About The Event:
Through the lens of the biblical figure Daniel—a Jerusalem noble taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar II who rose to prominence while staying true to his Jewish identity—we’ll examine what it means to live as Jews in the diaspora today. This class will delve into the complexities of balancing integration with authenticity, navigating pressure to conform, and discovering spiritual resilience in foreign or secular environments. Together, we’ll uncover timeless lessons from Daniel’s life that speak powerfully to our modern Jewish experience.

About The Speaker: 

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.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Jade Sank Ross

The event was co-sponsored by BMH-BJ

About The Event: 

Year after year, as we read and re-read the same portions of Torah, it does not change, but we do. The Psalms have been part of Jewish ritual and liturgy for centuries, and generation after generation they have sung to us in moments of awe, sorrow, longing, and much more. Together, we will explore how the ancient words of Psalms can be part of our daily lives today and how we might forge deep and personal connections with the words of the Psalmist.

*Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RV5qCB0ylWmWYELYtUYhU644aNVNd5eSznPJNzYgZ24/edit?tab=t.0

About the Speaker: 

Rabbi Jade Sank Ross grew up in Kinnelon, New Jersey. She received her BA in Anthropology and International and Global Studies from Brandeis University. She was ordained as a rabbi in 2018 by the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR). Rabbi Sank Ross currently serves as the Associate Rabbi at The Community Synagogue in Port Washington, New York. She is married to Rabbi Daniel Ross, and together they are most proud to be raising their children, Adina and Bella. Rabbi Jade Sank Ross is the author of To You I Call: Psalms Throughout Our Lives, new from CCAR Press.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Dvir Cahana

About The Event: 

What happens when a Rabbi and an Artist study Torah together? … Chidushim!!! The Amen Institute has provided an incubator to empower artists with the charge of being wisdom disseminators. Join Rabbi Dvir Cahana in a unique program describing the discoveries of these artist meaning seekers.

About The Speaker: 

Rabbi Dvir is our Base Rabbi for Miami. He has taught Torah, led tefillah, and built community in his hometown of Montreal, then New York City, and now Miami. Dvir was a winner of the Jewish Week’s “36 Under 36” award for launching The Amen Institute, an international space where professional artists and rabbis unite to inspire each other in the creation of Torah-art. Himself a hip hop and rap artist, Dvir is the rabbinic educator for the Jewish rap collective Rappers and Rabbis. Under his guidance, the group has made a Hip Hop Haggadah and The MC-DUR, performed in front of thousands of teens nationwide. Dvir’s 15 studio albums show a love of Yiddishkeit and wordplay. 

He received his rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in 2024 and holds a master’s in Jewish studies from McGill University.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Dr. Nolan Lebovitz

The event was co-sponsored by Congregation Or Tzion

About The Event: 

Following October 7, Rabbi Lebovitz synthesizes the Jewish turning point in history with lessons from the past, arguing that it is a moral imperative to radically change the way we engage with both Israel and the United States. Proudly declaring Jewish loyalty forges a new path forward imbued with pride in peoplehood and collective destiny. Challenging the trope commonly cast against the Jewish people in diaspora, Lebovitz argues that affirming dual loyalty serves as our best hope to shape a brighter tomorrow here in the United States and for our sense of Jewish peoplehood.

About The Speaker: 

Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz, PhD, is the Senior Rabbi at Valley Beth Shalom, one of the largest Conservative synagogues in North America. Shaped by a proud Zionist upbringing and as the grandchild of four Holocaust survivors, he has endeavored to instill a strong relationship with Israel in all of his congregants. As a prominent Jewish thought leader, his work has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Jewish Journal, and Jerusalem Post. Rabbi Lebovitz is an adjunct fellow at the Z3 Institute, sits on the Executive Board of the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition, and serves as a national board member of MERCAZ. The horrific massacre of October 7 and its aftermath around the world prompted Rabbi Lebovitz to begin speaking out about the next chapter of Jewish life.

A virtual event presentation by Dr. Michael Meyer

The event was co-sponsored by Temple Emanuel 

About The Event: 

This lecture, based on my book “Above All, We Are Jews,” A Biography of Rabbi Alexander Schindler, will cover the career of a German Jew of East European extraction who redirected American Reform Judaism so that it would more realistically address the nature of American Jewry.  Innovating in multiple areas, Schindler came to grips with the increasing rate of interfaith marriage even as he expanded the vision of a liberal Jewish faith.  While chairing the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organizations, his deep personal friendship with Prime Minister Menachem Begin prevented a crisis between American Jewry and Israel.  Using citations from his speeches and writings, this lecture will illustrate the importance of Rabbi Schindler within American Jewry of the 1970s and 1980s and his legacy for Reform Judaism today.

About The Speaker: 

Michael A. Meyer was born in Berlin, Germany, and grew up in Los Angeles, where he graduated from UCLA with highest honors. His doctorate in Jewish history is from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, where he served as Professor of Jewish History for fifty years. He has also been a guest professor at three Israeli universities and served as president of the Association for Jewish Studies and international president of the Leo Baeck Institute. He is the recipient of three Jewish Book Awards and has published more than 200 scholarly articles and longer reviews. His books include The Origins of the Modern Jew, Response to Modernity: A History of the Reform Movement in Judaism, and Rabbi Leo Baeck: Living a Religious Imperative in Troubled Times. He is the recipient of an honorary degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Cross of Merit from the German Federal Republic.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Richard Address

The Event was co-sponsored by Temple Emanuel

About The Event: 

In this session, we will discuss the new life stage of Caregiving and how Jewish texts and tradition have approached this issue. Based on the 5th Commandment, we will examine how our tradition has looked at this life stage from the Talmud through contemporary commentaries. We will look at what it means to “honor” and “respect”, the issue of who and how an adult child “pays”, as well as when it may be permissible to cede care to a third party. We will look at difficult questions, such as do we need a new vocabulary for caregiving in light of technology and the challenges of “quality of life” and the emerging issue of Medical Aid in Dying.

*Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OiZfmzcc-ywctGm64SGIQN7R2_TA0ZP7/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=118303465191084699356&rtpof=true&sd=true

About The Speaker: Rabbi Richard F Address, D.Min.: ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (1972), is the founder and director of Jewish Sacred Aging®, the website jewishsacredaging.com, and hosts the weekly “Seekers of Meaning podcast/tv show.  Rabbi Address served congregations in California and New Jersey for over 25 years and also served on the staff of the Union for Reform Judaism for over three decades as the regional director for the Pennsylvania Council and then as founding director of the URJ’s Department of Family Concerns. He continues to teach and consult with congregations in areas related to the impact of longevity on congregations, families, and organizations. He has edited numerous articles and books dealing with issues of aging and is the author of “Seekers of Meaning: Baby Boomers, Judaism and the Pursuit of Healthy Aging”. Rabbi Address continues to teach at a variety of locations and is an adjunct at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Wurzweiler Social Work at Yeshiva University, and the Aleph Seminary. In addition, Rabbi Address serves on the board of the Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Southern N.J., co-chairs their Senior Services Committee, and co-chairs the Jewish Advisory Group for Samaritan Hospice/Healthcare in southern New Jersey.  In January 2024, he was honored to receive the Isaac Mayer Wise award for lifetime service from the Reform Jewish community of Denver, CO. He is married to Jane Travis-Address and lives in Gloucester County. 

A virtual event presentation by Rabbanit Devorah Zlochower

About The Event:
The cry, “Why Should We Be Excluded,” made by those individuals who were not able to bring the Paschal sacrifice is echoed by so many disabled Jews who have been left out of our community – our shuls, our schools, our communal programming due to inaccessibility and to invisibility in the community. The laws of the megillah were designed by our Sages to make the reading of the Book of Esther accessible. In this shiur, we will learn that the halakha places a major value on comprehension of the story and allows for a megillah to be written in all languages. This serves as a model for ensuring that all Jews are full and equal members of our communities.

*Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16fjiAIl4H416EJuwA628LOMzA7Qk6qGcCVGGFftJQq8/edit?usp=sharing

About The Speaker:
Rabbanit Devorah Zlochower is Senior Scholar and Mashgichah Ruchanit at YCT Rabbinical School. Previously, she served as Academic Dean and Rosh Kollel at Yeshivat Maharat and as Rosh Beit Midrash and Director of the Full-time Programs of Drisha Institute. Devorah has taught Talmud and Jewish Law for 3 decades at Drisha, SAR High School, Hadar, YCT, and Maharat.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Reuven Firestone

The event was co-sponsored by BMH-BJ

About The Event: 

What does the Qur’an say about Jews? “Israelites,” “Jews,” “People of the Book.” Even “rabbis.” These are all terms found in the Qur’an. Some have claimed that the Qur’an is antisemitic, while others have argued that it values Jews. What does the Qur’an say? This text study will examine the range of Qur’anic writings about Jews to gain a solid understanding of the status of Jews in the Qur’an. We will then consider how these verses have been interpreted in Muslim tradition.

About The Speaker: 

Reuven Firestone is Regenstein Professor in medieval Judaism and Islam at Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles, and affiliate professor of religion at the University of Southern California. Author of eight books and over one hundred scholarly articles on Judaism, Islam, their relationship with one another, and with Christianity, Professor Firestone lectures at universities in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East as well as throughout North America. His books include Jihad: The Origin of Holy War in Islam, Who Are the Real Chosen People, Introduction to Islam for Jews, Introduction to Judaism for Muslims, and Holy War in Judaism. Active on the boards of numerous scholarly journals and boards and commissions treating interreligious relations and dialogue, Firestone is an ordained rabbi, received his Ph.D. in Arabic and Islamic Studies from New York University, and served as Vice President of the Association for Jewish Studies and President of the International Qur’anic Studies Association.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Avi Orlow

The event was co-sponsored by Congregation Or Tzion 

About The Event: 

The challenge of expressing our feelings is not just an issue for children. From the Pentateuch to Pixar, we will explore how we might better deal with complex emotions.

*Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sfbgWHSQKsNE7Gv7YM6Y2uWYN67IkEEZwFJFVbLJmoQ/edit?tab=t.0

About The Speaker: 

Rabbi Avi Orlow is the Scholar-in-Residence at Foundation for Jewish Camp. He has a deep love of irreverent, relevant, and revealing Torah and blogs religiously at saidtomyself.com.

A hybrid event (in-person and virtual) by Rabbi David Kasher

The event was co-hosted by Temple Chai

About The Event: 

We sometimes speak of holiness as if it were entirely ethereal, having nothing to do with our physical selves. But Leviticus, the book of the Torah most focused on holiness, is also profoundly interested in the human body. Beginning with sacred dietary practices and then moving to rituals that deal with health, sex, birth, and death, Leviticus offers a rich framework for understanding how the body can serve as a vessel for sacred living. This ancient holiness code invites us to integrate the physical and spiritual dimensions of life, challenging modern assumptions about the separation between body and spirit.

*Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13UcLDLcCO6X0PXsFv7UVPaPIIOEFDq__2orn-oOPkyk/edit?usp=sharing

About the Speaker: 

Rabbi David Kasher is the Director of Hadar West, based in Los Angeles. He grew up bouncing back and forth between the Bay Area and Brooklyn, hippies and Hassidim – and has been trying to synthesize these two worlds ever since. He received rabbinic ordination at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and a doctorate in legal studies from Berkeley Law. He has served as Senior Jewish Educator at Berkeley Hillel, Director of Education at Kevah, and Associate Rabbi at IKAR. He is the author of ParshaNut: 54 Journeys into the World of Torah Commentary, and the host of the Torah podcast, Best Book Ever.