The Learning Circle continues to attract a small but dedicated following. During the last year we have offered a variety of different types of activities, including 1 off lectures or practical sessions, short courses over 6 or 10 weeks, and regular weekly or bi-weekly classes. These have ranged from serious Hebrew and Torah study, through informal discussion and study groups, to light hearted practical activities such as singing, dancing, painting and cooking. The range of activities is about to expand yet further with an embroidery class being offered by Lana Young, starting soon.

We have expanded the range of options available for studying Hebrew, and have been running Biblical Hebrew classes at 4 levels: from beginners, through basic/ improvers, to a more advanced study group. These take place at a number of different times to suit different people, including Tuesday evenings, Saturday mornings, and now also Sunday mornings at Clore Shalom school.

Earlier this year we ran a very successful venture with EDRS, the Torah L’Am course, led by Justin Wise, with RBRS and EDRS hosting three sessions each of the six week course. After some encouragement to enrol, thirteen students signed up; nine were RBRS members and four were EDRS members. With the aid of a very useful little text book, Justin encouraged the class to explore the structure and central themes of the Torah and explained some key strategies for approaching any Torah text, helping participants to put a passage in context, find deeper meanings in the text and present their finding to others. We hope to offer this interesting and empowering course again in future years.

Other new courses this year, which have been running on alternate weeks, are David Mitchell’s Learn to Leyn course, which attracted 6 enthusiastic students who are expected to demonstrate their new found skills in shul shortly, and Israeli dancing, which is a fun, informal class run by Carmel Byers. You may have seen her students demonstrating their moves at the Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebrations recently.

We have also held a number of sessions specifically related to festivals during the year. We were lucky to have Rabbi Tony Bayfield to start off the New Year with his talk on ‘ResponsAbility’ in September, as part of our preparation for the High Holydays. Rabbi Paul then led a study session on repentance, prior to the selichot service, and another on Succot, prior to the succah decorating. Our recent Pesach Workshops offered a number of practical activities, including an opportunity to paint your own seder plate, learn some new customs and songs whilst reviewing the traditional ones, and practise some delicious Pesach recipes with Marilyn Kornhauser and Martine Burman. Marilyn also ran a Hamentashen making session just in time for Purim and will soon be introducing us to the art of cheesecake making shortly before Shavuot.

Many thanks to all those who have participated in The Learning Circle this year, we hope you will continue to support our events and let us know what you would like to see being provided. We are very grateful to all those who volunteer to lead sessions of the Torah Discussion Group and the Kohelet study Group and particularly to Jack Alvarez and Carmel Byers who have regularly dedicated their time to run classes on a purely voluntary basis.

We have had some very stimulating evenings during the course of the year, both serious and fun. In order to expand our programme we need more people to join in, so don’t be shy, come and try! We are planning an exciting programme for the next twelve months, so keep a look out in Re-New and Shofar.

Helen Michael