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HAMMERMAN FAMILY LECTURE - The Shankbone Redemption: The Inside Story of Passover
A hybrid event (in-person and virtual) by Rabbi Ed Feinstein
EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: The Hammerman Family, Congregation Or Tzion
Please note the event times are listed in the local time zone (PST).
ABOUT THE EVENT:
Each year we recite the story — with Pharaoh and Moses, frogs here frogs there, and the splitting sea. It is our story — the foundation of our faith and vision of history. Buried in the story, beneath the songs and symbols of the holiday, is a message about the human condition and our mission in the world. Join us as we discover that message and its meaning for our generation.
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, 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.
Torah, Tarot, and Trickery: Judaism's Take on Magic and Divination
A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Steven Gotlib
Please note event times are listed in PST.
EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: Own Your Judaism
ABOUT THE EVENT:
What does Judaism REALLY believe about magic and divination? Join Steven Gotlib, an experienced magician/mentalist and former Tarot-reader, to delve into this fascinating and under-appreciated topic.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Steven Gotlib is the Associate Rabbi at Mekor Habracha/Center City Synagogue and Director of the Center City Beit Midrash in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Going Out with Knots: My Two Kaddish Years with Hebrew Poetry.
A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Dr. Wendy Zierler
EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: Temple Har Shalom
Please note event times are listed in PST.
ABOUT THE EVENT:
This class will trace the origin of my feminist Kaddish / COVID memoir and the related Shir Hadash project, as well as of the title "Going Out with Knots," and will cover some thematically related poems.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Wendy Zierler is Sigmund Falk Professor of Modern Jewish Literature and Feminist Studies at HUC-JIR in New York. She received her Ph.D. and her MA from Princeton University and her BA from Stern College of Yeshiva University and an MFA in Fiction Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. In June 2021, she received rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva Maharat. Her most recent book, Going Out with Knots: My Two Kaddish / COVID Years with Hebrew Poetry (Jewish Publication Society), was named to Zibby Owens’ list of most anticipated books of Fall 2025. She is the author, previously, of Movies and Midrash: Popular Film and Jewish Religious Conversation (SUNY Press, Finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in Modern Jewish Thoughtand Experience, 2017) and of And Rachel Stole the Idols: The Emergence of Hebrew Women’s Writing (Wayne State UP, 2004), and many articles in the fields of Jewish literature and Jewish Gender Studies. Most recently she served as a consultant in the writers’ room of the Fox Prime Time TV Show The Faithful, a dramatization of the lives of biblical women, set to air in March 2026. As a fiction writer she has written two collections of linked short stories as well as a middle-grade Jewish fantasy novel entitled, The Return of Gerda Wertheimer. She is married to Daniel Feit and has three adult children.
Holocaust Testimony Reimagined
A virtual event presentation by Martin Herskovitz
EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: BMH-BJ
Please note event times are listed in PST.
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 connection to family, 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.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Martin Herskovitz, from Rehovot, Israel, is a child of Holocaust survivors. He is a public fellow at Finkler Institute for Holocaust Studies 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.
ZEICHICK FAMILY LECTURE – Being Jewish in Hollywood *IN-PERSON*
A hybrid event presentation (in-person and virtual) by Mayim Bialik
Please note all event times are listed in the local time zone.
ABOUT THE EVENT:
Actor, author, director, and neuroscience PhD, Mayim Bialik, will discuss her Jewish journey, what it’s like to be proudly Jewish in Hollywood, how she’s responded to recent streams of antisemitism in the media and much more.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
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, a role for which she received 2 Critics’ Choice Award wins, 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).
This event is presented in loving memory of Gloria and Herb Zeichick.
ZEICHICK FAMILY LECTURE – Being Jewish in Hollywood *VIRTUAL*
A hybrid event presentation (in-person and virtual) by Mayim Bialik
Please note all event times are listed in the local time zone.
ABOUT THE EVENT:
Actor, author, director, and neuroscience PhD, Mayim Bialik, will discuss her Jewish journey, what it’s like to be proudly Jewish in Hollywood, how she’s responded to recent streams of antisemitism in the media and much more.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
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, a role for which she received 2 Critics’ Choice Award wins, 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).
This event is presented in loving memory of Gloria and Herb Zeichick.
Forging White Heat: A Post–October 7 Haiku Journey
A virtual event presentation by Sara Tropper
Please note event times are listed in PST.
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 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.
Models of heroism and independence in our time
A hybrid event presentation (in-person & virtual) by Rabbi Mike Feuer
Please note event times are listed in the local time zone (PST).
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.
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.