Join us for a dynamic and informative panel discussion featuring women’s health experts. Take a proactive approach to your health with insights and advice from some of the area’s leading medical professionals. Presented by B’nai Israel Sisterhood, Neshama Chapter of Hadassah Greater Washington, and MedStar Montgomery Medical Center.

B’nai Israel will be providing lunch for residents of the Interfaith Works Women’s Shelter at Taft Court. We need your help in supplying various parts of the meal. The items can be purchased or prepared in your home. They should serve 6 to 8 people and be in disposable pans. There will be various opportunities for drop off of your items.

$25/person (transportation included) Prove that you are the best bowler at B’nai and win some prizes at Bowlero in Gaithersburg.

$150 materials fee All B’nai Israel members (11 years and older) are invited to attend a three-session workshop to envision, design, and create their own unique silk painted tallit. This amazing opportunity reinforces the concept of l’dor vador, from generation to generation, and creates a stronger bond in anticipation of upcoming b’nai mitzvah. It is also an opportunity for an individual to practice hiddur mitzvah (beautifying a mitzvah), raising their spiritual practice to a higher level. Participants must attend all three dates.

The story of mass suicide at Masada has been told by our only contemporary source, Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, priest, autobiographer and general. Although his histories may have been written for a Roman audience, this presentation evaluates the story in the context of ancient Jewish sectarianism and nationalism. The validity of the story will be probed, and taken into consideration will be the attitudes toward suicide and martyrdom as articulated by Josephus and other ancient Jewish sources. JONATHAN KLAWANS is Professor of Religion and Judaic Studies, Religion and Religious Literature of Judaism in Late Antiquity at Boston University. He received B.A.s from Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, an M.A. from New York University, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Dr. Klawans has authored: Heresy, Forgery, Novelty: Condemning, Denying, and Asserting Innovation in Ancient Judaism; Josephus and the Theologies of Ancient Judaism; Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple: Symbolism and Supersessionism in the Study of Ancient Judaism; and, Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism. Cosponsored by the Biblical Archaeology Forum, BASONOVA, and The Haberman Institute for Jewish Studies.