The Marlene and Herb Levin
Adult University
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Our season will include both virtual and in person programs. The following programs will be in person at the Levis JCC Sandler Center (unless otherwise noted). To view our virtual programming, click here.
Authors, educators, and experts in their field on a wide variety of topics from politics, current events, and historical figures to health and wellness, and entertainment; numerous lectures will be offered.
Individual Lectures: $18, Gold & Gold Plus Members: $12, Platinum Members: Free (unless noted)
Pick 6 Adult University Subscription (only applies to $18 lectures): $90, Gold & Gold Plus Members: $60, Platinum Members: Free
All programs at B’nai Torah Congregation are $18, no member discount except with Pick 6 subscription
Please note all times listed are Eastern time; register for all programs using the link below unless otherwise noted in the program description. All programs subject to change. All opinions and ideas expressed by the authors, lecturers, performers or instructors are solely their own and do not represent the Levis JCC, its leadership, staff, sponsoring organizations or individuals.
If you need assistance purchasing tickets or membership, call the Box Office at 561-558-2520.
LEVIS JCC SANDLER CENTER | 21050 95th Avenue S., Boca Raton, FL | 561-558-2520
*Important: please note that when arriving to our campus for evening and Sunday events, you must use the 95th Avenue S. entrance
(off of Glades Road between Lyons Road and 441).
Robert Watson
Thursday, October 10, 2:00 pm
Election 2024
Robert Watson will share his analysis of and predictions about this high stakes election. Yes, it’s political.*
*The views of the speaker are his own and do not represent the Levis JCC, its leadership, staff, sponsoring organizations or individuals.
Monday, February 24, 2:00 pm
Florida’s New Holocaust Education Curriculum
Robert Watson has been involved with the Holocaust Learning Experience (HLE) to support the teaching of the Holocaust for high school and college students in Florida, meeting Florida's standards and benchmarks. Come hear from him about the curriculum he developed and the goals for the program.
$25 each, Gold & Gold Plus Members: $20, Platinum Members: Free
Lectures
Tuesday, October 22, 2:00 pm
Richard Knox presents
Early Rock & Roll Sibling Groups
During the first decade of Rock & Roll, sibling groups made so many of the outstanding songs of this era popular. This retrospective will afford us an opportunity to relive some of their most memorable vocals and examine the influence they had on the future of Rock & Roll.
Monday, October 28, 7:30 pm
Lee Yaron, 10/7, 100 Human Stories
In Conversation with Adi Levy, FAU
A masterful work of investigative journalism by acclaimed Haaretz reporter Lee Yaron, 10/7 chronicles the massacre that ignited a war through the stories of more than 100 civilians. These stories are the products of extensive interviews with survivors, the bereaved and first responders in Israel and beyond.
Tuesday, October 29, 2:00 pm
Don’t be a Victim! How to Avoid Scammers
Palm Beach County leads the nation for identity theft and scams. These criminals are getting more and more sophisticated and anyone could fall prey to their tactics. The Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office’s Volunteers Against Scams Team (VAST) will make an educational presentation to help us all be more informed and vigilant in order to better protect ourselves.
Free
Monday, December 2, 1:00 pm
Remembrance of the Expulsion of Jews from Arab Lands
Moderated by Abraham Hamaoui, instructor of Jewish Thought Throughout the Ages. We join the entire world in remembrance of the Forced Departure and Expulsion of 1,000,000 Jews from the Arab ruled countries in the 1950s and 1960s.
Free
Thursday, December 19, 2:00 pm
Creating Light in a Time of Darkness with Rabbi Charles Klein
“Everything changed after October 7.” At an emotional level, this refers to the shock and despair felt by a people in mourning. It also refers to changes in Jewish life including our way of being Jewish in a world that feels scarier and lonelier. Join Rabbi Charles Klein for his wise and compassionate perspective on coping with loss and trauma and creating light in a time of darkness.
Thursday, January 16, 2:00 pm
Concert Pianist Roberta Rust presents Einstein’s Beloved Piano Witch, Harriet Cohen
British pianist Harriet Cohen (1895-1967) enjoyed a celebrated career as a classical concert pianist and was described by Albert Einstein as “the beloved piano witch”. She was a magnetic woman and intimate friend and lover to multiple luminaries of her era. This performance will provide informative commentary about her illustrious life, interwoven with performance of piano music by composers she championed, including JS Bach, Arnold Bax, Chopin, deFalla, and Bartok.
$25, Gold & Gold Plus Members: $20, Platinum Members: Free
Thursday, February 6, 7:30 pm
Larry Tye, The Jazzmen; How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America in conversation with Maestro Aaron Kula, Klezmer Company Jazz Orchestra
This is the story of three revolutionary American musicians, the maestro jazzmen who orchestrated the chords that throb at the soul of twentieth-century America. These groundbreakers were bound not just by their music or even the discrimination that they, like nearly all Black performers of their day, routinely encountered. Each defied and ultimately overcame racial boundaries by opening America’s eyes and souls to the magnificence of their music. In the process they wrote the soundtrack for the civil rights movement.
Lectures continued
Thursday, February 6, 2:00 pm
Unveil the Secrets of Longevity with Centenarian and Social Media Influencer, author Mildred Kirschenbaum and her daughter Gayle Kirschenbaum
When Mildred Kirschenbaum celebrated her 99th birthday, her daughter Gayle shared a video of her on Instagram, setting off a viral sensation. Gayle, initially using her account for photography, redirected the spotlight to showcase her mother's wisdom and the unique bond they share. Now, Mildred has written a book. Mildred's Mindset: Wisdom from a Woman Centenarian. Gayle Kirschenbaum is Mildred’s daughter and a Filmmaker / TV Producer / Writer / Photographer / Coach and Speaker. Mother and daughter will be here together to share their story! Following the outpouring of enthusiasm for her short, funny film My Nose about her mother's quest to convince her to have a nose job, she knew she had to make the feature film Look at Us Now, Mother! We will be screening the film on January 21 at 1:00 pm.
Monday, February 10, 2:00 pm
Frank & Marit Meisler: Legacy and Vision
Marit Meisler, daughter of artist Frank Meisler, will make a presentation about her father’s history and legacy, along with her current endeavors, highlighting the link between his work and her own.
Frank Meisler was a world-renowned artist known for his unique sculptures. His remarkable life journey took him from a Holocaust survivor to a guest at Prince Charles’s royal table. He created the large Jerusalem spheres located at the Adolph & Rose Levis Jewish Community Center and the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County.
Marit Meisler, a designer and artist herself, continues her father’s legacy at the Frank Meisler Gallery. Born and raised in Jaffa, Israel, she graduated with distinction from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. She owns ceMMent Design, known for its modern take on religious artifacts and household objects. Her work is featured in museums worldwide.
Since 2019, Marit has expanded the Frank Meisler brand with new sculptures, combining his legacy with her contemporary vision. She will exhibit at the Palm Beach Art Antique and Design Show from February 13-18.
Free
Thursday, March 6, 2:00 pm
Rosa Lowinger, Dwell Time: A Memoir of Art Exile & Repair
At B’nai Torah Congregation
Dwell Time is an illuminating debut memoir by one of the few prominent Latinas in the field of art and architectural conservation. It is a moving portrait of a Cuban Jewish family’s intergenerational trauma; a story about repair and healing that will forever change how you see the objects and places we cherish and how we manage damage and loss.
Thursday, March 6, 7:30 pm
Adam Nimoy, The Most Human: Reconciling with My Father Leonard Nimoy
In his memoir, The Most Human, Adam Nimoy details his life as the son of one of the most recognizable actors of our time. He has written about the challenges of growing up with his famous father and about their estrangement and ultimate reconciliation. It is a story of breaking generational patterns, letting go and forgiveness.
Thursday, March 20, 2:00 pm
Julie Satow, When Women Ran Fifth Ave:
Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion
Julie Satow chronicles the rise of the department store through dazzling portraits of three visionary women who took great risks, forging new paths for the women who followed in their footsteps. This history of American fashion and the department store is inextricable from Jewish history, from the Jewish immigrants who worked in New York’s Garment District to influential designers and creators.
Sunday, March 30, 3:00 pm
R. Derek Black, The Klansman’s Son;
My Journey from White Nationalism to Antiracism
The Klansman’s Son is an astonishing memoir of a childhood built on fear, and of breaking from a community of hate. Derek Black was raised to take over the white nationalist movement in the United States. Their father, Don Black, was a former Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan and started Stormfront. David Duke, was also their close family friend and mentor. Racist hatred was all Derek knew. Then, while in college in 2013, Derek began engaging with students of various religions and races. A Jewish classmate bucked campus pressure to ignore and isolate Derek and invited them to Shabbat dinner in his dorm. Derek began joining every week for the conversations and camaraderie. It set them on course to publicly renounce white nationalism. Derek traces a uniquely insider account of the rise of white nationalism, and how a child indoctrinated with hate can become an anti-racist adult, committed to combatting antisemitism.
Thursday, April 10, 2:00 pm
Margalit Fox, The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum:
The Rise and Fall of an American Organized-Crime Boss
At B’nai Torah Congregation
America’s first great organized-crime lord was a woman—a nice Jewish mother named Mrs. Mandelbaum. In 1850, an impoverished twenty-five-year-old named Fredericka Mandelbaum came to New York in steerage and worked as a peddler on the streets of Lower Manhattan. By the 1870s she was a fixture of high society and an admired philanthropist. How was she able to ascend from tenement poverty to vast wealth? In the intervening years, Mandelbaum had become the country’s most notorious “fence” and a criminal mastermind. The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum paints a vivid portrait of Gilded Age New York—a city teeming with nefarious rogues, capitalist power brokers and Tammany Hall bigwigs, all straddling the line between underworld enterprise and “legitimate” commerce. Combining deep historical research with narrative flair, Margalit Fox tells the unforgettable true story of a once-famous heroine whose life exemplified America’s cherished rags-to-riches narrative while simultaneously upending it entirely.