Join Rabbi Nehemia Polen on Wed., January 8 at 7:30 a.m. EST for our next early morning learning series program “Ages and Stages: Wisdom on Navigating the Unfolding Story of Our Lives.”
<h5Topic
Emily Dickinson wrote:
“I do not doubt the self I was
Was competent to me —
But something awkward in the fit —<
Proves that–outgrown — I see”<
With her precise and penetrating words, Dickinson poses the problem of what we gain and what we lose as we achieve the stages that life offers each one of us. Jewish wisdom has much to offer on this topic, and we will explore Torah texts, stories and vignettes on the joys and challenges of youth and maturation. I cannot promise definitive answers or advice, but I hope the journey — like life itself — will be exhilarating and rewarding!
Rabbi Nehemia Polen
A leading expert in Hasidism, Rabbi Nehemia Polen is Professor of Jewish Thought at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. He is a widely published author. His books include Stop, Look, Listen: Creating Shabbos through a Spiritual Lens, The Holy Fire: The Teachings of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto; a translation of Malkah Shapiro’s The Rebbe’s Daughter: Memoir of a Hasidic Childhood, a project that originated in Polen’s research as a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow, and a recipient of a National Jewish Book Award.
Jan Darsa was Director of Jewish Education at 
Abigale Reisman is a violinist, composer, improviser, and educator. She received her Bachelors degree at The Manhattan School of Music for Classical Violin Performance, where she became involved in the contemporary music scene and klezmer music. She went on to receive her Master’s degree at The New England Conservatory for Contemporary Improvisation. There, she developed her compositional skills while working in a rich collaborative environment. Abigale has toured around the world performing Klezmer music, classical music, rock music, and contemporary music. She has had the privilege to share the stage with great musicians such as David Krakauer, Anthony Coleman, Jeffery Zeigler, Amanda Palmer, Sarah Jarosz, Hankus Netsky, and Jherek Bischoff. Abigale currently lives in Boston, where she performs with and composes for several bands including Ezekiel’s Wheels, Romanian quartet Mierlita, a metal band, an Italian Pop band, and various Free Improvisation ensembles.
Kirsten Lamb is a double bassist and vocalist originally from northern New Jersey. Praised by the Boston Globe for her “versatility and assurance” and the Huffington Post as a “brilliant young musician,” she has performed extensively throughout the United States and internationally. Kirsten graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory in 2009 with a Bachelor of Music in double bass and Ethnomusicology. She also holds a Master of Music Degree in Contemporary Improvisation from the New England Conservatory, where she was awarded the Gunther Schuller Medal upon her 2015 graduation for “extraordinary contributions to the life of New England Conservatory.” An avid teacher, Kirsten maintains a private studio and is on Double Bass Faculty for the Wellesley Public Schools, Bridge Boston Charter School, Dana Hall School of Music, and New England Conservatory’s Jazz Lab. She holds a weekly teaching residency through Young Audiences of Massachusetts serving Horizons for Homeless Children, and another through the Brookline Early Education Program serving Brookline Public Schools. Additionally, Kirsten is a frequent guest teaching artist and workshop leader at universities and grade schools all over Greater Boston.
Clarinetist Nat Seelen studied music theory, history, and composition at Brown University, where he received the Brand Musical Premium, the Buxtehude Premium for Musical Excellence, and departmental honors for his ethnomusicology thesis on klezmer music. An active composer and writer as well as a performer, Nat won first prize in the 2015 Klezmer Company Orchestra Composition Competition and a 2016 Iguana Music Fund grant to write a pedagogical text on klezmer music. Nat reviews concerts for AllAboutJazz and has performed on clarinet, saxophones, and percussion with Hankus Netsky, OktoEcho, The Macrotones, The Longwood Symphony, The Mercury Symphony, and many others. In past lives, he has been a zookeeper, a comic book librarian, a management consultant, and an AP music theory teacher. He lives in Cambridge, MA with his wife.
Pete Fanelli began playing trombone at the age of eight. Shortly afterwards, he received his Bachelor’s Degree in jazz performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. He has studied trombone and jazz improvisation under CNY Jazz Orchestra member Joe Colombo, Professor Mark Kellogg and Dr. Howard Potter at the Eastman school, Steve Frank, and Curtis Fuller, and has played with the Gap Mangione Big Band, the Dave Rivello Ensemble, and the Eastman Jazz Ensemble. He currently belongs to the Eastman Broadband Ensemble, which has given him the opportunity to collaborate with renowned composers and conductors Juan Trigos, Carlos Sanchez-Guitierrez and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon in contemporary music festivals in Italy, Mexico and the U.S. Pete has had the privilege to share the stage with great musicians such as Slide Hampton, Avishai Cohen, Peter Erskine, Dick Oatts, John Fedchock, Marian McPartland, Rufus Reid, David Berger, Pat LaBarbara, Gerry Niewood and Rich Perry. He has taught trombone and improvisation through the Eastman Community Music School and currently maintains a teaching studio at the Holliston School for the Performing Arts in Holliston, MA.
May 14, 2024
Stav Marin is a choreographer, dancer, and performer recognized with the
Neta Weiner is a musician, actor, and director based in Jaffa. He is the founder, lead singer, and accordionist of System Ali, a multilingual Jewish-Arab Hip-Hop project. Weiner is also the artistic director of the Beit System Ali social educational movement. He has created several critically acclaimed and award-winning plays that have been produced for festivals and significant theaters worldwide. As an actor, he has appeared in several Israeli films and television shows and wrote the soundtrack for the anticipated series “Madrase”. Weiner released his second solo album, “PINUI BINUI” last year, written in Hebrew, Arabic, Yiddish, and English. Additionally, he has been practicing martial arts for over 20 years and is a licensed teacher of Wing Tsun Kung Fu.
MARCH 27, 2025