Heritage & Health Series Program

January 2025 JHM Events

Our theme is Global Mosaic

Join us for a month of education, celebration, and community for Jewish Heritage Month!

Month-Long Artists Exhibition

Stories of Home art panel

Stories of Home
Artists Catherine Stern and Rachel Tirosh • Jan. 17–30, 2025, Displayed in Foothill Main Library

Read more below and visit Catherinemsternarts.com to view Catherine's work, and mixsome.com to view Rachel's work.

Read about Catherine Stern

Catherine Stern is an artist who has worked in numerous mediums, most often often circling back to textiles. She mainly works in silk organza, which she dyes, layers, paints and stitches to create layers of colors and weave stories.

Her first show was in the late 70’s at San Francisco State University. Recent one person shows have included The Osher Marin Jewish Community Center; The Palo Alto Jewish Community Center and the Peninsula Jewish Community Center. She has shown her work on the coast of Maine as well as in Austin, Texas.

Each piece represents hours of research into sacred texts in an attempt to make those texts new and accessible. in the way that Torah study examines a Parsha from myriad angles, she sits with the words to channel a visual picture, something that speaks to the viewer, as well as the accompanying words. Her intention is to make the teachings accessible to everyone.

As an unaffiliated Jew, her art is a way of saying, ‘I am here.

Catherine was a student at Foothill College in the early 70’s, continuing her education at San Francisco State University. She is a life-long earner, and has taken many workshops over the years, continuing to grow and experiment, drawing inspiration from nature, antiquities, and from words.

Read about Rachel Tirosh

Rachel Tirosh is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the duality between rootedness and mobility.

Influenced by her relocation from Israel to the United States and her shift from engineering to art, she uses accordion books as narrative vessels to examine the voids, transformations, and yearnings associated with migration.

Her creations weave a tapestry of multicultural identity and Jewish heritage, fostering empathy and dialogue while inspiring audiences to reflect on their own experiences of identity, belonging, and connection to place.

Friday, Jan. 10

Shabbat Dinner — with the Hillel of Silicon Valley Community

6–8 p.m. in Dining Hall

Join us for a special Shabbat dinner to celebrate the start of Winter Quarter and Jewish Heritage Month!
This is a fantastic opportunity to come together as a community, honor the rich traditions of Jewish culture, and embrace the exciting possibilities that the new semester has to offer.
Don’t miss out on an evening of celebration, connection, and cultural appreciation!

Wednesday, Jan. 15

Jewish Heritage Month Opening Ceremony

Noon–1 p.m. in Dining Hall
NOTE DATE CHANGE from Jan. 8

Join us for our first college hour of the quarter to celebrate the opening ceremony for Jewish Heritage Month. Enjoy music, culture, and food with your Foothill community!

Wednesday, Jan. 22

Winter Club Day with a Jewish Flare

12–2 p.m. in Library Quad

Clubs are the heartbeat of campus life at Foothill. Please join us on campus to learn about joining or starting a club, and enjoy Jewish & varied music, food, fun, while making new friends!

Tuesday, Jan. 28

Closing Ceremony: Special Live Performance with Lior Ben-Hur

Noon–1 p.m. in Dining Hall

Meet Lior Ben Haur (holding a guitar) Lior Ben-Hur is a performing artist, composer and award-winning educator born and raised in Jerusalem, Israel.

Since moving to the Bay Area in 2004, Lior has been working in music education, teaching and presenting engaging programs for children and adults. With a deep passion for creating new, enhanced, innovative music curricula, Lior is dedicated to using music as a tool to connect people to their souls and bring communities closer together. He has broad span of experience in both religious and secular environments and worked professionally as a touring artist, band leader, formal and informal music teacher, theatre score composer and music director.

In 2013, Lior won the national Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education for his new, innovative methods of integrating music as part of the educational experience.

Lior is constantly performing with his San Francisco based band, Sol Tevél, and has released three studio albums. His first album, World Light, is a collection of faith-based songs that aims to shed a new light and contemporary interpretation on old Jewish texts, ideals and mysticism. His latest album, So I Wander, is an eclectic Reggae album released in 2017 which debuted at #14 on Billboard charts for Top Reggae Album.

Food and refreshments will be served. Bring a friend and join in on the fun!

Thursday, Jan. 30

Artist Talk/Reception with Catherine Stern and Rachel Tirosh

Noon–1 p.m. in the Library Courtyard (between 3600 and Library)

Join us for a casual artist reception with Catherine and Rachel for the chance to meet and greet with each of them.

Lite refreshments will be served.

Questions? Please contact Student Activities Coordinator, Victoria Strelnikova, at strelnikovavictoria@fhda.edu.

JHM Planning Committee Members

Thank you to all our students, faculty and staff who helped plan our JHM events this month.

Jonah Copeland, Committee Chair
Rafi Gershater
Eric Sagi
Ester Schulhof
Victor Feldman
Nitzan Zippel
Sofia Goldwater
Hilary Gomes
Sofiia Ostrovska
Ashley Rajaa
Adanna Ihenacho
Christopher Yang
Josh Pelletier
Coraline Baum
Natalie Latteri
Tali Erez-Klinger
Victoria Strelnikova
Special Thank You to Hillel of Silicon Valley for their support and collaboration

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