Critically Acclaimed Series Explores Moral Paradox, Intense Realm of Meaning

March 2010 – Worldwide Holocaust Educational Initiative: Timed to coincide with Yom Hashoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day, Beyond Never Again, a six-part course about the Holocaust, will premiere in more than 300 locations worldwide, including Winnipeg. Created by the Jewish Learning Institute (JLI), the world’s largest network of adult education, Beyond Never Again has won support from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Yad Vashem, and more than 100 centers and institutes devoted to studying the Holocaust around the world.

Envisioned as a journey into the intense realm of meaning, Beyond Never Again examines the universal themes that the Holocaust forces us to confront, such as the nature of good and evil, and how empathy and conscience may be nurtured. The course is formulated as a series of facilitated discussions that will enable participants to articulate their personal responses to the Holocaust, and provides relevant angles on some of life’s most difficult questions pertaining to faith and suffering.

Starting on Tuesday, April 27 at the Chabad Torah Centre, Beyond Never Again will run for six consecutive Tuesdays, and is expected to draw more than fifty local students to its dynamic text-based and audio-visual classes. The course will be taught by Rabbi Shmuly Altein, Director of Chabad’s JLI chapter.

Beyond Never Again, like all JLI’s courses, is designed for people at all levels of Jewish knowledge. Participants without any prior experience or background in Jewish learning can attend and enjoy this course. All JLI courses are open to the public, and attendees need not to be a member of any particular synagogue or temple. Potential students are welcome to call (204) 414-5624 or visit www.ChabadWinnipeg.org/JLI for more information.

JLI is the first international educational institution to present traditional Judaism in a professional, innovative, academically challenging yet accessible format. The JLI was created to address the needs of Jews for in-depth Jewish knowledge. Authorities on each subject have organized the curriculum and teaching materials for each course.

“At the heart of Jewish culture there has always been Jewish learning, an engaged and vibrant meeting of minds,” explains Rabbi Shmuly Altein, the local JLI instructor. “We’re excited to be able to bring this open and interactive learning environment to our community.”

The program began with SoulQuest in November, continued with Portraits in Leadership in February and will conclude with Beyond Never Again in April. This sequence is designed to provide a deeper understanding and appreciation of Jewish thought, heritage, and tradition, and enables students to achieve basic Jewish literacy as well as an understanding of cardinal Jewish beliefs and observances.

The Jewish Learning Institute (JLI) is the adult education arm of Chabad-Lubavitch. JLI’s classes and programs are offered at over 300 locations in more than 250 cities nationwide and internationally (including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Venezuela). Over 100,000 people have attended JLI classes since its founding in 1998. Every course offered by JLI is taught concurrently in all locations. This unique feature has helped create a truly global learning community.

JLI courses are presented in Winnipeg, MB under the auspices of Lubavitch Centre.