January 8, 2012, Community Work Day

January 15, 2012, Pre-K - 7th grade and Post-Mitzvah classes
Adult ed: Martin Luther King Day Program: The Muslim Experience in America Post-9/11. One of the great legacies of the civil rights movement was that all Americans, regardless of the tenor of the times, are guaranteed their rights under the Constitution. Consequently, Beth Chai has been honoring Martin Luther King Day by presenting representatives of various groups to tell us of their goals and struggles. This year, we will examine the experience of Muslims in post-September 11, 2001 American society. Our host and moderator will be Beth Chai's own Karim Chaibi, scholar, author, and proud native of Tunisia, birthplace of the Arab Spring. Our guest speaker is Humera Khan, executive director of Muflehun, a think-tank specializing in preventing radicalization and countering home-grown violent extremism in the American Muslim community. Ms. Kahn holds technology, nuclear engineering, and art & design degrees from M.I.T., as well as a Masters in Islamic Studies from the Washington Theological Consortium.

January 22, 2012, Pre-K - 7th grade classes
Adult ed: The Hebrew Bible and the U.S. Legal System. Principles of Jewish law were explicitly taken into account at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, and it was far from the first time that the Torah had impacted legal and political thinking in the American Colonies. Sherman Cohn, professor of law at Georgetown University and a past president of the Jewish Law Association, will sketch for us the history of the Jewish legal tradition's influence on that of the United States, pointing out where this influence is still to be seen in American statute, procedure, and jurisprudence.

January 29, 2011, Pre-K - 7th grade classes
Adult ed: TBA.

Note: We collect nonperishable food items for charity every week we meet.