Back to the Future: Jewish Perspectives on What Comes Next
Back to the Future: Jewish Perspectives on What Comes Next
Fall 2026 Learning Series
Mondays, October 26–December 21, 2026
Online
1:00–2:10 p.m. ET
Preoccupation with what comes next, especially in periods of uncertainty, is hardly a new phenomenon. Looking ahead—to what might change, what might endure, and what might be possible—runs throughout Jewish text and tradition.
In this series, JTS scholars and alumni look backward and forward, exploring how Jews across centuries have imagined what comes next, prepared for the unknown, and established what they hoped would endure. From biblical visions and rabbinic ideas about the world to come to preservation, artificial intelligence, and the future of Jewish life, we’ll ask not only what the future might hold, but how we can help shape it.
Session Topics and Faculty
October 26, 2026
The Future of Torah: Jewish Learning in the Age of AI
With Rabbi Dr. Zohar Atkins, JTS alum, scholar, writer, and founder of Lightning
November 2, 2026
A New Heaven and a New Earth: How the Bible Cultivates Hope for the Future
With Dr. Amy Kalmanofsky, Dean, List College and Kekst Graduate School; Blanche and Romie Shapiro Professor, Bible, JTS
November 9, 2026
Rabbinic Futures, Short and Long Term
With Dr. David Kraemer, Gerson D. Cohen Chair in Talmud and Rabbinic Culture; Librarian Emeritus of The JTS Library, JTS
November 16, 2026
Session to Be Announced
November 23, 2026
Anticipatory Memory: Remembering the Future
With Rabbi Gordon Tucker, Vice Chancellor of Religious Life, JTS
November 30, 2026
The End of Days: Eschatology and the Rabbinic Imagination
With Jenny Labendz, Writer and Scholar of Classical Rabbinic Literature
December 7, 2026
The Bikur Cholim Shul in Slovakia: Preparing for the Future
With Dr. Marjorie Lehman, Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, JTS
December 14, 2026
Preserving the Past in Service of the Future: A History of The JTS Library
Dr. Yitz Landes, Assistant Professor of Rabbinic Literatures and Cultures, JTS
December 21, 2026
What Comes Next? Jewish Life and the Future We Are Building
With Rabbi Mike Uram, Chancellor, JTS
If you have previously registered for another session in this series, your registration admits you to all sessions in the series, and you may attend as many as you’d like.
