Between Fast and Feast: Hindu and Jewish Perspectives on Restraint and Responsibility  

What does it mean to act responsibly when there is no guarantee of results? Jewish and Hindu traditions both turn to fasting as a practice of restraint and agency. Focusing on the Fast of Esther, alongside Hindu fasting traditions, this session explores how intentional self-restraint—held in tension with celebration—can shape ethical responses to the climate crisis.

Law, Agency, and Ecological Responsibility: A Catholic–Jewish Conversation Drawing on the Book of Esther 

What does it mean to act responsibly when power is uneven, harm is systemic, and silence can feel safer than action? Drawing on the Book of Esther, this Catholic–Jewish conversation reflects on moral agency, ecological responsibility, and the challenges of ethical decision-making within contemporary legal and institutional systems. 

The Gifts of Tu Bishvat: A Springtime Conversation

Feb 2, 2026

Seasons of Responsibility begins with Tu Bishvat. The session explored how Tu Bishvat’s meaning has evolved over time. We discussed the gifts of Tu Bishvat for this unique moment. And we’ll see Tu Bishvat not just as a single day, but as the beginning of a springtime season that leads to Purim, Pesach and Shavuot. 

Seasons of Responsibility: Interreligious Conversations on Environmental Justice and Repair

Winter-Spring 2026 Learning Series Across Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Hindu traditions, the early spring season is a shared period of reflection, renewal, and ethical clarity. While rooted in different stories and practices—from Tu BiShvat to Lent and Easter, from Ramadan to Holi and Passover—these holidays collectively invite communities to consider how human choices shape the […]

Revolutionizing Belonging: Disability Inclusion and the Future of Jewish Camp

Oct 27, 2025 By Abigail Uhrman | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Jewish summer camps are bright spots of innovation in disability inclusion—expanding access, investing in specialized staff, and reimagining what true belonging can look like. But the impact of these programs extends far beyond the individual camper with disabilities.

A Scholarly Revolution: Rewriting the Rules of Talmud Study

Dec 1, 2025 By Judith Hauptman | Public Event video | Video Lecture

In his many volumes of Talmud commentary, beginning with publication of the first in 1968, Professor David Weiss Halivni introduced a groundbreaking approach to Talmud study: distinguishing between the attributed teachings of the rabbis and the anonymous editorial layer that surrounds them. This interpretive revolution transformed the field, offering a powerful tool for understanding the development of rabbinic thought.

Possibility and Peril: Jews and the Russian Revolution

Nov 24, 2025 By David Fishman | Public Event video | Video Lecture

The Russian Revolution promised liberation and equality, but for Jews its legacy was far more complex. Dr. David Fishman examined the Jewish socialist movement known as the Bund, the revolutionary role of figures like Leon Trotsky, and Lenin’s complex position on the “Jewish question.” Through images and historical context, we’ll consider how the Revolution promised liberation even as it imposed new constraints, and how radical politics reshaped Jewish identity and community in the Soviet era.

Peshat: The Reinvention of Reading During the Twelfth Century Renaissance

Nov 10, 2025 By Robert Harris | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Dr. Robert Harris, Professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages, JTS

Beginning in the 9th century in the Arabic-speaking Sephardic world and continuing through the 12th century in northern France, Jewish scholars introduced a new approach to reading the Bible. Alongside the traditional Rabbinic midrashim that had guided Jewish understanding for generations, they began writing plain-sense commentaries known as peshat. Reading the Bible was never the same!