Jewish Ideas to Change the World

Professor Eitan Fishbane, associate professor of Jewish thought at the Jewish Theological Seminary (www.eitanfishbane.com/), presents his lecture "Is the Human Being Divine? Soul and Body in Jewish Mystical Thought" before an audience at Temple Solel (www.templesolel.org/) in Paradise Valley, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Influential kabbalists argued that the soul is the essence of a person and that th...

Professor Eitan Fishbane, associate professor of Jewish thought at the Jewish Theological Seminary (https://www.eitanfishbane.com/), presents his lecture "Existentialist Messianism" before an audience at Temple Chai (www.templechai.com/) in Phoenix, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Divine sparks beneath the surface of the mundane. Nature as a window onto the divine mystery. Wilderness as the audible song o...

Rabbi Elyse Goldstein, the founding rabbi of City Shul in Toronto ( www.cityshul.com, presents her Valley Beit Midrash lecture "Women are from Genesis, Men are from Leviticus! Does Gender Read the Bible?" before an audience at Congregation Beth Israel (cbiaz.org/) in Scottsdale, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: In theory, gender is fluid. Even so, for many people, the gender they grew up identifying with c...

Rosh Kehila of The Kehilah in Riverdale, NY, presents her lecture, "Withholding/Withdrawing Treatment of the Terminally Ill" before an audience at Temple Kol Ami (www.templekolami.org/) in Scottsdale, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Pikuach Nefesh (saving a life), as well as kavod haBriyot (human dignity), are central principles in Jewish law. With 20th-21st century medical advancements, the possibility o...

Rosh Kehila of The Kehilah in Riverdale, NY, presents her lecture, "Human Cloning and Embryo Research: The Ethical and Jewish Legal Implications" for the Jewish Community Foundation (www.jcfphoenix.org/) ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Within the last few decades, medical technological developments have changed the landscape for what is possible for medical treatments. The theoretical bioethical and halakhic...

Professor Joshua Shanes of the College of Charleston (cofc.edu/) presents his Valley Beit Midrash lecture "Searching for Authenticity: The (re)birth of Jewish Denominations in 19th-century Europe" before an audience at Congregation Or Tzion (www.congregationortzion.org) in Scottsdale, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Since the canonization of the Talmud, Jews lived in autonomous communities that clearly de...

Professor Joshua Shanes of the College of Charleston (http://cofc.edu/) presents his Valley Beit Midrash lecture "The Galitsyaners: (Re)discovering Jewish Galicia" before an audience at Congregation Beth Israel (cbiaz.org/) in Scottsdale, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Negative references to the Galitsianer as cunning, unlearned, coarse, or a religious fanatic are still heard in the early twenty-first ce...

Rabbi Dr. Ariel Burger (https://arielburger.com/) presents his Valley Beit Midrash lecture "The Life and Legacy of Elie Wiesel: A Student’s Perspective" before an audience at the Jewish Worship Group in Surprise, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Elie Wiesel, who passed away July 2, 2016, was a Holocaust witness, human rights activist, author, and confidant of presidents and prime ministers. He was also a t...

Rabbi Dr. Ariel Burger presents his Valley Beit Midrash lecture "Rebbe Nachman on Joy and Suffering" before an audience at Temple Chai (www.templechai.com/) in Phoenix, AZ. ABOUT THE LECTURE: We all encounter suffering — our own and that of loved ones, colleagues, and strangers. We want to support people and find meaning, both in moments of great joy and deep suffering. We will explore seminal wri...

Professor Elias Sacks, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder presents his lecture, "Does Christianity Matter for Judaism — and Vice Versa?" before an audience at Temple Kol Ami (www.templekolami.org/) in Scottsdale, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: What can Christians learn from Judaism, and what can Jews learn from Christianity? What do we have to gain from inter-r...

Professor Elias Sacks, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder presents his lecture, "Can Jews Be Citizens? Jewish Politics from the Enlightenment to Today" for the Jewish Community Foundation (www.jcfphoenix.org/) ABOUT THIS LECTURE: What should modern Jewish politics look like? To what extent should Jews seek to promote the well-being of the diverse societi...

Rabbi Ed Feinstein, senior rabbi of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California (https://www.vbs.org/worship/meet-our-clergy/rabbi-ed-feinstein), presents the 2019 Hammerman Family Lecture, "The Search for the Sacred: The Jewish Debate with Modernity" before an audience at Congregation Or Tzion (www.congregationortzion.org) in Scottsdale, AZ. DONATE: bit.ly/1NmpbsP LEARNING MATERIALS: https://bit.ly/...

Professor Barry Scott Wimpfheimer, associate professor of religion and law at Northwestern University, presents his lecture "The Talmud: A Biography" before an audience at Temple Solel (www.templesolel.org/) in Paradise Valley, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: The Babylonian Talmud, a postbiblical Jewish text that is part scripture and part commentary, is an unlikely bestseller. Written in a hybrid of Hebr...

Professor Barry Scott Wimpfheimer, associate professor of religion and law at Northwestern University, presents his lecture "Charity in the Talmud: Religious Feelings and Macroeconomics" before an audience at Temple Kol Ami (www.templekolami.org/) in Scottsdale, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: The Talmud expresses its values and commitments through law and legal institutions. But legal rules and bureaucra...

Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, Ph. D., founding rabbi of Congregation Nevei Kodesh in Boulder, Colorado (www.neveikodesh.org/) presents her Valley Beit Midrash lecture "Lighting the Way in a Dark World: The Tzaddik & The Bodhisattva" before an audience at Temple Chai (www.templechai.com/) in Phoenix, AZ. ABOUT THE LECTURE: We will compare texts and practices of two ancient traditions—Judaism and Tibe...

Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, Ph. D., founding rabbi of Congregation Nevei Kodesh in Boulder, Colorado (https://www.neveikodesh.org/) presents her Valley Beit Midrash lecture "She Who Dwells Within: Shechinah, the Feminine Face of Gd in Torah, Mysticism, and Our World" before an audience at Beth Emeth Congregation of the West Valley (bethemethaz.org/) in Sun City West, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Join us fo...

Manny Waks (http://www.mannywaks.com/) presents his lecture "Who Gave You Permission? The Memoir of a Child Sexual-Abuse Survivor Who Fought Back" before an audience at Temple Chai (www.templechai.com/) in Phoenix, AZ. ABOUT THE LECTURE: Manny Waks was raised in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish family, the second oldest of 17 children. As an adolescent he was sexually abused at the religious school across...

Rabbi Ira F. Stone, Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel (www.phillymussar.org/stone.html)presents his lecture "The Greatest Jewish Philosopher That Nobody’s Heard Of: A Meeting with Emmanuel Levinas," before a roundtable audience at Congregation Or Tzion (www.congregationortzion.org) in Scottsdale, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Although widely known in the world of contemporary secular philos...

Rabbi Ira F. Stone, Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel (http://www.phillymussar.org/stone.html)presents his lecture "Messillat Yesharim Reading Classical Texts with a Contemporary Philosophic Lens," before a roundtable audience at Temple Chai (www.templechai.com/) in Phoenix, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: The most difficult task in reading classical texts is that of translation. Not from one...

Rabbi Dr. David Z. Moster, Director of the Institute of Biblical Culture(http://www. BiblicalCulture.org) presents his Valley Beit Midrash (www.valleybeitmidrash.org) lecture "Etrog: How a Chinese Fruit Became a Jewish Symbol" before an audience at Temple Kol Ami (www.templekolami.org/) in Scottsdale, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Every year before the holiday of Sukkot, Jews all around the world purcha...

Professor Samuel Fleischacker, the LAS Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University of Illinois-Chicago, presents his lecture "Existentialist Messianism" before an audience at Temple Solel (www.templesolel.org/) in Paradise Valley, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Maimonides says in his Commentary on the Mishnah and his Mishneh Torah that Moses wrote every word of the Torah at the dictation of God. Bu...

Professor Samuel Fleischacker, the LAS Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University of Illinois-Chicago, presents his lecture "Existentialist Messianism" before a roundtable audience at Temple Chai (www.templechai.com/) in Phoenix, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Martin Buber ended a 1909 lecture he gave in Prague with a parable suggesting that each of us is responsible for bringing the Messiah. Some...

Ilana Kaufman, Director of Jews of Color Field Building Initiative, presents her Valley Beit Midrash (www.valleybeitmidrash.org) lecture " A Community of ‘Others’: Jews, Peoplehood, and Justice" before an audience at Temple Solel (www.templesolel.org/) in Paradise Valley, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Together we will explore the multi-layered complexities of social identities and what it means for Jewi...

Ilana Kaufman, Director of Jews of Color Field Building Initiative presents her Valley Beit Midrash (www.valleybeitmidrash.org) lecture " Jewish Identity and Justice" before an audience at Temple Kol Ami (www.templekolami.org/) in Scottsdale, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Rooted in the week’s Parsha, we will explore the text through lenses of Jewish Identity, Community and Justice. DONATE: bit.ly/1Nmpbs...

Professor Paul Mendes-Flohr, Professor Emeritus of Modern Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is currently the Dorothy Grant Mclear Professor of Jewish Intellectual History at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, presents his lecture "Martin Buber’s Philosophy of Dialogue" before a roundtable audience at Congregation Or Tzion (www.congregationortzion.org) in Scott...