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Special Programs
The Gallery at the J

HOLEY WHOLLY HOLY: VISUALIZING JEWISH DISABILITY JUSTICE
By Sharoni Sibony

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ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
B'tzelem Elohim: we're all created in God's image. Whatever shape we're in, we're all simultaneously messy and gloriously whole and dignified. How can visual imagery help us envision a more just, inclusive world for people of all abilities? Through her art practice, Sharoni Sibony has been exploring how we embody our spiritual lives, how chronic illness affects our relationship to community and belonging, and how Jewish spaces can be more spiritually centering places of recursive healing and interdependence. This exhibition features a series of images that she created for the JCC Association of North America's Eight Guiding Principles on Inclusion.

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ABOUT THE ARTIST
Sharoni Sibony is an educator, artist, creative facilitator, and community organizer. She has been a lecturer, tour guide, pottery instructor, and book club facilitator in various venues across the Toronto community and has worked and volunteered in Jewish adult educational programming and event management through organizations that include Kolel at the Prosserman JCC, the Miles Nadal JCC, Ashkenaz Festival, Holy Blossom Temple, and Limmud Toronto. 

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Jan 29 – Feb 26, 2025
Opening Reception: Tuesday, Feb 4, 7-9 pm

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Call for Submissions

The Gallery at the J is seeking artists and partner organizations to participate in our 2025 season! We are attracted to artwork that tells a story. We want our viewers to experience a journey - yours and theirs. 

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Artists and organizations are asked to examine universal values through a Jewish lens. Each month has been assigned a theme/subject which represent a selection of our core principles. Please carefully review the criteria before submitting. (We acknowledge the additional themes associated with months of the year such as Asian Heritage Month and Black History Month. If there are themes and subjects you are not seeing that you feel we should include, please write to deannad@mnjcc.org for future consideration)   

 

Please click these links for additional information:​​

THE GALLERY AT THE J

SPECIAL PROGRAMS

From Dysfunctional Families to Dirty Knickers: A Herstory of Jewish Women's Comics - Thursday, Mar 6, 1-2:30 pm

In the comic book world of superheroes and villains, history has often overlooked the significant contributions made to this medium by women. In celebration of International Women's Day, join Eisner award-winning British writer and graphic novelist Sarah Lightman as she dives into the careers of Jewish women comic artists - whose work explores family, motherhood, miscarriages, identity, queerness and more! Presented in partnership with Koffler Arts, generously sponsored by UJA’s Kultura Collective. Join us live on Zoom or register to receive the recording!

Access to Art - Sundays: Feb 2 - Feb 23, 2-4 pm

A low-vision artist paints what he sees up close, and the curators call it abstract art -- but for him it's realism. A low-hearing poet mishears words and deliberately turns the mistranslation into a playful and surreal poem, creating new meanings. A teen traces the shape of their fidget spinners in overlapping patterns and creates new imagery in a painting. How can we use our fidget toys, our pain management tools, our canes, prosthetics, mishearings, moods, and the other experiences we have as folks with disabilities and chronic illness to create new imagery and insight? How can our access needs be built into our creative work? How can our creative process be an opportunity for relationship-building?

Mifgashim: Where Jewish Canadians and Israelis Meet.

This May, the Miles Nadal JCC invites you to a unique exploration of diverse identities within the Jewish community. “Mifgashim” is a photography project and exhibit that focusses on Canadian and Israeli Jews living in Toronto. Twelve families who identify as holding both of these two distinct identities will be the subject of this art project. "Mifgashim" translates to "encounters" or "meetings”. We're excited to facilitate a "meeting" between the public and the families lying at this unique intersection, where two cultures encounter one another in one family.

 

For more information, click here.

 

Project coordinators:

Linor Gerchak (Hebrew/English)

Lauren Schreiber Sasaki – LaurenS@mnjcc.org (English)

Annual Beverley Fingerhut Memorial Lecture: Yaara Eshet - Thursday, Apr 3, 1-2:30 pm (afternoon tea from 2:30-3:30 pm for in-person attendees)

Discover the creativity, imagination and feminine power of artist and illustrator Yaara Eshet. Her provocative works – featured several times at the Miles Nadal JCC Gallery – are inspired by her secular kibbutz upbringing near the Sea of Galilee, and a rich Judaic history including folklore, mysticism, Kabbalah, Israeli poetry and Yiddish verses. Generously sponsored by the Fingerhut/Metcalfe family. Join us in-person at the Miles Nadal JCC (including afternoon tea), on Zoom simulcast, or register to receive the recording! 

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