American Jews live in a hybrid existence. We’re both American and Jewish, so we have two different ways of counting time. The yearly calendar that Americans all share starts in January and ends in December. Jews, like the rest of the country, mark national holidays and changes of season and important times like election day or the opening of the outdoor pool. At the same time, Jews have our own calendar that starts in the autumn and in which we will soon begin the year 5787. The Jewish year has its own holidays, from the joy and exuberance of Simchat Torah, to the celebration of freedom that is Pesach, to the mournful and solemn Tisha B’ Av. We mark milestones like turning 18 or 21 or graduating from high school or college as everyone else does, but we also have Jewish lifecycle events: bris simchat bat and bnai mitzvah and aufruf and wedding and funeral and shiva and yahrtzeit. Each milestone in life has its own specifically Jewish characteristics and customs. Would you like to learn what it’s like to live on Jewish time? This course will – through exploring both holidays and lifecycle events – give you that experience.