Synagogues offer ‘Taste of Judaism’

Reform synagogues in the area will be offering free “Taste of Judaism” classes for people who want to know more.

The three-session courses will be taught by rabbis at nine synagogues throughout the Bay Area. Sessions run through Jan. 23.

The Union for Reform Judaism project is supported by the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund and the Walter and Elise Haas Fund.

“The classes are really for anybody who’s curious about Judaism,” said Karen Kushner, director of the URJ’s Project Welcome. “It could be anybody from Christian grandparents of Jewish children, to intermarried couples, to people who are Girl Scout leaders or teachers, or just people who want to understand more about Judaism.”

Topics covered in the classes include spirituality, ethics and the Jewish people. The first course begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 28, at Congregation Emanu-El, 2 Lake St., S.F. In October, classes begin at other synagogues. Registration is required. For more information, call (888) 756-8242 or e-mail [email protected].

From New York to Napa, ‘Nosharound’ on Jewish foods

If you find yourself regularly pining for pickled herring or a dense, chewy bagel, Copia is offering its first-ever “New York Nosharound — Jewish Foodfest” from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 3.

Ex-denizens of Flatbush Avenue or the Lower East Side can rejoice in the arrival of such delicacies straight from the Big Apple to Copia, at 500 First St., Napa.

Jewish food aficionados will be able to partake in H&H bagels and herring from Zabar’s, as well as a demonstration by Sharon Lebewohl of the famed 2nd Avenue Deli. Other events include a photography exhibition on New York’s Jewish food shops and live Yiddish music by Sylvie Braitman and Odile Lavault.

Tickets to Copia’s Jewish Foodfest walkaround tasting are $50, $40 for Copia members. Information: (707) 259-1600 or www.copia.org.

The tasting is part of a daylong celebration of Big Apple eats, with cooking demonstrations, films and a panel discussion. The event is funded in part by a grant from the JCEF’s Helen Diller Family Foundation and others. The photo exhibit, “Jewish Foodshops in New York,” runs until Jan. 3.

SFMOMA panel on Jews in the arts

A panel discussion titled “The Jew as Artist/The Artist as Jew II” is scheduled for 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 27, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 151 Third St. The event is sponsored by the National Foundation for Jewish Culture.

Moderated by California College of the Arts President Michael Roth, the panel includes photographer Larry Sultan, S.F.-based monologuist Josh Kornbluth and Heidi Zuckerman, curator of the Phyllis Wattis Matrix Gallery of the U.C. Berkeley Art Museum.

Tickets are $15. Information: (213) 387-0990.

Dodgers’ Green to sit out Yom Kippur again

As in the past, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Jewish slugger Shawn Green will miss a critical late-season game against the Giants on Yom Kippur.

Green, who similarly sat on the Day of Atonement during a game vs. San Francisco in 2001, will skip a day game at SBC Park on Saturday, Sept. 25.

He was planning to play in a night game on Friday, the night of the Kol Nidre service.

After a horrific start to the season, Green, 31, has bounced back. As of press time, he was batting .267 with 27 home runs and 81 runs batted in, and the Dodgers led the surging Giants by only 1.5 games for the National League West title.

In other sports-related Yom Kippur news, the Israeli tennis team’s Davis Cup match with Finland, which is currently tied, will be delayed for four days because of the High Holy Day.