Upcoming Sessions

Upcoming Sessions

The goal of each Tiferet session is to emerge with a growing proficiency in an expressive art-form blended with an inspired knowledge of Jewish ideas associated with the course theme. The first of the two-hour evenings will be preceded with a short insightful message by the Rabbi based on Torah and Chassidut.

Creative Writing: Fiction Shorts With a Taste of the Poetic

Date: Five sessions on Mondays: October 22, 29, November 5, 12,19

Time: 7:40pm-9:40pm

Fee: $70 * ** 10% discount offered for returning students! ***

Location: Bnei Emunoh Chabad of Greenfield • 4315 Murray Avenue • Pittsburgh, PA 15217

Instructors: Dov Ber Naiditch; Rabbi Elchonon Friedman

Series Outline:

Goals of the Class

Learn the elements of a short story
Read selected short stories and identify creative writing techniques.
Reestablish and Practice the stylistic features of poetry and prose (taught in Series One)
Write your own short story

Plot – The Scaffolding of Story

Learning about the necessity of Introduction, Complication, Culmination, and Resolution.
Learning about how the short story can play with that structure.

Setting – The World of your Story

Where’s your story set?
And when?
And why does that matter?

Character – Protagonists, Antagonists, and Everyone in Between

Building convincing, consistent, motivated and life-like protagonists.
Discovering the many forms an antagonist can take.
Dealing with everyone else (archetypes and stereotypes)

Conflict – At least it’s Good for Storytelling

The types of conflict: External vs. Internal
The kinds of conflict: Physical, Classical, Social, and Psychological.
A word on POV

Theme – What your Writing is Saying

Your story, we know what it’s about, but what is it ABOUT?
How to discover theme of your piece.
How to let it guide you without letting it direct you.

Instructors Bio:

Professor DovBer Naiditch received his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Pittsburgh. He has been published in numerous journals and small print collections. His short story “The Angel in the House” was a Notable Selection in America’s Best Short Stories 2013. He teaches creative writing at Tzohar Seminary, and writes scripts and pitches for multiple media with partners in Pittsburgh and LA. He lives in Pittsburgh with his wife and their many many children.

Rabbi Choni Friedman is a scholar of Jewish thought and applied ChaBaD philosophy. He is the spiritual leader at Bnei Emunoh Chabad of Greenfield.

TIFERET