Rosh Chodesh 5785 dates
(Gatherings might occur on different dates)
| Month | English Date (Daytime) | Day of Week |
|---|---|---|
| Cheshvan | 2-Nov-2024 | Shabbat |
| Kislev (2-day) | 1 & 2-Dec-2024 | Sunday-Monday |
| Tevet | 1-Jan-2025 | Wednesday |
| Shevat | 30-Jan-2025 | Thursday |
| Adar (2-day) | 28-Feb & 1-Mar-2025 | Friday-Shabbat |
| Nissan | 30-Mar-2025 | Sunday |
| Iyar (2-day) | 28 & 29-Apr-2025 | Monday-Tuesday |
| Sivan | 28-May-2025 | Wednesday |
| Tammuz (2-day) | 26 & 27-Jun-2025 | Thursday-Friday |
| Av | 26-Jul-2025 | Shabbat |
| Elul (2-day) | 24 & 25-Aug-2025 | Sunday-Monday |
Erev Rosh Hashana (22-Sept-2025) | Rosh Hashana (23 & 24-Sept-2025)
November 6, 2024 / Cheshvan
Speaker: Rabbanit Anne Gordon
Audio recording of Rabbanit Anne Gordon
Anne has spent many years learning and teaching Torah in women’s institutions of learning in Jerusalem and the US. She is currently the Deputy Ops & Blogs editor at The Times of Israel. She also co-hosts the daily podcast, Talking Talmud, on daf yomi, and the biweekly Chochmat Nashim podcast. A Sefaria Word-by-Word fellow, Anne is currently writing a book on the sages’ interpretations of the Book of Proverbs.
Most recently, Anne contributed to and co-edited an anthology of prayers in English and Hebrew written by Jewish women in Israel after October 7th. In this recording, she speaks about the book project and reads selections from Az Nashir – We Will Sing Again: Women’s Prayers for Our Time of Need.
December 2, 2024 / Kislev
Speaker: Rabbanit Sarah Sharman Moser
Sarah combines teaching Tanach and Jewish Thought in educational institutions in Israel with her work in cancer research. She serves as a Yoetzet Halacha on the Nishmat hotline, and volunteers at the Tzohar organization, providing pre-wedding support for non-religious couples. She also assists at a crisis center for individuals affected by abuse or domestic violence. She has taught in various midrashot over the past few years.
Sarah is a member of the second cohort of Sacks Scholars. The Sacks Scholars programme brings together a talented group of educators, academics, and leaders to study and develop the teachings of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, ensuring that his messages remain relevant and accessible to future generations all over the world.
At this gathering, Sarah spoke about Rabbi Sacks’ many books, focusing primarily on his timely and relevant book To Heal a Fractured World – The Ethics of Responsibility. Her presentation included the screening of two short videos of Rabbi Sacks:
January 2, 2025 / Tevet
Speaker: Judy Snowbell Diamond
Audio recording of Judy Snowbell Diamond
Judy serves as Director of Curriculum Development at the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning.
Since making aliyah in 2012 with her husband and three children from Toronto, Canada, Judy has worked as a curriculum writer for Melton’s Shiv’im Panim Scholars Series (Bemidbar and Vayikra), has served as a curriculum writer and consultant for the Lookstein Center for Jewish Education, and as a teacher mentor and recruiter for the Legacy Heritage Teacher Institute. Judy has taught in a diversity of North American Jewish educational settings — community supplementary schools, day schools, high schools, and adult education programs.
Judy adapted a lesson dealing with Memory and Invention from Melton’s course Biblical Women: Emerging from the Margins through Midrash about Serach bat Asher, who makes one of her cameo appearances in Parashat Vayigash – which was the parasha of the first week in January.
Obituary for Virginia Rives Tranbarger nee Black
After a long illness, Virginia Rives Tranbarger, nee Black, passed away peacefully on Sept. 16, 2023. She was 87 years old.
“So many books, so little time” read one of her prized book bags, and this motto epitomized Virginia’s greatest passion and urgency in life. She loved to read – often devouring three or more books a week – and frequently declared, “Books are my friends.”
But throughout her life, Virginia had many friends – the human kind – that she made through her church, various choirs, and work. She was friendly and easy to talk to.
Born on Aug. 13, 1936 – “Friday the Thirteenth,” she would often joke – she was the youngest child of Linda Frances and George Shornden Black Sr. of Ponca City, OK. Virginia graduated in 1954 from Ponca City High School and went on to receive her BS from Phillips University in Enid, OK.
Her training was as an elementary schoolteacher, and her positions took her to Kansas and New Mexico. While teaching in Roswell, NM, mutual friends introduced Virginia to Oren Tranbarger, who also was from Ponca City. After a blind date and long-distance courtship, they married in 1961 and soon started a family.
Virginia did not work outside the home when their three children were young but was an active volunteer for the Brownies and a Den Mother for Cub Scouts. She led a church youth group and sang in the church choir. The highlight of her year was to rehearse and perform Handel’s Messiah.
Virginia returned to teaching when her youngest child reached nursery school. After she and Oren divorced, Virginia specialized as a remedial reading teacher, working primarily with migrant students in San Antonio’s Edgewood Independent School District. This was a very rewarding yet challenging job for Virginia.
In her spare time, she sang with the church choir and performed with the Mission Belles women’s barbershop chorus and experimented with recipes from her vast cookbook collection.
Hoping to expand her horizons and explore her other passion of writing, Virginia took journalism classes at San Antonio College. After moving to Colorado in 1983, she began freelance-writing for the local community paper in the Fort Collins-Greeley-Loveland area. She also worked in property management and as a caretaker for patients with dementia.
Although she loved living near the Rocky Mountains, she returned to Texas in 1995 to be closer to her sons and their families. She discovered her ideal profession as a proofreader for court reporters in Corpus Christi and San Antonio, and she enjoyed that work until she retired around 2010.
Wherever she lived, Virginia always had a pile of books next to her bed and her seat on the sofa. Her favorite genres were historical fiction, biography, and cookbooks.
Virginia is preceded in death by her parents, brother George S. Black Jr. and sister Elizabeth.
She is survived by her children Alison Epstein of Ashkelon, Israel; Russell Nelson Tranbarger of Corpus Christi; and Patrick Nathan Tranbarger of San Antonio; and by her grandchildren Alyssa Tranbarger, Zoe Epstein, Maayan Ben Admon, Preston Tranbarger, Ivy Tranbarger, Christian Tranbarger, Angela Mallia, James Mallia, and David Zvi Kalman; and by nine great-grandchildren.
Virginia had always hoped to return to Ponca City, and her remains will be buried alongside her parents in the Odd Fellows Cemetery there.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to a local library or to the Alzheimer’s Association.
