Fancy yourself a good speller? Or perhaps you prefer to watch others battle for the grand title? Come join us for the first ever Annual Upper West Side Spelling Bee! Gear up for laughs, cutthroat competition, and good times at this special event, hosted by comedian David Tuchman and writer Elissa Goldstein.

It’s going to be A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

Prize: $25 gift card at Strand Booksellers
Dress code: Bookish

CLICK TO REGISTER!

Where: Aish Center, 313 W 83rd Street (West End & Riverside)
When: Wednesday, August 7th
Sign up: 7.15
Spelling bee: 7.30
Cost : $10 in advance, $15 at the door*
*Beer & Refreshments served

Make your sweetest dreams come true at our cupcake decorating class and contest! Led by local cupcake whiz Alisa Weinberger, you’ll learn how to master the art of truly beautiful cupcakes. You’ll also the get the chance to enter your unique sweet treat into our very super-special cupcake contest!

Who will leave with the grand cupcake title?

CLICK TO REGISTER!

WHEN: Wednesday, July 10th @ 7.30pm
WHERE: Aish Center, 313 W 83rd Street (West End and Riverside)
COST: $18 in advance, $25 at the door

Pre-register soon – places are limited!

Have a story to share? Perform a five-minute story about getting a glimpse of the other side to a live audience! Being out of your element, walking in someone else’s shoes, ending up in interesting places, or just seeing the other side of a story – we want to hear it all. And of course, for those who prefer to just listen – we want a great audience as well.

CLICK TO REGISTER

Cost: $5 in advance; $10 at the door
Refreshments will be served

How to tell a story
(storytelling guidelines lovingly borrowed from themoth.org)
How it Works
7:45 Sign up to tell a story, volunteer to be on a judging team or just sit back and listen.
8:00 We’ll pick the first name and the show will begin.
Each teller will have 5 minutes to tell his or her tale. After each story, the judges confer and give a score. The teller
with the highest score becomes our winner.
Rules:
*We are looking for TRUE STORIES. OK, there won’t be a fact-checker there, and the FBI probably won’t dig into your files to verify the names and dates and places, but please know, the intent and spirit of the event is for TRUE stories.
*No readings; no notes, papers, or cheat sheets allowed.
*Contestants are judged on sticking to the five-minute time frame, sticking to the theme and having a story that
sticks–one that has a conflict and a resolution.

Story Tips:
*Steer clear of meandering endings.
*Your last line should be clear in your head.
*Start in the action and set up the stakes.

Meet our MC – Julia Gazdag
Julia Gazdag is a writer, photographer, blogger and breakfast taco enthusiast. She hails from Budapest and has lived in New York, LA, Austin and Portland, currently residing in Brooklyn.

Join us on Monday, May 20 for the opening of Buenos Aires artist Noaj Sauer’s show at the Aish Center gallery. Five Months in New York is a collection of paintings of modern Jewish art inspired by the city of Manhattan. The opening will run as part of our regular Monday University of Jewish Learning (UJL) programming! Enjoy beautiful and inspiring art, drinks, and food between a great assortment of classes.

Click Here for the full UJL program

Register here!

New and exciting events are coming to Aish Downtown.

Check out our Facebook page for more news and events

About Aish Downtown:

Why Aish Downtown? For years, The Aish Center has acted as the heart of the Upper West Side’s famous and pulsing social scene of young, Jewish professionals and singles. And for good reason; our regular and innovative events, parties, and classes warmly welcome all kinds, and the trio of Rabbis who run the organization are beloved throughout the West Side.

We’re passionate about our work uptown, and now we’re ready to add Lower Manhattan to our roster. And with the opportunity to do something a little different comes Aish Downtown’s driving spirit: community and collaboration. We’ll be working with a number of other non-profits and organizations, most of which are ecologically and community-minded, to create something new for the Jewish population that resides below 14th Street. Aish Downtown is about combining our love for the city’s rich history with our desire to live consciously, and adding to a dynamic and forward-thinking Jewish community that is in love with its past, but also its future.

Set your creative spirit free! Come, get relaxed, and be inspired by acclaimed artist Elke Reva Sudin, while you paint and drink wine.
We’ll provide wine, pre-stretched canvases, paints and brushes and Elke will help you learn how to create your very own beautiful work of art. And of course, you’ll get to take it home with you. No artistic abilities required!
*wine will be served
PRE-REGISTRATION HAS CLOSED.

Elke Reva Sudin is a visual artist who draws inspiration from urban culture and her Jewish heritage. She received critical acclaim for her “Hipsters & Hassids” painting series and has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Haaretz, EL PAÍS, and World Net Daily, among others.
Sudin received a BFA in Illustration from the Pratt Institute in 2009. Together with her filmmaker husband Saul, she runs Jewish Art Now, an initiative to redefine Jewish art and its engagement in the 21st century. In 2011, Sudin was named one of the Jewish Week’s “36 Under 36” young Jewish innovators.
Sudin’s newest painting series “We Are Patriarchs” premiered this year at the Hadas Gallery in New York City. View her work at www.elkerevasudin.com

Aish Downtown is proud to be launching NYC’s very own Challah for Hunger chapter. With more than forty chapters throughout the world, Challah for Hunger raises money and awareness for social justice – through challah bread. Joining Challah for Hunger means engaging in tradition, community, hands-on activism, and philanthropy. Come to the launch party, learn to braid challah with the famous Challah Fairy, meet the team and BAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Wednesday, February 6th @ 7:30pm

Click to Register!

Where: Aish Downtown
325 East 6th St. (between 1st & 2nd Ave.)

Cost: $10

Take home your own two home-made challahs!

Beer and wine will be served

Paintings by Cindy Shaoul Gallery

Gallery open
January 14-March: 10am-5pm or by appointment

$10 suggested donation

About the Artist

Cindy Shaoul was born in New York City in 1987. Shaoul comes from a family of artists. Shaoul is the granddaughter of Albert Senior Nemethy the world-renowned Jewish Hungarian artist, best known, for his Hudson Valley work.