beit midrash

A virtual, five-part series presented by Professor Eitan P. Fishbane

About the event: 

In what would become the legendary kabbalistic hilltop town of Tzfat in the 1500s—the birthplace of such timeless texts as Lekha Dodi and Yedid Nefesh; a location whose larger-than-life figures included such luminaries as Rabbi Yosef Karo, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, Rabbi Yitzhak Luria (the ARI), and many others— there unfolded one of the most remarkable chapters in the entire history of Judaism, and Jewish mysticism in particular. Through a variety of concerns, ideas, and genres of writing, the mystics of this time and place expressed a pronounced focus on the nature of the human self and spiritual psychology: its essence and character, its fundamental state of relationship to Divinity. In the sessions of this course, we will explore a range of these issues and modes of creativity as they appeared in sixteenth-century Tzfat. We will explore such major topics as Soul, Body, and Reincarnation (Gilgul); The Ethics and Piety of Self-Transformation (Kabbalistic Musar); Mystical Autobiography; Emotion, Feeling, and Mind. Please join us as we dive deeply into this fascinating and inspiring landscape of ideas, feelings, and spirituality!

About the Speaker: 

Dr. Eitan Fishbane is a Professor of Jewish Thought at The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), where he has taught for 17 years. A 2015-2016 JTS Chancellor’s Fellow, Fishbane has served on the JTS Faculty Executive Committee; as a B.A. and M.A. Advisor in Jewish Thought; and on The Rabbinical School Council. He is a former Division Chair for Jewish Mysticism at the Association for Jewish Studies (AJS); current Chair of the Oxford Interfaith Forum on Mysticism; and Book Review Editor for Jewish Mysticism at The Marginalia Review of Books. He is the recipient of grants from The Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture and The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), as well as the Charles A. Ryskamp Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). Among Professor Fishbane’s published books are: The Art of Mystical Narrative: A Poetics of the Zohar (Oxford University Press, 2018); As Light Before Dawn: The Inner World of a Medieval Kabbalist (Stanford University Press, 2009); and, most recently, Embers of Pilgrimage (Panui Poetry Series, 2021). He is currently at work on several book projects, among them Shabbat in Ḥasidic Thought: Sacred Time and Mystical Consciousness; Self & Identity in Sixteenth-Century Kabbalah; and The Zohar as Mystical Poetry. In addition to these academic projects, Fishbane is working on a spiritual-theological commentary on the Torah cycle and the Jewish holidays, tentatively entitled, Written on the Heart: Meditations & Readings; and he is completing his second volume of original poetry, entitled, Soul Fragments. Fishbane received his Ph.D. and B.A., summa cum laude, from Brandeis University. Visit him at www.eitanfishbane.com.

*Source Sheets: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GpesiI8tF9_PYCTkyiR-o2SPsxC4HD17/view
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/15TMnZbQhgdSLWFV63YpsELYByIoDxjeE/view
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/14iNuRnPDYXnFoyd1lZbaMamCEcL2-6-m/view

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Ian Pear

About the Event:
This text-based class will focus on the nature of Israel’s army. It will look at the halachot of being a soldier in a Diaspora army, based on the Chafetz Chaim’s Machane Yisrael, and compare that to being an individual soldier in the Israeli army today.

About the Speaker:
Rabbi Chaim (Ian) Pear, a Rabbi, lawyer and social activist living in Jerusalem, is the founder of Shir Hadash, a popular Jerusalem based Synagogue, Educational Institute and Community Center, as well as an expert in Israeli and Jewish environmental law – he worked at Israel’s premier environmental law firm, Laster and Goldman – and a leader in the Spiritual Diplomacy efforts made on behalf of Israel. A one-time aspiring standup comedian, Rabbi Pear received his ordination from Yeshiva University, and holds law degrees from Hebrew University (LLM, with a focus on Mishpat Ivri) and NYU School of Law (JD, with a concentration in international law), and a degree in International Law, Politics and Security from Georgetown University’s School for Foreign Service. The author of three books, he is married to Dr. Rachel Pear and is the father of five children.

A virtual event presentation by Avi Posen

The event was co-sponsored by Temple Emanuel and Temple Israel

About the Event: 

Why is it that even post-Holocaust, Jews experience a large percentage of the world’s hate crimes, despite being less than 0.2% of the world’s population? That’s because the Holocaust wasn’t an antisemitic exception — it was the culmination of years of religious, scientific, cultural, and political anti-Jewish sentiment. This foundation still exists today. Many still subscribe to anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, resulting in disproportionately high statistics of anti-Jewish sentiment and large numbers of hate crimes. Take a deep dive into antisemitism today and how we can respond accordingly.

About The Speaker: 

Avi Posen is the Senior Director of Israel Education – EMEA at Unpacked for Educators, a division of OpenDor Media. His focus is on content creation and training Jewish educators around the world on how to use Unpacked for Educators materials. Avi has worked as a Judaic Studies teacher, Hillel Director, and Jewish camp director. He holds a Master's in Jewish Education from Yeshiva University in New York and lives with his family in Haifa, Israel.

Video Links: https://youtu.be/c3dKIDtAYXk?si=ExCVRQFHHSi5pIDT and https://youtu.be/FAJfddwKraQ?si=MpaenKVOX8WQXw35
Unpacked YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@UNPACKED/featured

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Andy Kahn

About the Event:

As world temperatures continue to rise, and weather patterns, ocean levels, and wildfires continue to shift, change, and intensify, it is easy to feel unmoored and disconnected. The Sacred Earth: Jewish Perspectives on our Planet, seeks to provide new ways to approach each other and the earth around us to keep us engaged, connected, and hopeful. This session will review some of the ways the book addresses these issues and will offer tangible Jewish modes of maintaining our equilibrium and earth-consciousness.

About the Speaker:

Rabbi Andrue (Andy) Kahn (he/they) grew up in Tacoma, Washington, and has lived in New York since 2009. Before starting rabbinical school at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, he received a BA from Kenyon College in Ohio, an MA from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and an MA from the Jewish Theological Seminary in Manhattan. He served as associate rabbi at Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York from 2018 to 2023, where he has invigorated community members in their 20s and 30s, organized interfaith programming, and led people of all ages in deep Jewish learning geared towards spiritual development. He recently joined the team at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn, New York as the associate director of Yachad and adult education at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn, New York. His edited volume The Sacred Earth: Jewish Perspectives on our Planet, was published in June 2023 by CCAR Press.

A virtual, five-part series presented by Professor Eitan P. Fishbane

About the event: 

In what would become the legendary kabbalistic hilltop town of Tzfat in the 1500s—the birthplace of such timeless texts as Lekha Dodi and Yedid Nefesh; a location whose larger-than-life figures included such luminaries as Rabbi Yosef Karo, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, Rabbi Yitzhak Luria (the ARI), and many others— there unfolded one of the most remarkable chapters in the entire history of Judaism, and Jewish mysticism in particular. Through a variety of concerns, ideas, and genres of writing, the mystics of this time and place expressed a pronounced focus on the nature of the human self and spiritual psychology: its essence and character, its fundamental state of relationship to Divinity. In the sessions of this course, we will explore a range of these issues and modes of creativity as they appeared in sixteenth-century Tzfat. We will explore such major topics as Soul, Body, and Reincarnation (Gilgul); The Ethics and Piety of Self-Transformation (Kabbalistic Musar); Mystical Autobiography; Emotion, Feeling, and Mind. Please join us as we dive deeply into this fascinating and inspiring landscape of ideas, feelings, and spirituality!

About the Speaker: 

Dr. Eitan Fishbane is a Professor of Jewish Thought at The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), where he has taught for 17 years. A 2015-2016 JTS Chancellor’s Fellow, Fishbane has served on the JTS Faculty Executive Committee; as a B.A. and M.A. Advisor in Jewish Thought; and on The Rabbinical School Council. He is a former Division Chair for Jewish Mysticism at the Association for Jewish Studies (AJS); current Chair of the Oxford Interfaith Forum on Mysticism; and Book Review Editor for Jewish Mysticism at The Marginalia Review of Books. He is the recipient of grants from The Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture and The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), as well as the Charles A. Ryskamp Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). Among Professor Fishbane’s published books are: The Art of Mystical Narrative: A Poetics of the Zohar (Oxford University Press, 2018); As Light Before Dawn: The Inner World of a Medieval Kabbalist (Stanford University Press, 2009); and, most recently, Embers of Pilgrimage (Panui Poetry Series, 2021). He is currently at work on several book projects, among them Shabbat in Ḥasidic Thought: Sacred Time and Mystical Consciousness; Self & Identity in Sixteenth-Century Kabbalah; and The Zohar as Mystical Poetry. In addition to these academic projects, Fishbane is working on a spiritual-theological commentary on the Torah cycle and the Jewish holidays, tentatively entitled, Written on the Heart: Meditations & Readings; and he is completing his second volume of original poetry, entitled, Soul Fragments. Fishbane received his Ph.D. and B.A., summa cum laude, from Brandeis University. Visit him at www.eitanfishbane.com.

A virtual event presentation by Michael Weil

The event was co-sponsored by Congregation Or Tzion 

About the event: 

Throughout history, Jews have been a people on the move, from the nomadic Abraham and Sarah to Moses wandering in the desert, to the massive relocations of the modern era often spurred by antisemitic violence and poverty. As roughly 90% of all Jews now reside in either Israel or North America, it can be argued that in the 21st century, the Jewish people at last achieved a level of demographic stability. Yet, a closer look at the demographic trends in one of these centers, the U.S., reveals that within this population concentration, Jewish inter-regional migration rates are on the increase. 

About the speaker: 

Michael Weil, an economist by training, born and educated in Great Britain, has spent most of his career working in strategic change, organizational development, and economic, social, and urban planning. Weil has a B.Sc. in Economics with Technology from City University, London, and an MA in Development Economics from Sussex University. In 2008 Weil was voted one of the 50 most influential Jews in America by the Forward newspaper. Today, he serves as a member of the International Advisory Board of Limmud, the Board of Limmud North America, and the Management Board of the Israel Movement for Urbanism. From 2013-2016, he served on the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency as the sole representative of 54 Intermediate Federations. Currently, Michael Weil lives in Jerusalem, Israel, and Scottsdale, Arizona while traveling frequently in between, and works on a select number of strategic assignments.

A virtual, five-part series presented by Professor Eitan P. Fishbane

About the event: 

In what would become the legendary kabbalistic hilltop town of Tzfat in the 1500s—the birthplace of such timeless texts as Lekha Dodi and Yedid Nefesh; a location whose larger-than-life figures included such luminaries as Rabbi Yosef Karo, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, Rabbi Yitzhak Luria (the ARI), and many others— there unfolded one of the most remarkable chapters in the entire history of Judaism, and Jewish mysticism in particular. Through a variety of concerns, ideas, and genres of writing, the mystics of this time and place expressed a pronounced focus on the nature of the human self and spiritual psychology: its essence and character, its fundamental state of relationship to Divinity. In the sessions of this course, we will explore a range of these issues and modes of creativity as they appeared in sixteenth-century Tzfat. We will explore such major topics as Soul, Body, and Reincarnation (Gilgul); The Ethics and Piety of Self-Transformation (Kabbalistic Musar); Mystical Autobiography; Emotion, Feeling, and Mind. Please join us as we dive deeply into this fascinating and inspiring landscape of ideas, feelings, and spirituality!

About the Speaker: 

Dr. Eitan Fishbane is a Professor of Jewish Thought at The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), where he has taught for 17 years. A 2015-2016 JTS Chancellor’s Fellow, Fishbane has served on the JTS Faculty Executive Committee; as a B.A. and M.A. Advisor in Jewish Thought; and on The Rabbinical School Council. He is a former Division Chair for Jewish Mysticism at the Association for Jewish Studies (AJS); current Chair of the Oxford Interfaith Forum on Mysticism; and Book Review Editor for Jewish Mysticism at The Marginalia Review of Books. He is the recipient of grants from The Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture and The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), as well as the Charles A. Ryskamp Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). Among Professor Fishbane’s published books are: The Art of Mystical Narrative: A Poetics of the Zohar (Oxford University Press, 2018); As Light Before Dawn: The Inner World of a Medieval Kabbalist (Stanford University Press, 2009); and, most recently, Embers of Pilgrimage (Panui Poetry Series, 2021). He is currently at work on several book projects, among them Shabbat in Ḥasidic Thought: Sacred Time and Mystical Consciousness; Self & Identity in Sixteenth-Century Kabbalah; and The Zohar as Mystical Poetry. In addition to these academic projects, Fishbane is working on a spiritual-theological commentary on the Torah cycle and the Jewish holidays, tentatively entitled, Written on the Heart: Meditations & Readings; and he is completing his second volume of original poetry, entitled, Soul Fragments. Fishbane received his Ph.D. and B.A., summa cum laude, from Brandeis University. Visit him at www.eitanfishbane.com.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Sarit Horwitz

The event was co-sponsored by Temple Emanuel

About the event: 

How did the rabbis view women as sexual beings? How does it reflect on their own masculinity? Join us to study a few different Talmudic passages, and explore what it has to say about the rabbis who wrote these stories.

About the Speaker: 

Rabbi Sarit Horwitz is the rabbi of Beth Sholom Synagogue in Memphis, TN. She was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary, was a Marshall T Meyer Rabbinic Fellow at B’nai Jeshurun in NYC, and a Wexner Graduate Fellow.

A virtual event presentation by Anthony Russell

About the Event:
In the 20th century, Yiddish art song acted as a kind of performative repository of Ashkenazi Jewish music-making of all kinds, containing elements of khazones and liturgical music, Eastern European folk song, Yiddish theatre music, and Chassidic music, as well as popular and art music of the time. In this session, we’ll take a brief survey of the genre and explore the meaning it had to its performers and its audiences.

About the Speaker:
Anthony Russell is a multidisciplinary artist specializing in Yiddish culture. Anthony’s work with Klezmer trio Veretski Pass resulted in Convergence, an exploration of a century of African-American and Ashkenazi Jewish music. His recent release on the Borscht Beat label with accordionist and keyboardist Dmitri Gaskin, Kosmopolitn, features their original settings of Yiddish modernist poetry for voice and string ensemble. Anthony has also been an essayist in several publications, including The Forward, Tablet Magazine, JTA, PROTOCOLS, Full Stop Magazine, Ayin Press, and Jewish Currents. He lives in Atlanta with his husband of eight years, Rabbi Michael Rothbaum.

All of the music is played from: https://rsa.fau.edu/judaic

A hybrid event (in-person and virtual) by Rabbi Mary Zamore

The event was co-sponsored by Temple Chai

About the Event:
Explore the history of women in the Rabbinate from 1938 to 2023 and learn how this history has impacted Judaism as the face of Jewish leadership continues to change. Much has been accomplished, but there are still many challenges to full equity for women in the rabbinate.

About the Speaker:
Rabbi Mary L. Zamore is the Executive Director of the Women’s Rabbinic Network, a partner organization of the Reform Movement. For over 40 years, WRN has worked to narrow the wage gap, create safer, respectful Jewish communities, and promote equity, while also supporting and advocating for WRN rabbis. Rabbi Zamore co-leads the Reform Pay Equity Initiative and founded WRN’s Clergy: Safe Employees and Employers program, seeding respectful and harassment-free Jewish communities for all. Rabbi Zamore has been named a T’ruah-The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, Rabbinic Human Rights Hero, 2022. She is in the 2022-23 cohort of JWI’s Jewish Communal Women’s Leadership Project (JCWLP), as well as a fellow with the Association for Public Religion and Intellectual Life at Auburn Seminary, NYC, in the Oppressions and Repair Colloquium. She is the editor of The Sacred Exchange: Creating a Jewish Money Ethic (CCAR Press, 2019) and The Sacred Table: Creating a Jewish Food Ethic (CCAR Press, 2011), designated a finalist by the National Jewish Book Awards. Ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 1997, Rabbi Zamore graduated from Columbia College. She proudly served congregations in Central New Jersey for 18 years before joining WRN.

A virtual event presentation by Dr. David Sanders

The event was co-sponsored by Congregation Or Tzion

About the Event: 

The early Kabbalah focused on the Hebrew letters and language and how this code underlies creation. The beauty of the letters is expressed through their meaning, shape, name, and numerical value. The Hebrew letters are containers for the energies of time, including the months of the year and the 12 Spiritual Senses of Soul explained in Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Formation).

About the Speaker: 

Dr. David Sanders, Founder and Spiritual Director of Kabbalah Experience, combines over thirty years of experience as both a psychologist and Kabbalist helping guide people to deeper awareness and fulfillment in their lives. His transformation from religious studies to mysticism intrigued him to broaden the study of Kabbalah to practical spiritual growth. Transformative Kabbalah combines traditional mysticism, contemporary psychology, and quantum physics.

It is David’s joy to help others challenge their views of themselves and the world. Through study and practice, students regularly change their perceptions and choose to alter or modify their behavior – which in turn brings positive change to their relationships and community, and finds greater and more fulfilling expression of their life purpose. He is the author of 2 books on mysticism and language and is currently writing a book on MASKS, the subject of one of KE’s most popular courses.

David maintains an active therapy practice, specializing in working with couples and families. He sees psychological and spiritual growth as a continuum of learning and becoming more aware of the self and others. His creation of the Kabbalah Experience is a way to enter into people’s lives from a different premise – spiritual learning and guidance that does not have a starting point of “my problem.” Based on the methodology of study at KE on adult-centered learning, everyone is linked in the awareness work together, the teacher becomes the student and the student becomes the teacher.

David considers it his fortune to live with and learn from his wife Rita every day. With two sets of twins and the eldest son, life is rich for the whole family.

A hybrid event (in-person and virtual) by Rabbi David Saperstein & Dr. Tevi Troy

The event was co-hosted by Temple Chai

About the Event: 

As the 2024 elections loom, America and the Jewish community have rarely felt as divided over politics and policies as it does today. Are Jewish interests better served by conservative or liberal approaches to America’s domestic and global challenges? Are the values and lessons of Jewish tradition and history more resonant with the approach of conservatives or liberals to today’s issues? Are the interests of Jews in the U.S., Israel, and the world better served by the Republican Party or the Democratic Party?

On issues like abortion, church-state relations, civil rights claims v. religious freedom claims, climate change, economic justice v. economic freedom, autocratic countries that support Israel, immigration, and religious freedom — what are the merits of their respective views? Are bipartisan/cross-ideological comity, compromise, and common ground possible?

Dr. Tevi Troy (best-selling presidential historian, former senior Bush White House aide, Deputy Secretary of HHS, and former White House Liaison to the Jewish Community) and Rabbi David Saperstein (former Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom in the Obama Administration) will debate these issues and model how even political protagonists with differing political, religious, and ideological views can debate respectfully and constructively.

About the Speakers: 

Rabbi David Saperstein

For 40 years, Rabbi Saperstein directed the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, representing the Reform Jewish Movement, the largest segment of American Jewry, to the U.S. Congress and Administration. 

Designated by Newsweek Magazine as the most influential rabbi in America and by the Washington Post as the “quintessential religious lobbyist on Capitol Hill,” during the second term of the Obama administration, Rabbi Saperstein served as the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, carrying out his responsibilities as the country’s chief diplomat on religious freedom issues. Since leaving government, he has served as the Senior Advisor on Policy and Strategy to the Union for Reform Judaism. Also an attorney, he taught seminars on Church–State law and on Jewish Law for 35 years at Georgetown University Law Center and later at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and Center for Jewish Civilization.  A member of the Council on Foreign Relations he also serves as a “Distinguished Fellow” at the PM Glynn Center at the Australian Catholic University. 

Rabbi Saperstein served in 2019-20 as the President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, the international arm of the Reform Jewish Movement. 

Dr. Tevi Troy

Tevi Troy is a best-selling presidential historian and a former senior government official. His latest book is Fight House: Rivalries in the White House, from Truman to Trump.

On August 3, 2007, Dr. Troy was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As Deputy Secretary, Dr. Troy was the chief operating officer of the largest civilian department in the federal government, with a budget of $716 billion and over 67,000 employees.

Dr. Troy has extensive White House experience, having served in several high-level positions over five years, culminating in his service as Deputy Assistant and then Acting Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy. Dr. Troy has held high-level positions on Capitol Hill as well. From 1998 to 2000, Dr. Troy served as the Policy Director for Senator John Ashcroft. From 1996 to 1998, Troy was Senior Domestic Policy Adviser and later Domestic Policy Director for the House Policy Committee, chaired by Christopher Cox.

In addition to his senior-level government work and healthcare expertise, Dr. Troy is also a presidential historian, making him one of only a handful of historians who has both studied the White House as a historian and worked there at the highest levels. He is the author of the best-selling book, What Jefferson Read, Ike Watched, and Obama Tweeted: 200 Years of Popular Culture in the White House, as well as Intellectuals and the American Presidency: Philosophers, Jesters, or Technicians?, and Shall We Wake the President? Two Centuries of Disaster Management in the Oval Office. He has written over 250 published articles, for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New Republic, Commentary, National Review, Washingtonian, The Weekly Standard, and other publications. He is a frequent television and radio analyst and has appeared on CNBC, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox News, Fox Business, and The NewsHour, among other outlets. 

Dr. Troy’s many other affiliations include adjunct fellow at Hudson Institute; contributing editor for Washingtonian magazine; member of the publication committee of National Affairs; member of the Board of Fellows of the Jewish Policy Center; a Senior Fellow at the Potomac Institute; and a member of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.

Dr. Troy has a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in American Civilization from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Troy lives in Maryland with his wife, Kami, and four children.

The event was presented in loving memory of Gloria & Herb Zeichick

A virtual event presentation by Dr. Yitz Landes

The event was co-hosted by Beth El Congregation

About the Event: 

What is the connection between rain, the Temple, and caring for the other? In this class, we will look at the ways in which these themes connect in ancient Hebrew liturgical poems (piyyutim) written for the holiday of Sukkot. After first gaining a familiarity with the different genres of piyyutim and their liturgical and historical settings, we will read closely from some of the piyyutim for Sukkot—several of which are still recited today—to gain deeper insights into how the holiday of Sukkot has been understood and celebrated throughout history. 

About the Speaker: 

Yitz Landes is an Assistant Professor of Rabbinic Literature and Cultures at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. His research focuses on Rabbinic Judaism, the history of the Jewish Book, and Jewish Liturgy. He received his Ph.D. in Religions of Mediterranean Antiquity from Princeton University after receiving a BA in Talmud and Halakha and Comparative Religion and an MA in Talmud and Halakha and Late Antique Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His publications include Studies in the Development of Birkat ha-Avodah (2018) as well as several peer-reviewed articles.

A virtual event presentation by Melanie Gruenwald

The event was co-sponsored by Temple Israel

About the Event:
Dr. Brené Brown’s teachings on vulnerability, courage, worthiness and shame, will serve as the text, and Kabbalah
will serve as the commentary. We will engage together in this guide to living a whole-hearted life, weaving Dr.
Brown’s research and anecdotes, with the timeless teachings of Kabbalah.

About the Speaker:
Executive Director of Kabbalah Experience, Melanie Gruenwald brings over 25 years of non-profit leadership and community organizing to her position. Engaged with senior citizens, families, college students, and teens, Melanie has extensive professional experience with communal leadership and informal Jewish education.

Melanie is energized by building relationships, understanding people’s needs, and finding ways to connect them to one another. She loves the balance of organizational leadership and teaching which she engages in on a daily basis at Kabbalah Experience.

She earned her B.S. in Psychology from Binghamton University (S.U.N.Y), and her Master in Social Work and Certificate in Jewish Communal Service from the Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University. Melanie has pursued additional Judaic and spiritual studies at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, the Conservative Yeshiva, and most recently, the Kabbalah Experience.

Melanie is married to Rabbi Salomon Gruenwald, Associate Rabbi at the Hebrew Educational Alliance, and is a mom to three children, Koby (z”l), Hannah, and Micah.

A virtual event presented by Martha Anne Toll

The event was co-sponsored by Congregation Or Tzion

About the Event:
How does a novelist approach a historical subject as overwhelming as the Holocaust? What decisions go into jettisoning history, or the reverse, hewing closely to it, when writing a historical novel? Join our conversation with a debut novelist, Martha Anne Toll, to discuss how these considerations and more went into writing THREE MUSES.

About the Speaker:

Martha Anne Toll‘s debut novel, THREE MUSES, was shortlisted for the Gotham Book Prize and won the Petrichor Prize for Finely Crafted Fiction. Toll writes fiction, essays, and book reviews, and reads anything that’s not nailed down. She brings a long career in social justice to her work covering authors of color and women writers as a critic and author interviewer at NPR Books, the Washington Post, Pointe Magazine, The Millions, and elsewhere. Toll serves on the Board of Directors of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. Her second novel, DUET FOR ONE, will be published in early 2025.

A virtual event presentation by Eliyahu Freedman

About the Event: 

In this session, we will discover the plurality of Jewish groups that lived in Babylonia during the 8th to 10th centuries. Meet important personalities such as Anan Ben David, Mīshawayh al-ʿUkbarī, Saadya Gaon, and Jacob al-Qirqisani. Independent scholar Eliyahu Freeman, gets to the heart of the main issues that concerned Medieval Jews, leading to heated disagreement and conflict between them.

About the Speaker: 

Eliyahu Freedman is an independent scholar and former Ph.D. student at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He studied Judeo-Arabic and is currently a freelance correspondent for Al Jazeera English and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, he has lived in Jaffa, Israel for four years since making Aliyah. While not working on research or writing research, Eliyahu is an avid practitioner of mindfulness meditation and enjoys playing guitar and watching the sunset at the beach.

A virtual event presentation by David Lieberman

The event was co-hosted by Temple Solel and BMH-BJ

About the Event: 

This class is about Jewish spirituality…making a palpable connection with God. Judaism teaches that we connect with God by performing the commandments, the mitzvot. Our tradition also teaches that we interpret the Torah and the mitzvot at multiple levels. The focus of this class is on the mystical level called sod. Connecting at this level may be more accessible to a wide range of Jews who might view themselves as “spiritual, but not religious.” Many of us look outside our religion for spirituality. In fact, spirituality can be found right in our own backyard. Over the millennia, there has been an evolution in how Jews connect with God. In an era we call biblical Judaism, we felt a deep connection with God through the practice of animal sacrifices. Now, in the era we call rabbinic Judaism, we make connections through prayer, acts of charity, repentance, and study.

The next era may become characterized as transcendental Judaism. Through the meditative quieting of the mind, we can directly experience the “still small voice” that Elijah sensed on that mountaintop. This is not mindfulness. It’s an expansive experience of complete calm, oneness, and a sense of connection with everything around us. Many of us have fallen into that transcendental experience: while watching a sunset or holding a newborn baby. What if we were able to enter into that transcendental experience at will? This class describes how those repeated experiences heal us and influence our actions toward repairing the world.

About the Speaker: 

David Lieberman was raised in a Reform Jewish household and began to immerse himself in the Torah in 2003. He has been an elementary school teacher, management consultant, and spiritual director, and has served on the Board of Directors of VBM. He lives in Phoenix with his wife. They have two daughters.

Visit www.TranscendentalJudaism.com for links to order the book and to contact David with questions or to speak at your book club, study group or adult education class.

A virtual event presentation by Dr. James Baskind

The event was co-sponsored by Congregation Or Tzion

About the Event:

Although the Jewish history in Japan is relatively recent and there have never been significant numbers settled in the country, Jews loom large in the Japanese imagination, and popular books that peddle everything from fascination to fear are perennial best-sellers. An avid student of Western culture and technology since the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912), much of this Japanese interest stems from European propaganda regarding the Jews; however, not steeped in millennia of European antisemitism, the Japanese reaction, on the whole, was one more of fascination and awe. Although allies with Nazi Germany during World War II, Japan refused to turn over its Jews to the Nazis and even entertained the idea of bringing Jews to Japan in the hopes of bringing about national flourishing. This talk will examine the historical factors that have contributed to this multifaceted and unique perspective toward Jews and their culture.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Baskind received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 2006. His area of academic research is Japanese Buddhism and culture, with a focus on how Chinese models—represented by the Obaku School—were received in Edo-period Japan. Other areas of research and writing include Buddhist-Christian interaction in early modern Japan, as well as the Zen/Pure Land dialectic as it pertains to Japanese Buddhist discourse. His current project critically examines tea culture in East Asia, and how it became widely perceived as inextricably linked with Zen and its associated arts. Most recently he held the position of Associate Professor of Japanese Thought at Nagoya City University in Nagoya, Japan. While in Japan his research was supported by numerous grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Apart from his academic pursuits he has also studied and practiced the tea ceremony (both sencha and matcha) as well as Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which he currently teaches. In addition, he has nearly completed a book on the cultural history of jiu-jitsu, entitled, Jiu-jitsu: A History of Soft Power.

A virtual presentation by Dr. Amy-Jill Levine and Dr. Marc Brettler

The event was co-sponsored by Beth El Phoenix

About the Event:

The Gospel of Matthew is often considered the most Jewish of the Gospels. We will explore its Jewishness by looking at how it builds upon various passages from the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and how it relates to later rabbinic texts.

About the Speakers:

Amy-Jill Levine is the Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, Hartford International University for Religion and Peace;  University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Emerita and Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies Emerita, Professor of New Testament Studies Emerita, Vanderbilt University.

Marc Zvi Brettler is the Bernice and Morton Lerner Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies in the Dept. of Religious Studies at Duke University, and the Dora Golding Professor of Biblical Literature Emeritus at Brandeis University.

Together they have edited The Jewish Annotated New Testament, and have written The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Book Differently.

A hybrid event (in-person and virtual) by Rabbi Ian Pear

About the Event:

Since Israel’s founding – continuing until today – the relationship between the state’s Jewish majority and its non-Jewish minority has been fraught with challenges. Liberal Democracies, of course, have something to say about such relationships, but Israel is unique in a variety of ways, not the least of which is it was established to be the world’s lone Jewish state. Protecting that reality, while simultaneously protecting the rights of minorities, has not always been easy. A surprising source for guidance and wisdom in this field – a source that can simultaneously promote both of these seemingly conflicting values — is Jewish law itself. This class will survey more than 2000 years of global Jewish thought on the matter, comparing and contrasting Diaspora and Israeli thought, and conclude with an inspiring view of modern-day Rabbinic advice on the topic.

About the Speaker:

Rabbi Chaim (Ian) Pear, a Rabbi, lawyer, and social activist living in Jerusalem, is the founder of Shir Hadash, a popular Jerusalem based Synagogue, Educational Institute, and Community Center, as well as an expert in Israeli and Jewish environmental law – he worked at Israel’s premier environmental law firm, Laster and Goldman – and a leader in the Spiritual Diplomacy efforts made on behalf of Israel. A one-time aspiring standup comedian, Rabbi Pear received his ordination from Yeshiva University and holds law degrees from Hebrew University (LLM, with a focus on Mishpat Ivri) and NYU School of Law (JD, with a concentration in international law), and a degree in International Law, Politics and Security from Georgetown University’s School for Foreign Service. The author of three books, he is married to Dr. Rachel Pear and is the father of five children.