Annual Jewish Storytelling February 2 at 5:30pm

Saratoga Jewish Community Arts, in partnership with the Skidmore Office for Jewish Student Life, Temple Sinai, and with the generous grant support of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York, and Golub Corporation, presents its sixth Annual Storytelling Event featuring both local and regional storytellers, as well as Skidmore students, retelling both traditional and contemporary tales on Sunday, February 2, at Falstaff Building on Skidmore College Campus at 5:30 p.m. Dinner is included with reservations. All of these individuals have their love of storytelling in common. They use it in multiple ways through their daily lives and are coming to SJCA to share their passion with the you, the listeners.

There is a captivating gift for storytelling. It is not just a reading or recitation of a story. It is an enthusiastic interpretation of a tale so that the listener is transported through time and to places they have never been.  Stories open up the listener to new worlds and new understandings. 

Different people appreciate the words of a story in different ways. Adults comprehend the sociology and history, while children understand the action. The child and adult may laugh at the same words; however, they did not hear the same story.  Nevertheless, both experience extreme pleasure from the occasion. Listening to stories can connect us to the past, to each other, to deeper parts of ourselves, and to the vast possibilities that life can hold. In fact, almost every culture has storytelling in its past. It was the way, long before books were available, that custom, culture, and morality passed from one generation to the next.

In 2020, with readily available books, movies, television, radio, internet, telephone and more, storytelling is still a most popular genre. There is no shortage of events from festivals to conferences, opportunities galore for storytelling. There are happenings geared to every age group, from the very young to the most senior.

“Storytelling has also been a means of defining the Jewish identity, the ethnic distinctiveness as a Jew,” said Phyllis Wang, coordinator of the Saratoga Jewish Community Arts. “To hear a Jewish story is to share the humor and warmth, wisdom and angst, earthiness and spirituality of an ancient and thoroughly modern, diverse, and irrepressible group of people bearing a most remarkable history.” The telling of stories is the way Jews share historical happenings and create a cultural history.

Please join us for a selection of stories to fill the mind, the heart, and the soul with an engaging and entertaining family-centered evening of stories. Included in the storytellers for this evening are Shawn Banner, artist, teacher of art, and educator, focusing on math intervention; Sylvia Bloom, Director of Education, professor of voice, and director of Eenie, Meenie Music; Jeannine Laverty, teacher of workshops in Storytelling and ESL; Matthew M. Neugroschel, teacher at the university level, developing and instructing in such fields as culture and diversity, literature, art, law, and business; Beth Sabo Novik, facilitator, teacher, and transformational speaker; Sandor (Sandy) Schuman, President of Executive Decision Services LLC, author, facilitator, and communications specialist; and Martina Zobel, gifted Jewish educator who uses story to enrich students of all ages. The program will begin at 5:30 p.m. A $10 donation per adult and $5 per child is requested. Dinner and program RSVPs requested. Please email office@saratogasinai.org or call 518-584-8730, option 2    www.saratogajewishculturalfestival.org