By Reporter staff

A variety of Jewish groups are offering educational and recreational online resources. Below is a sampling of those. The Reporter will publish additional listings as they become available. 

The Jewish Theological Seminary will hold the virtual class “Biblical Hebrew Advanced Seminar: The Book of Ruth” on Wednesdays, October 19-December 21, except for November 23, from 1-2:30 pm, with Dr. David Zev Moster. Those attending need to have or thorough grasp of biblical Hebrew nouns, prefixes, suffixes and verbal stems since the Book of Ruth will be read in its original Hebrew. The cost to attend is $315. For more information or to register, click here.

The Jewish Theological Seminary will hold the virtual class “The Paradox of Ukrainian Jewish History” on Tuesdays, October 25-December 20, from 7:30-8:45 pm, with Dr. David Fishman. This course will examine the paradox of Ukrainian Jewish history, culminating in the election of its first Jewish president in 2019. The cost to attend is $270. For more information or to register, click here.

Or HaLev, in partnership with Pardes North America, will hold the virtual course “Longing, Loneliness and Love” with Yael Shy on Thursdays, from October 20-December 1, except for November 24, from 12:30-1:30 pm. There is a sliding scale payment for the course. The course seeks “to harness heartache as a tool for spiritual transformation.” For more information or to register, click here.

The Institute for Jewish Spirituality will hold a variety of virtual courses this fall, including “Torah Study for the Soul: The Hasidic Classic, Degel Machaneh Efrayim”; “Awareness in Action II: Continued Practice in Mindfulness and Middot”; “Shema: The Practice of Sacred Listening”; and “Awareness in Action: Cultivating Character through Mindfulness and Middot.” To view more courses or to register, click here.

The Institute for Jewish Spirituality and Or HaLev will hold a virtual class “Yesod: Foundations for Deeping Jewish Mindful Meditation,” a 10-month program, which will begin in January 2023. According to the website, the program will offer “anyone with an established meditation practice a new, systematic, stage-by-stage approach to deepen your mindfulness meditation skills within an authentic Jewish spiritual framework.” For more information or to register, click here.

Living Smarter Jewish call itself “the all-in-one financial resource for Orthodox Jewish families.” The site, which is a non-profit, was launched with the support of the Orthodox Union. It offers a variety of podcasts and blogs about finances from a Jewish point-of-view.

Sefaria, a website that offers free access to Jewish texts, translations, and commentaries, now had made available an English translation an English translation of “Mishneh Torah” by Rambam. The translation includes links to the Bible, Talmud and more. The translation can be found here.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage will hold the virtual and in-person event “The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million” with Daniel Mendelsohn and Francine Prose on Thursday, October 13, from 7-8:30 pm. Mendelsohn’s book “The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million” had been updated with new material and is being issued. The author and Prose will discuss the history of his family. For more information or to register, click here.

LUNAR: The Jewish-Asian Film Project seeks to “cultivates connection, belonging and visibility for Asian American Jews through authentic multimedia storytelling and intersectional community programming.” To view the videos, click here.

Maven will hold the virtual class “A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities” on Thursday, October 20, from 3-3:45 pm. Emily Tamkin, author of “Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities,” will speak about the last 100 years of American Jewish politics, culture, identities and arguments. For more information or to register, click here.

Qesher will hold virtual tours in October and November, including “From Nowogrodek to New York City and Beyond: The Music and History of Klezmer” on Thursday, October 13, at 3 pm; “Gleams and shadows of Jewish life in France” on Thursday, October 20, at 3 pm; “‘Streets of Kazimierz’: The History of Krakow’s Jewish Quarter” on Sunday, October 23, at 3 pm; “The Beauty and Magic of Yiddish” on Thursday, October 27, at 3 pm; “Salonica and Sarajevo: Balkan Sephardi Metropolises” on Sunday, October 30, at 3 pm; “The Jews of Galicia (Western Ukraine): A Virtual Tour of Lviv and Brody” on Thursday, November 3, at 3 pm; “Iraqi Kurdistan: A Land of Jewish Heritage, and Potential Reconciliation” on Sunday, November 6, at 3 pm; and “Music among the Crypto-Jews of Portugal: An almost vanished world” on Thursday, November 10, at 3 pm. For more information or to register, visit click here.

Hadassah Magazine will hold two book related events. One Book, One Hadassah: “Shanda” will take place on Thursday, October 20, at 7 pm. Letty Cottin Pogrebin, one of the founding editors of Ms. Magazine, will talk about her new memoir “Shanda: A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy” (available here). A “Magazine Discussion: Michael Twitty,” with Adeena Sussman will take place on Thursday, November 3, at 6 pm. Twitty is the author of “Koshersoul: The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew” (available here). Both events are free and open to the public. They will feature closed captioning. 

Siegal Lifelong Learning will hold “Kristallnacht: Visual Responses” on Thursday, November 10, from 7-8:30 pm. The talk will look at examples of artwork by European and American artists, Jews and non-Jews. The non-member cost is $5. For more information or to register, click here.

Siegal Lifelong Learning will hold “How to get a Head in Ancient Israel: Exploring the Book of Judith” on Wednesday, December 14, from 7-8:30 pm. The non-member cost is $5. Caryn Tamber-Rosenau, an instructional associate professor of Jewish Studies at University of Houston, will discuss the ancient Book of Judith. For more information or to register, click here.

Aleph, Alliance for Jewish Renewal, will hold a virtual Sukkah Hop on Thursday, October 13, at 7 pm. There is a sliding scale of donation available. There will be “multiple sukkot around the globe” and Renewal leaders will tell stories and sing. For more information and to register, click here.

The Institute for Jewish Spirituality announced its course for fall 2022, including “Torah Study for the Soul: The Hasidic Classic, Degel Machaneh Efrayim (Banner of Ephraim’s Camp)”; “The Silent Center of Things”; “Shema: The Practice of Sacred Listening”; and more. For additional information or to register, click here.

The Center for Jewish History will hold the virtual talk “The Sassoons: The Great Global Merchants and the Making of an Empire,” featuring author Joseph Sassoon, on Thursday, October 20, at 6 pm. Sassoon, professor of history and political economy at Georgetown University, will be in conversation with Lauren Gilbert, senior manager for public services at the Center for Jewish History, about “the gilded Baghdadi Sassoons, one of the richest families in the world for over two centuries, [who] built a vast empire through global finance and trade – cotton, opium, shipping – that reached across three continents.” For more information or to register, click here.

Maven will hold two beginning courses to teach Hebrew phrases. No previous experience is necessary. “Essential Travel Phrases for Your Trip to Israel” will take place from Mondays, October 24-December 12, from noon-2 pm. The cost to attend is $292. For more information or to register, visit https://maven.aju.edu/events-classes/program/essential-travel-phrases-for-your-trip-to-israel. “Jewish Blessings and Prayers for Every Occasion” will be held Wednesday, November 2-30, from 10 pm-midnight. The cost to attend is $146. For more information or to register, click here. 

Aleph, the Alliance for Jewish Renewal will hold the virtual class “Exploring the Parables of Jesus” on Wednesdays, October 12-November 16, at 7:30 pm, with Rabbi Deb Smith and Sister Eleanor Francis. Each session may be taken separately; there is cost of $18 per session. The course will explore four parables from both a Jewish and a Christian perspective, focusing on their historical, political, religious and literary contexts. For more information or to register, click here.

For additional resources, see previous issues of The Reporter or our other Jewish Online Resources here.