Tikkun Le'il Shavuot: The Masks We Wear

Join teachers from around the community for a late-night study to celebrate the gift of Torah!

Community Tikun Leil Shavuot Schedule & Offerings

Saturday, June 4 | Beginning at 7:30 pm | Beth David Synagogue

Welcome | 7:30 - 7:45 pm

Round 1 Study Sessions

7:45-8:30 pm

Yudit Natkin: Life's a "maskerade" or maybe not!

We will discuss the idea of the mask in the Torah and in the Jewish tradition - does it exist and what are the ideas behind it?

Anne Parsons and Yael Dinur: “Male and female, [G-d] created them:” Exploring TransTexts

The Jewish community has been blessed with increased transgender visibility. In this session, we will study Genesis 1:27 in hevruta pairs and as a large group. We will discuss how transgender practices and people have long been a part of Jewish culture and society and how we can make the Greensboro Jewish community more welcoming toward LGBTQIA people.

Marion Ruderman: Jewish Practices that Build Resilience

Resilience enables recovery from life’s setbacks and disruptions. In this session, Marian Ruderman, author of Resilience That Works: Eight Practices for Leadership and Life, will share how Jewish rituals and values support the latest practices for cultivating resilience.

Snack break | 8:30 - 8:45 pm

Round 2 Study Sessions

8:45-9:30 pm

Rabbi Joshua Ben-Gideon: A Mask of Virtue?!

Would you like to round up your purchase today? The “Pink Ribbon” on a box of cereal. Acts of contrition to shape public opinion. Do public acts that signal virtue have a positive impact on our society? Looking to the wisdom of our tradition for help in answering this question, we will learn and discuss a short section of the Babylonian Talmud, Masechet Sota, which begins…”There are seven types of virtuous people who erode the world..”

Rabbi Libby Fisher: Unmasking Our True Identities: Assimilation and the Joseph Story

We often look to Joseph as not only a man with fabulous style but also as one of our people's saviors during the famine in Egypt and Canaan. But Joseph's experience with assimilation in Egypt can also lend insight into our own lives today. Join me as we "unmask" Joseph's identity in order to better understand our own!

Rabbi Andy Koren: Starting on Page 2 and other lessons from a page of Talmud

It takes roughly seven years to go through the entire Talmud at the pace of one folio page (front/back) a day. What might we learn from just the first page of the Talmud's volume on Purim, a holiday when we wear masks and things aren't what they seem to be? How might these lessons inform who we really are as Jews in the modern world?

Ma’ariv, Yom Tov Candlelighting, Kiddush, Snacks | 9:30 - 10:00 pm

Salon Sessions at the Ben-Gideon Home

Beginning by 10:15 pm

Anschel Weiss: The Presentation of Ourselves in Everyday Life..

Who are we without our masks? How would you want people to recognize you? Who is the real-valued core behind your mask? Is there a difference? Exploring the world of Midot.

Rabbi Rebecca Ben-Gideon: "Mi Anochi?" "Who Am I?" Moses, Identity, and Moral Courage

What parts of ourselves do we hide even from ourselves? And how might that hold us back from living courageously? We will explore these questions through the story of Moshe's awakening to his inner moral outrage, his Israelite identity, and his capacity to lead.

Jason Cathcart: Pretending to be okay

We all have times when we are scared or sad and try our best to push through. We’ll look at a few times in the Tanakh when our ancestors did their best to forge ahead. They may mask their pain and sorrow, but it is still evident.