Railroad Street Youth Project culinary arts dinner
Great Barrington — Railroad Street Youth Project’s (RSYP) annual Culinary Arts Celebration will take place on Monday, December 7 at 5:30 p.m. at Crissey Farm. The evening will be the culminating event for the RSYP Apprenticeship Program (RAP) which offers work-based apprenticeship opportunities in southern Berkshire County.
Through RAP’s culinary arts apprenticeships, young people learned food preparation and presentation under five local chefs: Brian Alberg of the Red Lion Inn, Dan Smith of John Andrews Restaurant, Daire Rooney of Allium, Adam Brassard of the Williams Inn, and Zee Vassos of Firefly. The chefs mentored RSYP’s aspiring culinary professionals throughout the fall and will guide them in preparing a five-course menu for their families, friends, and the community. The evening will also include a certificate ceremony to honor the young chefs and a live service auction to support RSYP and its mission to empower youth.
Tickets are $125 per person and $1,000 for a table that seats eight. Tickets and more information are available from the Berkshire Edge calendar and by calling RSYP at (413) 528-2475.
–E.E.
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Kevin McCaffrey in BTG’s Laugh Lounge series
Pittsfield — Berkshire Theatre Group will present comedian Kevin McCaffrey as part of its new Laugh Lounge Series on Wednesday, December 2 at 8 p.m. at the Garage.
Kevin McCaffrey is a New York City-based comedian and writer originally from Chicago. He made his network TV debut on “The Late Show with David Letterman.” McCaffrey has also appeared on VH1‘s “I Love the 2000s,” History Channel‘s “I Love the 1880s,” and truTV‘s “World’s Dumbest.”
Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door and available via the Berkshire Edge calendar and the Colonial Theatre box office by calling (413) 997-4444.
–E.E.
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Williams College Croghan professors to present lectures
Williamstown — Williams College’s Croghan Bicentennial Visiting Professors in Biblical and Early Christian Studies J. Albert Harrill and David Brakke will present lectures on Wednesday, December 2 at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Both lectures will take place at the Faculty House.
Harrill will present the first lecture, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., entitled “‘Exegetical Torture’ in Early Christian Biblical Interpretation.” Harrill is a classics professor at Ohio State University, and has previously taught at Indiana University Bloomington, Boston University, DePaul University, and others. He holds a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
Brakke’s lecture will begin 7 p.m. and is called “From Rewriting to Exegesis: Gnostics, Valentinians, and the Birth of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation.” Brakke is the Joe R. Engle Chair in the History of Christianity at Ohio State University. He holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia, a M.Div. from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in religious studies from Yale University. Brakke is a member of an international team of scholars producing the first unified critical edition and translation of the works of Shenoute of Atripe, the leader of a monastic community in upper Egypt. He serves as the president-elect of the International Association for Coptic Studies and on the Board of Consultants of the Journal of Religion.
–E.E.
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Music in Common Giving Tuesday party
Great Barrington — Music in Common (MiC)and Evergreen Fine American Crafts will celebrate Giving Tuesday with a free party on Tuesday, December 1 from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. The public is invited to enjoy wine and light fare and shop the selection of fine crafts and gifts at Evergreen (291 Main St.), and kick off the holiday season with a donation to MiC as the nonprofit heads into its 11th year of community-building.
Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving with one common purpose: to celebrate and encourage giving. Observed on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, Giving Tuesday kicks off the charitable season, when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving.
Each donor who makes a donation during the party will be entered into a drawing to win prizes from MiC and Evergreen, including a $100 gift certificate to the store. For more information, contact Todd Mack at Music in Common at todd@musicincommon.org or (413) 229-9939.
–E.E.
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Exploring (and exploding) the myths of Chanukah
Pittsfield — On Thursday, December 3, at 10:45 a.m., Rabbi Jan Caryl Kaufman will present “Bursting the Bubble of the Bubbe Meises of Chanukah,” a thought-provoking class about the much loved but incompletely understood Festival of Lights. This free program at Congregation Knesset Israel is part of the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires’ Connecting With Community series.
Rabbi Kaufman will examine documents recording the historical evolution of the story of Chanukah from the most contemporaneous, the Books of the Maccabees to the writing of the historian Josephus, to the Talmud. Participants will explore how this story was narrated and developed over at least five centuries. Rabbi Kaufman recently celebrated her 30th year of ordination as a Conservative rabbi.
For more information call the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires at (413) 442-4360 x10.
–E.E.
