A virtual event presentation by Professor Amy-Jill Levine

Please note event times are listed in MT

EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: BMH-BJ

Funded in part by a grant from the - National Center to Encourage Judaism

ABOUT THE EVENT:

The famous “Parable of the Good Samaritan” has been interpreted in multiple ways –  as a condemnation of racism, as promoting concern for the marginalized, and as justification for taking aid from people of differing political views. Perhaps most often, it is presented by Christians through an ahistorical, antisemitic lens as a condemnation of Jewish religious practice, xenophobia, and elitism. What did it mean to the Jews to whom it was first told, how did antisemitic interpretations develop, and how might interpretations informed by correct understandings of Jewish practice and belief be relevant today?  

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Amy-Jill Levine is the Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, Hartford International University for Religion and Peace;  University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Emerita and Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies Emerita, Professor of New Testament Studies Emerita, Vanderbilt University.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Igal Harmelin

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ABOUT THE EVENT:

Jewish history carries centuries of persecution and displacement. That history doesn't stay in the past: it shows up in how we argue with each other, who we trust, what frightens us, and what we defend reflexively without asking why.

Since October 7th, these patterns have sharpened. The attack itself, and the wave of antisemitic violence that has followed, have not created this trauma — they've activated what was already there, often at a scale and intensity we haven't had to face directly in generations.

We will examine these patterns of collective trauma through two lenses: Jewish sources and current scientific understanding. We will explore whether healing is possible and what it would require.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Rabbi Igal Harmelin is a spiritual director, a meditation teacher, and a certified master practitioner of NARM, an advanced modality for healing attachment trauma. He is also certified as a Collective Trauma Facilitator by Thomas Hübl's Academy of Inner Science.

Rabbi Harmelin is spearheading the Trauma-Informed Spiritual Leadership Training for Jewish clergy and educators. The program equips Jewish spiritual leaders with greater ability to regulate themselves and their communities. Hosted by the ALEPH Ordination Program, this interdenominational program has gained the support of the Rabbinic Assembly and the Covenant Foundation.

He lives in New York City with his wife, Rabbi Lisa Goldstein.

A hybrid event presentation (in-person & virtual) by Neshama Carlebach & Rabbi Menachem Creditor

Please note event times are listed in PT

EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: Congregation Ner Tamid

ABOUT THE EVENT:

Presence is one of the greatest gifts we can offer another person. Menachem and Neshama explore the courage required to show up with honesty, vulnerability, and an open heart, drawing upon the different strengths that sustain their life together.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Neshama Carlebach is an award-winning singer, songwriter, writer, and educator who has performed and taught in cities around the world.  A winner and four-time nominee in the Independent Music Awards for her most current release, Believe, and winner of the Global Music Awards Silver Award for Outstanding Performance by a female vocalist, Neshama is one of today’s best-selling Jewish artists. As the first then-Orthodox woman of her generation to perform for a mixed-gender audience, Neshama has sparked public conversations with brave forays into the place of women in Judaism and today’s world. In the aftermath of the October 7th attacks, Neshama brought thousands of people together throughout the NY metro area for concerts that have raised over half a million dollars for Israel.  For more than two decades, Neshama has shared her insights on various topics as an essayist. Neshama's most current writings have been featured in various publications and widely shared on platforms worldwide. Neshama is featured in the award-winning 2026 documentary, The Darkest Light. Neshama is currently writing a memoir and pursuing rabbinic ordination at AJR.

Rabbi Menachem Creditor serves as the Pearl and Ira Meyer Scholar in Residence at UJA Federation of New York and as Senior Lecturer at the Academy for Jewish Religion. An acclaimed author, educator, musician, and activist, he was named by Newsweek as one of the fifty most influential rabbis in America. With millions of views of his videos and essays, his leadership has helped shape national conversations on gun violence prevention, Zionism, interfaith organizing, LGBTQ inclusion, and Jewish diversity.

Rabbi Creditor has published more than forty books and six albums of original music, including the widely sung anthem Olam Chesed Yibaneh. He is the founder of Rabbis Against Gun Violence and serves as a clergy coach with Atra: Center for Rabbinic Innovation, supporting rabbis as they navigate their careers and develop their voices. He inspires audiences internationally through presentations that unite Jewish tradition, spiritual imagination, and moral leadership.

A hybrid event presentation (in-person & virtual) by Neshama Carlebach & Rabbi Menachem Creditor

Please note event times are listed in MT

This event is presented in loving memory of Gloria & Herb Zeichick.

EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: Congregation Beth Israel

ABOUT THE EVENT:

Why does a melody sometimes move us in ways that words alone cannot? Why, when we’re choosing a synagogue, can the cantor’s voice carry as much weight as the rabbi’s sermon? And why do we call the Erev Yom Kippur service “Kol Nidre,” as if one haunting melody could define an entire evening of prayer? This engaging lecture explores the powerful role of music in Jewish worship and why liturgical music has always been so central to the Jewish spiritual experience—from the familiar melodies that instantly transport us to a particular time and place, to the wordless power of the niggun.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Neshama Carlebach is an award-winning singer, songwriter, writer, and educator who has performed and taught in cities around the world.  A winner and four-time nominee in the Independent Music Awards for her most current release, Believe, and winner of the Global Music Awards Silver Award for Outstanding Performance by a female vocalist, Neshama is one of today’s best-selling Jewish artists. As the first then-Orthodox woman of her generation to perform for a mixed-gender audience, Neshama has sparked public conversations with brave forays into the place of women in Judaism and today’s world. In the aftermath of the October 7th attacks, Neshama brought thousands of people together throughout the NY metro area for concerts that have raised over half a million dollars for Israel.  For more than two decades, Neshama has shared her insights on various topics as an essayist. Neshama's most current writings have been featured in various publications and widely shared on platforms worldwide. Neshama is featured in the award-winning 2026 documentary, The Darkest Light. Neshama is currently writing a memoir and pursuing rabbinic ordination at AJR.

Rabbi Menachem Creditor serves as the Pearl and Ira Meyer Scholar in Residence at UJA Federation of New York and as Senior Lecturer at the Academy for Jewish Religion. An acclaimed author, educator, musician, and activist, he was named by Newsweek as one of the fifty most influential rabbis in America. With millions of views of his videos and essays, his leadership has helped shape national conversations on gun violence prevention, Zionism, interfaith organizing, LGBTQ inclusion, and Jewish diversity.

Rabbi Creditor has published more than forty books and six albums of original music, including the widely sung anthem Olam Chesed Yibaneh. He is the founder of Rabbis Against Gun Violence and serves as a clergy coach with Atra: Center for Rabbinic Innovation, supporting rabbis as they navigate their careers and develop their voices. He inspires audiences internationally through presentations that unite Jewish tradition, spiritual imagination, and moral leadership.

A hybrid event presentation (in-person & virtual) by Neshama Carlebach & Rabbi Menachem Creditor

Please note event times are listed in MT

EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: Congregation Kol Ami

ABOUT THE EVENT:

No one is meant to carry life alone. Menachem and Neshama reflect on how they lend one another strength, how partnership can expand our capacity for courage, and how communities can become places of genuine spiritual support.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Neshama Carlebach is an award-winning singer, songwriter, writer, and educator who has performed and taught in cities around the world.  A winner and four-time nominee in the Independent Music Awards for her most current release, Believe, and winner of the Global Music Awards Silver Award for Outstanding Performance by a female vocalist, Neshama is one of today’s best-selling Jewish artists. As the first then-Orthodox woman of her generation to perform for a mixed-gender audience, Neshama has sparked public conversations with brave forays into the place of women in Judaism and today’s world. In the aftermath of the October 7th attacks, Neshama brought thousands of people together throughout the NY metro area for concerts that have raised over half a million dollars for Israel.  For more than two decades, Neshama has shared her insights on various topics as an essayist. Neshama's most current writings have been featured in various publications and widely shared on platforms worldwide. Neshama is featured in the award-winning 2026 documentary, The Darkest Light. Neshama is currently writing a memoir and pursuing rabbinic ordination at AJR.

Rabbi Menachem Creditor serves as the Pearl and Ira Meyer Scholar in Residence at UJA Federation of New York and as Senior Lecturer at the Academy for Jewish Religion. An acclaimed author, educator, musician, and activist, he was named by Newsweek as one of the fifty most influential rabbis in America. With millions of views of his videos and essays, his leadership has helped shape national conversations on gun violence prevention, Zionism, interfaith organizing, LGBTQ inclusion, and Jewish diversity.

Rabbi Creditor has published more than forty books and six albums of original music, including the widely sung anthem Olam Chesed Yibaneh. He is the founder of Rabbis Against Gun Violence and serves as a clergy coach with Atra: Center for Rabbinic Innovation, supporting rabbis as they navigate their careers and develop their voices. He inspires audiences internationally through presentations that unite Jewish tradition, spiritual imagination, and moral leadership.

A virtual event presentation by Dr. Richard Hidary

Please note event times are listed in MT

EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: Temple Beth Sholom

ABOUT THE EVENT:

The celebration of Hanukah by lighting lamps in front of Jewish homes derives from rabbinic literature, appearing nowhere in Second Temple sources. Indeed, while the Second Temple stood, it would have made the most sense to celebrate the anniversary of its reconsecration in the Temple itself with song and added sacrificial offerings. It would make little sense as a home-based ritual. When and why, then, did the home lamp lighting come into practice? This lecture will trace the development of Hanukah fire rituals arguing that the rabbis shifted the focus of the commemoration from the altar to the menorah after the Temple’s destruction as part of an effort to transfer the holiness of the Temple to the Jewish home. A contextual and literary analysis of the locus classicus of the Hanukah laws at Bavli Shabbat 21a-24a reveals themes connecting Hanukah lamps both to the Temple menorah and to household Shabbat lamps. The Talmud communicates this new centrality of home holiness through details of ritual law as well as by recontextualizing and retelling the miracle of the oil.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Rabbi Dr. Richard Hidary is a rabbi at Sephardic Synagogue in Brooklyn and professor of Judaic Studies at Yeshiva University. He is the author of Discovering the Jewish Holidays: Eight Talmudic Readings (Maggid Press, 2026); Rabbis and Classical Rhetoric: Sophistic Education and Oratory in the Talmud and Midrash (Cambridge University Press, 2018); and Dispute for the Sake of Heaven: Legal Pluralism in the Talmud (Brown University Press, 2010). His Daf Yomi classes are accessible at YouTube.com/rhidary and he also runs the websites teachtorah.org, pizmonim.org, and rabbinics.org.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Ysoscher Katz

Please note event times are listed in MT. 

EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: Temple Emanuel

ABOUT THE EVENT:

Are observant Jews today in need of a new theology—one that makes sense of our simultaneous devotion to Torah and commitment to modern moral values? This lecture explores the contours of such a theology and considers what might be gained, and what might be lost, in reimagining our religious categories.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Rabbi Ysoscher Katz is the Chair of the Department of Talmud at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. Rabbi Katz received ordination in 1986 from Rabbi Yechezkel Roth, dayan of UTA Satmer, and studied at Yeshivat Beit Yosef, Navaradok for over ten years. A graduate of the HaSha’ar Program for Jewish Educators, Rabbi Katz has taught at the Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls and SAR High School.

A virtual event presentation by Dr. Kristine Henriksen Garroway

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EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: Temple Beth Sholom

ABOUT THE EVENT:

Deuteronomy 18 makes it clear that magic is a "no-no" for the Israelites. Yet, the archaeological and textual records of biblical times and late antiquity tell a different tale, one that is full of divination, exorcisms, amulets, and demon traps. Join Dr. Kristine Garroway for an overview of the fascinating history of ancient Jewish magic.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Kristine Henriksen Garroway is Professor of Bible at the Hebrew Union College's Skirball Campus in Los Angeles. Joining the faculty in 2011, her research bridges ancient Near Eastern texts and archaeology to shed light on the Hebrew Bible and the history of families, children, and gender in ancient Israel and Mesopotamia. Dr. Garroway holds a Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible and Cognate Studies, is an active editor and author of multiple books, and frequently contributes to TheTorah.com and scholarly journals.