Upcoming Events

Join us for a Purim Seudah, Sunday February 28th!

Rabbi Zvi Grumet, Judaic scholar and educator, to be KITC’s Spring Scholar-in-Residence, March 12-13, 2010

KITC is delighted to announce its Spring Scholar-in-Residence Shabbaton, March 12-13, 2010, with Rabbi Zvi Grumet, who teaches at Yeshivat Eretz HaTzvi and Machon Pardes in Jerusalem and at Boston Hebrew College. In addition to his teaching duties, Rabbi Grumet is the Associate Educational Director at The Lookstein Center for Jewish Education (Bar Ilan University). He has published numerous articles on Tanakh, Jewish thought and education, and is currently the Editor of Jewish Educational Leadership. He is completing a doctorate at Yeshiva University and is working on a new commentary on the Bible. Rabbi Grumet was ordained at Yeshiva University in New York and has a MA in Educational Administration from the Azrieli Graduate Institute.

Rabbi Zvi Grumet will speak during Shabbat dinner following Friday evening services on March 12, again after the Torah reading, during a kiddush luncheon following services, and finally at a communal melava malka (celebration at the conclusion of Shabbat) Saturday evening. Please contact KITC for exact times and locations.

The theme for Rabbi Grumet’s lectures will be “East Meets West: Crosscultural Currents in Traditional Jewish Biblical Interpretation and Midrash”. The approach of two medieval commentators – Rabbi Shmuel ben Meir (aka Rashbam; 1085-1158), an Ashkenazic scholar from France, and Rabbi Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra (aka Ibn Ezra; 1089-1164), a Sephardic scholar from Spain – will be examined for differences in style and substance, with particular attention given to how cultural context may have influenced the approach of these commentators to Torah interpretation. Rabbi Grumet will also focus on several traditional Midrashim, showing how these works were sensitive to issues in contemporary literary analysis. Finally, in his sermon on Saturday morning, he will examine the more contemporary literary and ideological approach of Rabbi Yoel Bin Nun.

Kenesset Israel Torah Center, located at 1159 Morse Ave. in Sacramento, invites all residents of the Sacramento area to attend the Rabbi Zvi Grumet Scholar-in-Residence Shabbaton, March 12-13, 2010. Shabbat dinner, kiddush lunch and the refreshments for the Saturday evening melava malka will be provided for all who have registered. To register, mail your check to KITC, PO Box 255503, Sacramento, CA 95864. RSVPs can be directed by email to Debby Stoller at dstoller@surewest.net. The cost of the program is $30 / adults (ages 13 and above), $15 / children (ages 5-12), free / ages 0-4, and $90 / family. Separate financial arrangements for those in need can be made by contacting KITC president Simone Monnier Clay or Rabbi Ian Bailey by phone at 916-481-1159.

Rabbi Daniel Korobkin, noted Rav, educator and Jewish communal leader, returning to KITC as its second Spring Scholar-in-Residence, April 16-17, 2010

PLEASE NOTE: THE DATE OF THIS EVENT HAS CHANGED

KITC is delighted to announce that Rabbi Daniel Korobkin will be its Winter Scholar-in-Residence for the Shabbat of April 16-17, 2010. This will be his second tenure as a KITC Scholar-in-Residence, having delivered an acclaimed series of lectures here in November 2008. Rabbi Korobkin is the Director of Community and Synagogue Services for the Orthodox Union’s West Coast offices, as well as spiritual leader of Yavneh, a Jewish-life campus in Los Angeles, where he lectures and writes on Jewish philosophy and other Jewish topics of interest. He is on the executive board of the Rabbinical Council of America, and founded the RCA’s online forum, an exclusive listserv for Orthodox rabbis. He is a certified mohel, serving the Southern California area, and a doctoral candidate at UCLA in medieval Jewish philosophy. Rabbi Korobkin resides in Los Angeles with his wife Karen and their children.

Rabbi Korobkin will speak during Shabbat, again after the Torah reading, during a kiddush luncheon, and finally at a communal melava malka. Please call KITC for times and locations of these events. Lecture titles will include “Toward Meaningful Prayer: Understanding the Different Modalities of Tefilla”, “Are we Really Jewish? The Khazars and Their Impact on Ashkenazic Jewry’s Ancestry”, and “The Feminization of the Jewish Male in Kabbalah”.

Rabbi Daniel Korobkin received his rabbinic ordination from Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Baltimore, where he studied Jewish law, ethics and philosophy. In addition, he received a Master of Science degree from the Johns Hopkins University School for Engineering at the Applied Physics Laboratory. He was an adjunct professor at Muhlenberg College, and wrote a feature column for Hakol, the Lehigh Valley’s Jewish newspaper. He has served as spiritual leader for the Young Israel Synagogue of San Diego and for Congregation Sons of Israel in Allentown, PA. He is the author of a new translation of Yehuda Halevy’s classic philosophic work The Kuzari: In Defense of the Despised Faith.

Kenesset Israel Torah Cente, invites all reside April 16-17, 2010. Shabbat dinner, kiddush lunch and the refreshments for the Saturday evening melava malka will be provided for all who have registered. To register, mail your check to KITC, PO Box 255503, Sacramento, CA 95864. RSVPs can be directed by email to Debby Stoller at dstoller@surewest.net. The cost of the program is $20 / adults (ages 13 and above), $12 / children (ages 5-12), free / ages 0-4, and $60 / family. Separate financial arrangements for those in need can be made by contacting KITC president Simone Monnier Clay or Rabbi Ian Bailey by phone at 916-481-1159.