Jewish Online Resources 5/20/22

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. 

The Institute for Jewish Spirituality will hold “Receiving and Extending Love: Jewish Prayer through Meditation” from May 29-June 24, with Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg. Included are video teachings and written lessons; resources such as Jewish texts, secular writings, poems, music and videos; and daily e-mails with inspirational quotes. The cost for the Month-Long Prayer Intensive is $100. The cost for the Month-Long Prayer Intensive Plus Weekly Live Faculty-Led Practice Group is $175. (The Live Faculty-Led Practice Group is limited to 35 participants.) For more information or to register, visit this link.

Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership will hold the free virtual program “Voices: Rescued Stories Brought to Life: A Conversation with Writer/Cartoonist Ken Krimstein” about his book “When I Grow Up: The Lost Autobiographies of Six Yiddish Teenagers” on Monday, June 13, from 8-9:30 pm. Advance registration is required. To register or learn more, click here.

BAS Scholars Series will hold the virtual program “The Archaeology of Qumran 75 Years after the Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls” with Dr. Jodi Magness, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, on Thursday, September 15, from 8-9 pm. The cost to attend is $10. The slide-illustrated lecture will explore the archaeological remains of Qumran. For more information or to register, see event page.

RitualWell will hold the virtual program “Evolve Web Conversation: Gender Fluid Shekhinah” with Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb on Tuesday, May 24, at 3 pm. There is no cost to attend. You can read the essay under discussion. For more information or to register for the program, visit this page.

The Jewish Farmers Network holds “Avodat Lev (Heart Work),” a virtual “contemplative chant-based practice in Hebrew and English, based on the evening/ Ma’ariv service” on the third Wednesday of each month. The next practice will be held on Wednesday, May 18, from 8-9 pm. For more information or to register, click here.

Maven will hold the virtual discussion “Creating Gender Equity and Fairness in Schools Through a Jewish Lens” with Rachel Lerner, dean of American Jewish University, and Jason Ablin, author of “the Gender Equation in Schools: How to Create Equity and Fairness for All Students,” on Wednesday, June 22, from 1-1:45 pm. For more information or to register, follow this link.

The Braid will hold the virtual program “Jewish Journeys: Historical, Cultural and Surprising Places to Visit” on Sunday, May 22, at 2 pm. Certified travel counselor Susan Reder, managing partner of FROSCH Classic Cruise and Travel, will introduce viewers to Jewish sites of interest across the globe. For more information or to register, see their tickets here.

RitualWell will hold the virtual class “Creating a Mikveh Ritual for the High Holidays” with Rabbi Haviva Ner-David on Thursdays, August 25, September 15 and October 6, along with two one-on-one sessions with Haviva to be scheduled in between. The cost to attend is $250 for the five sessions. The classes will explore “the deeper meaning of mikveh and create individualized mikveh immersion ceremonies to be used for pre–High Holiday immersions.” For more information or to register, visit the event page

The National Yiddish Book Center and YI Love Jewish will present a virtual showing of the film “Beyle: The Artist and Her Legacy” on Sunday, August 7, at 7 pm. The film “tells the story of Beyle’s rich life through archival recordings along with newly recorded oral history interviews with family, friends, and colleagues – in both English and in Yiddish.” For more information or to register, click here.

The CCAR Press will hold a virtual author talk about its newest title, “The Book of Proverbs: A Social Justice Commentary” by Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz on Wednesday, June 1, at 8 pm. Yanklowitz will discuss how the book of Proverbs “is strikingly relevant to issues we face today, including income inequality, feminism, animal rights, environmentalism, and many more.” For more information or to register, visit this page.

Qesher will hold several virtual tours and lectures in May and June: “Jewish Lisbon and Portugal: a community reconnecting with its past” on Wednesday, May 25, at 1:30 pm (more info here); “Jews of Iran: Not Just Purim and the Revolution” on Sunday, May 29, at 1:30 pm (available here); “Jews of Argentina: They sowed seeds and harvested doctors” on Sunday, June 5, at 1:30 pm (register here); “Travel to Spain: Sephardic Jewish Heritage Tour” on Wednesday, June 8, at 1:30 pm (see event page); “Past and Present of Jewish Romania, from Transylvania with love” on Sunday, June 12, at 1:30 pm (see tickets); “The Jews of Georgia: A Diverse and Ancient Community in the Caucasus” on Wednesday, June 15, at 1:30 pm (view more event info); “The Jews of Ethiopia: Being Black, Jewish and Israeli” on Sunday, June 19, at 1:30 pm (available here); “The Two Millennia Story of Moroccan Jewry” on Wednesday, June 22, at 1:30 pm (register here); and “Jewish city tour of Riga,the hidden gem of the Baltic” on Sunday, June 26, at 1:30 pm (see event page).

The Museum of Jewish Heritage will hold a live stream of the musical dramatization “J O B – A Simple Man” on Thursday, June 2, from 7-9 pm. The story, an adaptation of Joseph Roth’s novel, tells of an emigrant’s journey from a small village in Russia to New York City. For more information or to register, view their event page

Jewish Women Archives will hold the virtual course “Jewish Women in Film and Television” on Thursdays, June 2, 9, 16 and 23, at 8 pm. Topics to be explored are “Judy Holliday: Jewish Assimilation and 1950s Hollywood,” “Big Mouths and Quiet Revolutionaries: Jewish Women in Film, 1970s-2010s”; “Beyond the Cliché: Changing Images of Jewish Women on Television”; and “Penelope’s Journey: Haredi Women on Israeli TV.” The sessions are designed to stand alone; those registering will receive access to session recordings. For more information or to register, click here.

Judaism Your Way will hold the virtual “Couples and Conversation Series: An Interfaith / Multiheritage Couples Group” on Tuesdays, June 7, 14, 21 and 28, from 8:30-10 pm. There is a cost of $54 to attend. For more information or to register, follow this link

The Academy for Jewish Religion will hold the virtual program “Religion and Science Program: Building bridges to lives of meaning” on Thursday, June 16, at 7 pm. For more information or to register, see their event page.

Maven will hold “Discussing Current Events” from a Jewish point of view with Jonathan Dobrer on Wednesdays, from July 13-August 31. The cost is $285 for the eight sessions. Two sessions are available: 1:30-3 pm (available here) or 10:30 pm-midnight (see evening event).

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research will hold the virtual panel discussion “Are We in the Midst of a Yiddish Renaissance?” on Wednesday June 1, at 1 pm. The panel will include YIVO’s Director of Public Programs Alex Weiser; journalist and playwright Rokhl Kafrissen; scholar and In Geveb Editor-in-chief Jessica Kirzane; scholar, Yiddish podcast founder and host Sandra Fox; and YIVO’s Director of Education Ben Kaplan. For more information or to register, click here.

The Center for Jewish History will present “Family History Today: Discovering your Jewish Ancestors in France” on Friday, June 17, at noon. Anne Morddel, a certified genealogist specializing in French genealogy, will explain how to discover Jewish ancestors in France in both pre-Revolutionary legal and religious records and post-Revolutionary civil records. For more information or to register, visit this page.


For additional resources, see previous issues of The Reporter or our other Jewish Online Resources here.