Summer Potluck & Planning
2021-07-24 10:30 - 14:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | CA
All school parents and community members are encouraged to come together to learn what’s planned and share ideas for Sholem’s 2021-2022 year. Bring something for the potluck brunch; bagels & coffee will be provided. Kids are welcome to hang out and take a dip in the pool – bring your own towels and plan to supervise them.
Saturday, July 24
10:30am Potluck Brunch
11am-1pm Planning Meeting
1pm Socializing continues
2:30pm Wrap-up
RSVP dan@sholem.org to confirm attendance
Simply write RSVP – YES in the subject line, to simplify communication.
Address will be provided upon receipt of your RSVP.

Rosh Hashanah (9/7) in the Park
2021-09-07 11:00 - 13:00 | Rancho Park-Cheviot Hills. Picnic Area #1 (behind the swimming pool), 2551 Motor Ave. (One block south of Pico), Los Angeles, CA, 90064, United States
Welcome the Jewish New Year with stirring readings, literature, and poetry based in our Jewish heritage and our secular, progressive values.
Please B.Y.O. picnic, challah, apples, honey, and have a mask on hand. COVID protocols will be observed.
All are welcome
NO CHARGE

Kol Nidre (9/15) Virtual Observance
2021-09-15 18:30 - 20:30 | Jan & Jerry’s house
Kol Nidre is the highlight of the Sholem calendar. Informed by Jewish traditions in music and spoken word, we reflect on our lives and the state of the world through a humanistic and progressive prism. This is a moving opportunity to renew ourselves for the upcoming year; to grieve our losses and reinforce our hopes.
Tickets start at $50 for members. We encourage purchase of $200 Supporter Tickets to help support Sholem (Each Supporter will receive a tax receipt for $150 donation per ticket, and thanks in our printable digital program guide, if desired.)
Get your tickets for our on-line observance!
Has COVID-19 impacted your ability to pay? Write to newyearfestivals2021@sholem.org
When you sign up you can:

Submit a photo of your deceased loved ones in an online montage to the moving soundtrack of Keep Me In Your Heart for Awhile by Warren Zevon. Click Here for Last Year’s Photo Montage
Submit names for In Memoriam (the names of your loved ones of blessed memory will be included in our printable digital program guide).
RSVP for our informal outdoor masked, physically distanced Kol Nidre watch party in Santa Monica
Advertise your service or business in the digital program guide.
Submit names for Yizker (have the name of your loved one who you lost IN THE LAST YEAR read aloud during the event).

Click Here for Tickets

Yom Kippur (9/16) in the Park
2021-09-16 11:00 - 13:00 | Rancho Park-Cheviot Hills. Picnic Area #1 (behind the swimming pool), 2551 Motor Ave. (One block south of Pico), Los Angeles, CA, 90064, United States
Join us at the Cheviot Hills park for a family-friendly discussion of ethics in our daily lives.
For more information, write to newyearfestivals2021@sholem.org

POETRY READING & CONVERSATION with Author JACK ROTHMAN, Oct.3, 10:30am
2021-10-03 10:30 - 11:30 | CA
In honor of National Poetry Day, we are delighted to host Jack Rothman, UCLA Professor Emeritus and author, for a poetry reading and discussion.
Jack Rothman has combined his academic fields of social work and sociology with his passion for social justice to develop practical ways for communities to organize. He has been active in issues from opposing blockbusting by real estate agents to helping organize the first teach-ins against the Vietnam War to reactivating the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Los Angeles. After retiring from his position as full-time professor, he even gave stand-up comedy a try. A renowned author of some 25 books, The Voice of Consciousness: Poems Composed After Ninety is his first poetry collection.
A long-time member of the Sholem Community and SoCal Arbeter Ring/Workers Circle, Rothman and wife Judy helped found The Jewish Cultural Society in Ann Arbor Michigan, which recently celebrated its 50th Anniversary. He last spoke at Sholem in 2017, sharing his story about finding his family’s forgotten shtetl in the Ukraine, Searching for Butsnevits: A Shtetl Tale.
Co-presented by SoCal Arbeter Ring/Workers Circle
CLICK HERE to Register
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
To purchase The Voice of Consciousness from Small Press Distribution CLICK HERE or from Amazon CLICK HERE.

"ORCHESTRATING CHANGE" Screening & Discussion (World Mental Health Day) Oct.10, 2pm - 4pm
2021-10-10 14:00 - 16:00 | CA
ORCHESTRATING CHANGE is the documentary film that tells the inspiring story of Me2/Orchestra, the only orchestra in the world created by and for people living with mental illness and those who support them. Co-founded by Ronald Braunstein, once a world-renowned conductor whose career was shattered when his own diagnosis of bipolar disorder was made public, the mission of the orchestra is to erase stigma one exhilarating concert at a time. As they rehearse, perform and prepare for a major concert, these extraordinary musicians have no idea how much the orchestra will change their lives in poignant and powerful ways.
Winner of the 2021 Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media
Screening to be followed by Q&A with the filmmakers Barbara Multer-Wellin (a Sholem board member) and Margie Friedman, both Emmy-winning nonfiction writer/producers with decades of experience.
Sunday, Oct 10, 2021
(World Mental Health Day)
2:00 – 4:00 p.m. (PDT)
1:50 p.m. Zoom room opens
2 p.m. Screening (85 mins)
3:30 – 4 p.m. Discussion

Co-presented by SoCal Arbeter Ring/Workers Circle
CLICK HERE to Register
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Dialogue about the book "RECLAIMING JUDAISM FROM ZIONISM" (Part 1) Oct. 17, 2pm
2021-10-17 14:00 - 15:30 | CA
This will be a dialogue about the book “Reclaiming Judaism from Zionism,” an opportunity to explore this important, emotional and complex issue.
In the book, Reclaiming Judaism from Zionism, edited by Carolyn L. Karcher, forty Jews of diverse backgrounds tell a wide range of stories about the roads they have traveled from a Zionist world view to activism in solidarity with Palestinians and Israelis striving to build an inclusive society founded on justice, equality, and peaceful coexistence.
On October 17, Karcher will provide an overview of the book and set it in historical context. On October 24, she will interview three of the book’s contributors–Emily Siegel, Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber, and Chris Godshall–about their upbringings, the experiences that led them to question and ultimately to renounce Zionism, and where they stand now. Both sessions will conclude with a Q&A.
Sundays Oct 17 & 24
2:00 – 3:30 p.m. (PDT)
Part 1 – October 17
Karcher will provide an overview of the book.
CLICK HERE to register for Part 1
Part 2 – Sunday, October 24
Karcher will interview three of the contributors.
CLICK HERE to register for PART 2
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Co-presented by SoCal Arbeter Ring/Workers Circle
THE BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE from the independent distributer Bookshop.org as well as other sources.

Karcher is Professor Emerita of English, American Studies, and Women’s Studies at Temple University and the author of many books and articles about the struggle for racial and gender equality in the U.S. Siegel is Program Director at Eyewitness Palestine. She holds a B.A. in International Relations with minors in Jewish Studies and Sociology from the University of Delaware and an M.A. in International Peace and Conflict Resolution form American University’s School of International Service. Madmoni-Gerber is Associate Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Media at Suffolk University. She is the author of Israeli Media and the Framing of Internal Conflict: The Yemenite Babies Affair. Godshall is currently completing his law degree at Georgetown University Law Center, with the aim of working on civil and human rights.

Dialogue about the book “RECLAIMING JUDAISM FROM ZIONISM" (Part 2), Oct. 24, 2pm
2021-10-24 14:00 - 15:30 | CA
This will be a dialogue about the book “Reclaiming Judaism from Zionism,” an opportunity to explore this important, emotional and complex issue.
In the book, Reclaiming Judaism from Zionism, edited by Carolyn L. Karcher, forty Jews of diverse backgrounds tell a wide range of stories about the roads they have traveled from a Zionist world view to activism in solidarity with Palestinians and Israelis striving to build an inclusive society founded on justice, equality, and peaceful coexistence.
On October 17, Karcher will provide an overview of the book and set it in historical context. On October 24, she will interview three of the book’s contributors–Emily Siegel, Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber, and Chris Godshall–about their upbringings, the experiences that led them to question and ultimately to renounce Zionism, and where they stand now. Both sessions will conclude with a Q&A.
Sundays Oct 17 & 24
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. (PDT)
Part 1 – October 17
Karcher will provide an overview of the book.
CLICK HERE to register for Part 1
Part 2 – Sunday, October 24
Karcher will interview three of the contributors.
CLICK HERE to register for PART 2
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Co-presented by SoCal Arbeter Ring/Workers Circle
THE BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE from the independent distributer Bookshop.org as well as other sources.

Karcher is Professor Emerita of English, American Studies, and Women’s Studies at Temple University and the author of many books and articles about the struggle for racial and gender equality in the U.S. Siegel is Program Director at Eyewitness Palestine. She holds a B.A. in International Relations with minors in Jewish Studies and Sociology from the University of Delaware and an M.A. in International Peace and Conflict Resolution form American University’s School of International Service. Madmoni-Gerber is Associate Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Media at Suffolk University. She is the author of Israeli Media and the Framing of Internal Conflict: The Yemenite Babies Affair. Godshall is currently completing his law degree at Georgetown University Law Center, with the aim of working on civil and human rights.

Isaiah Edward Griffin Bar Mitsve Ceremony, Dec.4, 4pm
2021-12-04 16:00 - 17:00 | CA
All are invited for our community’s next Bar Mitsve ceremony, which will take place via Zoom.

Isaiah Edward Griffin‘s Bar Mitsvepresents
“The Virtual Reality of Jewish Community”

Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021
4:00 p.m. (PDT)

RSVP to sabrinajoanna@yahoo.com
to receive the Zoom link

About Sholem’s secular observance…
The bar/bas mitsve candidate chooses a topic for in-depth research and/or significant thought. Then, working with their advisor, the student prepares an approximately 20-minute presentation on this topic and how it reflects the aspects of Jewish heritage and identity that are most meaningful to them at this point in their life. To learn more about Sholem’s secular bar/bas mitsve observances, click here.

CA Ballot Measures Forum w/ Mona Field, LWV
2022-10-16 10:30 - 23:59 | Short Avenue Elementary School, 12814 Maxella Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90066, United States
Abortion, gambling, and electric cars: Are you ready to vote on these and more issues?

Participants are welcome to bring their sample ballots, political junk mail, thoughts and questions so we may analyze these things together.
Led by Mona Field, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Co-President of the Board of the League of Women Voters. Mona literally wrote the textbook on California politics, California Government and Politics Today, now in its 15th edition.
Come at 10am for bagels & coffee
Program 10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

FREE to Attend – All are welcome!
In person OUTDOORS at Short Avenue Elementary School
This will be a nonpartisan conversation – NOT focused on either party’s primary, not about the candidates but rather about the ballot measures.

Mindful Awareness: Practices for Daily Living (10:30am)
2022-11-06 | CA
Marilyn McLaughlin, parent of two Sholem school graduates, returns to share a unique approach to mindfulness that is both quiet and interactive, in stillness and in motion. Learn a few simple techniques that will nurture connection within and all around. We will calm the mind and inspire the heart.
Bringing your own lawn chair is highly recommended for maximum comfort. Headphones that work with your phone are also suggested.
Bagels & Coffee at 10am
Outdoors at Short Avenue Elementary

Marilyn McLaughlin MFA, RSMT Unified Mindfulness L2 Coach has been an arts and wellness practitioner for 30 years. For more information about her customized multidisciplinary wellness programs for individuals and groups, visit: allbodiesmove.com.

OPEN HOUSE (10am Bagels & Coffee, 10:30 Program)
2022-11-13 | CA
Our School Principal, Ross Helford, will lead a discussion with current and prospective families about the importance, urgency, and value of a secular Jewish education – including its history and what it is today. We will also have an overview of our school, curriculum, didactic approach, bmitsve program*, teen/belfer program, and our multigenerational community offerings.
Sholem Open House
Sunday, November 13
10:00 a.m. Bagels, Juice & Coffee
10:30-11:30 a.m. Program
(Linger afterwards for further schmoozing.)
Help spread the word. Invite friends.
All are welcome!
Questions: ross@sholem.org
* While the adults are engaged with the Open house, Sholem dad (and former student/barmitsve) David Goldberg will be meeting with our Hey class. The students will consider which pressing societal needs most capture their attention and decide on one for their bmitsve social action project.
[Image from the Peretz Centre for Jewish Culture]

Sunday School + CA Ballot Measures Forum with Mona Field
2024-10-06 | CA
CA Ballot Measures Forum
w/ Mona Field, Professor Emerita, Political Science

We are delighted to have longtime Sholem member Mona Field back to lead one of her always popular and informative pre-election forums. Mona will help explain the measures and share who is supporting and opposing each. Participants are welcome to bring their sample ballots, political junk mail, thoughts and questions so we may analyze our choices together.
Mona is past President of the Board of the League of Women Voters of Greater Los Angeles and Professor Emerita of Political Science. She literally wrote the textbook on California politics, California Government and Politics Today, now in its 15th edition.
This will be a nonpartisan conversation – NOT about candidates.
Sunday, October 6, 2024
Come at 10am for bagels & coffee
Program 10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

Short Avenue Elementary School
12814 Maxella Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(Plenty of free street parking)
FREE to Attend – All are welcome!

Questions: info@sholem.org

Sunday School + Klezmer Dance 101 with Bruce Bierman
2025-05-04 10:00 - 12:30 | Short Avenue Elementary School, 12814 Maxella Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90066, United States
Classes will meet as usual this Sunday, May 4, beginning at 10 a.m. Please come early for coffee, bagels and schmoozing.
Also, we are delighted to bring back Bruce Bierman for another workshop in Jewish dance. All are welcome! There will be a one hour adult workshop from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., followed by a workshop for the entire school and parents from 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Klezmer Dance 101: A Mitsve to be in Simkhe
Come move, laugh, and connect at this joyful workshop for youth and their families! Once nearly forgotten, the traditional Jewish folk dances of the Ashkenazi Jews—like the Freylekh, Joq, Husidl, Sher, Bulgar, and Patsh Tanz—are now joyfully returning to life, thanks to a renaissance sparked by the tireless work of passionate Yiddish music and dance folkologists and researchers.
No experience is needed. whether dancing in community, with a chaver (a friend), or stepping out solo in a moment of shayning—showing off your own unique flair—there’s room for everyone. Led by an experienced dance leader—but always invited to dance to the beat of your own drummer—this is dance for the Folk, where joy matters more than perfection.
Bruce Bierman is the co-artistic director of the award-winning Yiddish Theatre Ensemble of Berkeley and is a leading presenter of Jewish dance throughout California. Bruce has studied with a handful of great Jewish dance masters including Felix Fibich–who with his wife and mentor, Judith Berg, choreographed the 1937 Yiddish classic film, ‘The Dybbuk’. Bruce was a lead dancer and teaching artist with the acclaimed Aman Folk Ensemble of Los Angeles and a regular at the Skirball Museum with Mostly Kosher and John Anson Ford Theater with the L.A. Jewish Symphony. He recently served as Yiddish dance and theater dramaturg for several productions of Paula Vogel’s ‘Indecent’ at the Arena Stage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the critically acclaimed production at the San Francisco Playhouse. Here’s a short video introduction to Bruce.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH2Uh7fxSQw

Mindfulness Meditation (Adult Activity)
2025-09-28 10:30 - 12:00 | CA
We are delighted to bring Robin Hart Cohen to Sholem to teach a class in Mindfulness Meditation. This class will explore a variety of ways to meditate and discover what mindfulness is all about.

10:00 a.m. Check-in; coffee & bagels provided
10:30 a.m. to 12 noon
Free to attend. Donations to Sholem appreciated.

In preparation for the class, if possible, you are invited to find a quiet area where you might be able to sit comfortably with a low level of distraction and take a few moments to consider your intention for the class. What brings you here? What would you like to take away from this class?

Please feel free to bring a pillow, blanket, back support, water or any other comfort you might need. You might want to bring a journal as well.

Robin Hart Cohen is a graduate of the Insight L.A. Facilitator Training Program as well as a graduate of Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach’s two-year Mindfulness Meditation Teachers Certification Program. She also has certificates from UC Berkeley Power of Awareness course and UC San Diego Mindfulness Center for “Do No Harm” Course. She is also a member of the International Meditation Teachers Association.

Prop 50 Special Election Discussion with Mona Field
2025-10-19 11:00 - 12:00 | CA
CA Prop 50 Special Election Forum
w/ Mona Field, Professor Emerita, Political Science

Are you feeling confused about prop 50? Or have a strong position on this brand new ballot measure? Either way, come to Sholem for discussion of proposition 50, why we are voting unexpectedly in an odd numbered year, and all the pros and cons. Prop 50 is a statewide special election, which was announced very recently.

Many people may find this an easy decision, but please feel free to join us and join the conversation about how and why we have a special election. Who’s behind it? What does it all mean? How will the outcome affect us all?

As always, we will have a civil and thoughtful discussion, no matter how many points of view we bring to the conversation.

Sunday, October 19 2024
10am check-in, bagels & coffee
Program 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 PM.

Short Avenue Elementary School
12814 Maxella Avenue.
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(Plenty of free street parking)
FREE to Attend – All are welcome!

Questions: info@sholem.org

Screening & Discussion: “Meet Me at Brooklyn & Soto”
2025-11-16 10:00 - 12:30 | Short Avenue Elementary School, 12814 Maxella Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90066, United States
Screening & Discussion
Sunday, November 16, 2025
10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
“MEET ME AT BROOKLYN AND SOTO” (1995, 70 min) is a nostalgic celebration of the Jewish community that once thrived within the East L.A. neighborhood of Boyle Heights. The street then named Brooklyn Avenue (now Cesar Chavez Avenue) and its intersection with Soto was the heart of the largest Jewish community west of Chicago from the 1920s to the 1950s.
This documentary film, created by oral historian Ellie Kahn for the Jewish Historical Society of Southern California, began as an oral history project, with Ellie training 25 volunteers to interview 120 former residents of Boyle Hts and City Terrace. Ellie then produced “Meet Me at Brooklyn & Soto,” which utilizes archival film footage, vintage photos and her interviews with dozens of former residents of the neighborhood.
The fascinating, moving and often amusing recollections shared by those who were interviewed make it clear that it was a unique, hamish, active community, rich in Yiddish culture and leftist organizing.
“One of the most heart-warming documentaries you will find.” — the Barrio Boychik
Producer/Director Ellie Kahn will be present for discussion following the film.
>>> To reserve your seat(s),
RSVP to regan@sholem.org <<<
10:00 a.m. Check-in, Bagels & Coffee
10:30 a.m. Screening and Q&A
Short Avenue Elementary School
12814 Maxella Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90066

Presented by the Sholem Community and Ellie Kahn/Living Legacies Productions, in cooperation with the SoCal Arbeter Ring/Workers Circle and Kultur Mercado.
All are welcome | Free to attend

L.A. Yiddish Day 2025 (field trip)
2025-11-23 10:00 - 17:00 | Hebrew Union College, 3077 University Avenue, Los Angeles, 90007, United States
This day-long celebration will bring together Yiddishists, cultural enthusiasts, educators, students, and the wider Jewish community for lectures, workshops, performances, and community-building centered on the Yiddish language and its enduring legacy.
Programming will feature sessions for both beginners and advanced speakers, cultural events highlighting Yiddish music and literature, and special presentations to connect audiences with the lived experience of the Holocaust through survivor testimony. LA Yiddish Day aims to reignite Yiddish cultural life in Los Angeles by catering to all levels of interest and creating a platform for intergenerational learning and exchange.
There will be a schoolwide field trip for Sholem students and their families, prioritizing activities for younger children earlier in the day.
Sunday, November 23, 2025
10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
at Hebrew Union College – Los Angeles
3077 University Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90007
This will be the first major community-driven Yiddish event in Southern California in nearly a decade, bringing together the many organizations whose work helps to keep Yiddish language, culture, and memory alive in the city.
Doors will open at 9:45 AM for check-in and morning coffee. Light refreshments will be provided throughout the day, and all sessions are open to registered participants.
For tickets go to
https://givebutter.com/layiddish2025

Presented by Kultur Mercado, in partnership with the Sholem Community, Southern California Arbeter Ring Educational Center, Holocaust Museum LA, Der Nister, HUC-Jewish Language Project, and the California Institute for Yiddish Culture and Language (CIYCL).

Tu Bishvat Assembly
2026-02-01 11:15 - 12:30 | CA
Traditionally Tu Bishvat was the New Year of Trees, originally established as a way for Jewish farmers to keep time. In modern times, it has been adapted for the planting and care of trees and as a reminder to be kind to our planet – similar to Earth Day.
11:15 a.m.* – Principal Ross Helford will give a presentation about Tu Bishvat from a secular perspective – adults are welcome!

12 Noon* – Assembly with songs

*Times to be confirmed

Fundraiser: Here Lies Love at the Mark Taper Forum
2026-03-01 19:00 - 21:00 | Mark Taper Forum, 135 N Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90012, United States
Join us for a night at the Mark Taper Forum to see Here Lies Love.
Sholem has reserved a bloc of tickets to the performance on Sunday, March 1 at 7:00 p.m. A portion of each ticket purchased will be donated to Sholem. The deadline to order tickets is February 7, 2026. (After that date, any unsold tickets will be released back to the Taper.)
Here Lies Love is a groundbreaking musical about former First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos and her family’s rise to power and subsequent fall at the hands of the Philippine People Power Revolution. Witness her journey through “exhilarating songs” (USA Today) and “imaginative spectacle” (The Guardian) over “90 breathless minutes” (The Washington Post).
Featuring music by Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award winner David Byrne and Grammy Award winner Fatboy Slim, and direction by Center Theatre Group Brindell & Milton Gottlieb Artistic Director Snehal Desai, comes an all-new production (the first since appearing on Broadway in 2023) in a transformative experience combining disco beats and adrenaline-fueled choreography. The show goes beyond Imelda’s near-mythic obsession with shoes to explore true questions of authoritarian rule and responsibility. It is a story fueled by greed, power, and disco that feels as timely today as ever.
For more information and to order tickets, please go to
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/sholems-here-lies-love-theater-fundraiser
A portion of your ticket price is tax deductible as a donation to Sholem.
