Welcoming the New Year—and the Stranger: Partnership with JFCS East Bay...
Sarah Gakenia Cleveland (JFCS), Joe Goldman (HIAS) & Nawida Popal (JFCS)
As we welcome the New Year, how are we as a community welcoming the strangers among us? Where does “welcoming the stranger” come from as a Jewish value—and how have we as a people interpreted it over time? How are we currently welcoming Afghans, Ukrainians and others into our community? And how is this landscape changing as the rules for asylum seekers are being challenged?
Heritage and Memory: The Jews of Greece
Jim Mavrikios—Greek Jewry and the Little Shul that Could
Neither Ashkenazic nor Sephardic, the Romaniote Jews of Greece were there to welcome the Sephardim who fled Spain in the fifteenth century. Learn about the history and customs of the Romaniote Jews, and discover the only Romaniote synagogue in the western hemisphere, Kehila Kedosha Janina in New York City.
Heritage and Memory: The Jews of Greece, part 1
Jehon Grist—Genesis: Jews in Ancient Greece
Spanning back to at least the 4th century BCE, our ancestors built a distinctive culture that blended Biblical tradition with Greek ideas that helped forge our emergence into Classical Judaism. We’ll explore both text and archaeology to discover the world of the Jews of Greece through the centuries of antiquity.
Ruth: A Literary Masterpiece, a Lesson in Kindness
Shalhevet Robinson
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. Where does it fit in the tapestry of the Hebrew bible?
Soil to Soul: People of the Cookbook
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett in conversation with Yoel Raviv of the Jewish Food Society
Read as a genre of literature, each recipe a poem, cookbooks and recipe collections offer a unique perspective on the history and diversity of Jewish life. This conversation will draw on Barbara’s collection and highlights from the Jewish Food Society archive of stories and recipes.
Judaism in a Bottle: The Manischewitz Story
Jhos Singer
How did this Manischewitz wine—which transgresses oenophilic culture, defies epicurean standards of excellence, and is loved by winos and children everywhere‚—come to define Kosher wine and, in some ways, Jewish identity, in the 20th century?
Mind, Body and Soul: Maimonides’ Eight Chapters, part 2
Rabbi Peretz Wolf-Prusan
Maimonides’ “The Eight Chapters” just might be the best introduction to his philosophy, and perhaps to all medieval Jewish philosophy. It is a prescription to you, his beloved reader, for a healthy mind, body and soul.
Mind, Body and Soul: Maimonides’ Eight Chapters, part 1
Rabbi Peretz Wolf-Prusan
Maimonides’ “The Eight Chapters” just might be the best introduction to his philosophy, and perhaps to all medieval Jewish philosophy. It is a prescription to you, his beloved reader, for a healthy mind, body and soul.
Hasidism: New Perspectives on an Old Movement
Professor David Biale, UC Davis (Emeritus); Dr. Chen Mandel-Edrei, Open University of Israel; and Professor Marcin Wodziński, University of Wroclaw, Poland
Three academicians representing three generations of research will share their perspectives on Hasidism’s evolution and its shifting role within the global Jewish world.
Poverty in the Jewish Community
Presenters: Bruce Phillips, Steve Chester, Brittany Couture and Robin Mencher
Violence and Non-Violence in Jewish Tradition, part 4
Howard Simon
This inquiry into violence and non-violence in Jewish tradition employs Gandhi’s model of satyagraha as a benchmark for non-violent resistance.
Violence and Non-Violence in Jewish Tradition, part 3
Howard Simon
This inquiry into violence and non-violence in Jewish tradition employs Gandhi’s model of satyagraha as a benchmark for non-violent resistance.
Violence and Non-Violence in Jewish Tradition, part 1
Howard Simon
This inquiry into violence and non-violence in Jewish tradition employs Gandhi’s model of satyagraha as a benchmark for non-violent resistance.
What Really Happened on Hanukkah?
Dr. David Biale
The reason we celebrate Hanukkah turns out to be more complicated than what we learned as children. We may also be surprised at how little the rabbis of the Talmud understood about Hanukkah, the only Jewish holiday not mentioned in the Bible.
Descendants of Light: American Photographers of Jewish Ancestry
Penny Wolin
Over six years, Wolin had in-person encounters with 70 leading American Jewish photographers, including Robert Frank, Annie Leibovitz, and Arnold Newman. With a visual and verbal discussion, we will explore the motivations of Jews in photography.
Abortion through Multiple Lenses, part 4
Attorney Linda Scaparotti
What’s Next: Legal Implication and Looming Battles
Abortion through Multiple Lenses, part 3
Roslyn Banish
Focus on Abortion: Americans Share Their Stories: A Photographic Journey
Abortion through Multiple Lenses, part 2
Prof. Carole Joffe & Dr. Debbie Bamberger
The Abortion Wars: The social-political-cultural divide, impact on public health and Jewish values undergird working as an abortion provider
Abortion through Multiple Lenses, part 1
Panel: Rachel Biale, Shalhevet Sarah Robinson & Rabbanit Michal Kohane
Abortion in Jewish Law (Halakhah) and the Orthodox Jewish Community Today
The Tree of Life: Making Kabbalistic Diagrams, part 2
Yosef Rosen
Learn about the aesthetic-theology of kabbalistic diagrams—full of trees, circles, spirals, lines, and letters—and use these as models to map your own relation to that which is essential but intangible (what might be called spirit, soul, or the divine).
Am Yisrael High: Jews and Cannabis
Eddy Portnoy
This talk details the long history of Jews and cannabis, and will delve into aspects that range from religious texts to medieval manuscripts to contemporary artifacts, all of which reveal deep Jewish involvement in the science, the marketing, the legalization, and the usage of cannabis.
The Tree of Life: Making Kabbalistic Diagrams, part 1
Yosef Rosen
Learn about the aesthetic-theology of kabbalistic diagrams—full of trees, circles, spirals, lines, and letters—and use these as models to map your own relation to that which is essential but intangible (what might be called spirit, soul, or the divine).
Not Your Grandparents’ Judaism: Exploring Personal Jewish Spiritual Growth,...
Rabbi Lavey Derby
This course is an invitation to explore our own personal, ongoing spiritual formation as we examine how Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z’l, Rabbi Arthur Green, and others have responded to the spiritual challenges of our age.
Not Your Grandparents’ Judaism: Exploring Personal Jewish Spiritual Growth,...
Rabbi Lavey Derby
This course is an invitation to explore our own personal, ongoing spiritual formation as we examine how Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z’l, Rabbi Arthur Green, and others have responded to the spiritual challenges of our age.
Not Your Grandparents’ Judaism: Exploring Personal Jewish Spiritual Growth,...
Rabbi Lavey Derby
This course is an invitation to explore our own personal, ongoing spiritual formation as we examine how Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z’l, Rabbi Arthur Green, and others have responded to the spiritual challenges of our age.
Not Your Grandparents’ Judaism: Exploring Personal Jewish Spiritual Growth,...
Rabbi Lavey Derby
This course is an invitation to explore our own personal, ongoing spiritual formation as we examine how Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z’l, Rabbi Arthur Green, and others have responded to the spiritual challenges of our age.
Not Your Grandparents’ Judaism: Exploring Personal Jewish Spiritual Growth,...
Rabbi Lavey Derby
This course is an invitation to explore our own personal, ongoing spiritual formation as we examine how Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z’l, Rabbi Arthur Green, and others have responded to the spiritual challenges of our age.
Two Traditions, One Home
Dawn Kepler
Essential tools for multi-faith and dual-tradition families and households
Welcoming the Stranger
Avi Rose and Fouzia Azizi discuss Jewish values and history on welcoming refugees and the work of Jewish Family and Community Services — East Bay in settling Afghan refugees
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