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In-Person Events (Phoenix)
The Sevenfold Path: A Traveler’s Guide to Jewish Wisdom
A hybrid event presentation (in-person and virtual) with Shira Milgrom and David M. Elcott
EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL
ABOUT THE EVENT:
Join us for a special book talk. In this traveler’s guide to spiritual practice, Milgrom and Elcott bring the reader to many paths that seekers of the sacred walk. What is the universal sevenfold path? Recognizing a spark of the divine; honoring the covenant with all living things; engaging in healing and growth; opening our lives to the divine presence; seeing where we are as a sacred place; seeking and pursuing justice; and taking time to enjoy a sabbath. They illuminate these paths through inspiring stories, both inherited and personal, drawn from a richly lived Jewish life and encounters with faith communities around the world. For while the universe emerged from one pinpoint of energy and life, it is only in its infinite diversity where God can be found. Indeed, “there is no place devoid of the Presence,” even in the everyday.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
Shira Milgrom served as Rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami in White Plains for thirty-seven years and is the editor of a unique prayer book used in Jewish settings across the continent.
David M. Elcott retired as the Taub Professor of Practice at NYU Wagner, is a Senior Fellow at Columbia’s Center for Justice and works with Hudson Link to teach classes to incarcerated individuals. He is the author of Faith, Nationalism and the Future of Liberal Democracy (2021) and A Sacred Journey (1995).
The Shabbat Effect: Jewish Wisdom for Growth and Transformation (Phoenix)
A hybrid event presentation (in-person and virtual) by Alan Morinis
EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: Beth El Phoenix
Please note the event times are listed in MST.
ABOUT THE EVENT:
The topic of this session will be the forthcoming book, The Shabbat Effect. The point of the book is to outline how observing Shabbat with an intention to develop certain inner traits that are germane to a Shabbat practice will prove useful all 7 days of the week, and is a step toward the ultimate human purpose of becoming whole and holy.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Alan Morinis received his doctorate from Oxford University which he attended on a Rhodes Scholarship. He is one the leading lights in the revival of the Jewish spiritual tradition of Mussar and is the author of Climbing Jacob’s Ladder (2002), Everyday Holiness (2007), With Heart in Mind (2014) and now The Shabbat Effect (2026).
He is a student of Rabbi Yechiel Yitzchok Perr, zt”l, and in 2004 founded The Mussar Institute which has grown to become the world’s leading provider of contemporary Mussar resources and instruction, offering courses, facilitator training, curricula for congregations and organizations, special events, speakers, and retreats.
Alan is a sought-after speaker and spiritual teacher who will be on tour with The Shabbat Effect in early 2026.
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.
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.
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.