In partnership with Sha'ar Zahav The Talmud has traditionally been compared to an ocean. Prof. Daniel Boyarin, a renowned Talmud scholar and historian of religion, will give you "beginners' floaties" so you can start swimming in this expansive, complex, and often enigmatic foundational text...
FREE program presented by our partners, the Jewish Community Library In the Bible, Elijah is a zealous prophet, attacking idolatry and injustice, championing God. He defeats the prophets of Baal and performs miracles, restoring life and calling down fire. When...
In partnership with Congregation Netivot Shalom A continuation of the Spring 2022 class but NEW participants are very welcome. Back by popular demand! The ache of exile and longing to come home are a continuous thread in Jewish life and...
The Land-as-Woman is one of the most deeply rooted metaphorical systems in Jewish as well as Western and Middle-Eastern cultures, used to support the discourses of colonialism and nationalism throughout history. It has its origins in the Hebrew Bible. In...
In partnership with Temple Isaiah, Temple Sinai and Congregation Beth El Qohelet (or Kohellet, Ecclesiastes) is one of the strangest and most revolutionary books of the Hebrew Bible. We will explore its poetry and philosophy in the context of biblical and...
Second only to the Ark of the Covenant, the four-horned altar ranks as the most important ritual tool in ancient Israelite practice. While the God of Israel communicated his presence and law through the Ark and the tablets contained within...
Your Shabbat-Prep Practice The Eight Chapters, as it has come to be known, was called by Maimonides, “An Introduction to Avot." It was written sometime between 1158 and 1165, much of it while living as a refugee in Fez, Morocco,...
In our fall semester, our class explored the tragic last days of the Kingdom of Judah in 586 BCE and its aftermath in texts from II Kings and Lamentations. To close the academic year, we’ll celebrate the restoration of the...
In partnership with Beth Jacob Congregation, Oakland Megillat Ruth (The Book of Ruth) is an extraordinary novella with a simple but profound goal: to take us from the alienation of grief into a healed society. The story centers on a...
This program will consider a number of texts composed by Jews dwelling under imperial rule in antiquity (the Persian, Greek, and Roman empires) in order to understand how the substantial humor in those texts reflects the experience and attitudes of...
A partnership program of New Lehrhaus In this course we read and study the Zohar, the masterpiece of Kabbalah. Currently, we are exploring the Zohar on the Book of Genesis. Students can enroll in the current series, held live on...
A partnership program of New Lehrhaus In this course we read and study the Zohar, the masterpiece of Kabbalah. Currently, we are exploring the Zohar on the Book of Genesis. Students can enroll in the current series, held live on...
