Pesti Shul             info@pestisul.hu

Click on the name of the month to get a detailed program.

January 2007:

December 2006:

November 2006:

October 2006:

September 2006:

August 2006:

June 2006:

May 2006:

April 2006:

March 2006:

February 2006:

January 2006:

December 2005:

November 2005:

October 2005:

September 2005:

August 2005:

July 2005:

June 2005:

January-May 2005:

• Chavruata Program: study in pairs with a tutor on individually chosen topics.
• May 26: Lag Ba-Omer barbeque, with program for children in the garden of the Lauder kindergarden.
• May 25, Wednesday, 14.00: Rosh Chodesh Club: kosher kitchen in practice
• May 16, Monday, 16-18 h: havruta session together with the participants of the Conference of European Rabbis held in Budapest, within the new Chavruta Program of the Pesti Shul.
• May 13-14, Shabbaton
• May 11, Wednesday, Yom Haatzmaut
• May 4, Wednesday, 17:30: Dóra Sárdi: Jewish Life Stories in the 20th century.
• April 26, Tuesday, 18:00: Shiur on the Talmud with Rav Jehosua Racz.
• April 17, Sunday: The Seder with Seventy Faces - a one-day long seminar with many lecturers, on the theory and practice of the seder night.
• April 13, Wednesday, 20.00: Rav Moshe Weisberger: The Rules of Pesach that Begins at Motsaei Shabbat.
• April 8, Friday: Kabbalat Shabbat, and ethnic dishes: Japanese dinner and lecture.
• March 27, Sunday, Purim-party organised by the Pesti Shul and Marom in the "Gödör". As part of the program: dialogue between different Jewish streams.
• March 26, Saturday, Shabbat: Bar mitzvah of Zoltán Tatai, and bat mitsvah of Ildikó Tatai. Speech of r. Dov Levy on The Meaning of the Miracles. 13.30: Lunch 15.00: Gábor Balázs: Halakhah and Democracy
• March 25, Friday, Purim:

  11.30: Megilla reading.
  12.15: Inauguration of our library:
  Dov Levy on the problems of traduction, and Andrea Sturovics on the books found in the library.
  13.30: Seudat mitsva -- feastive meal

• March 24, Thursday, Purim: Megilla reading at 19.00. Subsequently, lecture of r. Dov Levy on the Book of Esther, followed by food and drinks. Special program for the children during the lecture with conjurer Jay Miller.
• March 22, Tuesday, 16:00: Rosh Chodesh Club: baking Haman-Tashen with Anna Dénes, and discusion about the kosher kitchen. (a women's study group)
• March 6, Sunday: Talmud Day: a day-long program in connection with the end of the Daf Yomi cycle. The web site of the Conference of European Rabbis on our Talmud Day
• February 17, Thursday, 19:30-21:00: Rosh Chodesh Club for women
• February 11-13: Shabbaton together with our special guest, Rabbi Harvey Belovski, the rabbi of Golders Green Synagogue, London, and with the Jewish family as the central theme of the weekend. Click here for more details.
• Pictures on the visit by the members of the Pesti Shul in Safed

• January 22, Shabbat, 12.00: lunch and a discussion with Iván Markó, the most known Hungarian ballet master and choreographer.
• January 13, Thursday, 19:30-21:00: Rosh Chodesh Club for women
• Our regular programs: Mishna Brura - halacha in practice: study group lead by Gergő Dénes
  Study group with Dov Levy: Introduction into the Talmud
  Anna Dénes: Shmirat Shabbat: a study group for women
  Andrea Sturovics: Introduction to Midrash
  Hebrew courses on several levels.

November-December 2004, including:

• Thursdays, 17:30-19:00: Hebrew course, beginners, group 1
  19:00-20:30: Hebrew course, beginners, group 2
• Thursdays, 18:00-19:00: Dénes Anna: Shmirat Shabbat -- the laws of shabbat (a women's study group)
  19:00-20:00: Sturovics Andrea: From the offended Aleph to the flying coffin of Joseph (on the rabbis and their exegetical techniques; for beginners, also for men)
• Wednesdays, 17:30-19:00: Hebrew course, for advanced students
• Tuesdays, 18:00-19:15: Dov Levy: Let's learn massekhet Brachot from the Talmud!
  19:30-20:30: Dénes Gergő: Misna Brura -- halakha in practice
• Mondays, 19:00-20:30: Andrea Sturovics: From the offended Aleph to the flying coffin of Joseph (on the rabbis and their exegetical techniques, for advanced students reading Hebrew)
• January 1, Shabbat, 12.00: kiddush, lunch and study with Balázs Gábor, followed by mincha, seudat shlishit and havdala
• December 24-25.: Hungarian Shabbaton (details)
• December 16, Thursday, 19:30-21:00: Rosh Chodesh Club (this month, on Dina)
• December 11, Shabbat Chanukkah, 12.00: Balázs Gábor: Chanukka, Fight for Freedom, Civil War -- The Jewish tradition on heroism civil war and the war against the foreign power, in the light of modern sources.
• December 8, Wednesday, 19:30-21:00: maariv, Chanukah candle lighting, studying the sources on Chanukah with Dov Levy.
• December 5, Sunday: Inauguration of our new Torah scroll:

  Pictures and further materials
  14:00: Reception at the NH Hotel (Vígszínház u.3)
  15:30: We bring the Torah scroll to the Visegrádi street synagogue in a festive manner.
  inauguration ceremony

• December 4, Shabbat: Shabbaton before inaugurating our new Torah scroll
• December 1, Wednesday, 19:30-21:00: Júlia Vajda: Seeking the Lost Roots: re-discovering Jewish identity in the second generation after the Holocaust in Hungary
• November 29, Monday, 17:30-19:00: Learn the Aleph-beth, with Gabor Balazs
• November 13, 20 and 27, Shabbat, 12.00: Balázs Gábor: The idea of the chosen people in the Bible and in early rabbinic sources
• November 10, Wednesday, 19:00-20:00: Balázs Gábor: The prayer without understanding is like the soul without the body
• November 6, Shabbat: Shabbaton, with the support of Joint. Our special guests are the members of the Moadon - Club für esrims und schloschims (Jewish young adult club) from Vienna.
• November 4, Thursday, 19:30-20:30: remembering the murder of Yitzchak Rabin : Balázs Gábor: The "din Rodef", the law of the pursuer, and the murder of Rabin

July-October 2004, including among others:

• The Pesti Shul Calendar has been published for the first time. Please contact us (info [at] pestisul.hu) for more details if you would like to order one.
• Services on the High Holidays

• October 26., Tuesday, 18:30: Balázs Gábor: The prayer without understanding is like the soul without the body
  19:30: Dénes Gergő: Mishna Brurah - halacha in practice
• October 22-23: Portuguese Sabbaton (details)
• October 21, Thursday, 18:00: Dénes Anna: Shmirat Shabat. The women's learning circle continues studying the book of Rabbi Yehoshua Neuwirth.
• Limmud Conference Grant
• October 14, Thursday, 19.30: Rosh Chodesh Club: "Yiddishe Mame" - in the halakha, and beyond.
  on the matrilinear definition of being Jewish in the halakha.
• October 9. shabbat, 9:00: shabbat Breshit service, followed by lunch at 12:30. Then, Gábor Balázs presents the new acquisitions of the library: The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg and the Midrash Rabbah.
• October 8. Friday, 9:00: Simchat Torah service, followed by lunch at 12:30.
• October 7. Thursday, 9:00: Shmini Atseret service, (Mazkir / Yizkor at 10:45), followed by lunch.
  14:00: lecture of Michael Brenner: In Search of a Lost Judaism: German Jewish Intellectuals and their Criticism of Assimilation (in English)
  17:45: Hakafoth - dance with the sifrei Torah.
• October 5. kedd, 23:00: Hoshana Rabba study night. Topics covered: different attitudes towards secular studies in the Jewish tradition; Maimonides on miracles; Jewish community politics in the time of the Mishna; how shall we start studying the Guide of the Perplexed?
• September 24-25: Yom Kippur service , including the lecture of Andrea Sturovics on "Repent, Jews, except Elisha ben Abuya!".
• September 23, at 19.30: Rosh Chodesh Club for women, on the halakhot of clothing and tsniut, this time ("I don't have anyyyyything to wear!!!").
• September 20 and 23, at 18.00: learning Maimonides' Hilkhot Tshuva with Gábor Balázs, using the bilingual edition recently purchased.
• September 17, 9.00: Second day of Rosh ha-Shana service. At 12.00: community lunch. At 13.00: lecture of Gábor Balázs on the interpretations of the Akedat Yitzhak, continuation of the last year's lecture.
• September 13 and 14, at 18.00: learning Maimonides' Hilkhot Tshuva with Gábor Balázs, using the bilingual edition recently purchased.
• September 11, 23.00: Gábor Balázs: What is meant by teshuvah in the Jewish tradition?, followed by the first slichot at midnight.
• Special summer program (July, August): let us study together the Talmud (Sanhedrin) with Tamas Barasz.
• August 25, 6 p.m.: Lecture of Tamás Turán: The mitzvah of rebuking the fellow in the rabbinic literature.
• August 11, 6:00 p.m.: Rabbi Charles Sheer: Some Observations on the Ideology and the Personality of the Rambam (on Maimonides and secular studies; lecture in English)
• July 28, 3.45 p.m.: We visit the temporary exhibition of Judaica and Hebraica at the University Library of the Eötvös University.
• July 26, 7.10 p.m.: Tisha be-Av, with arucha mafseket and reading the Eicha.
• July 22, 7.30 p.m.: Rosh Chodesh Club, led by Agnes Peresztegi.
• July 16-18: Shabaton. Minyen on Friday night, lecture by Gabor Balazs

June 2004:

• June 28, 7 p.m.: Farewell party of Chani and Hilla. They have spent part of their sherut leumi in Budapest, and they gave courses in Jewish schools and at the Jewish Agency. We are especially grateful for the huge amount of help by which they contributed to the programs of the Pesti Shul.
• Regular programs for women:
  June 24th, Anna Dénes study group for women, entitled Shmirat Shabbat.
• Our regular programs: Mishna Brura - halacha in practice: study group lead by Gergő Dénes; study group with Dov Levy: Introduction into the Talmud (Massechet Baba Kamma).

May 2004:

• May 25-30: Pesti Shul Shavuot Camp in Szarvas, with good lecturers, children programs, and a lot of fun!

  On the program: Tikkun Leyl Shavuot and other lectures and discussions with, among others, Gábor Balázs, Zsolt Balla, Tamás Bárász, Tamás Bíró, Anna Dénes, Gergo Dénes, Gábor Deutsch, Ágnes Peresztegi and Andrea Sturovics.
  The issues covered include: Jewish identity, giyur, the philosophy of Maimonides, modern orthodoxy, rabbinical authority, art history, the structure of the rabbinic literature, many text readings (Mishna, midrashim, Talmud, Rashi, etc.) and women issues (how to educate children on shabes? the Book of Ruth in a women-perspective; feminist issues and Judaism; women and Torah study; family vs. study; the laws of Sota on Shabbat Naso), etc.
  Two Israeli films (Soldat by Shalom Hager, and True Grace by Shalom Hager), followed by discussion
  Concert of the Gesher group
  The detailed program in Hungarian
  

  Pictures

• May 21: Some of the participants of the General Assembly of ECJC (the European Council of Jewish Communities) visited our shabbat service, and / or the kiddush after that.
  Our guests included: David Ben-Naeh (Director General, the WZO World Center for Religious Affairs in the Diaspora), Rabbi Aba Dunner (secretary general, Conference of European Rabbis), Henry Grunwald QC (president, The Board of Deputies of British Jews), Rabbi Steven E. Langnas (chief rabbi of Munich), Clive Lawton (co-founder and executive director of Limmud), Artur Lokomet (The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, Frankfurt center), Peleg Reshef (chairperson, World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS)), Rabbi Yechiel Wasserman (chairman, WZO Spiritual Services for the Diaspora unit), and our friend and regular guest, Jonathan Webber (UNESCO Professor of Jewish and Interfaith Studies, University of Birmingham).
  Clive Lawton and Jonathan Webber gave short lectures after the kiddush.
• On May 20, Gábor Balázs presented the Pesti Shul at the ECJC workshop on "Innovation at JCCs -- How to promote creativity and 'out-of-the-box' programming at our Centers? Challenging the traditions through the eyes of the XXI Century".
• May 9: Lag Ba-Omer party in the garden of the Lauder-Yavne kindergarten.
• May 7-9: Shabbaton with ethnic dishes. The topic and the taste of the month is the Israeli Jewry. (Joint program with Marom). Lectures by Gábor Balázs, on religious vs. secular conflicts in Israel, as well as on Judaism and martyrdom.
• Regular programs for women:

  May 20th: Rosh Chodesh Club, led by Agnes Peresztegi.
  May 13th, Anna Dénes study group for women, entitled Shmirat Shabbat.

• Our regular programs: Mishna Brura - halacha in practice: study group lead by Gergő Dénes; study group with Dov Levy: Introduction into the Talmud (Massechet Baba Kamma).

April 2004:

• April 26, Monday, 7.30 p.m.: festive prayer for Yom Ha-Atzmaut.
• April 11.: Pesach hike: join us to a hike in the Buda hills!
• April 2-4: Shabaton on Shabat ha-gadol: Gábor Balázs on the Jewry in Egypt and on the Pesach haggada. Egyptian Jewish dinner within the series of ethnic meals. (Two descriptions of the Egyptian Jewry.)
• April 1.: Shmirat Shabbat, the laws of shabes, with Anna Dénes. Special this month: on the preparation for Pesach and on cooking on yom-tov.
• Tfillot on Pesach.
• Regular programs for women:

  April 22: Rosh Chodes Club, with Ágnes Peresztegi. The topic of this month: the story of Deborah.
  April 1, 15 and 29: Shmirat Shabbat, the laws of shabes, with Anna Dénes.

• Our regular programs: Mishna Brura - halacha in practice: study group lead by Gergő Dénes; study group with Dov Levy: Introduction into the Talmud (Massechet Pesachim, then the laws of Sefirat ha-Omer).

March 2004:

• March 27, 12.00: Following the Shabat service, lunch with our Israeli guests (the Melitz Program of the Jewish Agency).
• March 24, 7 p.m.: lecture of Zsuzsa Toronyi: Jewish Museum and Jewish History, on how to present Judaism and Jewish history through objects, despite Judaism's focussing mainly on written texts.
  Zsuzsa Toronyi is historian, and has worked for ten years in the Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives. Actually, she is preparing the new exposition in the Holocaust Museum (Páva street), as well as a Holocaust-exposition in Paris.
• March 20: kiddush given by Tamás Bíró, on the occasion of Shabbat ha-Chodes
• March 5-6: Shabbaton with lectures of Gabor Balazs, and with delicious Persian Jewish meals. (Two descriptions of the Persian Jewry.)
• Pictures of our Purim celebration
• Regular programs for women:

  March 25: Rosh Chodesh Club, led by Agnes Peresztegi. The topic this month: the Book of Esther
  March 18th, Anna Dénes study group for women, entitled Shmirat Shabbat.
  March 11: Remembering the past: our guest speakers tells us about old Jewish life.

• Our regular programs: Mishna Brura - halacha in practice: study group lead by Gergő Dénes; study group with Dov Levy: Introduction into the Talmud (Massechet Pesachim).

February 2004:

• February 25, Wednesday, at 7 p.m.: lecture of prof. Zvi Gitelman on The Emergence of Modern Jewish Politics (in English) (written version of the lecture).
• February 14th: During the Shabbos service, we inaugurated the new Torah clothes, the new parochet and new Chumashim. These are the generous gifts of Mordechai Berkowicz (New York), for which we are extremely thankful.
  Following the service, at 11.30, Patricia Esther Margit gave a kiddush rabba, in honour of her name giving.
  At 12.00, her favorite teacher at Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies (Jerusalem), rav Arie Strichowski gave a lecture on the revelation at Mount Sinai and the Matan Torah (in English).
• February 8, Sunday, 6 p.m.: we remember the shloshim of Andrew Moshe Moskovits z"l, our Reb Moyshe, followed by the projection of a film of Daniel Beran and Zoltan Ligeti, which presents Reb Moyshe's visiting the Eastern Hungarian Jewish cemeteries. Before that program, we studied Mishna (masechet Shabbat) with Gabor Balazs at 4.30 p.m., for the memory of Andrew Moshe Moskovits.
• February 7, Shabbat: we offered a special Tu bi-Shvat seder after the kiddush, Shabbat noon.
• New programs for women:

  February 26: Rosh Chodesh Club, led by Agnes Peresztegi. The topic this month: the story of Dina
  Starting on February 19th, Anna Dénes launches a new study group for women, entitled Shmirat Shabbat.
  February 12: Remembering the past: our guest speakers tells us about old Jewish life.

• Our regular programs: Mishna Brura - halacha in practice: study group lead by Gergő Dénes; study group with Dov Levy: Introduction into the Talmud (Massechet Baba Kamma).

January 2004:

• January 30 - February 1: a special Shabbaton, with lectures of Gabor Balazs (on Jews in the Renaissance Italy, on the possibility of pluralism within Judaism, as well as Mishna study) and ethnic dishes (Italian Jewish foods, this time). (Two descriptions of the Italian Jewry.)
• January 22nd, Thursday morning, 8.00 a.m.: Bar Mitzvah of Márton Varga (Yaakov Yehoshua).
• January 17th, 11.30: Discussion with our 20 guests from the USA, who will visit us as part of the Muehlstein Institute of Jewish Professional Leadership program (Joint).
• January 6th, 7 p.m.: Dr. András Stark, psychiatrist, vice-president of the Hungarian Psychiatric Association, author of several books, gave us a lecture on The Roots of the Identity of a Psychoterapeutist in the Hungarian Jewish Culture.

December 2003:

• December 30, 19.00: Tamás Bíró: Let's Prepare the Luach for the Next Year! (load down the hand-out).
• December 27, second shabbat of Chanukka: following the service and the kiddush, we served a special lunch. At 14.00, Tamás Bárász about the dreams in the Bible.
• December 14, Sunday, 17.00: Gabor Balazs: A Practical Introduction to the Use of our New Artscroll Books, part 2.
• Our regular programs:
  • Mishna Brura - halacha in practice: study group lead by Gergő Dénes
  • Study group with Dov Levy: Introduction into the Talmud.

November 2003:

• November 28-30: our first Shabbaton, including fascinating lectures, marvellous food, fascinating films on Motsai Shabbat, etc. Details to be announced latter.
• November 22nd: Shabbat lunch, with American and Israeli guests.
• November 14th: Kabalat Shabat at 6 p.m., followed by a dinner. This is the first occasion in a series of joint dinners that we wish to arrange with other Jewish organizations. This time the members of the Zionist youth group Marom will join us in the Visegradi street shul.
• November 1st: How shall we fight modern antisemitism? Discussion with Israeli students of the WUJS Hasbara Program, and a lunch given by the WZO Hagshama and Jewish Agency.
• Our regular programs: Mishna Brura - halacha in practice: study group lead by Gergő Dénes. Study group with Dov Levy, on various issues of the Jewish relion and Jewish philosophy. Starting from November 18th: Introduction into the Talmud. Rosh Chodesh Club, about women, for women, led by Agnes Peresztegi. November 27th, 7.30 p.m. in the Visegradi street shul.

October 2003:

• Services and meals on the high holidays, 5764
• October 7th, 7.30 p.m.: lecture of Dov Levy on the liturgy of Sukkot. We learned also the melody of the most important songs.
• October 15th, 7 p.m.: Lecture by Jonathan Webber: 'With Ten Acts of Speech God Created the World' (Pirkei Avot 5:1): The Role of Language in the Shaping of History
• Mishna Brura - halacha in practice: study group lead by Gergő Dénes, every Monday night at 7.30 p.m.
• Study group led by Dov Levy, every Tuesday night at 7.30 p.m.
• October 30th, 7.30 p.m.: Rosh Chodesh Club, about women, for women, led by Agnes Peresztegi.

September 2003:

• Rosh Chodesh Club, about women, for women, led by Agnes Peresztegi.
• Lecture of G. Balázs on the different interpretations of the Akedat Yitshak in the Jewish tradition.
• First Slichot on Motsae Shabbat (pictures).
• Pirkei Avot and the Shmona Prakim of Maimonides, with Dov Levy.
• Mishna Brura - halacha in practice, with Gergo Dénes.
• September 6th: Bat mitsva of Klári (Hanna) Cserne, daughter of Nóra Margita and István Cserne.
• September 5th: Friday night Argentinian dinner, with Jorge Diener.

2003. június 14. / Szivan 1.: Bat mitsva of Eszter Szántó (Hadassza Händele bat Gavriel), daughter of Szántó T. Gábor.

May 2003:

• Lecture of Gabor Balazs on the different interpretations of "Ve-ahavta le-reacha kamocha" on Shabbat parashat Kedoshim.
• Moroccan dinner.
• Lag Ba-omer party (pictures).
• Lecture by Andras Kovacs on the sociology of the Hungarian Jews.

April 2003:

• Dvar Torah by Rabbi Pinchos Sack (Beit Midrasch d'Berlin). Followed by a lecture Gabor Balazs (Bar Ilan University, Israel and Arachim) on "The problem of discrimination in Jewish law".
• Lecture by Victor Karady (Central European University, Budapest) on Jewish history.
• Indian dinner.

February and March 2003: Dov Levy on Rav Kook

February 2003: Jews and tastes of South-Africa, lecture and Friday night dinner

February 2003: Attila Novák: Religious zionism in Hungary

January 2003: Seudat shlishit on Tu bi-Shvat 

January 2003: Gábor Balázs: The role of the kavanah in the prayer

November 2002: Mexican dinner

November 2002: Dov Levy on the different trends in Judaism 

November 2002: Chanukkah

November 2002: Eurodin Meeting of young Jewish lawyers 

October 2002: Gábor Balázs: Kain and the Generation of the Flood

October 2002: Dov Levy on rav Soloveitchik's Ish ha-Emunah 

October 2002: Brigitta Gantner Brigitta (Berlin) on the beginings of the German neo-orthodoxy. 

September 2002: prof. Eliezer ben Shlomo (University of Haifa) lecturing on the high holidays 

September 2002: Time schedule for the high holidays. 

August 2002: Shiur on the Shulchan Aruch by Tamás Turán, and a Rosh ha-shanah lecture by Gábor Balázs 

July 2002: Debate on the Israeli-Arabic relations 

July 2002: a series of five lectures by G. Balázs (Arachim; Bar Ilan University, Israel) 

June 2002:prof. Jonathan Webber (Oxford University): Notes Towards the Definition of "Jewish Culture" in Contemporary Europe

prof. Zvi Gitelman (University of Michigan): What does it mean to be Jewish?
How Russian and Ukrainian Jews conceive of their Jewish identity and their Jewish future?

December 2001 (Chanukkah): inauguration of our fixed Torah-scrolls (pictures)

December 2001: rabbi Yeshayahu Balog, rabbi of Düsseldorf on Chanukkah and religous zionism 

March 2001: Prof. Judit Frigyesi on Jewish Music  (pictures).

July 2001: Gábor Balázs (Arachim; Bar Ilan University, Israel) on "Religion and Moral" 

November 2000: Dov Levy lecturing on rav Soloveitchik, and learning Mishne Torah