Join our clergy in-person and online for an evening of celebration to mark the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. With torah readings and movie screening: The Tattooed Torah. Rabbi Brett Kopin, co-creator of the movie, will join us for the evening.

 

 

 

Rabbi Brett Kopin was born and raised in Chicago, IL and graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2013. He received Rabbinic Ordination at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles in 2021 and is currently teaching Advanced Biblical Studies at Milken Community High School in Los Angeles. He is the co-screenwriter of the animated short film, The Tattooed Torah, and a feature-length documentary called For The Living about an annual bike ride in Krakow, Poland and the power of empathy to combat dehumanization and intolerance. He is also co-writing a book with Dr. Ron Wolfson called Creating Sacred Communities. Later this year, he is getting married in Cape Town, South Africa. His passions include road tripping, camping, hiking, writing, learning and teaching Torah, and pickling.

 

Over the last three decades, the beloved children’s book by Marvell Ginsburg, The Tattooed Torah, has been a powerful resource for Holocaust education. The book recounts the true story of the rescue and restoration of a small Torah from Brno, Czechoslovakia, and teaches the Holocaust not only as a period of destruction but also as an opportunity for redemption. Marvell was the director of Early Childhood Education for the Board of Jewish Education in Chicago for many years, and is the author of numerous books and articles. The adaptation of The Tattooed Torah into an animated short film is a three-generational endeavor, initiated by Marvell’s daughter, Beth Kopin, who first had the dream to transform this book into a film, and is one of the executive producers. Beth’s son Brett, the co-screenwriter, is a Rabbi working in Los Angeles.