The Rutland Jewish Center is a community that makes Jewish learning for all age groups its priority.

Every event, program, class, tutorial, meeting, meal or prayer service the RJC holds or sponsors is seen as presenting holy opportunities for growth, teaching and learning. We thus agree with the sages of late antiquity, who in turn followed Rabbi Akiva's wisdom, which we paraphrase into our own language:

Study is the most important thing, for it leads to Godly action and deed. —Babylonian Talmud tractate Kiddushin 40b

Please see our Calendar for current events.

Our Fall educational programs include:

Thursday Comedy Series “Arab Labor”
October 22, 29; November 5, 12, 19
Perhaps you caught it one Saturday night last spring on LINK-TV, a channel way up there on most cable and dish systems? Arab Labor is a very recent (2007–2008 season) Israeli sitcom that is definitely cutting edge. As one reviewer puts it…“[‘Arab Labor’ is]… an Israeli version of ‘All in the Family’, or ‘The Jeffersons’. It is groundbreaking as it is a series about a family of Arab-Israelis, a view of Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli life from the view of an Arab-Israeli. Instead of Archie Bunker or George Jefferson, the central character is a normal father, husband and son who is trying to fit in to a dual society. He isn’t confrontational or controversial, he is just trying to make it through the day and have a normal life. Not only is this a great glimpse into lives that most Americans and even most Israelis will never see, but it is funny. It is life, whether it is trying to find a good kindergarten for his daughter [an especially cute episode], or dealing with parents or in-laws.”
There were 10 episodes in the first season. The program is mainly in Hebrew with English subtitles, but the characters often flip seamlessly into either English, (when Arabs and Jews are speaking to one another), or Arabic. Each of our five sessions we’ll watch and discuss two episodes. No fee, no registration needed. Laugh and learn together!

Ongoing…
Intermediate/Advanced Adult Hebrew, now in its fourth year, our intrepid group of six serious adult learners have made great progress and are completing the third book in a challenging series that teaches classical, Biblical/Siddur Hebrew. We can now conjugate simple verbs in past, present and future tenses, among other grammar achievements. If you have a substantial background in Hebrew, you might fit it. Give it a try! We meet on most Wednesday afternoons from 4:45-6:00 PM, with lots of weeks off when schedules get busy, especially around holidays.

Parashat HaShavuah:
The Weekly Torah Portion
Most Shabbat mornings at 9:00 a.m., we spend a very casual and informal thirty minutes schmoozing over parts of the reading for that day. We have a small but steady group. No prior knowledge or experience is needed other than a desire to spend some high-quality time together performing the most pleasant mitzvah we have, that of Torah learning.