Shames JCC

Gross National Happiness: A New Measure for Countries with David Cheney
2022-03-21 10:00 - 11:30 (America/New_York)
Bhutan is known for using an unconventional measure of development since 1972: Gross National Happiness (GNH). Rather than using traditionally narrow economic criteria, Bhutan assesses its well-being on the basis of sustainable and equitable socio-economic development, environmental protection, promotion of culture, and good governance. Bhutan’s use of the GNH principles helped mobilize its whole population to avoid even a single COVID-19 death in 2020. Its positive experience offers lessons for other countries and spawned the World Population Review’s Happiness Report in 2002, which assesses the level of happiness in 149 countries.

Community Wardrobe Drop Off
2022-03-26 11:00 - 14:30, 2022-03-27 13:00 - 16:00, 2022-03-28 10:30 - 13:30, 2022-03-28 16:00 - 19:00, 2022-03-29 02:30 - 17:00
The J is thrilled to announce our new partnership with the Community Wardrobe, a joint initiative between the PTA of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow and the Village of Sleepy Hollow. The Community Wardrobe provides local families in need with good clothes free of charge through a dignified shopping experience.
The Community Wardrobe clothed 340 families in its first year (2021). We are delighted to be the Community Wardrobe’s new home!
Looking to support this initiative? The Community Wardrobe is currently seeking donations for spring-weather clothes (good condition only) from 3/26- 3/29
If you are interested in volunteer opportunities, please write communitywardrobe@horsemenpta.com.

Prenatal Yoga (FREE Workshop)
2022-03-27 16:30 - 17:30
This workshop is designed to support the journey to birth. Students will be guided through a yoga practice specifically tailored to support the pregnant body and alleviate the discomforts of pregnancy. Students will also be offered breathing and meditation practices. The combination of these practices is intended to support the mind, the body, and the heart as one prepares for both the physical and emotional aspects of birth and new motherhood. Class begins with a voluntary brief check-in where students are invited to connect with one another in this shared experience. This vital part of the practice helps to build community. This class is suitable for all levels.
About Tori Cronk
Tori has been teaching group and private yoga sessions and facilitating women’s circles in the Rivertowns for the past 7 years. Since becoming a yoga teacher, Tori has been able to combine her background in mental health with her knowledge of the sacred practices of yoga and meditation, a unique combination that allows her to facilitate an experience for folks where they feel seen and heard.
In addition to teaching Hatha-based yoga classes, Tori is passionate about building community through the practices of pre and post-natal yoga. These specific classes support students in their journey to parenthood and beyond. Tori believes that when a safe and brave space is created in the community a transformative experience is possible.
Tori is also the founder and facilitator of The Yoga Gathering for Mothers, an intimate group for hopeful, new, and experienced mothers that gather to move, breathe, connect, support, and nourish each other through community.
Tori holds certifications in vinyasa yoga (Riverstone Yoga), pre and post-natal yoga (Yoga Haven), and trauma-informed yoga (Exhale to Inhale and Crossover Yoga Project). Tori also holds a Masters Degree in Mental Health Counseling from Pace University.
Contact Jillian Greenberg: jgreenberg@shamesjcc.org.

Art Lecture with Suzanne Altman
2022-03-28 10:00 - 11:30
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is showing an exhibit of American Artist Winslow Homer’s iconic work in oil and watercolors. Renowned for his powerful paintings of American life and scenery, Winslow Homer (1836-1910) remains a beloved and consequential figure whose art continues to appeal to broad audiences. The centerpiece of the exhibition is Homer’s iconic The Gulf Stream, a painting that reveals his lifelong engagement with charged subjects of race, politics, nature, and the environment. Featuring approximately 90 oils and watercolors, Crosscurrents represents the largest critical overview of Homer’s art and life in more than a quarter of a century. Suzanne will give us a lecture on the life and work of Homer that pairs with this exhibit.
Suzanne Altman is an art educator and art historian who has presented art and art history programs throughout Rockland, Bergen and Westchester counties, for both adult and teenage audiences. She is also a painter who works out of her studio and art school in Ossining, NY and exhibits frequently.

Music Together Second Session
2022-03-31 16:00 - 16:45
Music Together is an early childhood music and movement program for children 0 to 5 and the grownups who love them. Music Together has decades of research behind it, in both music education and child development. Because we know children learn through play, we make everything in our class engaging and fun for the whole family.
https://shamesjcc.npgdev.com/programs/music-together/#overview

Passover Pour
2022-03-31 16:00 - 19:00
Come enjoy Kosher-for-Passover wines and order in time for your seder! Orders will be picked up at the JCC. Light refreshments will be served.
Sponsored by Aries Wines & Spirits. No registration is necessary.

Community Closet Shopping Days
2022-04-01, 2022-04-02, 2022-04-03
The J is thrilled to announce our new partnership with the Community Wardrobe, a joint initiative between the PTA of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow and the Village of Sleepy Hollow. The Community Wardrobe provides local families in need with good clothes free of charge through a dignified shopping experience. The Community Wardrobe clothed 340 families in its first year (2021).
We are delighted to be the Community Wardrobe’s new home! Come shop for a lightly and gently used spring wardrobe!

The Jewish Roots of Flamenco with Anna de la Paz
2022-04-04 10:00 - 11:30
Flamenco is an art form that arose in Spain, influenced by various populations passing through or living in the southern region of Andalusia. Beginning in the third century BC, Gypsies, Sephardic Jews, Christians, and Moors all contributed to Andalusian culture. This presentation will discuss flamenco and its Jewish connection. Anna de la Paz is a Spanish dance artist specializing in classical and folkloric Spanish dances. After living in Spain and studying with such great master teachers as Mariemma and Pedro Azorín, she moved to New York City in 1999 and began working with Gabriela Granados and American Bolero Dance Company. As a freelance artist, she has performed throughout the New York area at various venues including Carnegie Hall. Anna de la Paz works in collaboration with mezzo-soprano Anna Tonna on many productions including, “Music and Dance in the times of the Duchess of Alba (1762-1802)”, created for the Hispanic Society of America in New York City.

She is the creator and producer of her own shows, which include Alegría Española, Migración and Memorias, and was on the creative team for Making Music Dance, a cross-fusion of flamenco, tap and world music. She was co-director of Walk to the Beat, an annual improvisational music and dance festival in Nyack, NY. In 2017, Ms. de la Paz was invited to perform in the Canary Islands, Spain at the Festival Atlántico in Gran Canaria. Anna de la Paz has been invited as a lecturer on Spanish dance at area colleges, universities and symposia, including the Foundation for Iberian Music’s international conferences on Enrique Granados in New York City and the “Transatlantic Malagueñas and Zapateados in Music Song and Dance” at University of California, Riverside. In 2018, Anna de la Paz co-founded with Anna Tonna, Hispanic Culture Arts, an arts education organization that brings the classical Spanish arts to the New York City schools. Current clients include PS 8 in Upper Manhattan, the New York School for the Deaf and the Hispanic Society Museum and Library. Ms. de la Paz currently lives in Nyack, NY with her husband and three children, where she continues to teach, produce and perform.

Senior Social Club: Book Discussion
2022-04-06 11:30 - 13:30
Come and tell the group about a book you have recently read and its author. Tell us why you think others should also read the book. We will have a short discussion after your presentation. Note that the others in the group do not read the book in advance.

End of Life Details Presentation and Discussion: The Discussion Everyone Needs But Often Avoids Until Too Late with Glenn Eisen
2022-04-11 10:00 - 11:30
Unnecessary grief and expenses are not unusual when some of life’s most important decisions are overlooked or past decisions are not reviewed, updated and addressed. This presentation discusses the full range of issues about end of life issues. It is about living wills/advanced directives, estate plans, last wills and testaments and most of the other issues that might be important to consider. Changes in laws, investments and family situations, along with designated decision makers, funeral venues and disposal of personal assets, are all issues that need to be at least reviewed, discussed and possibly resolved to avoid unnecessary stress and disputes between family members, business associates, healthcare providers and government agencies.

Senior Social Club: Game Day
2022-04-13 11:30 - 13:30
Card games, Scrabble, Mexican train dominoes, and more. If 4 people wish, we can also have Mah Jong, so bring a friend!

Sasha's Seafood Pop up Shop for Passover
2022-04-14 09:00 - 23:00
Tarrytown’s very own Sasha’s Seafood will be doing a special salmon sale at the J, offering a pescatarian seder alternative or side dish accompanying your brisket!
Pre-order a “seder salmon side” (feeds 9-12) or an item from Sasha’s special Passover menu (her smoked salmon is a MUST), posted on 4/11 on her website: sashasseafood.com.
Order by emailing sasha@sashasseafood.com. A percentage of all sales will be donated to the J.
Feed your families and support your community!
Pick up will be April 14, 9:00–11:00 am
Main Entrance of the JCC
371 S. Broadway, Tarrytown
Come by for tastes and recipes as well!

New Parents, New Babies
2022-04-19 09:15 - 10:30, 2022-04-26 09:15 - 10:30, 2022-05-03 09:15 - 10:30, 2022-05-10 09:15 - 10:30
New Parents, New Babies
Drop-in: Members: $12, Nonmembers: $18
Please join us with your new baby (pre-crawling) for this weekly gathering of discussion and connection to support the transition to new parenthood. This group is intended to facilitate and build meaningful community and share resources, and it is open to anyone navigating a new parenting phase, whether or not it is your first child. As the facilitator, it is Tori Cronk’s intention to hold a brave and safe space so that each group member feels seen and heard in their unique experience of parenting.
Tori calls on her background in mental health training, yoga instruction, and meditation to foster an inclusive and nurturing environment. You are welcome just as you are. Tending to babies is a normal and welcome part of the group experience.
Click for more information: https://shamesjcc.npgdev.com/programs/new-parents-new-babies/#overview

2022-04-22 09:45 - 11:00
What might it be like to enter into this Passover season with an open heart and a curious mind?
In the Passover story, Moses begs Pharaoh to free the Jewish people from slavery. But Pharaoh’s heart is “hardened”–five times Pharoah refuses, a reaction that warns us of the dangers of turning away from suffering, difference, and change. What might it be like to enter into this Passover season with an open heart and a curious mind? Join Dr. Tova Markenson for a free 75 minute workshop exploring these and other Passover themes through Jewish mindfulness meditation practices. All are welcome regardless of prior experience with mindfulness meditation and/or Judaism.
About Tova: Dr. C. Tova Markenson loves exploring the mystery of the present moment with individuals and groups. An award-winning scholar, her research and teaching build on 10+ years of leadership in the fields of collaboration, communication, and creativity. Dr. Markenson has designed and taught courses on mindfulness, storytelling, and communication to non-profit professionals, rabbinical and cantorial students, young adults, and life-long learners. She holds a doctorate from Northwestern University and received a certificate in teaching mindfulness from the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. www.drtovamarkenson.com

Confronting Genocide & Mass Atrocities: A Conversation w/ John Prendergast
2022-04-24 15:00 - 16:15
How has genocide evolved over time, why does it continue and what can we do to stop it?
Genocide and mass atrocities have evolved over time since the Holocaust. But the variables going into genocide have remained the same: targeting people on the basis of their identity. Conflicts globally disproportionately target civilians, and despite “never again” rhetoric, we see mass atrocities happening to this very day in places ranging from Ukraine to Myanmar to Ethiopia. What are the policy tools available to confront and counter genocide and mass atrocities? Are there examples of social movements that have made a difference in responding to human rights crises?
Join us for an intimate conversation with human rights activist, New York Times bestselling author and co-founder with George Clooney of The Sentry, John Prendergast. The event will be moderated by the International Rescue Committee’s senior vice president for international programs Ciaran Donnelly.

The Disappeared of Guatemala
2022-04-25 10:00 - 11:30
“Guatemala has the dubious distinction of inventing the political condition of “disappearance” in late 20th century Latin America. In Guatemala’s long history of repressing its own citizenry, forced disappearance is rooted in the 1954 US-backed overthrow of democratically elected President Jacobo Arbenz and was used throughout the military dictatorships that followed. Driven by a Cold War ideology that conflated group identity with real or imagined political beliefs, three decades of successive military regimes expanded their repressive practices to include massive forced disappearances leading to a deliberate campaign of extermination of ladino (non-Maya) political activists and ultimately genocide of the Maya. This lecture traces state deployment of forced disappearance of opposition leaders in Guatemala from the 1966 mass disappearance of members of the Guatemalan Workers Party to the 1980 mass disappearance of union leaders in order to understand the systematic use of forced disappearance by a state so fragile that it disappeared children in the 1980s. Specifically, I consider the case of Dr. Marvyn Perez who was forcibly disappeared and tortured by Guatemalan security forces when he was 14. More than 30 years later, he continues to seek justice for himself and others who did not survive.
Victoria Sanford is Professor of Anthropology and Founding Director of the Center for Human Rights and Peace Studies at Lehman College. She is a member of the Anthropology Doctoral Faculty at the Graduate Center and an Affiliated Scholar at the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity, City University of New York. She holds a doctorate in Anthropology from Stanford University where she studied International Human Rights Law and Immigration Law at Stanford Law School. She was a Bunting Peace Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, Harvard University.
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Game Day
2022-04-27 11:30 - 13:30
Card games, scrabble, Mexican train dominoes, and more! If 4 people wish, we can also have Mah Jong, so bring a friend!

JCC Community Art Exhibition Reception
2022-05-01 14:00 - 17:00
Join us to celebrate our inaugural community art exhibition on May 1st from 2 pm-5 pm.
Come and enjoy:

Art by over 30 local artists ages 16-99
Family art-making with Melissa Lohman-Wild from 2:30 pm-4:30 pm: all ages welcome
Music by Daniel Hoppe
Wine, soft drinks, and snacks

This event is generously sponsored by Proclinix, Atlantic, Urgent Care of Westchester, Crown Janitorial Products, Breakaway Landscaping, ENT and Allergy Associates, LLP, Francine Malina Compass, and Fanning Electric Co., Inc.
Please note you must be vaccinated to attend events at the JCC.

History of the Giants With Larry Hine
2022-05-02 10:00 - 11:30
May 6 will be Willie Mays’ 91st birthday. He is considered by most one of the two greatest ball players of all time (with Babe Ruth). Larry Hines will explore Mays’ amazing career as well as the history of the Giants and the eras of their five Hall of Fame managers.

Tarrytown Police on avoiding Scammers
2022-05-04 11:30 - 13:30
“Scams, Computer Frauds and other cyberattacks. Detectives Kapica and McGee from the Tarrytown Police force will talk about how to stay cyber-safe.
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Women in Art with Suzanne Altman
2022-05-09 10:00 - 11:30
Long overlooked and underappreciated, women have been a force in art history for centuries. From Renaissance portrait painters to the still life painters of the Dutch Golden Age, to accomplished Impressionists to the many important 20th century women in Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Feminist Art, this lecture explores artists both obscure and well known. Names such as Artemisia Gentileschi, Rosa Bonheur, Mary Cassatt, Helen Frankenthaler and Georgia O’Keefe will be shown and discussed in this approximately 60 minute talk.
