COLONIE - Rabbi Mordechai Rubin and his wife, Chana, the millennials who oversee Colonie Chabad, are known for hosting creative and inclusive events that are a hit with Jewish attendees as well as non-Jewish visitors.

This August, they're celebrating the recovery from illness of Mordechai's father with a five week series called The Jewish Course of Why.

Created by the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute, the sessions will answer what Rubin calls "the 50 biggest questions about Jews and Judaism."

He promises that the questions will "span a diverse range, from fun, light, and off-the-beaten-track questions, to more complex and controversial issues." Each class is one hour with plenty of time for followup questions.

Here's a preview sample of the questions that will be tackled: How did the Star of David become a symbol of Judaism? When do Jews say Mazel Tov and why? And why are so many Jews in the filmmaking business in Hollywood?

As film critic David Thomason wrote, 'The Warner Brothers—Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack—arrived in America as unschooled Jewish immigrants, yet they founded a studio that became the smartest, toughest, and most radical in all of Hollywood." And one of its films, Casablanca, still moves audiences to tears with its World War II tale of a bitter man's gradual embrace of a cosmic, world-changing cause bigger than his own self-pity and reuniting with his lost love.

The series will be taught on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. starting Aug. 16 with both in-person & on Zoom options, The first class is free. There is also a chance to participate in a dinner in the first class. For those who register by Aug. 3, the course is $40 then increases to $50. There is a student handbook available for $22

https://www.timesunion.com/faith/article/Colonie-chabad-hosts-50-biggest-questions-about-17281413.php