Partnership with the Synagogue Council Announced

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Innovative Jewish Learning Publisher Partners with Synagogue Umbrella Organization to Strengthen Congregational Adult Learning in Massachusetts

Brookline and Newton, Massachusetts, 14 October 2005 – Our Learning Company LLC (OLC) – a start-up publisher of Jewish Adult Learning courseware – and the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts (SCM) announce a new partnership to promote and enable wide-spread Jewish Adult Learning across SCM’s 120 member congregations throughout Massachusetts.

Reflecting the significant increase of interest in Jewish learning among adult Jews, OLC’s products combine professionally recorded audio courses with substantial visual support and reference materials, suitable for both self and group learning. “Our vision is to enable everybody, wherever they are, whenever they can make the time, and however experienced they are in Jewish learning, to benefit from the richness, quality and impact of the best teachers around. The Boston area is an oasis of exquisite Jewish scholarship and teaching.” said Sergiu S. Simmel, OLC’s founder and Brookline resident.

“We found “The Hidden Poetry of the Jewish Prayerbook” with Professor Reuven Kimelman, to be a particularly good fit to our mission,” said Alan Teperow, SCM’s Executive Director. “The exquisite quality of Professor’s Kimelman journey through the most read Jewish book, his pluralistic approach, and the accessible format of the product will significantly broaden the understanding and appreciation of our liturgy among both experienced learners and busy adults alike.”

SCM is working with congregations across the area to encourage the use of this and future OLC courseware in their congregational learning. At Temple Emanuel in Newton, congregants will use it as a resource for a hybrid home-group study. Each participant will listen and study the material on their own schedule. Four times during the year they will meet as a group, under the rabbis’ leadership, and discuss the more difficult aspects of the material. This audio-course “will deepen your connection to our prayer service through [its] scholarly and inspiring [qualities]” wrote Rabbi M. Robinson in the October issue of Temple Emanuel Community News.

To launch the program and mark the launch of the OLC-SCM Partnership, Temple Emanuel will host a free and open to the public lecture with Professor Kimelman, titled “God Loves You: Jewish or Christian?” The event will take place on Thursday November 17^th, 2005 at 8:00 p.m. Book-signing will follow the lecture and discussion.

Our Learning Company LLC of Brookline, Massachusetts (OLC), was formed in 2004 with the focus of bringing top-quality teaching to adult Jews worldwide. OLC’s products, initially offered as audio-courses with a rich suite of support materials, enable today’s busy adults to enjoy the studio-recorded content wherever they are and whenever they can dedicate 30 minutes to a new topic. OLC recently launched its first title, an intermediate-level course on the Jewish Prayerbook, featuring Reuven Kimelman, professor of Talmud, Midrash and Liturgy at Brandeis University, and a world-renowned expert in Jewish liturgy and literature.

The Synagogue Council of Massachusetts of Newton, Massachusetts (SCM), representing 120 Conservative, Orthodox, Reform, Reconstructionist and independent member congregations, is a central organization that addresses a broad spectrum of religious Jewish needs and ideologies. A beneficiary of Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, the Synagogue Council's primary objective is to advance the religious and cultural welfare of the community and to help create an atmosphere of cooperation and open communication in Massachusetts.

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If you’d like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Sergiu S. Simmel, please call Our Learning Company at 617-731-3132 or e-mail Sergiu at SSS@Our-Learning.com. To schedule an interview with Alan Teperow, please call the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts at 617-244-6506 x18 or e-mail Alan at Alan@SynagogueCouncil.org.