Explore every episode of the podcast Jewish Ideas to Change the World

A virtual event presentation by Noam Zion

The event was co-sponsored by Temple Emanuel

About The Event:

While standing in the communal oven, Ms Ukba and Mar Ukba had a dispute about how best to give tzedakah. They represent Masculine and Feminine Tzedakah, or the Ethics of Dignity versus the Ethics of Care.  Whose approach takes priority?

About The Speaker:

Noam is now emeritus at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, where since 1978 he has been a senior research fellow and educator. He earned a graduate degree in general philosophy at Columbia University and the Hebrew University, while studying Bible and Rabbinics at JTSA and the Hartman Beit Midrash.

His popular publications and worldwide lecturing have promoted Homemade Judaism – empowering families to create their own pluralistic Judaism during home holidays – Pesach, Hanukkah, and Shabbat. His most popular publications include: A Different Night: The Family Participation Haggadah; A Different Light: The Big Book of Hanukkah; A Day Apart: Shabbat at Home; The Israeli Haggadah: Halaila Hazeh; and A Night to Remember: The Haggadah of Contemporary Voices (published together with his son). But his most recent book written with his son came out March 17, 2024: Haggadah Yisraelit, to reflect on the latest events of October 7, 2023.

His most recent academic research encompasses a trilogy on the intellectual history of philanthropy entitled Jewish Giving in Comparative Perspectives (2013) and a nine-part series on Talmudic Marital Dramas (2018). In 2021, Jewish Publication Society published Sanctified Sex: The 2000 Year Jewish Debate on Marital Intimacy.

A hybrid event presentation with Rabbi Marc Gitler

The event was co-sponsored by Congregation Bonai Shalom.

About The Event:
When journeying down to Egypt, Abraham makes a startling request of Sarah: "Please say you are my sister." Why would Abraham make such a strange proposal, and what were the far-reaching consequences of this pivotal moment? Examining this perplexing biblical narrative, explore its deeper theological context and uncover the incredible ramifications of Abraham's request.

*Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1kZirxtAjEiLbpwZkkzpioOZnf9HqzKmD/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=118303465191084699356&rtpof=true&sd=true

About The Speaker:
Rabbi Marc Gitler serves as Senior Jewish Educator at Valley Beit Midrash and is the founder of Fast for Feast. A graduate of Yeshiva University, Northwestern University, and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (YCT) Rabbinical School, he lives in Denver with his wife, Sarah, and their four children.

A virtual event presentation by Dr. Joshua Holo

The event was co-sponsored by Temple Beth Sholom and Temple Har Shalom

About The Event:

Abba Eban, Israel’s great spokesman and diplomat, famously wrote: “Nobody does Israel any service by proclaiming its ‘right to exist’… Israel’s right to exist… is axiomatic and unreserved.” We may grasp Eban’s principle, but in practice it no longer applies. Today, we face a generation of fellow Jews who question that right, so it is time to explain the how, when, where, and why of our destiny in that small stretch of land on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. This story amounts to proto-Zionism, that is, the story that undergirds the modern movement: the history of our people’s consistent, millennial connection to the Land of Israel, not only religiously but also economically, intellectually, literarily, and demographically.

About The Speaker:

Joshua Holo, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Jewish History and formerly served as Vice President of Academic Resources, Dean of the Hebrew Union College Jack H. Skirball Campus, and Director of the Louchheim School of Judaic Studies. He co-founded Hebrew Union College’s digital learning platform, the College Commons, and hosts a regular podcast called the College Commons Podcast. He was editor of the Brill Series on Jewish Studies and a contributor of Torah commentary to the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. His publications range from the social and intellectual history of the Jews of the Middle Ages to contemporary liberal Zionism.

Martin Luther King III in conversation with Rabbi Shmuly about the upcoming elections, the importance of disagreeing with civility, the enduring ethic of nonviolence, and the value of democracy.

Mr. King is a distinguished global humanitarian who continues the legacy of human rights advocacy championed by his parents, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Elie Kaunfer

The event was co-sponsored by Congregation Ner Tamid

Funded in part by a grant from the National Center to Encourage Judaism

About The Event:

As Jews, we spend a lot of time praying, but not a lot of time looking at the texts of our prayers for meaning and understanding. In this session, we will explore a method that will aim to deepen your own engagement with prayer through rigorous interpretation. We will examine questions such as: Can traditional prayer formulas express my own values/ideas about prayer? What do you do when you "disagree" with the prayer's content? How can one interpret the siddur in a grounded, traditional, yet creative way?

*Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17K4LUOzBUMR_l3t1PKydEjpDCLMTmOdxUEp-1BfvP5o/edit?usp=sharing

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Elie Kaunfer is President and CEO of the Hadar Institute. Elie has previously worked as a journalist, banker, and corporate fraud investigator. A graduate of Harvard College, he completed his doctorate in liturgy at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he was also ordained. He received semikhah from his long-time teacher, Rav Daniel Landes. A Wexner Graduate Fellow and Dorot Fellow, Elie has been named multiple times to Newsweek’s list of the top 50 rabbis in America. He is the author of Empowered Judaism: What Independent Minyanim Can Teach Us About Building Vibrant Jewish Communities and is completing a book on the Amidah.

A virtual event presentation with Dr. Jonnie Schnytzer

Event was co-sponsored by BMH-BJ

About The Event:

Throughout Jewish history, there have been a series of individual attempts to organize Jewish communities towards conquering the Land of Israel and reinstalling Jewish sovereignty. Time and again, these attempts were turned down and declined by the masses. Why? Learning about the fascinating stories of a few individuals, we learn a valuable lesson about freedom and the slippery slope from redemption to messianism.

About The Speaker:

Jonnie Schnytzer is probably the only PhD in Jewish Philosophy, focusing on medieval kabbalah, who can say that he once beat the head of Israeli Naval Commandos in a swimming race. His dissertation focused on the scientific kabbalah of Rabbi Joseph ben Shalom Ashkenazi. Jonnie’s forthcoming book is about Ashkenazi’s Kabbalah as well as a critical edition of the kabbalist’s majestic commentary on Sefer Yesira. Jonnie is also the author of the Mossad thriller, The Way Back, which paints a picture of contemporary Israel. Jonnie also orchestrated the publishing of an English edition of ‘The Hitler Haggadah’, an important piece of Moroccan Jewish history from the Holocaust. Jonnie has also taken on several leadership roles in the Jewish world, including advisor to the CEO of Birthright and executive manager with StandWithUs. He lectures on a wide variety of topics relating to Judaism and Israel, especially about the untold stories and unspoken heroes of Jewish history. Jonnie is happily married, with four gorgeous little kids, lives in Israel, and thinks that Australian Rules Football is the greatest sport ever invented.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Steven M. Bob

About The Event: 

The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell the story of the return to Jerusalem from the first exile in ancient Babylonia. These books contain the foundational ideas for our modern sense of Jewish identity and key elements of our Jewish lives. The public reading of the Torah begins with Ezra reading from the scroll before the community in Jerusalem. In these books we will meet the first people to think of themselves as Jews. Jewish holidays take shape at the beginning of this period, as does the Jewish calendar. Ezra and Nehemiah are the first biblical books to use the names of the months we use today, such as Elul and Kislev.

*Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q44NR1z3HgJn2dhx0mvL4OPHxJl9rlU5/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=118303465191084699356&rtpof=true&sd=true

About The Speaker: 

Rabbi Steven M. Bob was Senior Rabbi of Congregation Etz Chaim in Lombard, IL, for 35 years. Rabbi Bob serves as a Guest faculty member at Wheaton College and as an Instructor at the Hebrew Seminary for the Hearing and the Deaf. He is a faculty leader at Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute. His newest book is When Judaism Began: Exploring the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah (2026). He is also the author of Go to Nineveh (2013) and Jonah and the Meaning of Our Lives (2016), and Ha’aretz named Rabbi Bob as one of the 36 American Jews who helped shape the 2008 Presidential election.

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz sits down with Mirabai Starr.

Mirabai Starr is an award-winning author, internationally acclaimed speaker, and interspiritual teacher. In 2020, she was honored on Watkins’ list of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People. Drawing from 20 years of teaching philosophy, world religions, and a lifetime of practice, Mirabai shares her wisdom worldwide on contemplative living, writing as a spiritual practice, and the transformational power of grief and loss. She has authored over a dozen books, including Wild Mercy, Caravan of No Despair, Ordinary Mysticism, and renowned translations of sacred literature. 

Author of God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. 

She lives with her extended family in the mountains of northern New Mexico.

A hybrid event presentation featuring Reverend Terri Hobart, Imam Muhammad Kolila, and Rabbi Emily Hyatt, moderated by Ariel Nassau of VBM Denver.

The event was co-hosted with St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Downtown Denver Islamic Center, and Temple Emanuel Denver.

About The Event:

Faith leaders from across Denver come together to explore how their traditions guide responses to today's most pressing local issues - and how interfaith partnership strengthens our shared community.

About The Speakers:

Rev. Terri Hobart is a student and practitioner of mystical Christianity. She preaches love as the powerful, generative, life-giving force that pulsates through all of creation and us to transformation. She is passionate about leading St. Thomas out into our neighborhood to share the presence of Christ as we feed, heal, love, and stand with those in need. Her life and ministry are guided by the following core values: Seek the Sacred Everywhere, Speak and Act From Love, Cultivate Deep Relationships, Honor Creation, Prioritize Relationships, Live Sustainably, Be Grateful, Welcome Everyone, Promote Transparency, Speak Truth, Take Faithful Risks, Abide in Christ. Terri holds a B.B.A. in Accounting from Baylor University and a Master of Divinity from The Church Divinity School of the Pacific. She shares her life with her beloved spouse, the Rev. Canon Vanessa Stickler Glass, who serves as the Canon for Transition Ministry for The Episcopal Church in Colorado. Before moving to Colorado, she served as rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Woodland, California. She loves foraging, gardening, and feeding people. Together they have four adult children.

Imam Muhammad Kolila serves as the Imam at Masjid al-Shuhada’ Downtown Denver Islamic Center. Muhammad is a community leader and activist in education, charity, peacebuilding, interfaith partnerships, community development, project management, and spirituality. Muhammad has an MA in Religious Studies from the University of Denver and has a B.A. in Translation Studies and Linguistics. 

Rabbi Emily Hyatt serves as Senior Rabbi and CEO of Temple Emanuel Denver. Together with Senior Rabbi Elizabeth Sacks, she is the first woman to lead Temple Emanuel’s Reform Congregation in its 150–year history. Rabbi Hyatt joined the Temple Emanuel team in 2018. A proud Denver native (and Temple Emanuel preschool graduate), Rabbi Hyatt is deeply committed to Temple Emanuel, to the Denver Jewish community, and to the principles of Jewish Peoplehood, Pluralism, and Jewish community. She proudly serves on the boards of the Denver Jewish Day School, ADL Mountain States, and the Golda Meir House. She is a member of ATRA: Rabbinic Pipeline Initiative Advisory Council and is the immediate past president of the RMRC – the Rocky Mountain Rabbis and Cantors. Rabbi Hyatt is a graduate of the American University, received her M.B.A. from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, and has a Master in Jewish Education from the Hebrew College in Boston. She was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion: Los Angeles Campus, and is a member of class 25 of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship. Prior to joining the clergy team at Temple Emanuel, Rabbi Hyatt worked as the Network Director for the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and as a Regional Director and then Director of Jewish Enrichment for BBYO International. Rabbi Hyatt, along with her son, Neil, loves being home in Denver.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Karyn Kedar

The class is co-sponsored by Congregation Ner Tamid

About The Event:

Join Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar as she explores her award-winning book, Unfolding: A High Holy Day Companion. Drawing from meditations, poetry, reflections, retellings of Talmudic and Hasidic stories, and lyrical encounters with prayer and scripture, Rabbi Kedar will share insights from the book and offer selections that illuminate the path through the months of Av and Elul, Rosh HaShanah, the Ten Days of Repentance, and Yom Kippur.

Together, we will reflect on themes of grief, longing, forgiveness, repentance, and renewal, discovering how ancient wisdom and contemporary spiritual practice can help us navigate this season with greater depth and compassion. Whether this year’s High Holy Days were your first or you have new questions about familiar rituals, this gathering will offer inspiration on how to carry forward the lessons of the holidays into the new year ahead.

Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pL1d6SjIp9mcGHz2IU6xvkjHNQR4USEm/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=118303465191084699356&rtpof=true&sd=true

About The Speaker:

Karyn Kedar is a gifted writer and teacher. She inspires people of all backgrounds and faiths to live intentionally, find beauty and purpose in everyday moments, and cultivate a life of spiritual depth, meaning, compassion, and purpose. Through poetic reflections and practical insights, she guides others to navigate life’s complexities with grace and deepen their connection to their essential self and to others.

As the author of six non-fiction books, she writes poetry, liturgy, and essays that invite readers to pause, contemplate, and awaken the spirit.

Her newest work, Unfolding: A High Holy Day Companion, invites readers to sit on the edge of what they know and explore the mysteries of forgiveness, beauty, and spiritual renewal.

Her books, teachings, and retreats explore the shared human experiences of love, struggle, forgiveness, resilience, and the search for meaning. She invites us to “come to the edge of what you know and sit a while.”

Karyn lives with her husband Ezra in the Chicago area. Their children and six grandchildren are making their way in life in both the United States and Israel.

A virtual event presentation by Dr. Paul Franks

The event was co-sponsored by BMH-BJ

About The Event:

What is kavanah — usually translated as “intention” — in the performance of mitzvot?  What, in particular, is kavanah in Jewish prayer?  Often used but rarely explained, the term will be illuminated by means of the speech act theory of the great Oxford philosopher and architect of the Normandy invasion, J. L. Austin (1911-60), articulated most famously in his 1955 William James Lectures at Harvard, later published as How to Do Things with Words.

Source Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MHaWA3mLhMkt4-p_KzU6h1qOjyh9j7wh/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=118303465191084699356&rtpof=true&sd=true

About The Speaker:

Paul Franks is the Robert F. and Patricia Ross Weis Professor of Philosophy and Jewish Studies and the Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Yale University. Educated at Gateshead Yeshiva, Oxford, and Harvard, he has taught at Indiana University, Notre Dame, and Toronto, and has been a visiting professor at Chicago, Leuven, and Hebrew University.  He works on post-Kantian philosophy, Jewish philosophy, and kabbalah.  Among his publications are Franz Rosenzweig: Philosophical and Theological Writings and All or Nothing: Systematicity, Transcendental Arguments, and Skepticism in German Idealism.

A virtual event presentation by Rabba Aliza Libman Baronofsky

The class was co-sponsored by Temple Emanuel.

About The Event:

The Mishnah was written during a time period that included the destruction of the Second Temple and the Bar Kochba Revolt. The 63 tractates of the Mishnah include the rabbis’ origin story for rabbinic Judaism and many clues about the world it was written in. We’ll explore Mishnahs that give us explicit information about the early rabbinic period as well as hints about the groundbreaking changes happening in the Jewish world at the time.

*Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-XZetmWV3B5xwdGqpuD_iMMCIn2N0BgmC4sLL0XsO4Y/edit?usp=sharing

About The Speaker:

Rabba Aliza Libman Baronofsky is a career educator who teaches Jewish text and mathematics at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. In the summer, she works as a teacher and Rabba at Camp Yavneh in Northwood, NH. She is the host of the podcast “Mishna Accomplished.”

A virtual presentation by Dr. Marc Dollinger

The event is co-sponsored by Temple Solel

About The Event:

One of the thorniest questions in contemporary American Jewish life, the boundaries between anti-Israelism, anti-Zionism, and antisemitism are now the subject of university policy debates as well as proposed state and federal action. This presentation offers historical background on each category, outlining the points of debate in this highly contentious subject.

About The Speaker:

Dr. Marc Dollinger holds the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility at San Francisco State University. Dr. Dollinger currently serves on the executive board of the Union for Reform Judaism. He is also board president of URJ Camp Newman. Professor Dollinger has spoken about his research with the CEO of the NAACP on CNN as well as the CNN podcast “Silence Is Not an Option,” the PBS docu-series Black and Jews: An Interwoven Alliance, the NFL Network, ESPN, and Germany’s National Public Radio. Just for fun, Dr. Dollinger helped actress Helen Hunt learn about her Jewish roots on the prime-time NBC show, “Who Do You Think You Are?”

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Marc Gitler

About The Event:

From Abraham shattering his father’s idols to the challenges we face today, the Jewish tradition has always called us to question what our society holds sacred. Rabbi Gitler explores how the ancient practice of “smashing idols” speaks directly to our modern moment: the false certainties, distractions, and misplaced values that shape contemporary life. Together we’ll draw on Torah, commentary, and Jewish thought to ask what idols we might need to smash today.

Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qz6y4-E-JdzN90pny_JBN1AUwFwniAmerJnwIUF_vu8/edit?usp=sharing

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Marc Gitler serves as Senior Jewish Educator for Valley Beit Midrash and is the visiting Rabbi of Aish SanDiego. A recipient of the Wexner Fellowship, he was ordained at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. He founded Fast for Feast and lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife Sarah and their four children.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Jack Riemer

About The Event:

In this class, we will compare and contrast the Declaration of Independence with Jewish statements that are similar to it and explore how Rashi might have interpreted some of the key phrases in the Declaration.

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Jack Riemer is now retired after serving as the spiritual leader of congregations in Ohio, California, and Florida. He is the author of six books of Jewish thought and of a three-volume commentary on the High Holy Day prayerbook.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Dr. Alan Brill

The event was co-sponsored by BMH-BJ

About The Event:

The 21st-century Kabbalistic approaches to AI offer optimistic, utopian approaches based on the writings of Sefer Yetzirah and Rabbi Isaac Luria. Secular innovators of AI at MIT who see the world as informational and AI as creativity; authors in Jewish thought who see the world as the Lurianic network; and rabbis who treat the new informational era as the unfolding of the divine mind and even a messianic fulfillment.

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Prof. Alan Brill is the Cooperman/Ross Chair for Jewish-Christian Studies at Seton Hall University. Brill is an expert on Jewish thought and interfaith relations. He is the author of many books, including Judaism and World Religions: Christianity, Islam, and Eastern Religions (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), Judaism and Other Religions: Models of Understanding (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010). Brill received a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. He was a keynote speaker at the R-20 conference held in Indonesia. This research produced his recent volume, Rabbi on the Ganges: A Jewish-Hindu Encounter (Lexington Books, 2019). His recently published book is A Jewish Trinity: Contemporary Christian Theology Through Jewish Eyes (Fortress Press, 2025).

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Natan Margalit

About The Event:

Either/Or dilemmas such as Universal versus Tribal, Us versus Them, Culture versus Nature, and more only keep us stuck in conflict and confusion. But Judaism’s core mode of thought is not either/or; it’s nested, fractal, and leads us to the kinds of both/and solutions that we need today. We’ll explore the ways that Jewish wisdom of nestedness in our traditions, rituals, and texts can lead us to hold the complexity of Jewishness and universal values, of human progress and caring for the natural world, and of finding the balance between individual freedom and communal bonds.

About The Speaker:

Natan Margalit was raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. As a young adult, he lived for twelve years in Israel and received rabbinic ordination at The Jerusalem Seminary in 1990. He earned a Ph.D. in Talmud from UC Berkeley in 2001. Natan has taught at Bard College, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. He is currently the Dean of Faculty and a member of the Va’ad (steering committee and core faculty) of the Aleph Ordination Program, and serves as chair of its Rabbinic Texts department. Natan is the author of The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking. He is the founder of Organic Torah, fostering holistic thinking about Judaism, the environment, and society, which is a program of Aleph: Alliance for Renewal.

A virtual class presentation by Rabbi Dr. Martin Lockshin

The event was co-sponsored by Congregation Or Tzion

About The Event:

Exploring Deuteronomy 21:1–9 and its rich history of interpretation. This powerful passage appears in that week’s Torah reading, offering a timely opportunity to engage with it more deeply.

About The Speaker:

Martin Lockshin is a University Professor Emeritus at York University and lives in Jerusalem. He received his Ph.D. in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University and his rabbinic ordination in Israel while studying in Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav Kook. Among Lockshin’s publications is his four-volume translation and annotation of Rashbam’s commentary on the Torah.

An event presentation by Rabbi Ian (Haim) Pear

The event is co-sponsored by Temple Chai

About The Event:

What is life’s most important lesson? Is true forgiveness possible? Can humans really change? If God is kind, why terrorize humanity with the fear of death? Join us for a fascinating book talk on The Day the Devil Went on Trial by Rabbi Ian (Haim) Pear. Praised by Dr. Russ Roberts—President of Shalem College, Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, and host of the popular podcast EconTalk—as “a wise and entertaining exploration of the challenges of being human … profound and provocative,” the book offers fresh insights into these timeless questions. In this engaging talk, Rabbi Pear brings the book’s ideas to life with wisdom, humor, and insight. Covering a presentation in Jerusalem, the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) remarked that it was “amazing how the topic of death and dying could be presented with such humor and insight.”

About The Speaker:

Ian (or Haim) Pear is a Rabbi, Special Envoy for Jerusalem’s English-speaking community, and aspirational farmer.  He is the founder of Shir Hadash, a popular Jerusalem-based synagogue, Educational Institute, and Community Center, as well as a lecturer on Israeli and Jewish law, environmentalism in Israel, and Spiritual Diplomacy.  He previously worked for Laster and Goldman, an Israeli environmental law firm, as the Director of Hillel at Tel Aviv University, and as a Holocaust legal claims researcher for the JDC.  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.  He has authored three books, including his most recent novel, The Day the Devil went on Trial, whose contents are the focus of this talk.

A virtual class presentation by Dr. Andrew Porwancher

About The Event:

Professor Porwancher debunks a string of myths about the origins of this founding father to arrive at a startling conclusion: Hamilton was probably raised Jewish in his Caribbean youth. With a detective’s persistence and a historian’s rigor, Porwancher reveals the untold story of our most enigmatic founding father and its revolutionary consequences for understanding the republic he fought to create.

About The Speaker:

Andrew Porwancher is a Chaplik Professor of Israel and Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas. He previously held fellowships at Harvard, Oxford, and Princeton, and earned his PhD at Cambridge. His book, The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton, was published by Princeton and received the Journal of the American Book-of-the-Year Award.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Jeff Salkin

The event was co-sponsored by BMH-BJ

About The Event:

No, “Soul Train” isn’t just a retro music show—it’s about training our souls to rediscover the sacred power of Jewish prayer. Rabbi Jeff Salkin will help us explore the deeper meaning of the siddur; why prayer can feel distant for modern Jews; and how it can become relevant, moving, and even transformative. Based on his new book “Inviting God In: A Guide to Jewish Prayer” (CCAR Press).

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Jeff Salkin is a noted writer and author. He has discussed the American political scene on CNN and the BBC. His column, “Martini Judaism: For Those Who Want to be Shaken and Stirred,” published by the Religion News Service, has won several awards for best religion column of the year, and is also an award-winning podcast. He has been a commentator on the American political scene on CNN and the BBC; his essays have appeared in the Washington Post, Commentary, the Wall Street Journal, Tablet, and Forward. He is the author of twelve books on such diverse topics as b’nai mitzvah, masculinity, Israel, interfaith relations, the spirituality of career, and Judaism as counter-culture. His most recent book is Inviting God In: A Guide to Jewish Prayer, which will teach Jews how to find meaning in the worship experience. His other recent book is Tikkun Ha’Am: Repairing Our People – Israel and the Crisis of Liberal Judaism – the first book to predict the post-October 7 era of American Judaism. Reviewers have called the book “daring” and “controversial.” After a distinguished career as a congregational rabbi, Rabbi Salkin co-founded and co-directs “Wisdom Without Walls: an online salon for Jewish ideas,” a program that engages Jews in Zoom conversations with significant Jewish thinkers about American Judaism, post-October 7. Rabbi Salkin currently lives in Montclair, New Jersey, and devotes his time to his family, friends, and consuming vast quantities of coffee

An event presentation by Rabbi Marc Gitler

The event was co-sponsored by BMH-BJ

About The Event:

Session 4: “AI, Deepfakes, and the Future of Human Trust” — Can We Still Know What’s Real?

A culminating discussion about artificial intelligence, synthetic media, and epistemic crisis. If images, voices, and texts can all be fabricated convincingly, what happens to testimony, evidence, and trust?

*Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sF_YM9vOxpqQ8rqJtlJvtoAGYjD-XZd7CNht5t588NI/edit?usp=sharing

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Marc Gitler serves as Senior Jewish Educator for Valley Beit Midrash and is the visiting Rabbi of Aish SanDiego. A recipient of the Wexner Fellowship, he was ordained at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. The founder of Fast for Feast, he lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife Sarah and their four children.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi David Jaffe

About The Event:

What is at stake in bridging the growing divide in our North American Jewish community between people who feel strongly connected to the project of Jewish self-determination in our ancient homeland, A.K.A “Zionism,” and the growing movement of Diasporism, that decentralizes the role of Jewish statehood in Jewish life. How might we bridge this divide? We turn to the wisdom of Rabbi Avraham Isaac HaCohen Kook for guidance.

About The Speaker:

Rabbi David Jaffe is the Founder and Executive Director of Kirva, a national education and training organization that integrates Mussar and Chassidic wisdom and practice with the work of social change. He is the author of Changing the World from the Inside Out, winner of the National Jewish Book Award.

A virtual event presentation by Dr. Samuel Fleischacker

About The Event:

We will take a look at some of the religious and political writings of the Israeli chemistry professor, philosopher, Torah-commentator, and gadfly, Yeshayahu Leibowitz. Our focus will be Leibowitz’s conception of idolatry: what idolatry is, for him; how halakha enables us to struggle against it; and the special danger it poses when it shows up as nationalism, including Jewish nationalism.

*Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eudqANyu31t1dbbaeIjbCMWDbzgH6dFjhRIzUZUpMJY/edit?usp=sharing

About The Speaker:

Sam Fleischacker is LAS Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC). He works on moral and political philosophy and the philosophy of Judaism. His most recent book is From Idolatry to Holiness: A Modern Ethical Framework for Understanding Jewish Law (Cambridge, 2026); previous books include Being Me Being You: Adam Smith and Empathy (University of Chicago, 2019), The Good and the Good Book (Oxford, 2015), and Divine Teaching and the Way of the World (Oxford, 2011). He has also written short pieces for TheTorah.com, including “Hearing God’s Voice” and “Making Sense of Revelation.”

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Aryeh Cohen

About The Event:

Rabbi Aharon Shmuel Tamares is probably the most passionate Jewish voice against nationalism, militarism, and, most of all, war. A prolific writer in the first four decades of the twentieth century, he articulated an opposition to war and violence rooted in a theological vision which saw war as modern idolatry, or in another formulation, war as the service to the idolatry of nationalism. Rev. James Lawson was, according to his friend and colleague Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the foremost theorist of nonviolence in this hemisphere. Lawson’s understanding of nonviolence was rooted in his understanding of Christianity and the thought of Mahatma Gandhi. He was the driving force—both theologically and philosophically, and practically—of the training and workshops which led to the Nashville and Memphis movements and whose impact was felt throughout the civil rights movement. He understood nonviolence as a way of life that operated on and affected the personal, communal, national, and ultimately international stages. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. needs no introduction. His career, cut short by the politics of assassination, changed the way that Americans viewed political dissent and the possibility for change in this country. Nonviolence was central to his thought and fueled his demand for justice in the United States, and to curb the violence that the United States was inflicting on other countries. The class will deal with the following questions posed to each of our thinkers: 1. What is the difference between not being violent and nonviolence as a way of life? 2. What is the role of suffering in the nonviolent demand for justice? 3. Are there not “good” wars or at least “just” wars? 4. What are the religious roots of nonviolence or anti-militarism/anti-nationalism? How do Tamares, Lawson, and King differ on this question?

About The Speaker:

Aryeh Cohen is a Rabbi and Professor of Rabbinic Literature at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, American Jewish University. He serves as Vice-President of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission and is a co-convener of the Black Jewish Justice Alliance. He is a past president of the Society of Jewish Ethics and served on the inaugural interfaith advisory board of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office. He is the author of Justice in the City: An Argument from the Sources of Rabbinic Judaism and has published widely in academic and public forums. He is also a poet.

An event presentation by Rabbi Marc Gitler

About The Event:

Truth, Media, and Propaganda – A timely look at misinformation, lashon hara, and the ethics of communication—especially in an age of social media and AI.

Session 2: “Lashon Hara in the Information Age” — Speech, Gossip, and Viral Culture

Building on the first class, this session applies Jewish laws of speech to modern media ecosystems. What happens when gossip becomes algorithmic, and outrage becomes profitable?

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Marc Gitler serves as Senior Jewish Educator for Valley Beit Midrash and is the visiting Rabbi of Aish SanDiego. A recipient of the Wexner Fellowship, he was ordained at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. The founder of Fast for Feast, he lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife Sarah and their four children.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Marc Gitler

The event was co-sponsored by Kavod Senior Life

About The Event:

This class will examine the history of sacred Jewish ritual objects sent from Dubrovnik, Croatia, to Yeshiva University for safekeeping during a time of danger, and the story of what happened to them afterward. We will explore questions of ownership, preservation, and responsibility, and consider what it means to safeguard religious treasures.

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Marc Gitler serves as Senior Jewish Educator for Valley Beit Midrash and is the visiting Rabbi of Aish SanDiego. A recipient of the Wexner Fellowship, he was ordained at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. The founder of Fast for Feast lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife Sarah and their four children.

An event presentation by Rabbi Marc Gitler

About The Event:

This is the first session in a four-part series. Participants may register for one, multiple, or all four sessions – attendance at every session is not required. Each session relates to the main theme but will stand on its own, allowing participants to join at any point in the series. All sessions will also be recorded and made available to those who would like to catch up on any content they miss or revisit the material later.

Truth, Media, and Propaganda – A timely look at misinformation, lashon hara, and the ethics of communication—especially in an age of social media and AI.

Session 1: “What Is Truth?” — Torah, Narrative, and the Power of Framing

An opening exploration of how truth is constructed, presented, and sometimes distorted. The class would examine biblical and rabbinic cases where facts, interpretation, and perspective blur together.

*Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JNPbR8_vGmhuxcy7MET6B9KvRy3hMAg0/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=118303465191084699356&rtpof=true&sd=true

About The Speaker: 

Rabbi Marc Gitler serves as Senior Jewish Educator for Valley Beit Midrash and is the visiting Rabbi of Aish SanDiego. A recipient of the Wexner Fellowship, he was ordained at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. The founder of Fast for Feast, he lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife Sarah and their four children.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Dr. Joshua Garroway

About The Event:

Jews have viewed Christians alternately as friends and as enemies, as partners in salvation and as pitiable idolaters. Why such contrasts? Learn how Jewish perspectives on Christianity have developed from ancient to medieval to modern times. Hopefully, you’ll come away with some combination of amused, disgusted, and inspired!

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Joshua Garroway is the Sol and Arlene Bronstein Professor of Judaeo-Christian Studies at the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. Raised in Rochester, New York, Rabbi Garroway earned a BA in Religion from Duke University in 1998, rabbinical ordination from the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in 2003, and a PhD in New Testament Studies from the Religious Studies department of Yale University in 2008. While his academic books and articles focus on the origins of Christianity, and specifically the life and writings of Paul, his teaching and popular writing deal with Jewish texts and history more broadly. Professor Garroway lectures widely in synagogues, churches, and other public venues. He is also engaged in several interfaith ventures, including the Los Angeles area InterSem program and the Jewish-LDS Academic Dialogue. Rabbi Garroway currently lives in Pasadena, California, with his wife, Professor Kristine Henriksen Garroway, and their three teenage boys. For fun, he enjoys chess, tennis, opera, period pieces, and taking his kids to Dodgers games.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Marc Gitler

The event was co-sponsored by Shalom Park

About The Event:

Rebecca is one of the most active and decisive figures in the Torah — yet her voice is often heard only in fragments. In this class, we will explore the tension between speech and silence in Rebecca’s story: when she speaks boldly, when she remains silent, and what those moments reveal about power, prophecy, family, and identity. From her first appearance at the well to the dramatic struggle over Isaac’s blessing, we will examine how Rebecca navigates a world in which influence is not always exercised openly. Together, we’ll uncover the hidden depth and complexity of one of the Bible’s most misunderstood matriarchs.

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Marc Gitler serves as Senior Jewish Educator for Valley Beit Midrash and is the visiting Rabbi of Aish SanDiego. A recipient of the Wexner Fellowship, he was ordained at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. The founder of Fast for Feast, he lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife Sarah and their four children.

A virtual event presentation by Professor Elias Sacks

About The Event:

What can Jews learn from Christianity, and what can Christians learn from Judaism? What might we gain from interreligious dialogue, and what challenges can such conversations pose? To what extent does a commitment to Judaism or Christianity benefit from—or perhaps even require—learning about the other tradition, and what sorts of risks might arise from these encounters? We will explore diverse answers to these questions, examining the changing ways in which Judaism and Christianity have interacted, and wrestling with sources from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament to works of post-Holocaust theology.

About The Speaker:

Elias Sacks is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Jewish Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he studies Jewish thought, philosophy of religion, Jewish-Christian relations, religious ethics, and religion and politics. He is the author of Moses Mendelssohn’s Living Script: Philosophy, Practice, History, Judaism (2017), as well as articles on medieval and modern thinkers, including Mendelssohn, Moses Maimonides, Baruch Spinoza, Nachman Krochmal, Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, and Jacob Taubes. Previously, Sacks served as Director of The Jewish Publication Society.

Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz sits down with the Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Japan, Rabbi Scheer.

Rabbi Andrew Scheer was born and raised in Woodmere, New York. He studied at Yeshivat Sha’arei Mevaseret Zion and earned his BA in Jewish History from New York University.

Between college and seminary, Andrew taught English in the Japanese countryside and Sunday School at the Jewish Community of Japan.
While studying at YCT, Andrew was a Wexner Graduate Fellow. He had the privilege of serving as Rabbinic Intern at Congregation Sherith Israel in Nashville, Tennessee, and Congregation Orach Chaim on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Andrew served in the United States Army Reserve for five years, during which he was assigned to the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Following ordination, Andrew worked on Rikers Island as a Jewish Chaplain with the New York City Department of Correction. Andrew completed four units of Clinical Pastoral Education at VA New York Harbor Healthcare System, after which he assumed the role of Senior Rabbi for the hospital. Andrew is married to his lovely wife, Tali, who originally hails from Denver, Colorado, and works as a software engineer.
*Bio from: https://jccjapan.jp/about-our-rabbi/

A virtual event presentation by Professor Sylvia Barack Fishman

The event was co-sponsored by Congregation Or Tzion

About The Event:
This class will draw on recent American and Israeli novels that portray what it’s like to be a Jew in each country, as well as changing relationships between Jews in America and Jews in Israel, as Jews in both countries feel threatened by unanticipated challenges.

About The Speaker:
Sylvia Barack Fishman, Ph.D., is the Joseph and Esther Foster Professor of Judaic Studies, Emerita, in the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Dept at Brandeis University, and was the Founding Co-Director of the Hadassah Brandeis Institute. She is the author of eight books and numerous articles and book chapters on contemporary Jewish life and culture, and received the Marshall Sklare award from the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry. Prof. Fishman served on the JOFA Board for many years and continues her active involvement.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Sid Schwarz

About The Event:

America is suffering from a spiritual “deficit”. It has been made worse by social media, ideological polarization, and an erosion of key parts of the American ethos. Rabbi Sid has been at the forefront of the synagogue transformation movement ever since the publication of his groundbreaking book, Finding a Spiritual Home: How a New Generation of Jews Can Transform the American Synagogue (2000). This talk will offer a formula for turning synagogues into “covenantal communities” that can be transformational for individuals and for society.

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Sid Schwarz is a social entrepreneur, author, and teacher. He is currently a Senior Fellow at Adamah: People, Planet, Purpose (formerly, Hazon). Rabbi Sid directs the Clergy Leadership Incubator (CLI), a program that trains rabbis to be visionary spiritual leaders. He also created and directs the Kenissa: Communities of Meaning Network, which is identifying, convening, and building the capacity of emerging spiritual communities across the country. Rabbi Sid founded and led PANIM: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values for 21 years. Its work centered on integrating Jewish learning, Jewish values, and social responsibility. He is also the founding rabbi of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, MD, where he continues to teach and lead services. Sid was awarded the prestigious Covenant Award for his pioneering work in the field of Jewish education and was named by Newsweek as one of the 50 most influential rabbis in North America. Sid’s most recent book is Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the American Jewish Future (Jewish Lights, 2013). His book, Finding a Spiritual Home: How a New Generation of Jews Can Transform the American Synagogue (2000), is one of the seminal works in the field of synagogue transformation.

A virtual event presentation by David Shyovitz

About The Event:
Classical Jewish texts are chock-full of demons, monsters, incantations, and other occult and fantastical contents. But these elements are often treated dismissively or deemed embarrassing or “superstitious” — when they are even acknowledged at all. In this session, we will analyze a cryptic series of texts about the monstrous “Children of Cain” and explore the profound spiritual lessons Jewish authors have drawn from them — lessons that remain relevant today.

About The Speaker:
David Shyovitz is Associate Professor of Jewish History at Northwestern University and Director of NU’s Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies. He is the author of the award-winning A Remembrance of His Wonders: Nature and the Supernatural in Medieval Ashkenaz.

A virtual event presentation by Michael Fishbane

About The Event:

Primacies begins with the assertion that our earliest preverbal experiences are accompanied by a primary language—tears, cries, and laughter—offered long before we learn our ordinary languages. In this virtual book talk, Michael Fishbane explores how ancient, medieval, and modern literature and poetry express and transform these primal sensations into powerful articulations of sorrow, joy, and fulfillment. Building on his theological work in Sacred Attunement and Fragile Finitude, Fishbane presents a radically new lived hermeneutics that reimagines the relationship between experience and language.

About The Speaker:

Dr. Michael Fishbane is the Nathan Cummings Distinguished Service Professor of Jewish Studies, emeritus, at the University of Chicago. The author of numerous books on the Hebrew Bible and Jewish Thought, his writings cover the entire span of Jewish thought and theology, from antiquity to the present. Among his major interests is the history of Jewish Bible interpretation and Jewish theology over the centuries. Chief among these publications is his book: Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel (Oxford University Press, 1985), Biblical Myth and Rabbinic Mythmaking (Oxford University Press, 2003); and Piyyut: Midrashic Epic and the Poetics of Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2026). Fishbane has also written many works for the Jewish community and the public at large. Among these is his Song of Songs: A Commentary (Jewish Publication Society, 2015). Fishbane has also written books in the area of contemporary Jewish theology. These include Sacred Attunement. A Jewish Theology (University of Chicago Press, 2008); Fragile Finitude: A Jewish Hermeneutical Theology (University of Chicago Press, 2021); and Primacies: Experience, Expression, and the Jewish Religious Imagination (University of Chicago Press, 2024). Among many awards, he has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Foundation of Jewish Culture. Michael Fishbane is a fellow of the American Academy of Jewish Research and The American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

A hybrid event presentation with Rabbi Marc Gitler and Austin Swafford

About The Event:

When we study Torah, are we uncovering truths that have always existed—waiting to be discovered like treasures buried in ancient text? Or are we active creators, bringing new meaning into the world through our interpretations and questions? Join Rabbi Marc Gitler and Dr. Austin Swafford for a dynamic Beit Midrash-style lecture exploring this fundamental tension in Jewish learning.

Through collaborative text study and guided discussion, we'll examine classical and contemporary Jewish sources that grapple with the nature of Torah study itself. Is meaning inherent in the words on the page, or does it emerge from the community gathered around them? What does our answer mean for how we approach tradition, authority, and our own role as learners?

This is not a lecture—it's a conversation. Bring your questions, your insights, and your curiosity as we learn together in the spirit of Shavuot, the festival celebrating the giving of Torah and our ongoing relationship with sacred text.

About The Speakers:

Marc Gitler is the visiting Rabbi of Aish SanDiego. A recipient of the Wexner Fellowship, he was ordained at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. The founder of Fast for Feast, he lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife, Sarah, and their four children.

Dr. Austin Swafford is a Denver-based scientist and Jewish educator who leads weekly study groups at Congregation Rodef Shalom exploring Jewish texts, ethics, and contemporary life. He cares deeply about strengthening communities through serious learning, thoughtful dialogue, and justice-oriented engagement. 

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Leah Cohen Tenenbaum and Rabbi Douglas Kohn

About The Event:

In his clarion call for ethical behavior, Rabbi Hillel tells us, “In a place where there is no humanity, strive to be human.” But what exactly does it mean to be human, especially in an age of rapid transformation? Striving to Be Human: Jewish Perspectives on Twenty-First-Century Challenges confronts this question with boldness, hope, and a foundation of Jewish wisdom. The volume begins with “Challenges from Within Us,” addressing such topics as moral justice, belonging, queer theology, and good and evil. In part two, “Challenges from Beyond Us,” the authors delve into artificial intelligence, robotics, reproductive technologies, and the animal-human relationship. The result is a profound conversation about Jewish values and human dignity in our evolving landscape.

About The Speakers:

Rabbi Leah Cohen Tenenbaum, DMin, BCC-PCHAC (HUC-JIR 2000), serves as the inpatient palliative care chaplain and as a member of the Ethics Committee at Yale New Haven Hospital. She is a faculty member of FASPE (Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics) and has served on the CCAR Board of Trustees, the CCAR National Ethics Taskforce, and currently the CCAR Press Council. She has written chapters for The Sacred Struggle: Jewish Responses to Trauma (CCAR Press, 2025) and Fragile Dialogue: New Voices of Liberal Zionism (CCAR Press, 2018) and is the coeditor with Rabbi Douglas Kohn of Striving to Be Human: Jewish Perspectives on Twenty-First-Century Challenges. She frequently teaches and presents on spirituality, serious illness, and medical ethics.

Rabbi Douglas Kohn serves Temple Beth Jacob in Newburgh, New York, having previously served congregations in Buffalo, Baltimore, Chicago, and Southern California, and is happily busy in all aspects of congregational and community endeavors. In addition to coediting Striving to Be Human with Rabbi Leah Cohen Tenenbaum, he is the editor of two other volumes, Life, Faith, and Cancer: Jewish Journeys Through Diagnosis, Treatment, and Recovery (URJ Press, 2008) and Broken Fragments: Jewish Experiences of Alzheimer’s Disease Through Diagnosis, Adaptation, and Moving On (URJ Press, 2012), and has written and spoken widely on the themes of illness, medical ethics, and being human. Rabbi Kohn has served on numerous CCAR, URJ, and communal commissions, committees, and boards, while still savoring time to read, write, and paint, as well as exercise, cook, and travel with his wife, Cindy, and their children and grandchildren.

Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz sits down with comedian Benji Lovitt. 

Comedian Benji Lovitt brings a unique and uplifting presentation that blends humor with insight. In this fun and educational presentation, Benji Lovitt explores how Israelis have always turned to humor during even the darkest times, not to be insensitive, but as a coping mechanism. People often say that Hamas celebrates death and Jews celebrate life, but what does that really mean? Through standup, TV/Youtube videos, social media clips, and more, we’ll discover a perspective that’s both hilarious and therapeutic, a morale boost that gives people “permission to laugh”.

An event presentation by Moishe Steigmann, The Mindful Rabbi, and Rabbi Noah Chertkoff

About The Event:

In celebration of Lag Ba’Omer, a day of celebration, music, and weddings, an engaging learning session co-facilitated by Moishe Steigmann – The Mindful Rabbi, and Rabbi Noah Chertkoff, Senior Rabbi of Congregation Shalom.

About The Speakers:

Moishe Steigmann, The Mindful Rabbi, is the founder and director of Own Your Judaism and is the director of Ohel Ayalah. He seamlessly blends ancient Jewish wisdom with contemporary mindfulness practices. Through his teachings, writings, and workshops, he continues to influence and lead the conversation on mindful living within and beyond the Jewish community. He also speaks, hosts livestream conversations, and offers Jewish Life Coaching and organizational consultation. Born and raised in Milwaukee, Rabbi Steigmann is a proud father of two children, loves sports, is passionate about living gratefully, and enjoys almost all puzzles and games. 

Rabbi Noah Chertkoff joined Congregation Shalom after three years as the Assistant, then Associate Rabbi of Temple Kol Ami Emanu-El in Plantation Florida. A native of Toronto, Canada, he graduated from York University with a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies. He received his Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters and Rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion on May 31, 2008 from the Cincinnati campus. Before entering rabbinical school, Rabbi Chertkoff worked at Seeds of Peace International Camp which is dedicated to empowering young leaders from regions of conflict with the leadership skills required to advance reconciliation and coexistence, served as a Special Assistant to a Federal Cabinet Minister in the Canadian Government and worked as the National Social Action Coordinator for the Canadian Council for Reform Judaism.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Moishe Steigmann

About The Event:

The rabbis once made a bold, audacious choice that changed the course of Jewish history and saved Judaism. In this class, we’ll trace that pivotal moment and discover how their courage and ingenuity can still guide and inspire us today.

About The Speaker:

Moishe Steigmann, The Mindful Rabbi, is the founder and director of Own Your Judaism and is the director of Ohel Ayalah. He seamlessly blends ancient Jewish wisdom with contemporary mindfulness practices. Through his teachings, writings, and workshops, he continues to influence and lead the conversation on mindful living within and beyond the Jewish community. He also speaks, hosts livestream conversations, and offers Jewish Life Coaching and organizational consultation. Born and raised in Milwaukee, Rabbi Steigmann is a proud father of two children, loves sports, is passionate about living gratefully, and enjoys almost all puzzles and games.

A hybrid event presentation with Rabbi Ed Feinstein

About The Event:

Over 2,000 years of the Jewish diaspora, no place has welcomed us and offered us more opportunities and freedom than America. And in turn, we offered America the gifts of our cultural genius. As we prepare to celebrate the 250th year of America, let’s look back at the wonders of American Jewish life.

Source Sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1za3Tdn6NIZYgw-ToxzTo9ZFdwgPltCvG/view?usp=sharing

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Feinstein serves the Valley Beth Shalom community as a teacher, pastor, and visionary leader. He also serves on the faculty of the Ziegler Rabbinical School of the American Jewish University, the Wexner Heritage Program, and the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, and lectures widely across the United States. He is the author of several books, including: Tough Questions Jews Ask – A Young Adult’s Guide to Building a Jewish Life, (Jewish Lights, 2003), Jews and Judaism in the Twenty-First Century: Human Responsibility, the Presence of God and the Future of the Covenant (Jewish Lights, 2007), Capturing the Moon (Behrman House, 2008) and most recently, Chutzpah Imperative! – Empowering Today’s Jews for a Life that Matters (Jewish Lights, 2014). 

Rabbi Feinstein was raised in the back of his parents’ bakery on the frontiers of the West San Fernando Valley. He graduated with honors from the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of Judaism, Columbia University Teachers College, and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he was ordained a rabbi in 1981. Most recently, he received his Doctorate in Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) at Park Avenue Synagogue in New York for his dissertation: Rabbi Harold Schulweis and the Reinvention of the American Rabbinate. 

An engaging lecturer and storyteller, Rabbi Feinstein unites the ancient Jewish love of ideas with the warmth of Jewish humor.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Marc Gitler

About The Event:
In this class, we’ll explore the complex reality the Israelites faced after leaving Egypt, when liberation gave way to uncertainty in the wilderness. Drawing on the biblical narrative of their journey through the desert, the class examines how sudden freedom can be disorienting—marked by fear, lack of direction, nostalgia, and the struggle to build a new identity.

About The Speaker:

Marc Gitler is the Senior Jewish Educator at Valley Beit Midrash and visiting Rabbi of Aish SanDiego. A recipient of the Wexner Fellowship, he was ordained at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. The founder of Fast for Feast, he lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife, Sarah, and their four children.

A hybrid event presentation with Rabbi Mike Feuer

About The Event:
The difference between leading yourself and becoming the hero of your story isn't just semantic - it's spiritual. This talk presents seven questions from the Torah of Jewish heroism that transform personal growth into something greater: a journey of moral courage, service, and sacred purpose. They are a guide for those seeking to lead themselves and others toward a larger narrative of meaning, courage, and purpose.

About The Speaker:
Rav Mike Feuer is an educator, content creator, and spiritual counselor. Through the Jewish Heroism Project, he brings a Torah of Jewish heroism to leaders, educators, activists, and idealistic Jews seeking to develop courage, capacity, and spiritual strength for our time.

A hybrid event presentation with Rabbi Mike Feuer

About The Event:
On the day after Israel’s Independence Day, this talk explores how certain models of Jewish heroism - the warrior and the public leader - have made sovereignty possible, yet cannot by themselves fulfill its deeper promise. Drawing on the Torah of Jewish heroism, we will ask what fuller independence requires today. The answer points to different forms of Jewish heroism: the judge, the healer, and the storyteller - those who shape conscience, restore wholeness, and give meaning to power on the road toward redemption.

Source Sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QUrBy2g1WxrKtn7fn-rkw6ULA791P-J6/view?usp=sharing

About The Speaker:
Rav Mike Feuer is an educator, content creator, and spiritual counselor. Through the Jewish Heroism Project, he brings a Torah of Jewish heroism to leaders, educators, activists, and idealistic Jews seeking to develop courage, capacity, and spiritual strength for our time.

A hybrid event presentation with Rabbi Ed Feinstein

The event was co-sponsored by the United Jewish Federation of Utah and hosted by Temple Har Shalom.

About The Event:
A child asks innocently, Where is God? Where did Grandma go when she died? Why do bad things happen? The language may be childlike, but the questions are profound. These are the questions that grow from being human. And Judaism offers answers, profound and moving answers. So let’s open our tradition and share these deep insights into the human condition.

Source Sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NxVE26x_gZgnoqQf3G1skPXCWdQH_ftJ/view?usp=sharing

About The Speaker:
Rabbi Feinstein serves the Valley Beth Shalom community as a teacher, pastor, and visionary leader. He also serves on the faculty of the Ziegler Rabbinical School of the American Jewish University, the Wexner Heritage Program, and the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, and lectures widely across the United States. He is the author of several books, including: Tough Questions Jews Ask – A Young Adult’s Guide to Building a Jewish Life, (Jewish Lights, 2003), Jews and Judaism in the Twenty-First Century: Human Responsibility, the Presence of God and the Future of the Covenant (Jewish Lights, 2007), Capturing the Moon (Behrman House, 2008) and most recently, Chutzpah Imperative! - Empowering Today's Jews for a Life that Matters (Jewish Lights, 2014). 

Rabbi Feinstein was raised in the back of his parents’ bakery on the frontiers of the West San Fernando Valley. He graduated with honors from the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of Judaism, Columbia University Teachers College, and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he was ordained a rabbi in 1981. Most recently, he received his Doctorate in Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) at Park Avenue Synagogue in New York for his dissertation: Rabbi Harold Schulweis and the Reinvention of the American Rabbinate. 

An engaging lecturer and storyteller, Rabbi Feinstein unites the ancient Jewish love of ideas with the warmth of Jewish humor.

A virtual event presentation by Sara Tropper

About The Event:
In this book talk, I will present the forging of “White Heat” and read select poems from the volume. I will share what spurred me to write the book, define haiku and its interesting history, and discuss the sumi-e (Japanese pen-and-ink) artwork that accompanies the poems. The talk is designed to give the audience time to absorb the poems and images.

About The Speaker:
Sara Tropper lives in Israel with her husband, children, grandchildren, and a large, affectionate dog. When she is not editing books for scholars, she enjoys losing on the soccer field to her grandsons. She wrote “White Heat” on the hillside with her canine sidekick.

A virtual event presentation by Martin Herskovitz

About The Event:
Eighty years after the Holocaust, a new narrative is taking its place alongside the heretofore trauma-based narratives: the artistic narratives of the Second and Third Generations. It is no longer just the atrocities themselves that are at the center of attention, but also how the heirs of the victims, the Second and Third Generations, are taking ownership of these stories and transforming them. The narrative of the Second and Third Generation is a story, not of devastation, but of family connection, allowing the possibility of grieving, compassion, and healing. This new testimony of postmemory transforms Holocaust remembrance from a narrative of destruction and restoration to a personal journey of healing. The listeners are invited to join Martin Herskovitz, a poet and a child of survivors, on his journey.

Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MipgxvBueVP1ulYTj4ovCqH6uwsbi3BB/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=118303465191084699356&rtpof=true&sd=true

About The Speaker:
Martin Herskovitz, from Rehovot, Israel, is a child of Holocaust survivors. He is a public fellow at the Finkler Institute for Holocaust Studies at Bar Ilan University and a poet. Via his poetry and his endeavor, Creating Memory, he propounds a more personal and emotionally resonant approach to Holocaust remembrance.

A sit-down conversation with Mayim Bialik and Rabbi Shmuly. 

Mayim Bialik is best known for her lead role as Blossom Russo in the early-1990s NBC television sitcom Blossom. She played the role of Amy Farrah Fowler on the critically acclaimed CBS comedy The Big Bang Theory, for which she received 2 Critics’ Choice Awards, 4 Emmy nominations, and a SAG Award nomination. She served as host of Jeopardy! for 2 seasons, earning her fifth Emmy nomination for her contributions to the iconic show, which won its first primetime Emmy the year she hosted. In 2021, Bialik wrote and directed the feature film As They Made Us, starring Dustin Hoffman, Candice Bergen, Dianna Agron, and Simon Helberg. She hosts a popular mental health podcast, Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown, with over 100 million downloads. Bialik holds a BS and PhD in Neuroscience from UCLA, and she has authored four books, two of which are on the New York Times Best-Sellers list (Girling Up: How to be Strong, Smart and Spectacular and Boying Up: How to be Brave, Bold and Brilliant).

An event presentation by Rabbi Dr. Armin Langer and Rabbi Moishe Steigmann

About The Event: 

This year, we explore what freedom meant for the Israelites, who were included—and who were left out—in the Torah’s vision of liberation. We’ll reflect on how the call for freedom is both aspirational and incomplete and consider how its message resonates today. Together, we’ll imagine ways to carry forward the radical, unfinished work of freedom in our own lives and communities. This session will be co-taught by Rabbi Dr. Armin Langer of Congregation Shir Hadash and Own Your Judaism’s Moishe Steigmann, The Mindful Rabbi.

*Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yxCsRJ6bzxYCemejgqN57ijfZUpN6LEI2aXu77kXvko/edit?tab=t.0

About The Speakers: 

Rabbi Dr. Armin Langer serves Shir Hadash as a teacher and community builder, committed to creating a welcoming, intellectually curious, and spiritually grounded Jewish home. Born in Germany to a family of Hungarian immigrants, he brings a deep awareness of Jewish diversity, memory, and resilience to his rabbinate. Before moving to Milwaukee, he taught and led prayer in diverse Jewish communities across Europe, the United States, and Mexico. Ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, he holds a PhD in Sociology from Humboldt University of Berlin. His writing appears in academic journals and public-facing outlets, including The Forward, Evolve, and The Conversation. He believes in a big-tent Judaism that brings Jewish tradition into conversation with contemporary ethical and social challenges.

Moishe Steigmann, The Mindful Rabbi, is the founder and director of Own Your Judaism and is the director of Ohel Ayalah. He seamlessly blends ancient Jewish wisdom with contemporary mindfulness practices. Through his teachings, writings, and workshops, he continues to influence and lead the conversation on mindful living within and beyond the Jewish community. He also speaks, hosts livestream conversations, and offers Jewish Life Coaching and organizational consultation. Born and raised in Milwaukee, Rabbi Steigmann is a proud father of two children, loves sports, is passionate about living gratefully, and enjoys almost all puzzles and games.