: The Newly Discovered Evidence of a Yale Manuscript.”; and Adam Segulah Sher,  program director at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in the Southern Berkshires, will lead a session with Sarah Chandler, associate director for the Adamah Fellowship, on the Jewish spiritual dimensions of eco-consciousness and how it improves other aspects of our lives.
On Jan. 28, Rabbis Alvin Wainhaus of Congregation Or Shalom and Michael Farbman of Temple Emanuel will lead a session celebrating the legacy and music of Debbie Friedman as well as lead the Havdalah service with Friedman’s melodies.
Cost is $18 per participant, or $10 for students and seniors.
Also, Richard Gans and a host of local musicians and local Hebrew school students will perform a free  concert celebrating Friedman’s music at 10 a.m. Sunday.
For more information about the many interesting programs, visit www.jccnh.org or contact Rich Walter at 203-387-2522, ext. 300 or richw@jccnh.org.

Editor's note: All information in this post was contributed in a statement.

The 'casting call is next month

WOODBRIDGE — The Jewish Community Center Fitness Center, 360 Amity Road, is holding its eighth "Largest Loser" competition March 4 to May 13.
All interested participants are required to attend a casting call for the spring 2012 program Feb. 12-14.
The JCC’s program differs from other variations in its focus on an entire lifestyle change. Participants work with personal trainers as well as a registered dietician and fat loss coach. The program includes educational lectures on various aspects of wellness.
Participants are divided into three teams of 10, each with a support team of personal trainers and instructors. Teams meet with their trainers three days per week for workout sessions, which include all areas of the JCC Fitness Department and involve a variety of activities. Fitness focused competitions take place throughout the contest against other teams. Weekly weigh-ins determine individual, as well as team, weight loss. Prizes are awarded in several categories for men and women.
For more about the Largest Loser, contact Susan Donovan at 203-387-2522, ext. 265 or visit www.jccnh.org.  

Editor's note: All information in this post was contributed.

If you are about to be 100 - or are older - you are invited!

WOODBRIDGE — The Agency on Aging of South Central Connecticut will hold its 25th annual Centenarians Luncheon from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. May 4 at the Jewish Community Center, 360 Amity Road.


Everyone who is celebrating their 100th birthday this year, or has already passed this milestone, is invited. It’s free to all centenarians and an escort. There is a small fee for additional family members and friends.

To register, contact Janiss at AASCC by April 27: jfowler@aoapartnerships.com or 203-785-8533. More information about the Agency on Aging can be found at: http://www.aoapartnerships.org/

A Taste of Honey, a social, cultural and educational opportunity to sample Jewish education, will feature William Boughton and Lorri Danzig as speakers Jan. 30 at the Jewish Community Center, 360 Amity Road, Woodbridge.

Boughton, music director and principal conductor of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, will share the depth of his expertise in his talk about "The Life and Times of Gustav Mahler," organizers said in a statement.

"Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian-Bohemian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer, he acted as a bridge between the 19th century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century," the statement said. "While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established beyond question, his own music gained wide popularity only after periods of relative neglect which included a ban on its performance in much of Europe during the Nazi era."

Danzig, of Let it Shine Journeys, will teach about the “The Power of Forgiveness” through the screening of the film of that name, which will be followed by a discussion, the statement said.

"The film, directed by Martin Doblmeier, is a multifaceted documentary analyses the religious and philosophical notion of forgiveness," the statement said.

Political activist Elie Wiesel, the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, spiritual writer Thomas Moore, and Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh debate the potential health-related and psychological effects involved with the process of forgiving, the statement said.

The 17th Annual A Taste of Honey begins on the evening of Jan. 29 and participants may choose from over 45 one-hour classes and workshops designed to stimulate teenage and adult participants of all Judaic background, the statement said. Sunday morning classes offer more in-depth explorations of subjects of interest.

The $18 registration fee covers Saturday and/or Sunday classes. Walk-ins welcome.

 For more information, including a full class listing, log on to http://www.jewishnewhaven.org/ or call 203 387-2424 x300.
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