Adult Bet Midrash

Shabbat Morning with the Rabbis

Weekly Adult Classes will be offered 9:00 - 10:00am every Shabbat morning throughout the school year.

Rabbi Ariann
1st Shabbat of the Month

Constructive Conflict
Jewish texts are replete with conflict - some handled constructively, and some handled much less constructively. Through text study, contemporary case studies, and the tools for argument championed by Jewish tradition, we will build learning and skills needed to engage in  makhloket l'shem shamayim - arguments for the sake of heaven.

Rabbi Elliott
2nd Shabbat of the Month

Making Prayer Happen: Learning to Pray all levels!
This class is for anyone who would like to develop a more regular prayer practice and/or experience prayer more deeply during services. We will uncover the structures of our Jewish liturgy, explore specific techniques for enlivening prayer and introduce a wide variety of prayer
practices.

Adventures in Prayer (Coming soon. . . Days and Times TBD)
This class is designed for the spiritually adventurous. Together we will explore a wide landscape of prayer and meditation practices. Some of these practices will require taking a deeper dive into Jewish tradition and prayer, others will stretch the boundaries of current Jewish practice. This is a cohort and participants are asked to commit to eight classes over the course of eightmonths. Participant will also be assigned a hevruta – study partners to meet, review and practice with between classes.

Exploring & Studying Antisemitism

Antisemitism in Academia
Monday, April 8th at 7:00pm

Those of us in universities are struggling with the surge of antisemitism in particular ways, and we can help support each other. We invite BK members working in academia to join us in the sanctuary to share stories and brainstorm solutions.
Reach out to Talia Schaffer for more information

Antisemitism Study Group
Monday, April 29th at 6:00pm
In-person at BK (Zoom available for those who cannot attend in person.)
Additional dates to be announced. 

BK’s communal need to study antisemitism continues. We will meet Mondays in the spring, with additional dates to be announced. Please sign up below if you plan to attend. 
We encourage in-person attendance, as this  conversation is important to have in person, but if someone is unable to come to BK we offer this Zoom option: Antisemitism Study Group Zoom Link Passcode: 648826

Reach out to Marty Fellner, Jessica Brater, or Jeremy Ershow with any questions.

Readings from April 15th session:  Antisemitism and The Logic of Whiteness and the response The Baggage of Whiteness 

Understanding & Dismantling the Machinery of Antisemitism
Three Saturdays at 9:00am
In person at BK and on Zoom 

Understanding how different technologies of antisemitism work, what and who fuels them, who creates and benefits from them, allows us to dismantle them. Over a series of classes and divrey Torah Rabbi Elliott will be exploring definitions and the history of antisemitism. We will also explore how it is functioning and being used on the Left, Right and in between.

In this three-part class we will be studying and comparing different contemporary definitions of antisemitism.

Part 1: Definitions - February 10, 2024

Readings: The Jerusalem Declaration On Antisemitism

T’ruah: A Very Brief Guide to Antisemitism

International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Definition

Antisemitism: A Guide To The Perplexed

Part 2: Antisemitism & Israel - March 23, 2024

Reading: Skin In The Game. How Antisemitism Animates White Nationalism by Eric Ward

Part 3: Antisemitism: Power, Nationalism, Racism and Whiteness - March 30, 2024

Readings: “Contemporary Antisemitism” by David Hirsch Chpt. 4. The Routledge History of Antisemitism, Ed. by Mark Weitzman, Roberj. Williams and James Wald. 

Eve Garrard, The pleasures of antisemitism

“The New Antisemitism”, Time Magazine
February 27, 2024, by Noah Feldman

How to Tell When Criticism of Israel is Actually Anti-Semitism
by Rabbi Jill Jacobs

Cultivating Anti-Racism

Shabbat Adult Bet Midrash
Periodic Saturdays at 9:00am

Anti-Racism Deep Dive
Sunday, February 25, 2024 10:00am – 2:30pm
The Cultivating Anti-Racism Committee invites BK members to an important day of deep learning-for-action. We'll practice active, open listening; hear feedback about people's experiences at BK specifically; and use a Jewish lens to reflect on openness, boundaries, inclusion, and belonging. Open to all congregants but especially recommended for leaders. Register here.

Representations of Reparations
Saturday, March 2nd at 9:00am
Join the Cultivating Anti-Racism adult bet midrash class to look at different ways that atrocities of the past have been memorialized. We’ll discuss how these memorials contribute to reparations. This is part of our year-long series, but you don't need to have attended others to participate.

Mixed Multitude: Escaping the Narrowness of Dominant Culture
Saturday, April 20th at 9:00am
In our fourth and final adult bet midrash class of 5784, the Cultivating Anti-Racism group will lead a discussion on what it would like for Bnai Keshet to be an anti-racist congregation. Please come if you are curious, skeptical, passionate, or anything else. We need every voice. 

Contact  Noémi Giszpenc for more information.

Mourning in and around Jewish
Reconstructionist Communities Survey
with C. Lynn Carr

Shiva - January 20, 2024 at 9:00am
To contextualize an ethnographic project in which I focused on Jewish identification and practice (especially where mourning was concerned), in a single community affiliated with Reconstructing Judaism (RJ), I designed the Mourning in and around Jewish Reconstructionist Communities Survey (MJRCS).The survey asked participants who were associated with Jewish Reconstructionist communities about their experiences with Jewish mourning practices. We'll look at the initial quantitative results and explore our own experiences engaging with, and thoughts about the shiva.

The Mourner's Kaddish - February 24, 2024 at 9:00am
To contextualize an ethnographic project in which I focused on Jewish identification and practice (especially where mourning was concerned), in a single community affiliated with Reconstructing Judaism (RJ), I designed the Mourning in and around Jewish Reconstructionist Communities Survey (MJRCS).The survey asked participants who were associated with Jewish Reconstructionist communities about their experiences with Jewish mourning practices. We'll look at the initial quantitative results and explore our own experiences engaging with, and thoughts about the mourner's kaddish.

Doing Jewish Workshops
With Rabbi Ariann

Develop the skills to fully participate in Jewish ritual whether at home or in synagogue. Join us for three half-hour Doing Jewish workshops this year at 12:15pm after sercivces. We will cover:

• Hagbah (Raising the Torah) - December 9, 2023
  This workshops is ONLY for women and non-binary Jews. We will learn how to safely lift the Torah after the Torah reading, including tricks for those of us on the shorter side.
• Havdalah - January 6, 2024 How to lead the havdalah ritual whether at home or in community
• Birkat Hamazon - February 24, 2024 How to lead blessings after the meal at home or in community, including variations to shorten these blessings.

Talmud Class 
In person at BK and Zoom every Saturday and Sunday at 9:00am
Zoom only every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:00pm

Dip your feet into the Talmud, the 2000-year-old discussion of Jewish Law that is studied daily in Yeshivos around the world. This year, our group is learning  Berakhot, laws of prayer.

No prior Talmudic experience needed. We can help you jump right into the 2000-year-old conversation. Come to many or as few sessions as you want. All are welcome no matter how often or how frequently they come.

Contact Marty Fellner, Zach Lipner or Jordan Sklar with questions.

Women's Rosh Hodesh Group

The Rosh Hodesh group at Bnai Keshet is an open, warm, social and friendly group for all women in the community. The group meets in the evening closest to the new moon to celebrate the coming month, exploring the spirituality of the month by discussing the upcoming holidays and the theme of the month. Together the group chants, sits quietly, sometimes engages in some easy stretching or even dancing and then an exercise centered on the theme of the month, leaving the participants with words, thoughts, and intentions for the month to come.
Contact Mindy Rosenthal for more info.

Lunch and Learn
Third Wednesday of the month at 12:00pm
In person at BK, also via Zoom.

Characters in the Midrashic Imagination
This year, we will explore several "biblical" characters who either appear exclusively in midrash (rabbinic stories) or whose existence is mostly fleshed out in the midrash. Characters we will be studying include: Lilith, Naamah (wife of Noah), Batya (daughter of Pharoah), Serach bat Asher (a granddaughter of Jacob), and more.

Bring your own dairy or vegetarian lunch.