Special Events

Events in April

Opening Reception: From Under a Rock? with artist Jean Fawver - CANCELLED

Join us for an evening of festivities celebrating the opening of Jean Fawver?s exhibit From Under a Rock. Showcasing recent paintings inspired by Armadillidium vulgare ("pill bugs") and world events, Ms Fawver?s vivid and imaginative art is sure to provide you with a new perspective. Ms. Fawver is a graduate of the prestigious California College of the Arts (formerly the California College of Arts and Crafts) and a BRJCC staff member.

Thursday, April 20, 5:30-8:30 pm
FREE

Not Me by Michael Lavigne

What would you do if you found out that your father had been hiding a terrible secret his entire life and ultimately, living a lie? In Michael Lavigne?s debut novel, he carves a new portal into the depthless mystery of the Holocaust, writing insightfully and imaginatively about the survival instinct and the thorny love between fathers and sons.

Monday, April 24, 7:30 pm
FREE
Co-sponsored with Black Oak Books and Café Europa

? For more information or to register call x132 or

New to DVD!: Film and Interactive Discussion Series

Did you miss a movie while it was playing in the theater and would love a second chance to view it with a friendly group? Or have you recently seen a film you?d like to see again. Then don?t pass up this opportunity to see the film, share your insights and opinions in a lively facilitated group led by George Porter. Light refreshments.

April 26: The Constant Gardener
May 3: The Squid and the Whale
May 17: Capote
May 31: June Bug
June 7: Syriana
June 21: You and Me and Everybody We Know

(films subject to change without notice, please call to confirm)

April 26, May 3, May 17, 31, June 7, June 21, 7:00-10:00 pm
Suggested donation: $3 for seniors and BRJCC members, $5 public

? For more information or to register call x132 or

Kabbalah of Creation: The Mysticism of Isaac Luria, Founder of Modern Kabbalah, translation and commentary by Rabbi Eliyahu Klein

Poetic, erotic renditions of all the human biological processes, including love making, conception, birth, maturation, and death, in a cosmic octave and mystical perspective.
Come schmooze with the authors! Books for sale. Light refreshments provided.

Wednesday, April 26, 7:30 pm
$10-$20 sliding scale, to benefit The Aquarian Minyan
Cosponsored with The Aquarian Minyan

? For more information call or or www.www.aquarianminyan.org

Dancing With Wonder: Self-Discovery Through Stories with Nancy King and Susan Felix

Bring your creativity and sense of humor to this lively and innovative story-making workshop, where all stories have a safe place. Using traditional world stories to make new stories we will explore our creativity, imagination, spirituality and curiosity to connect inner life with outer expression. This interactive workshop, based on Nancy King?s fascinating book Dancing With Wonder: Self-Discovery Through Stories, is perfect for those who want to hear, make and tell stories.
Nancy King, Ph.D, .who lives in Santa Fe, writes, weaves, and teaches workshops in the US and abroad.
Susan Duhan Felix is an internationally exhibited artist who lives in but seldom teaches in Berkeley.

Thursday, April 27, 7:30 pm
Fee: $5

? To reserve space call Andrea Mok x132 or

The Creative Dialogue: Jewish Women?s Voices in Prose and Poetry - A Conversation and Reading with Chana Bloch and Elizabeth Rosner

Celebrate the poetic voices of Chana Bloch and Elizabeth Rosner in a special program exploring the relationship between Jewish identity and writing. We will visit the landscape where prose and poetry meet, and discuss the influences of gender, history and silence on the creative process.

Sunday, April 30, 10:30 am ? Brunch and Program
Fee: $5, includes brunch
Co-sponsored with Mills College, Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union, Congregation Beth El, Kehilla Community Synagogue ,Café Europa Black Oak Books
Funded by Koret Foundation Funds,The Jewish Community Foundation and the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay, Emily L. Blanck and Daniel G. Weiss, Eva Lokey, Ilene Weinrib, Alan and Susan Rothernberg, Morton and Amy Rothschild Friedkin

? Please RSVP to Andrea Mok at x132 or

Events in May

The Secret Way to War by Mark Danner

Danner?s findings illustrate that the Bush and Blair administrations advocated weapons inspections teams as a means to ensure war, rather than to avoid it. Most importantly, Danner argues that despite such clear evidence of deception, the press, public, and Congress still have not held the administration responsible. Danner is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books. The preface is by New York Times columnist Frank Rich.
?Danner was among the first to separate the threads of reality from the Alice-in-Wonderland fantasies the American government and its well-oiled propaganda machinery would have us believe. No other writer has done it with remotely his precision and deadpan wit.? ? Frank Rich, columnist, The New York Times

Wednesday, May 3, 7:30 pm
Tickets: $10 advance, $12 door. (no one turned away at door).
Available at independent bookstores: Black Oak Books; Cody?s Books (both East Bay stores); Pegasus Books (both stores); Pendragon; DIESEL, A Bookstore; Global Exchange Store (College Ave.)
Phone order:
Benefits Global Exchange. Cosponsored with Black Oak Books and Global Exchange

? For more information call x132 or www.blackoakbooks.com

Suitcase Sefton and the American Dream by Jay Feldman

Mac "Suitcase" Sefton is a scout for the New York Yankees, who discovers a left-handed pitcher in a Japanese-American internment camp in the Arizona desert during World War II. His contact with the pitcher, the pitcher's family, and other internees inevitably leads to a culture clash, causing Sefton to confront his own life and values. Through the filter of baseball, the book addresses issues of personal integrity, racism, internment, and American values and dreams.

Thursday, May 4, 7:30 pm
FREE
Held at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709
Co-sponsored with Black Oak Books

? For more information call or www.blackoakbooks.com

BRJCC Preschool Auction

An evening of FUN at the Berkeley Richmond JCC. Tapas by Café de la Paz, open wine bar. Entertainment and live auction by award-winning comedian Betsy Salkind.
Some of the items are: One week ski vacation in Montana; Gift certificates from local restaurants; Designer clothing and jewelry; Baseball tickets
Yoga, massage and beauty treatments; and lots, lots more.

Saturday May 6, 6?10 p.m.
Tickets $25 for two; $15 for one
Available for purchase at the JCC or sSend your check payable to BRJCC Preschool Auction, attn: Sima Zeiger, Preschool Director
All proceeds to benefit the BRJCC Preschool Scholarship Fund

? For more information contact Ishtar Peeler x110.

War Orphan in San Francisco: Letters Link a Family Scattered by World War II by author Phyllis Mattson

In 1940, as a result of Hitler?s plans to eradicate Jews, 10 year old Lizzi left Vienna by joining a transport of children seeking refuge in America. Two weeks later she began her new life in San Francisco getting a new name , Phyllis, and having to learn a new language. Her family is scattered on three continents, but linked by letters. Phyllis Mattson?s moving memoir is a coming of age story told through family letters.

Sunday, May 7, 2:00 pm
FREE
Co-sponsored with Café Europa

? For more information or to register call x132 or

Cost of War: The Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq

Dr. Jeff Ritterman, of Physicians for Social Responsibility, has worked to put a human face on tragedies across the globe for the past 25 years. In this timely presentation he will discuss the health effects of the war on Iraqi citizens, medical complicity in interrogations at Abu Ghraib, medical care for the US wounded and the public health consequences of the war. Dr. Ritterman is Chief of cardiology at Kaiser Richmond.

Thursday, May 11, 7:30 pm
Fee: $5 donation

? For more information call x110 or

Conned: How Millions Went to Prison, Lost the Vote, and Helped Send George W. Bush to the White House by Sasha Abramsky

More than 4 million Americans, mainly poor, black, and Latino, have lost the right to vote, the most basic right of a democracy. Felony disenfranchisement laws remove the vote from people who are in prison or on parole, and, in several states, for the rest of their lives. Award-winning journalist Sasha Abramsky takes us on a journey from the Pacific Northwest to Miami, detailing the revival of laws that originated in the post?Civil War segregationist South. Abramsky shows how this growing problem has played a decisive role in elections nationwide ? including the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.

Tuesday, May 16, 7:30 pm
FREE
Held at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709
Co-sponsored with Black Oak Books

? For more information call or www.blackoakbooks.com

Eat, Drink, and Weigh Less: A Flexible and Delicious Way to Shrink Your Waist Without Going Hungry, by Mollie Katzen and Dr. Walter C. Willett

Berkeley?s beloved mega-bestselling cookbook author Mollie Katzen teams up with Dr. Walter C. Willett, the head of Harvard School of Public Health?s Department of Nutrition to offer this medically sound, extremely effective program. People can lose weight by adding delicious, easy-to-prepare foods to their diet and making simple changes in what they eat throughout the day using this easy plan with fail-safe results. Reception at Berkeley Vintage Wines on Vine St following event. Co-sponsored with Black Oak Books

Sunday, May 21, 7:30 pm
FREE
Held at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709
Co-sponsored with Black Oak Books

? For more information call or www.blackoakbooks.com

The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, translation and commentary by Daniel C. Matt

Daniel C. Matt, one of the world?s foremost authorities on Jewish mysticism, spent the past four years in Jerusalem completing the first phase of this immense project: a 12-volume, annotated English translation of the Zohar. Come schmooze with the authors! Books for sale. Light refreshments provided.

Wednesday, May 24, 7:30 pm
$10-$20 sliding scale, to benefit The Aquarian Minyan
Cosponsored with The Aquarian Minyan

? For more information call or or www.www.aquarianminyan.org

In Harms Way: Toxic Threats

Join Dr. Brian Linde of Kaiser Oakland and Physicians for Social Responsibility for a timely overview of environmental toxins and their relationship to children's health and development

Wednesday, May 24, 7:30 pm
FREE

? For more information call Ruth Phillips at x127 or

An Evening with Father Michael Hensley Lapsley

Father Michael Lapsley is an internationally known anti-apartheid activist from Cape Town, South Africa. In April of 1990, Michael lost both hands and an eye when he opened a letter bomb. His own healing process served as an inspiration for the creation of the Institute for the Healing of Memories. Tikkun Olam echoes in the Institute?s commitment to the healing journey of individuals, communities and nations, doing trauma work that is group-based, culturally sensitive, and uses expressive arts and rituals. Join us for a fascinating evening!

Thursday, May 25, 7:30 pm
Suggested donation: $10-$20
Co-sponsored with Black Oak Books

? For more information call Jerry Diller or

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