A New Heaven and a New Earth: How the Bible Cultivates Hope for the Future
Date: Nov 02, 2026
Time: 1:00 pm - 2:10 pm
Location: Online
Category: Back to the Future: Jewish Perspectives on What Comes Next Online Learning
A New Heaven and a New Earth: How the Bible Cultivates Hope for the Future
Part of Our Fall 2026 Learning Series, Back to the Future: Jewish Perspectives on What Comes Next
November 2, 2026
Online
1:00–2:10 p.m. ET
With Dr. Amy Kalmanofsky, Dean, List College and Kekst Graduate School; Blanche and Romie Shapiro Professor, Bible, JTS
It is difficult to have hope in today’s present-focused and crisis-driven society. Yet, hope is essential to envisioning a future. This session examines several passages in the Bible designed to cultivate hope and considers whether the Bible can be a resource for the cultivation of hope today.
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.
About the Speaker
Dr. Amy Kalmanofsky is the Blanche and Romie Shapiro Professor of Bible, is dean of Albert A. List College of Jewish Studies, JTS’s undergraduate school, and dean of the Gershon Kekst Graduate School. This session is connected with a book that she is working on.
About the Series
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.
