Jewish Ideas to Change the World

In-Person event presentation by Ilan Kogan About the Event: We will be looking at several verses from the Book of Esther and seeing what questions could be gleaned from those verses. Several verses in the Book of Esther utilize double language, missing or additional letters, and sometimes what seems to be contradictory information. After discussing possible questions that could be found in those v...

A virtual presentation by Rabbi Avi Weiss Event Co-Sponsored by Congregation Or Tzion About the Event: Learn with Rabbi Avi Weiss about the transformative potential of Jewish spirituality. How can prayer, meditation, learning, and even activism sustain our inner flame? How wisdom have the Hasidic masters left us on how to live a life that is soulful? About the Speaker: Rabbi Avi Weiss founded Yesh...

A virtual event presentation by Dr. Joseph Benatov Event Co-Sponsored by Temple Emanuel About the Event: Join us for a dynamic interactive trip through Bulgaria’s rich Jewish heritage. Our virtual tour will make stops in Sofia and Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s largest cities, and will take us inside the sumptuous Neo-Moorish Sofia synagogue. Other highlights along the way include the medieval capital, the g...

A hybrid event (in-person and virtual) by Dara Horn Presented in partnership with: Scottsdale Arts and Congregation Beth Israel  About The Event:  Is there any connection between recent antisemitic attacks and recent controversies about public Holocaust education? Actually, yes, and it’s built into a strange historic bargain struck between Jews and non-Jewish societies, including here in the Unite...

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz (President and Dean of Valley Beit Midrash) interviews Dara Horn. ------------------ Stay Connected with Valley Beit Midrash: • Website: https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org • Donate: https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/donate • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ValleyBeitMidrash • Become a Member: https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/become-a-member/ • Follow Rabbi Shmuly: ht...

A virtual event presentation by Jordan B. Gorfinkel Event Co-Sponsored by Rodef Shalom About The Event: An interview and discussion with Jordan B. Gorfinkel—Gorf—about Esther the Graphic Novel and the history of the original female superhero! About The Speaker: Jordan B. Gorfinkel—Gorf—is a veteran Batman Editor working in graphic novels, film, and TV (www.gorfy.com). He created the #1 bestselling...

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo Event Co-Sponsored by BMH BJ About The Event: This shiur (session) deals with the questions of whether the kelalot (curses) in the Torah are applicable to the Holocaust and the different shitot (theories) concerning the Holocaust. About The Speaker Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo is the Founder and Dean of the David Cardozo Academy and...

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Dr. Mira Neshama Weil Event Co-Sponsored by Rodef Shalom About The Event: At a time in winter where we’re invited to trust the silent work of nature under the earth before the explosion of spring, this session is an opportunity to revisit the idea of faith (emunah) in the Jewish tradition. Not just to check in with where we are at with our own emuna and relati...

A virtual event presentation by Deena Aranoff About The Event: In this class, we will participate in a close study of Torah texts that reveal maternal aspects of the divine. About The Speaker: Deena Aranoff is the Faculty Director of the Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish studies at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. She teaches rabbinic literature, medieval patterns of Jewish thought, and...

An in-person event by Rav Yehuda HaKohen About The Event: Learning to see the subtle stirrings of social & political change beneath the surface. A Tu B'shvat Seder. About The Speaker: Rav Yehuda HaKohen is an Israeli organizer & educator. As a leader in the Vision movement, he works to empower students to become thought leaders & active participants in the current chapter of Jewish his...

A hybrid event (in-person and virtual) by Rabbi David Kasher Event Co-Sponsored by BMH BJ About The Event:  The Israelites made it across the Red Sea just in time. As they touched shore on the other side, the miraculously parted waters came crashing back down and Pharaoh his army, chariots and all, drowned in the water. But wait, says the midrash. Pharoah somehow made it out alive! And you’ll neve...

A hybrid event (in-person and virtual) by Rabbi David Kasher Event Co-Sponsored by Beth El Phoenix About The Event: Rabbinic Judaism emerged like a phoenix out of the ashes of the destruction of the Great Temple in Jerusalem. The rabbis proposed that the new center of Jewish life could be located not in a building, but in a book. But in order to make such a bold move, they had to develop a dynamic...

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Aaron Cherniak Event Co-Hosted by Temple Chai About The Event: In recent decades, there has been a revival of scientific and clinical research into psychedelic drugs and their therapeutic potential. In this talk, I will review some emerging findings and offer some important context, which will provoke larger questions about psychological – and spiritual – heal...

A virtual event presentation by Professor Bjorn Krondorfer Event Co-Sponsored by Congregation Or Tzion About The Event: This talk will trace the lives of two women Holocaust survivors who both grew up in traditional Jewish families in Bedzin, Poland, and later became residents of Arizona: Jane Lipski (Tucson) and Doris Martin (Flagstaff). They managed to survive the Nazi onslaught as adolescent gi...

A virtual event presentation by Dr. Jonnie Schnytzer Event Co-Hosted by Hebrew Education Alliance About The Event: How did a prominent Moroccan rabbi depict a woman of valor in a sermon dedicated to his mother? What mystical revelation occurred at a vital moment within the walls of the Ba’al Shem Tov’s study hall? Who are the bride and groom in the divine wedding on the eve of Shavuot and are we i...

A panel discussion featured leaders from our local community. The panelists: Rabbi Pinchas Allouche, Rabbi Nitzan Stein Kokin, Richard Kasper, and Rabbi John Linder discussed the topic of “Can the Phoenix/Scottsdale Jewish Community be United: Looking at our Unity and Divisions.”  Moderated by Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz. ★ Support this podcast ★

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi David Wolpe Event Co-Sponsored By Temple Emanuel and BMH-BJ   About The Event: The search for happiness and meaning, lessons from ancient traditions and modern science.   About The Speaker: Named The Most Influential Rabbi in America by Newsweek and one of the 50 Most Influential Jews in the World by The Jerusalem Post, and twice named one of the 500 Most Infl...

Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz interviews Daniel Matt in his new book Becoming Elijah: Prophet of Transformation. Read and or purchase his book: https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Elijah-Prophet-Transformation-Jewish/dp/0300242700 ★ Support this podcast ★

About The Event: On January 6, 2021, Americans were shocked as thousands of self-proclaimed patriots stormed the Capitol, many carrying Confederate flags and wearing anti-Semitic sweatshirts. What the nation witnessed that cold winter afternoon was the continuation of a battle that goes back to 1945 when Americans began fighting a second Civil War over two distinct visions of the future—and have c...

A virtual event presentation by Dr. Malka Simkovich Event Co-Hosted by BMH BJ About the Event: In the Hellenistic era, Judean leaders in Jerusalem sent letters to Jews living in Egypt imploring them to observe the holidays of Chanukah and Purim. Why were these holidays important to these leaders, and why were they so focused on the practices of their Jewish kin in Egypt? This lecture will explore...

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller About the Event: This discussion constitutes a personal effort at articulating a meaningful notion of God that is spiritually fulfilling, intellectually uncompromising , and morally compelling. The search ranges across the Jewish tradition from the fundamentals of Biblical monotheism to Maimonides’ rationalism and onto Hasidic mysticism. T...

A virtual event presentation by Dr. Devorah Steinmetz Event Co-Sponsored by Rodef Shalom  About the Event: The Talmud tells a story about the first human being’s experience of the first winter, a story that echoes the story of Chanuka. We will consider the meanings that emerge from the interplay between these texts and that are embodied in our practice of lighting candles on Chanuka. About the Spe...

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Leon Morris Event Co-Hosted by Hebrew Education Alliance    About The Event: Many of us are drawn to Jewish texts and tradition, and at the same time bring commitments and perspectives that are part and parcel of who we are. How do we balance our own sense of truth with the inherited claims of Jewish tradition to which we are drawn? What is the place of “perso...

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz (President and Dean of Valley Beit Midrash) interviews Rabbi Danny Landes

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Dr. Andrea Weiss Event Co-Sponsored by Temple Emanuel  About The Event: The “American Values, Religious Voices: 100 Days, 100 Letters” campaign sent a letter a day to the President, Vice President, and Members of Congress for the first 100 days of the Trump administration in 2017 and the Biden administration in 2021. The letters were written by a multifaith gr...