As the biblical tale of Rachel and Leah and Jacob unfolded onstage, about 150 adult learners watched, spellbound.

When actors from the New York-based Storahtelling troupe finished their dramatization of the familiar tale, the questions poured in. But it was just the beginning.

The performance was followed by three learning sessions packed with choices; each slot offered 10 different classes with instructors from across Essex and Morris counties. As Michael Einhorn's first-session lesson on myth and reason came to an end, there was so much more material to cover that no one moved; with 15 minutes left until the second session, everyone chose to stay to hear the rest of the presentation.

The May 20 event was both a kickoff for and demonstration of Rimon, a community-wide adult learning project that will formally begin in the fall. Like the day of learning, the project aims to engage participating area synagogues and agencies across Morris and Essex counties and the denominational spectrum in adult Jewish learning.

The launch brought instructors and students to a single location, the Leon & Toby Cooperman JCC, Ross Family Campus, in West Orange. Thirty-two synagogue communities ranging from secular cultural Jews to Orthodox have signed on as Rimon partners along with 10 agencies. Each sent one instructor to the "Taste of Rimon." Course catalogues for the fall semester will be available just before Rosh Hashana.

Rimon classes will fall into core areas of Jewish study: sacred texts and languages; philosophy, ethics, and spirituality; history; rituals, holidays, lifecycles, and culture; politics and current events; and modern Jewish divisions – that is, Israel and the Diaspora, religious denominations, and Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi Jews.

Ultimately, Rimon director Rabbi Robin Nafshi said, the aim is to develop a kind of guide to Jewish literacy, earmarking basic material everyone should be familiar with. Organizers also plan to hold ceremonies for participating learners as they move up from level to level.

Elaine Hoffman of Berkeley Heights spoke of her own thirst for Jewish learning.

"I'm always interested in finding out more; I'm a lifelong learner," she said.

The problem for her is that adult education at her Conservative synagogue, the Summit Jewish Community Center, "is geared for people who are home during the day. I'm not able to attend."

She was obviously thrilled to know she could now avail herself of the offerings across town or across county lines.

"I will absolutely go to other synagogues, as long as the courses are in the early evening or on Sunday afternoons. I'd go up to three-quarters of an hour away for a class."

She dashed on to a class on Shavuot literature taught by Cantor Sharon Brown-Levy of Temple Emanu-El of West Essex, a Reform congregation in Livingston. "I want to get ready for the holiday," Hoffman said.

Instructors included rabbis, cantors, Jewish professionals, and lay leaders. By the end of the third session, about 200 people had registered and participated.

"Today is an opportunity to show people what they can learn and how good it is to come together as a community," said Rimon program committee chair Rabbi Mark Cooper of Oheb Shalom Congregation in South Orange.

Rabbi Donald Rossoff of Temple B'nai Or in Morristown, cochair of the Rimon committee, was delighted that before his course on "Jewish process theology" had even begun, attendees had plenty of questions for him.

"It's been a long time since we've had a communal day of learning like this," said Rimon chair Joyce Goldstein, who has served as president of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union, the former Jewish Education Association of MetroWest , and JCC MetroWest.

She was not at all surprised by the level of energy. "I think there really is a thirst for adult education here." Calling herself "a passionate Jewish education freak," she said she is hopeful that the project will raise the quality and quantity of Jewish education at synagogues.

Spearheaded and funded by Ed and Barbara Zinbarg of Short Hills, Rimon is an independent, grassroots effort that is housed at the JCC in West Orange.

Ed Zinbarg said he believes this program will succeed where others have failed at least in part because it is a grassroots effort. If it works, he said, it will need about $2 million in funding to cover yearly costs of about $100,000. He and his wife are footing the $125,000 bill for the first two years.

At the launching, he was all smiles. "I can't believe the number of questions people are asking," he said as Storahtelling completed its performance. "People are really engaged."

The crowd at the launch was mostly 55 and older; although child care was offered, only about six families took advantage, said Nafshi. "Those are the people who are generally able to come, who have the time and are not pulled by ill parents or by young children," said Nafshi. "They're at a place in their lives when they're doing reflection and Torah lishma – learning for its own sake. If that's our primary audience, kol hakavod to them."

She was optimistic, however, that they would have a good experience and that word-of-mouth would follow; she wants to make sure that Rimon will be attractive to other age groups.

"We want to make sure we're doing everything we can not to turn off younger people, people in their 20s and 30s and 40s. That's why we're offering child care and a range of topics and instructors."