Community Events
Events listed here are hosted by our community partners and are not sponsored by Temple Israel unless noted.
We encourage you to reach out directly to the event organizers with any questions.
TC Jewfolk: 2026/5786 Passover Seder Matching
Complete Form by Friday, March 13, 2026
Have a seat or need a seat for Passover Seder?
TC Jewfolk’s Holiday Matching forms are open now! Sign up as a guest or host for Passover 2026. Form deadline is March 13. Hosts and attendees will be notified of any matches by March 19.
Twice a year, TC Jewfolk brings community members together for meaningful holiday experiences through table matching. Whether you’re looking for a Passover Seder or a High Holiday meal to attend—or you have room at your table to host—our holiday meal matchmakers are here to help!
Celebrate the holidays with connection, tradition, and a welcoming seat at the table.
Powerful Tools for Caregivers: Adults with Chronic Illness
Tuesdays, 10:00–11:30 a.m., February 2 to March 10
Minnesota JCC Sabes Center, 4330 Cedar Lake Road South, Minneapolis
$15, Register for Powerful Tools for Caregivers.
No one will be turned away due to inability to pay.
Limited to 10 participants.
If you have picked up a prescription, brought over dinner, given a ride to the doctor, taken care of an errand or made decisions big or small on behalf of a senior, you are a caregiver. The class is designed to provide you with a wealth of self-care tools that will help you take care of yourself while taking care of others. You will learn to reduce stress, improve your self-confidence, bring more balance to your life, better communicate your feelings, and increase your ability to make tough decisions. The class is open to people from the Jewish and broader community.
Facilitated by Lindsay Kant, LICSW and Jennifer Koontz, M.S.
Register online or call 952-542-4819.
PJ Library Jewish Pregnancy Series
Tuesdays, March 10, March 24, & April 14, 7:00-8:15 p.m.
JFCS, 5905 Golden Valley Rd, Golden Valley
Free, Register for Jewish Pregnancy Series.
If your family is expecting a new Jewish baby soon, join one or all of PJ Library’s Jewish Pregnancy Series events this spring. At this “Customs & Crafting” gathering, we will explore Jewish rituals and traditions around pregnancy and birth. Create your own Jewish protection amulets through beading and/or collage. Meet other expecting parents — your future “village” — with plenty of time for snacks and schmoozing!
This event is open to pregnant people and, optionally, their partners, in the Jewish community. First-time and seasoned parents are welcome. There is no “wrong” way to be Jewish here – the PJ Library community represents all levels of Jewish observance, all denominations, all or no synagogue affiliations, all genders and sexualities, and all multifaith families.
Thank you to our Community Partners: Bet Shalom Yeladim Preschool, Beth El Aleph Preschool, Gan Shelanu Adath Jeshurun Congregation Preschool, HaLev Early Childhood at the J, and Jewish Beginnings.
Connection in Recovery: A Facilitated Drop-In Support Group
Wednesdays, 6:30–8:00 p.m., January 21, 28; February 4, 11, 18; March 4, 11, 18
JFCS, 5905 Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley
Free, though registration for Connection in Recovery is encouraged.
This is a facilitated drop-in support group rooted in Jewish values of healing, dignity and hope for adults impacted by addiction of any kind—personally or through a loved one or family member.
If you or a loved one is impacted by addiction, you are invited to join our new eight-week support group at Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Minnesota (JFCS). Rooted in Jewish values—reflection without shame, dignity for every person, care for the body, connection in community, forgiveness, and hope—this group provides a safe, supportive, and compassionate space for healing, learning, and connection. All are welcome, regardless of religious background or identity. JFCS is Here for all. Always
Sessions begin on Jan. 21 and continue Jan. 28, Feb. 4, Feb. 11, Feb. 18, March 4, March 11 and March 18.
Note: There will not be a meeting on Feb. 25; please attend the Raising Awareness, Reducing Harm: Understanding Today’s Drug Trends addiction and recovery event that evening. Low and no-cost options are available for the event.
Cost: Free of charge. Pre-registration encouraged and drop-ins welcome. Donations are welcome and will help support JFCS Addiction and Recovery Services.
What Do I Believe: Identifying Our Core Value with speaker Judith Kahn
Wednesday, March 11, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
JFCS, 5905 Golden Valley Rd, Golden Valley
Register for What Do I Believe.
Registration is required before the event, and pre-work will be sent one week prior.
Please join Women Connect & Next Chapter for an event with Judith Kahn, Interim Director of NCJW MN for an interactive workshop identifying our core values.
Personal values are fundamental to our identity, shaping how we perceive the world and interact with it. Values provide a sense of stability, allowing you to remain grounded even amidst difficult times.
This is a suggested two-part event; however, attending part two is not required! During part one on March 11, participants will have the opportunity to identify the core values that can serve as guideposts in our lives. Participants will be invited to do some reflection in advance. Part two is where Judith will be available to assess our results and progress in person!
Part two date to be determined on or shortly after the evening of March 11.
Join with other women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s to build community and form connections. Together we will learn, grow, and find belonging. We look forward to a meaningful evening together!
JCC: Social Action Day. Film and Poster-Making
Sunday, March 15, 12:00 noon-3:00 p.m.
JCC Capp Center, 1375 St. Paul Ave. St Paul
Free, register for Social Action Day.
Come watch Never Rarely Sometimes Always, a powerful film that illuminates the challenges and struggles connected with abortion access while celebrating friendship and sisterhood.
After the film, we'll make posters for the Reproductive Lobby Day on March 23rd, at the Capitol, and write postcards that support abortion providers.
This is a chance to connect and build community with others who deeply care about reproductive justice as we prepare to stand together at the State Capitol.
We hope you can join us! Come as you are, bring your friends, and be a part of the action. Snacks provided!
Donations encouraged.
Center for Jewish Studies
A Jewish Language for All Occasions: Ladino Culture and Its Innovations
Tuesday, March 17, 7:30 p.m.
Minnesota JCC Sabes Center, 4330 Cedar Lake Road South, Minneapolis
Register for A Jewish Language for All Occasions.
This event is free and open to the public. Please plan to arrive early at the JCC to allow time to go through JCC security. The JCC requires a driver's license or other government-issued photo ID.
While Yiddish expressions pepper American English and great Yiddish novels are celebrated still today, comparatively little is known about Ladino and the cultural world it shaped from 1492 until World War II in the lands of the former Ottoman Empire. While spoken today by relatively few people in the United States, Europe, and Israel, Ladino (also known as Judezmo and Judeo-Spanish) melded Jewish, Iberian, and eastern Mediterranean cultures to produce a new and vibrant language that permeated every aspect of Jewish life in Greece, Turkey and the Balkans. This lecture delves into the defining features of the Ladino language as a source of Sephardic resilience and adaptation after the expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula through the creation of serious and humorous Ladino folk culture, and the production of key works of Ladino literature, both religious and secular.
Devin E. Naar is an associate professor of History and Jewish Studies and chair of the Sephardic Studies Program at the University of Washington in Seattle. His first book, published by Stanford University Press, Jewish Salonica: Between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece, won a 2016 National Jewish Book Award and the prize for best book from the Modern Greek Studies Association. His current book project explores the history of Sephardic Jews from the Ottoman Empire in the United States during the twentieth century.
Co-sponsors: Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies, Department of History, Department of Spanish & Portuguese Studies, Institute for Global Studies, Institute of Linguistics, Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies at the University of St. Thomas.
For the benefit of those who cannot attend, each Community Lecture is recorded. Please allow two weeks for the most recent lecture to be uploaded. Videos may be viewed at: youtube.com/user/JWSTumn/videos
Engage!, the Twin Cities’ Annual Gathering of Jewish Learning, Contemplation, and Creative Expression
Sunday, March 22, 7:00 p.m.
JCC Capp Center, 1375 St Paul Ave, St. Paul
Jewfolk, Inc.’s FolkLab and Talmud Torah of St. Paul are delighted to announce the return of Engage!
Our 2026 theme — AREVUT: Interconnectedness and Mutual/Shared Responsibility — invites Jews of all affiliations, backgrounds, and interests to join an afternoon of meaningful Jewish study, reflection, and creative practice—all in community.
View the schedule of events and learn more about this year’s sessions and facilitators and register by February 17th for Early Bird pricing.
Can’t make it this year? Check out FolkLab’s ongoing classes and upcoming programs.
Center for Jewish Studies
What Did People Talk About in the Warsaw Ghetto? Yiddish Words of the Holocaust
Wednesday, April 15, 7:30 p.m.
Minnesota JCC Sabes Center, 4330 Cedar Lake Road South, Minneapolis
Register for What Did People Talk About in the Warsaw Ghetto.
This event is free and open to the public. Please plan to arrive early at the JCC to allow time to go through JCC security. The JCC requires a driver's license or other government-issued photo ID.
The Holocaust radically altered the way its victims--especially Yiddish speakers--communicated. Finding their prewar language incapable of describing the dehumanization of the Shoah, prisoners added or reinvented thousands of Yiddish words and phrases to describe their new reality. These crass, witty, and sometimes beautiful Yiddish words – Khurbn Yiddish, or “Yiddish of the Holocaust” – puzzled and intrigued Jews who were experiencing the metamorphosis of their own tongue. This talk will focus on the experience of language in the Warsaw ghetto, looking at the new Yiddish words, how people debated their meanings, and why they felt it was so important to remember them.
Hannah Pollin-Galay is Pen Tishkach Chair of Holocaust Studies, Director of the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide and Memory Studies, and Professor of Jewish Studies and History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is the author of Ecologies of Witnessing: Language, Place and Holocaust Testimony (Yale University Press, 2018) and Occupied Words: What the Holocaust Did to Yiddish (UPenn Press, 2024), which won the 2024 National Jewish Book Award.
Co-sponsors: Center for Austrian Studies, Center for German and European Studies, Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies, Department of German, Nordic, Slavic & Dutch, Department of History, Institute of Linguistics, Holocaust and Genocide Studies Program at the University of St. Thomas, Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies at the University of St. Thomas.
For the benefit of those who cannot attend, each Community Lecture is recorded. Please allow two weeks for the most recent lecture to be uploaded. Videos may be viewed at: youtube.com/user/JWSTumn/videos
Save the Date: Bnai Emet Reunion and Beyond
Sunday, May 3, 3:00-5:00 p.m.
Yeshiva of Minneapolis, 3115 Ottawa Avenue South
Exciting details to come! In the meantime, contact Jeri Saad at irej@aol.com with any questions.
Jewish Youth Mentoring Program
Jewish Family and Children's Service (JFCS)
Ongoing
The Jewish Youth Mentoring Program (formerly the Jewish Big Brother/Big Sister Program), is a community-based mentoring program for Jewish-identified youth that is designed to promote positive social-emotional-spiritual development and increase engagement in the Jewish community. Since the program’s inception in 1975, it has matched over 400 Jewish youth with mentors.
The program is open to all families! Anyone can benefit from a personal, one-on-one connection with someone who is giving their undivided attention to them.
Participants are matched with carefully screened and selected volunteer mentors based on family preferences, age, gender identity, common interests, geographic proximity and more. Common match activities include visiting libraries or bookstores; arts and crafts; baking; exploring local parks; playing sports; going to museums; playing board games; and attending community events. Mentees are aged 6-12 and mentors are 16 and up, with a valid driver’s license
For questions, contact Dori Gelfman, Jewish Youth Mentoring Program Coordinator, at dgelfman@jfcsmpls.org or 952-542-4835.
The Chai–light Chorus
Ongoing
The chorale is actively recruiting new members! We’ve been in existence since 2000, having produced over 35 productions. We celebrate the joy of vocal performance without taking it too seriously. Anyone age 60 and above is eligible, and there’s absolutely no program fee — a musical “free for all!” Our weekly rehearsals are during the day. For more information, contact Mark Bloom via email at mark.bloomtru2life@gmail.com or by phone at 612-270–1705.
Free Modern Hebrew Language Courses for High School Students and Senior Citizens
University of Minnesota
Ongoing, Virtual
Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Modern Hebrew Language courses are available for free at the University of Minnesota to high school students enrolled at the university through the PSEO program, and to senior citizens ages 62+ auditing courses through the university's Senior Citizen Education Program.
Taught over Zoom by Israeli-born professor, Dr. Renana Schneller, the courses focus on reading, writing, understanding and speaking Hebrew. Contact Dr. Schneller for more information and placement at schne068@umn.edu. For more information, contact Temple member Jeri Glick-Anderson at jerianders@gmail.com.