Join Reb Irwin and Beit Midrash Dean Barbara Lesch McCaffry for a lovely Shavuot afternoon celebrating the poetry of our people.

Barbara will lead us in an exploration of Marge Piercy’s seasonal poem, “The Book of Ruth and Naomi.” Seasonal, because the story of Ruth is, of course, the companion text for the holiday of Shavuot.

Reb Irwin will then draw us back a thousand years to look at the unusual piyyut, or prayer-poem, for Shavuot, called Akdamut Milin. Weighing in at 90 lines, it is only recited on Shavuot morning. We will explore its theology, its stunning imagery, and its clever tricks of language. You can preview the poem if you wish by clicking here.

This event is outdoors and in person only. Cheesecake and cheese bourekas will be available for our noshing pleasure. [Please sign up below so we know how much cheesecake to have!]

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Barbara Lesch McCaffry, Ph.D,  has been exploring and untangling the work of contemporary feminist writers and poets since her days as an undergraduate student and it remains a passion. She taught in Sonoma State's interdisciplinary program, the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies, as well as in the Departments of English, American Multicultural Studies, Global Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies. Since 2000, she has also been actively involved in Holocaust and genocide education. She is currently the dean of Ner Shalom’s Beit Midrash: Lifelong Jewish Learning.

Rabbi Irwin Keller has served Sonoma County’s Congregation Ner Shalom since 2008. He is a founder and faculty member of the Taproot Community, offering Jewish activists a path for deepening in Jewish practice (taprootcommunity.org). He is an LGBTQI rights activist, and authored Chicago’s gay rights law, in force since 1989. He was a founder and, for 21 years, a performer with the Kinsey Sicks, America’s Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet. He is ordained by the ALEPH Alliance for Jewish Renewal, in the lineage of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. Reb Irwin blogs at irwinkeller.com.