Tikkun Leil Shavuot

Featured Kultura members in discussions:

6:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Hiddur Mitzvah & The Lost Art of Shavuot
With Bareket Kezwer

Join artist Bareket Kezwer in this hands-on workshop where you’ll learn about the lost art of Jewish paper cuts and have an opportunity to make your own unique paper artwork. Participants will be guided through the process of hiddur mitzvah (beautifying ritual) meets vision boarding in a supportive space where they can reflect on the abundance of their harvest and the seeds they want to sow moving forward. No previous art experience required; everyone is welcome! Family-friendly and open to folks of all ages. This session has a restricted capacity to create an intimate learning environment, please only register if you can commit to attending. If you register and are no longer able to attend, please let us know so that we can make the spot available for someone else.

7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Oy Vey! A Pandemic! Documenting the Jewish Response to COVID-19
With Dara Solomon, Joshua Tapper, Donna Bernardo-Ceriz, Michael Friesen
Presented in partnership with Ontario Jewish Archives, Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre

Typically, archives collect materials after historical events have occurred. However, as the pandemic unfolded, the OJA began to proactively document the community’s response. Join us for a panel discussion exploring the resulting collection that will illuminate this unprecedented time for the future.

Wrestling Our Way Into Shavuot
With Evelyn Tauben & Maxine Lee Ewaschuk
Presented in partnership with Fentster Gallery

Discuss, dance and dive into art, art history and textual interpretation! Dancer Maxine Lee Ewaschuk and Curator Evelyn Tauben host an interactive exploration inspired by the moment in Genesis when Jacob wrestles through the night with an angel and is transformed by morning. On Shavuot we wrestle through the night with Jewish texts and teachings – what will the morning bring? Together we’ll grapple with this key narrative and how various sages and artists throughout history have responded to it including Nathan Rapoport (best known for his memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in Warsaw and at Yad Vashem) whose monumental sculpture of Jacob wrestling the angel can be found on Toronto’s Sherman Campus. Through discussion and movement, we’ll explore the layers of wrestling introduced in Breishit that are deeply resonant at this time.

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