Summer Classes at Bonai Shalom

Are you looking for something interesting to do this summer? Congregation Bonai Shalom is offering two classes for your enjoyment:

Classical Music Appreciation With an Emphasis on Jewish Composers

This five-session class will teach the classical music lover how to listen to your favorite classical works with a greater level of understanding.  During the first two classes, periods of music will be discussed in broad terms, focusing on development and stylistic changes through the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras.  Specific forms the great composers used will be explained along with some basic theory.  Knowing these things will help you to become a more active listener as it deepens your appreciation of some of the greatest music ever written.  Then, specific Jewish composers will be discussed in detail.  You will have the chance to not only learn about their works, but about the social circumstances in which they composed and how their religion and the politics of the time impacted the music.  Each class will be 90 minutes long and will include lecture, discussion, guided listening, and even a few live performances. Five Tuesday nights  July 6 – Aug 10  (with the exception of July 20)  from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm.  The cost is $12 a class or $54 for the series for Bonai Shalom members; $15 a class or $72 for the series for non-members.

Instructor Jason Rosenholtz-Witt, a double bassist who has been playing for 15 years, will teach this class.  He received a degree in Music Performance from the University of Northern Colorado in 2005.  Currently, Mr. Rosenholtz-Witt is working on a Master’s degree in Music Performance at Colorado State University where he is a graduate teaching assistant.  Other teaching experience includes maintaining a private bass studio in Ft. Collins, and four years teaching English and Music Appreciation in Hiroshima, Japan.  Mr. Rosenholtz-Witt has performed with the Ft. Collins Symphony, Greeley Philharmonic, Cheyenne Symphony, and Steamboat Springs Orchestra.

It’s All Just Talk (really!): Ethical Jewish Responsibility

If you’ve been wondering what you can be doing in the face of difficult world events (ongoing wars, the Gulf Oil spill, changing economy), you’re not alone. Preeminent Jewish scholar Emmanual Levinas’ lifework explored the Jewish notion of radical responsibility — the foundation of much of our text and practice that begins with speaking to another human being face to face. Join us for a two-part participatory immersion in the holy act of seeing, and speaking, to one another as the launching pad for an authentic, yiddishe engagement with the world that begins exactly where you are. We’ll read Levinas, and discuss amongst ourselves.

  Two sessions, July 25 and August 1, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, and desert will be provided.  The cost is$10 a class or $18 for the series for Bonai members, and $13 a class or $26 for the series

 for non-members.

Instructor Sue Salinger, MFA, is finishing her dissertation on Levinas as part of her PhD work in media and communication philosophy at the European Graduate School 
in Saas Fee, Switzerland. A long-time member of Boulder’s Nevei Kodesh renewal community, Salinger studied with Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. Sue is currently a visiting assistant professor in communication philosophy and media production
 at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.

To sign up for summer classes at Bonai Shalom contact Charna Rosenholtz, charnarose@aol.com or 303-955-4232.