By Reporter staff
A variety of Jewish groups are offering educational and recreational online resources. Below is a sampling of those. The Reporter will publish additional listings as they become available.
Qesher will hold a variety of online Jewish tours and programs. All programs will begin at 3 pm and all talks will take about 90 minutes: “Sefarad: Music of the Jews of Spain, Portugal and their Diaspora” on Thursday, September 15; “Rosh Hashanah Food Traditions Around the World” on Sunday, September 18; and “Jewish Lisbon and Portugal: a community reconnecting with its past” on Thursday, September 22. For more information or to register, click here.
Maven will hold the virtual class “Talmud and Midrash” on eight Tuesdays, from October 25-December 20, at 3-4:30 pm. The cost to attend is $285. The course will explore what the Talmud is, why it is so important to Judaism and more. For more information, click here.
Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History will hold the virtual program “Let There Be Light – Conversation with Liana Finck and Jane Golden” on Wednesday, November 2, at 8 pm. Finck will be joined in conversation by Golden, the founder and executive director of Mural Arts Philadelphia. The program’s conversation will look at Finck’s new graphic work “Let There Be Light,” her award-winning contributions to The New Yorker, her Instagram account that has over half a million followers, her creative process and more. For more information or to register, click here.
The Museum at Eldridge Street will hold the virtual program “Why Did Jonah Run? Exploring the Yom Kippur Reading” on Thursday, September 29, at 7:30 pm. Rabbi Aviad Bodner will discuss the central question of the story: Why did Jonah run away from God? There is a suggested donation of $12. For more information or to register, click here.
ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal will hold the virtual program “Disenfranchised Grief” on Thursday, September 22, at 7:30 pm. The cost to attend is $18. The program will explore the nature of loss and grief. To register, click here.
JTS’s Context Online is a two-year program that focuses on studies of Jewish culture, religion, text and civilization. Participants meet weekly on Zoom, studying with scholars. A new cycle of Context Online will meet on Wednesday evenings starting September 21. Fall semester: “The Bible and Ancient Israel” with Dr. Ora Horn Prouser, JTS alumna and CEO and academic dean, Academy for Jewish Religion; and spring semester: “The World of Rabbinic Judaism” with Dr. David Kraemer, Joseph J. and Dora Abbell Librarian and professor of Talmud and rabbinics at JTS. For more information or to register, click here.
The Yiddish Book Center will hold several virtual programs this fall: A panel discussion “The Voice of a Woman: Diana Blumenfeld and Miriam Kressyn on Postwar Yiddish Radio,” with Caraid O’Brien, Anna Rozenfeld and moderator Alyssa Quint, on Thursday, September 22, at 7 pm (available here); “Sutzkever Essential Prose,” with translator Zackary Sholem Berger, on Thursday, September 29, 7 pm (available here); “Chava Rosenfarb’s Montreal,” with Goldie Morgentaler, on Thursday, October 13, 7 pm (available here); and “Women’s roles across literature, culture, and the rise of feminism: 1973-2005,” with Deborah Dash Moore, on Thursday, October, 27, at 7 pm (available here).
Ritualwell will hold the virtual program “Creating New Jewish Liturgy: A Talk with Dr. Marcia Falk” on Thursday, September 22, from 3-4:30 pm. The cost to attend is $36. Falk will discuss how her work evolved over time, and the relationship between theology and liturgy, with specific emphasis on feminist perspectives. The session will include a Q & A period. For more information or to register, click here.
Rabbi Meir Soloveichik is offering a new podcast called Jerusalem 365, which explores the history of the city. It includes a 15-minute daily episode (except the Jewish Sabbath and holidays) and daily e-mails with episode summaries and links to supplemental images and text. The cost is $8.34/month. For more information or to subscribe, click here.
Maven will hold the virtual program “Fighting Internalized Antisemitism” with Ben M. Freeman about his book “Reclaiming Our Story: The Pursuit of Jewish Pride” on Wednesday, September 21, from 3-3:45 pm. For more information or to register, click here.
The Jewish Book Council will hold the in-person and virtual event “Martha Anne Toll on ‘Three Muses’” on Thursday, September 22, at 7 pm. Martha Anne Toll will discuss her first novel, “Three Muses.” For more information or to register, click here.
Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History will hold the virtual program “Jewish and Indigenous American Interactions Part 1” with David S. Koffman on Wednesday, October 12, at 8 pm. In the first of two lectures, Koffman will focus on the historical intersections and relationships between Indigenous and Jewish American communities. For more information or to register, click here.
The Institute for Jewish Spirituality will hold the virtual program “An Evening with IJS president and CEO, Rabbi Josh Feigelson, in conversation with Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg” on Tuesday, September 20, from 8-9 pm. Ruttenberg will speak about her new book, “On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World.” To register, visit click here.
The Jewish Theological Seminary will hold the virtual course “Conversion to and from Judaism” on Mondays, from October 24-December 12, from 7-9 pm, with Dr. Benjamin Gampel, Dina and Eli Field Family Chair in Jewish History. The course will investigate the history of conversion into and out of Judaism in the Christian and Islamic worlds from late antiquity to the first stirrings of modernity (fourth-17th centuries) in western Europe. For more information or to register, click here.
Maven will hold the virtual course “Braiding Beautifully with The Challah Prince” on Thursday, October 13, from 10-11:30 pm. The cost to attend is $21. Idan Chabasov will walk attendees through the steps of making and braiding a challah while sharing his Jewish journey to challah. For more information or to register, click here.
The Mordecai Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood will hold a variety of virtual seminars this fall, including “God is Here in Kaplanian Context” on Tuesday, September 13, at 7 pm; “Entering the Heichal (sanctuary) of the Voting Booth: Reflections on Judaism and Democracy” on Sunday, October 30, at 3pm; “Hanukah and a Friendly Critique of the Notion of Living in Two Civilizations” on Sunday, December 11, at 3 pm. For more information or to register, click here.
MAZON: a Jewish Response to Hunger will hold the virtual “When Women Lead” series, which will feature women who will talk about the intersection of feminism and hunger. The first session will take place on Tuesday, September 20, at 1 pm, with MAZON President and CEO Abby J. Leibman in conversation with Kathy Spillar, executive director of the Feminist Majority Foundation and executive editor of Ms. Magazine. For more information or to register, click here.
The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute will hold a virtual program of Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series with Tamar Biala, editor of “Dirshuni: Contemporary Women’s Midrash” on Monday, October 19, at 12:30 pm. Her book is the English edition of a collection of midrashim composed by Israeli women. For more information or to register, click here.
Ritualwell will hold two open houses featuring short talks by its different instructors on Thursday, September 14, from 11 am-2 pm (click here); and on Thursday, September 21, from 11 am-2 pm (click here). Each open house features different programs.
Museum of Jewish Heritage will hold the in-person and virtual program “Survivors: Faces of Life After the Holocaust with Martin Schoeller” on Sunday September 18, from 11 am-noon. The photographer Martin Schoeller will speak with Sara Softness, the museum’s curator of special projects about the new exhibition, “Survivors: Faces of Life After the Holocaust.” For more information, click here. To register for the program, click here.
The Nosher will hold a virtual “High Holiday Cooking Series”: “Homemade Plum Jam Stuffed Challah” on Sunday, September 11, at 7:30 pm; “Rosh Hashanah Recipes From Around the World” on Thursday, September 15, at7:30 pm; and “Traditional Sephardic Breakfast” on Wednesday, September 28, at 7:30 pm. The recipes will be posted on www.TheNosher.com prior to the class with a list of ingredients. For more information or to register, click here.
The Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning will hold “Growing Older, Living Longer: Four Values that Support Our Elder Life Stages” with Rabbi Richard Address (founder and director of Jewish Sacred Aging) on Thursday, September 22, from 1-2 pm. For more information or to register, click here.
Reform Judaism will hold the virtual course “Spaghetti & Matzo Balls Watch Party and Conversation” with Rena Strober on Sunday, October 2, from 7:30-9 pm. It will focus on how Strober rediscovered her Jewish roots. For more information or to register, visit click here.
The Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning will hold “Oh Brother: Cain, Abel, and Sibling Rivalry” on Monday, October 24, from 11:30 am-12:30 pm. For more information or to register, click here.
For additional resources, see previous issues of The Reporter or our other Jewish Online Resources here.