Board Meeting
2025-07-08 19:00, 2025-08-12 19:00, 2025-09-09 19:00 (America/New_York) | Zoom
We will begin work on the year’s programs and any activities of specific interest.
Please send me subjects of interest you wish the Board to consider in order to prepare the agenda.
Open to all CHJ members. Request the Zoom link from Previn Patel.

Shabbat Candle Lighting
2025-07-11 18:30 - 19:20, 2025-07-18 18:30 - 19:20, 2025-07-25 18:30 - 19:20, 2025-08-01 18:30 - 19:20, 2025-08-08 18:30 - 19:20, 2025-08-15 18:30 - 19:20, 2025-08-22 18:30 - 19:20, 2025-08-29 18:30 - 19:20 and 3 more dates
Zoom opens at 6:30pm just to kibbutz.
At 7pm we light candles with a short service. We listen to music and short lectures. Watch for the Zoom link on the listserv Friday afternoon.

Book Club - Table for Two by Amor Towles
2025-07-12 10:30 | Member’s residence
Join a discussion of Table for Two by Amor Towles
Millions of Amor Towles fans are in for a treat as he shares some of his shorter fiction: six stories based in New York City and a novella set in Golden Age Hollywood.
The New York stories, most of which take place around the year 2000, consider the fateful consequences that can spring from brief encounters and the delicate mechanics of compromise that operate at the heart of modern marriages. Told from seven points of view, “Eve in Hollywood” describes how one of Towles’s most beloved characters, the indomitable Evelyn Ross from Rules of Civility, crafts a new future for herself—and others—in a noirish tale that takes us through the movie sets, bungalows, and dive bars of 1930s Los Angeles.

Havdalah at the Beach ****NEW VENUE****
2025-07-26 18:00 | Sherwood Island State Park,Westport
Bid Shabbat farewell at the beach with fellow members, friends and guests on Saturday July 26, 6:00 p m. at the Sherwood Island State Park. Parking is free for CT residents as long as your car has a CT license plate.
We will meet at the Pavilion.
We ask those coming from out of state to contact local residents to arrange car pooling to avoid the parking fee.
Desserts, drinks and parking compliments of CHJ; bring your chairs and dinner.
Please RSVP programming@humanisticjews.org in order to plan for desserts and drinks.

Women's Rap
2025-07-27 10:30 - 12:30 | Member’s Residence Fairfield
Come join other CHJ women to talk about a topic to be chosen at the meeting. It’s a great way to get to know one another.
RSVP: rcfnpl2@gmail.com

Book Club - My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki
2025-08-09 10:30 | Member’s residence
A cross-cultural tale of two women brought together by the intersections of television and industrial agriculture, fertility and motherhood, life and love. Ruth Ozeki’s mesmerizing debut novel has captivated readers and reviewers worldwide. When documentarian Jane Takagi-Little finally lands a job producing a Japanese television show that just happens to be sponsored by an American meat-exporting business, she uncovers some unsavory truths about love, fertility, and a dangerous hormone called DES. Soon she will also cross paths with Akiko Ueno, a beleaguered Japanese housewife struggling to escape her overbearing husband. Hailed by USA Today as “rare and provocative” and awarded the Kirayama Prize for Literature of the Pacific Rim, My Year of Meats is a modern-day take on Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle for fans of Michael Pollan, Margaret Atwood, and Barbara Kingsolver.

Havdalah at the Beach ****NEW VENUE****
2025-08-23 18:00 | Sherwood Island State Park,Westport
Bid Shabbat farewell at the beach with fellow members, friends and guests on Saturday August 23, 6:00 p m. at the Sherwood Island State Park. Parking is free for CT residents as long as you car has CT license plate
We will meet at the Pavillion.
We ask those coming from out of state to contact local residents to arrange car pooling to avoid the parking fee.
Desserts, drinks and parking compliments of CHJ; bring your chairs and dinner.
Please RSVP programming@humanisticjews.org in order to plan for desserts and drinks.

Men's Rap
2025-08-24 09:30 | Member’s residence
Come and join us for kibbitzing and noshing.
Noshing starts at 9:30am.
Meeting at 10am.
RSVP – george.unser@gmail.com
Watch the liserserv for venue.

Men's Rap
2025-08-24 09:30 | Member’s residence
Come and join us for kibbitzing and noshing.
Noshing starts at 9:30am.
Meeting at 10am.
RSVP –manny67258@gmail.com
Watch the liserserv for venue.

Women's Rap***New Date*** Sept. 6
2025-09-06 10:30 - 12:30 | Member’s residence

Forum on Israel and Anti-Semitism
2025-09-07 13:30 - 15:00 | Member’s residence
These groups are organized by Loretta Jay, Michelle Tomarkin and Jessica Wolf for CHJ members to have a safe place to talk about Israel, anti-Semitism and other related topics and how we are affected. George Rockmore
has volunteered to serve as a back-up facilitator.

See listserv for venue.

RSVP forum@humanistcjews.org.

Book Club - Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean by Edward Kritzler
2025-09-13 10:30 | Member’s residence
Member’s residence in Trumbull

At the end of the fifteenth century, the Spanish Inquisition forced many Jews to flee the country. The most adventurous among them took to the high seas as freewheeling outlaws. In ships bearing names such as the Prophet Samuel, Queen Esther, and Shield of Abraham, they attacked and plundered the Spanish fleet while forming alliances with other European powers to ensure the safety of Jews living in hiding.
JEWISH PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN is the entertaining saga of a hidden chapter in Jewish history and of the cruelty, terror, and greed that flourished during the Age of Discovery. Readers will meet such daring figures as “the Great Jewish Pirate” Sinan, Barbarossa’s second-in-command; the pirate rabbi Samuel Palache, who founded Holland’s Jewish community; Abraham Cohen Henriques, an arms dealer who used his cunning and economic muscle to find safe havens for other Jews; and his pirate brother Moses, who is credited with the capture of the Spanish silver fleet in 1628–the largest heist in pirate history. Filled with high-sea adventures—including encounters with Captain Morgan and other legendary pirates—and detailed portraits of cities stacked high with plunder, such as Port Royal, Jamaica, JEWISH PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN captures a gritty and glorious era of history from an unusual and eye-opening perspective.

Havdalah at the Beach ****NEW VENUE****
2025-09-13 18:00 | Sherwood Island State Park,Westport
Bid Shabbat farewell at the beach with fellow members, friends and guests on Saturday Sept.13, 5:00 p m. at the Sherwood Island State Park. Parking is free for CT residents as long as you car has CT license plate
We will meet at the Pavillion.
We ask those coming from out of state to contact local residents to arrange car pooling to avoid the parking fee.
Desserts, drinks and parking compliments of CHJ; bring your chairs and dinner.
Please RSVP programming@humanisticjews.org in order to plan for desserts and drinks.

Rosh Hashanah Eve - Rosh Hashanah Service
2025-09-22 19:30
We are pleased to present our 2025 Rosh Hashanah services in person to our
members, their families and guests. We will also be live-streaming the services to members and
non-members who wish to join us virtually. As always, our services are free of charge.
CHJ celebrates Rosh Hashanah with contemplative services incorporating
music, readings, and rituals that strike a balance between our connections to the broad stream
of Judaism and our secular humanistic view of Jewish culture and customs. Our services invite
us to reflect on our values and commitments, both as individuals and as a community.
Members will receive links to the live-stream service through the Listserv. Non-members who wish to view our services virtually are asked to please register in advance by clicking here and going to the bottom of the webpage.To follow along with the services, download our printed booklet here.
Doors open 30 minutes before services begin. The live-stream services will commence at the times listed above.
Guests interested in learning about CHJ membership or wishing to join CHJ, please click here. Address inquiries to membership@humanisticjews.org

Rosh Hashanah Day - Taschlich Ceremony
2025-09-23 13:30
We invite our members to join us on the first day of Rosh Hashanah
for a Taschlich ceremony, in which we symbolically cast off our bad actions and thoughts.

Shabbat Candle Lighting
2025-09-26 18:30 - 19:20 | Zoom

Yom Kippur Service - Kol Nidre
2025-10-01 19:30
We are pleased to present our 2025 Yom Kippur service in person to our
members, their families and guests. We will also be live-streaming the service to members and
non-members who wish to join us virtually. As always, our services are free of charge.
CHJ celebrate Yom Kippur with contemplative services incorporating
music, readings, and rituals that strike a balance between our connections to the broad stream
of Judaism and our secular humanistic view of Jewish culture and customs. Our services invite
us to reflect on our values and commitments, both as individuals and as a community
Members will receive links to the live-stream service through the Listserv. Non-members who wish to view our services virtually are asked to please register in advance by clicking here and going to the bottom of the webpage.To follow along with the services, download our printed booklet here.
Doors open 30 minutes before services begin. The live-stream services will commence at the times listed above.
Guests interested in learning about CHJ membership or wishing to join CHJ, please click here. Address inquiries to membership@humanisticjews.org

Yom Kippur Day
2025-10-02 13:00
Members’ Workshop via Zoom. Topic TBD @ 1:00pm
Meditation via Zoom @ 2:30pm
Memorial/ Closing Service @ 5:00p
Members will receive links to the live-stream service through the Listserv. Non-members who wish to view our services virtually are asked to please register in advance by clicking here and going to the bottom of the webpage.To follow along with the services, download our printed booklet here.
Doors open 30 minutes before services begin. The live-stream services will commence at the times listed above.
Guests interested in learning about CHJ membership or wishing to join CHJ, please click here. Address inquiries to membership@humanisticjews.org
