Program Description: The Jewish Federation of Greater Raleigh invites you to join us for an evening of conversation, connection, and learning about the work happening across our community and the opportunities that lie ahead. 

We will share insights and data from our partnerships with Jewish Federations of North America and the Leon Levine Foundation, offering a deeper look at the evolving needs, interests, and opportunities in Greater Raleigh and the Triangle. 

You'll also have the chance to meet members of the Jewish Federation leadership team, including Gidon Peretz, our new Director of Social Services, and Deborah K. Rosenzweig, our Board of Trustees President, as well as our Strategic Advisor, Eric Robbins and learn more about the people helping to shape and support our community. 

Most importantly, we want to hear from you. What do you value most about Jewish life in Greater Raleigh? What needs do you see today? What would you like the Jewish Federation to focus on in the years ahead? Your voice and perspective are essential as we plan for the future together. 

Whether you've been involved with the Jewish Federation for years or are simply curious to learn more, we hope you'll join us. Together, we can continue creating meaningful connections, providing care where it's needed most, and building a Jewish community where everyone can thrive.

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Sunday, October 25 at 7pm

Click here to register.

Program Description: When school’s out, the fun begins at the JCC! Our year round camps feature activities at the JCC with special guests as well as sports, Judaic arts and crafts, boating, nature walks, archery and much more! For children in Kindergarten through 5th grade.

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Monday, November 3 from 9am-5:30pm

Cost: JCC Members–$65 per day, General Community–$80 per day

Click here to register.

Program Description: "Learning to Live Without a Script" with George Miller

Come hear George Miller, local owner of One You Love Homecare, share his personal journey of caring for his father who was living with Alzheimer’s.

After his mother’s sudden and unexpected death, George and his wife Cindi evaluated all their options and decided the best place for his father was to move into their home. It was the beginning of the most challenging and rewarding period of their lives. Come listen to the highs and lows of a personal story of Alzheimer’s caregiving.

George was an eleven-year US Air Force officer and twenty-four-year technology sales executive when he and his wife decided to start One You Love Homecare of the Triangle. Now a Certified Dementia Practitioner with an in-home senior care business supporting the Research Triangle Park region, George is passionate about educating caregivers and families for people taking care of loved ones living with dementia.

Where: Beth Shalom, 5713 Yates Mill Pond Road, Raleigh, NC 27606

When: Tuesday, November 3 from 12-2pm

Cost: JCC Members $10, Beth Shalom Members $10, General Community $18

Beth Shalom members will receive a discount code from their congregation.

For more information: gena.brown@shalomraleigh.org

Click here to register.

Program Description: Come to the JCC and have a bagel and some brew! Meet the Jewish Federation staff, tour the JCC and meet other newcomers to the area.

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Friday, November 6 from 9:30-11:30am

For more information: leslie.needham@shalomraleigh.org

Click here to register.

Program Description: Come enjoy lunch and pay homage to the Veterans in the community. Our special guest Barry Bloch is a vet and runs the Jewish Veterans group in Apex.

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Monday, November 9 from 12:30-1:30pm

Cost: JCC Members Free, General Community $18

For more information: leslie.needham@shalomraleigh.org

Click here to register.

Program Description: Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi's Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging by Angela Buchdahl

From the first Asian American to be ordained as a rabbi, a stirring account of one woman’s journey from feeling like an outsider to becoming one of the most admired religious leaders in the world

Angela Buchdahl was born in Seoul, the daughter of a Korean Buddhist mother and Jewish American father. Profoundly spiritual from a young age, by sixteen she felt the first stirrings to become a rabbi. Despite the naysayers and periods of self-doubt—Would a mixed-race woman ever be seen as authentically Jewish or chosen to lead a congregation?—she stayed the course, which took her first to Yale, then to rabbinical school, and finally to the pulpit of one of the largest, most influential congregations in the world.

Today, Angela Buchdahl inspires Jews and non-Jews alike with her invigorating, joyful approach to worship and her belief in the power of faith, gratitude, and responsibility for one another, regardless of religion. She does not shy away from difficult topics, from racism within the Jewish community and the sexism she confronted when she aspired to the top job to rising antisemitism today. Buchdahl teaches how these challenges, which can make one feel like a stranger, can ultimately be the source of our greatest empathy and strength.

Angela Buchdahl has gone from outsider to officiant, from feeling estranged to feeling embraced—and she's emerged with a deep conviction that we are all bound to a larger whole and mission. She has written a book that is both memoir and spiritual guide for everyday living, which is exactly what so many of us crave right now.

12:30pm-Bring your non-meat lunch. Drinks & dessert are provided

1:00pm-Book discussion

When: Monday, November 9 from 12:30-2:30pm

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

Cost: JCC Members only

For assistance registering: registrar@shalomraleigh.org

Click Here to Register

Program Description: When school’s out, the fun begins at the JCC! Our year round camps feature activities at the JCC with special guests as well as sports, Judaic arts and crafts, boating, nature walks, archery and much more! For children in Kindergarten through 5th grade.

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Monday, November 11 from 9am-5:30pm

Cost: JCC Members–$65 per day, General Community–$80 per day

Click here to register.

Program Description: Hester Street (1975, restored 2021). Directed by Joan Micklin Silver, 1 hr. 29 min., comedy/drama, PG

This is a new 4K restoration from the original negative of Joan Micklin Silver’s theatrical feature debut. Among the great cinematic portraits of Jewish life in America, Silver’s triumphant 1975 feature is anchored by her own screenplay and an unforgettable Oscar-nominated performance by Carol Kane. Hester Street is a vivid portrayal of 19th-century immigration with a feminist twist. As Yiddish-speaking Gitl arrives in New York to reunite with her husband, she discovers he has shed the customs of the Old World, sparking Gitl’s journey of identity as a new American.

Please join us for a talkback after the screening with special guest author Julia Wagner. Wagner is a lecturer and writer specializing in Jewish-interest film and television and Italian cinema. She holds a PhD in film studies and is the author of the book Hester Street (Bloomsbury, 2025).

This program is an event of the Initiative for Jewish Art and Culture.

When: Thursday, November 12 from 7-9pm

Where: North Carolina Museum of Art, East Building, SECU Auditorium, 2110 Blue Ridge Road, Raleigh, NC 27607

Cost: General Admission $12, NCMA Members $7

For more information: help@ncartmuseum.org

Program Description: Come enjoy breakfast or lunch with a great group of Jewish women from the community.

Where: First Watch, 6109 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh, NC

When: Tuesday, November 17 from 12-1:30pm

For more information: leslie.needham@shalomraleigh.org

Click here to register.

Program Description: Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten

Here, for the first time, Ina Garten presents an intimate, entertaining, and inspiring account of her remarkable journey. Ina’s gift is to make everything look easy, yet all her accomplishments have been the result of hard work, audacious choices, and exquisite attention to detail. In her unmistakable voice (no one tells a story like Ina), she brings her past and her process to life in a high-spirited and no-holds-barred memoir that chronicles decades of personal challenges, adventures (and misadventures) and unexpected career twists, all delivered with her signature combination of playfulness and purpose.

From a difficult childhood to meeting the love of her life, Jeffrey, and marrying him while still in college, from a boring bureaucratic job in Washington, D.C., to answering an ad for a specialty food store in the Hamptons, from the owner of one Barefoot Contessa shop to author of bestselling cookbooks and celebrated television host, Ina has blazed her own trail and, in the meantime, taught millions of people how to cook and entertain. Now, she invites them to come closer to experience her story in vivid detail and to share the important life lessons she learned along the way: do what you love because if you love it you’ll be really good at it, swing for the fences, and always Be Ready When the Luck Happens.

12:30pm-Bring your non-meat lunch. Drinks & dessert are provided

1:00pm-Book discussion

When: Monday, December 7 from 12:30-2:30pm

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

Cost: JCC Members only

For assistance registering: registrar@shalomraleigh.org

Click Here to Register

Program Description: Let's celebrate Hanukkah! Come enjoy latkes and doughnuts and more. Our special guest is you!

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Monday, December 14 from 12:30-1:30pm

Cost: JCC Members Free, General Community $18

For more information: leslie.needham@shalomraleigh.org

Click here to register.

Program Description: Come celebrate Hanukkah, eat latkes, and spend time with other women in the Jewish community.

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Tuesday, December 15 from 12-1:30pm

Cost: JCC Members Free, General Community $18

For more information: leslie.needham@shalomraleigh.org

Click here to register.

Program Description: "When Yiddish Writers Were Rock Stars" with Scott Davis

Step into the world of Yiddish literature at the turn of the twentieth century, when writers like Sholem Aleichem, I. L. Peretz, Mendele Moykher-Sforim, and Jacob Dinezon were celebrities—famous, beloved, and eagerly read by Jews throughout Eastern Europe. Through period photographs, postcards, newspaper headlines, and other historical images, this illustrated talk brings to life the writers who helped shape modern Jewish literature and culture. Discover how these remarkable storytellers educated, inspired, and entertained a generation of Jewish readers hungry for stories written in their own language.

Scott Davis is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, author, publisher, and storyteller. After a 35-year career in public television, Scott found himself drawn into the world of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Yiddish literature while adapting Jewish tales for storytelling. Along the way, he discovered the nearly forgotten Yiddish writer Jacob Dinezon and has spent the past twenty years working to restore his literary legacy. Scott is the author of Souls Are Flying! A Celebration of Jewish Stories and the award-winning Chanukah Tales from Oykvetchnik.

12:30 box lunches

1:00 program

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Wednesday, December 16 from 12:30-2:15pm

Cost: JCC Members Free, General Community $18

For assistance registering: registrar@shalomraleigh.org

Click here to register.

Program Description: When school’s out, the fun begins at the JCC! Our year round camps feature activities at the JCC with special guests as well as sports, Judaic arts and crafts, boating, nature walks, archery and much more! For children in Kindergarten through 5th grade.

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Monday, December 21 from 9am-5:30pm

Cost: JCC Members–$65 per day, General Community–$80 per day

Click here to register.

Program Description: When school’s out, the fun begins at the JCC! Our year round camps feature activities at the JCC with special guests as well as sports, Judaic arts and crafts, boating, nature walks, archery and much more! For children in Kindergarten through 5th grade.

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Tuesday, December 22 from 9am-5:30pm

Cost: JCC Members–$65 per day, General Community–$80 per day

Click here to register.

Program Description: When school’s out, the fun begins at the JCC! Our year round camps feature activities at the JCC with special guests as well as sports, Judaic arts and crafts, boating, nature walks, archery and much more! For children in Kindergarten through 5th grade.

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Wednesday, December 23 from 9am-5:30pm

Cost: JCC Members–$65 per day, General Community–$80 per day

Click here to register.

Program Description: We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter

Inspired by the incredible true story of one Jewish family separated at the start of World War II, determined to survive—and to reunite—We Were the Lucky Ones is a tribute to the triumph of hope and love against all odds.

It is the spring of 1939 and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows closer. The talk around the family Seder table is of new babies and budding romance, not of the increasing hardships threatening Jews in their hometown of Radom, Poland. But soon the horrors overtaking Europe will become inescapable and the Kurcs will be flung to the far corners of the world, each desperately trying to navigate his or her own path to safety.
 
As one sibling is forced into exile, another attempts to flee the continent, while others struggle to escape certain death, either by working grueling hours on empty stomachs in the factories of the ghetto or by hiding as gentiles in plain sight. Driven by an unwavering will to survive and by the fear that they may never see one another again, the Kurcs must rely on hope, ingenuity, and inner strength to persevere.
 
An extraordinary, propulsive novel, We Were the Lucky Ones demonstrates how in the face of the twentieth century’s darkest moment, the human spirit can endure and even thrive.

12:30pm-Bring your non-meat lunch. Drinks & dessert are provided

1:00pm-Book discussion

When: Monday, January 4 from 12:30-2:30pm

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

Cost: JCC Members only

For assistance registering: registrar@shalomraleigh.org

Registration coming soon!

Program Description: Learn simple practices that shift your brain from a scarcity mindset to one focused on growth and abundance. Create a personalized vision board to remind you of your goals and maintain your awareness of the abundance all around you.

Instructor: Ilishe Mikos is an artist, educator, researcher, author, and librarian. She combines creativity, psychology, and proven science to help people heal, grow, and enhance both their lives and relationships.

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Thursday, January 7 from 6:30-8:30pm

Cost: JCC Members $20, General Community $30

For more information: gena.brown@shalomraleigh.org

Click here to register.

Program Description: When school’s out, the fun begins at the JCC! Our year round camps feature activities at the JCC with special guests as well as sports, Judaic arts and crafts, boating, nature walks, archery and much more! For children in Kindergarten through 5th grade.

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Tuesday, January 19 from 9am-5:30pm

Cost: JCC Members–$65 per day, General Community–$80 per day

Click here to register.

Program Description: Learn to smooth the sharp edges of your stress by transforming it into a colorful, therapeutic painting that will accent your home decor for years to come.

Instructor: Ilishe Mikos is an artist, educator, researcher, author, and librarian. She combines creativity, psychology, and proven science to help people heal, grow, and enhance both their lives and relationships.

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Thursday, January 21 from 6:30-8:30pm

Cost: JCC Members $20, General Community $30

For more information: gena.brown@shalomraleigh.org

Click here to register.

Program Description: Rewire Your Brain - Learn about the brain's incredible ability to prune old circuits and artfully rewire new neural pathways at any age. Create an art journal to support this practice over time.

Instructor: Ilishe Mikos is an artist, educator, researcher, author, and librarian. She combines creativity, psychology, and proven science to help people heal, grow, and enhance both their lives and relationships.

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Thursday, January 28 from 6:30-8:30pm

Cost: JCC Members $20, General Community $30

For more information: gena.brown@shalomraleigh.org

Click here to register.

Program Description: Hazel Says No by Jessica Berger Gross

When a tight-knit family moves from Brooklyn to Maine, their lives are upended by an event that will alter their new community forever in this “exuberant and big-hearted” (Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney) debut for fans of Sandwich, Pineapple Street, and Schitt’s Creek

When Hazel Blum’s father gets a tenured job at a prestigious college, she and her family relocate from Brooklyn to a middle-of-nowhere town in Maine. With her mother, Claire, a clothing designer, and her father, Gus, an American Studies professor, Hazel and her eleven-year-old brother, Wolf, slowly acclimate to their new lives and connect with the town’s sprawling community. That is, until a dramatic fallout on the very first day of her senior year tips the fickle balance of idyllic Riverburg and impacts everyone in her family.

Tracking through the perspectives of each member of the Blum family, this relatable fish-out-of-water story handles big issues with great empathy and humor, capturing the love that unites one unforgettable family and the essence of life in small-town Maine. Emotionally deft, authentic, and compulsively readable, Hazel Says No is a debut novel not to be missed.

12:30pm-Bring your non-meat lunch. Drinks & dessert are provided

1:00pm-Book discussion

When: Monday, February 1 from 12:30-2:30pm

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

Cost: JCC Members only

For assistance registering: registrar@shalomraleigh.org

Registration coming soon!

Program Description: When school’s out, the fun begins at the JCC! Our year round camps feature activities at the JCC with special guests as well as sports, Judaic arts and crafts, boating, nature walks, archery and much more! For children in Kindergarten through 5th grade.

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Monday, February 15 from 9am-5:30pm

Cost: JCC Members–$65 per day, General Community–$80 per day

Click here to register.

Program Description: When school’s out, the fun begins at the JCC! Our year round camps feature activities at the JCC with special guests as well as sports, Judaic arts and crafts, boating, nature walks, archery and much more! For children in Kindergarten through 5th grade.

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Wednesday, March 10 from 9am-5:30pm

Cost: JCC Members–$65 per day, General Community–$80 per day

Click here to register.

Program Description: When school’s out, the fun begins at the JCC! Our year round camps feature activities at the JCC with special guests as well as sports, Judaic arts and crafts, boating, nature walks, archery and much more! For children in Kindergarten through 5th grade.

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Friday, March 26 from 9am-5:30pm

Cost: JCC Members–$65 per day, General Community–$80 per day

Click here to register.

Program Description: Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

With her remarkable insight into the human condition and silences that contain multitudes, Elizabeth Strout returns to the town of Crosby, Maine, and to her beloved cast of characters—Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, Bob Burgess, and more—as they deal with a shocking crime in their midst, fall in love and yet choose to be apart, and grapple with the question, as Lucy Barton puts it, “What does anyone’s life mean?”

It’s autumn in Maine, and the town lawyer Bob Burgess has become enmeshed in an unfolding murder investigation, defending a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother. He has also fallen into a deep and abiding friendship with the acclaimed writer Lucy Barton, who lives down the road in a house by the sea with her ex-husband, William. Together, Lucy and Bob go on walks and talk about their lives, their fears and regrets, and what might have been. Lucy, meanwhile, is finally introduced to the iconic Olive Kitteridge, now living in a retirement community on the edge of town. They spend afternoons together in Olive’s apartment, telling each other stories. Stories about people they have known—“unrecorded lives,” Olive calls them—reanimating them, and, in the process, imbuing their lives with meaning.

Brimming with empathy and pathos, Tell Me Everything is Elizabeth Strout operating at the height of her powers, illuminating the ways in which our relationships keep us afloat. As Lucy says, “Love comes in so many different forms, but it is always love.”

12:30pm-Bring your non-meat lunch. Drinks & dessert are provided

1:00pm-Book discussion

When: Monday, April 5 from 12:30-2:30pm

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

Cost: JCC Members only

For assistance registering: registrar@shalomraleigh.org

Registration coming soon!

Program Description: When school’s out, the fun begins at the JCC! Our year round camps feature activities at the JCC with special guests as well as sports, Judaic arts and crafts, boating, nature walks, archery and much more! For children in Kindergarten through 5th grade.

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

When: Monday, May 17 from 9am-5:30pm

Cost: JCC Members–$65 per day, General Community–$80 per day

Click here to register.

Program Description: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person. It is about the hubris of youth and the wisdom of old age, and the mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime.

Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.

Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.

Sybil Van Antwerp’s life of letters might be “a very small thing,” but she also might be one of the most memorable characters you will ever read.

12:30pm-Bring your non-meat lunch. Drinks & dessert are provided

1:00pm-Book discussion

When: Monday, June 7 from 12:30-2:30pm

Where: David R. Kahn Community Campus

Cost: JCC Members only

For assistance registering: registrar@shalomraleigh.org

Registration coming soon!