JTS in the Berkshires Summer 2025

Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz and Rabbi Gordon Tucker, PhD will teach in the Berkshires this summer. 

Join JTS scholars in Lenox, Massachusetts, for inspiring learning that illuminates the Jewish past and shapes the Jewish future. With Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz and Rabbi Gordon Tucker, PhD.  

Two Sessions  
Fridays, July 11 and August 8, 2025 
11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.   

Shakespeare & Company  
Elayne P. Bernstein Theater  
70 Kemble Street  
Lenox, Massachusetts  

Shabbat Scholar-in-Residence with Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz 
July 11–12, 2025 
Knesset Israel 
Pittsfield, MA 

Presented in partnership with Knesset Israel and in cooperation with the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires. Supported in part by a grant from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. 

Tickets: $25/one session or $40/both sessions   

Session I

Jews and American Politics: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly 

With Dr. Shuly Rubin Schwartz, Chancellor and Irving Lehrman Research Professor of American Jewish History, JTS 

Friday, July 11, 2025 

Jews have participated in American politics as voters since its inception—a source of pride and distinction. Jews have also been identified as a coveted voting bloc, important source of financial support, and a target of veiled antisemitic rhetoric. What can we learn from our history about Jews and American politics as we contemplate an uncertain future? 

Session II

Finding Truth (and God), Without a Doubt

With Rabbi Gordon Tucker, Vice Chancellor for Religious Life and Engagement, Assistant Professor of Jewish Philosophy, JTS

Friday, August 8, 2025

We will explore the many aspects of the quest for certainty in a world that is structured to make that goal elusive.  Our goal will be to understand the roles of doubt and certainty in our aspirations for a spiritual life of faith. 

Shabbat Scholar-in-Residence with Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz 

July 11–12, 2025

Knesset Israel 
16 Colt Rd.
Pittsfield, MA

Musical Friday Night Service and Community Shabbat Dinner followed by Learning Session

Understanding the Secret Sauce of 20th Century Conservative Judaism 

Friday, July 11, 2025
6:45–8:30 p.m. 

Conservative Judaism provided a captivating vision for a Judaism—traditional in orientation and embracing of evolutionary change—that captured the hearts and minds of so many twentieth-century American Jews. What made it so compelling—and what can we learn from this as we strive to meet the religious needs of North American Jews in the current moment? 

Shabbat Morning Sermon 

Shattering the Glass Ceiling: Women and the Reimagining of American Judaism 

Saturday, July 12, 2025

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the ordination of women in the Conservative movement 
How did the twentieth-century movement for women’s equality in Judaism end up serving as a catalyst for a reimagined Judaism in our own times? Together we will explore the ways in which new opportunities for American Jewish women paved the way for broader, creative changes in Jewish ritual, scholarship, and inclusion. 

Shabbat morning following kiddush lunch 

JTS and the Conservative Movement

Q&A with Chancellor Schwartz, moderated by Rabbi Weiner 

Questions: Contact Tani Schwartz-Herman at 212-678-8996 or tanischwartz@jtsa.edu or Pam Wax at RabbiPWax@knessetisrael.org 

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