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 Tikvah Fund is offering a 13-episode podcast “Building the Impossible Dream: The History of Zionism” with Shalem College’s Dr. Daniel Polisar. He looks at the modern history of Zionism from “Napoleon’s flirtations with Zionism to Herzl’s tireless Zionist advocacy to Menachem Begin’s peacemaking.” For more information, click here.

The Hey Alma website will host the hybrid Shavuot Comedy Show “Get Cheesy, Bitch: A Shavuot Comedy Show” on Wednesday, May 24, at 9:30 pm. The show will be hosted by Hey Alma’s Evelyn Frick and feature stand-up comedy by Alison Leiby (“Oh God, a Show About Abortion”), Josh Gondelman (“Last Week Tonight”), Max Gross (The Onion) and Freddie Shanel (Reductress). For more information or to register, click here.

The Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy will hold the virtual program “Mazel: Yiddish classics reimagined by an unlikely trio!” on Tuesday, May 23, from 7-8:30 pm. There is a sliding scale price for tickets. The program will feature Cantor Daniel Kramer, pianist John Di Martino and The Manhattan Transfer’s Janis Siegel. For more information or to register, click here.

The Jewish Federation’s Delaware County Kehillah will hold the hybrid program “Building a New Home in Our Minds: Embracing the Entire Family Through Gender Transition” on Sunday, June 4, at 5 pm. It will be led by Kohenet Dr. Harriette E. Wimms, a clinical psychologist and contract trainer for Keshet, an organization that works for LGTBQIA+ equality in Jewish life. The program is “an interactive workshop that will give participants a roadmap to support gender diverse and transgender youth.” For more information or to register, click here.

The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion will hold the lecture “Religion and Reproductive Rights: Judaism’s Voice in the Public Square” on Tuesday, May 30, at 2 pm. Nancy Northup, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, will be in conversation with Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D., president of HUC-JIR. For more information or to register, click here.

Keeping It Sacred will offer “Torah for Our Times: Ancient Texts & Modern Perspectives” with Rabbi Emma Gottlieb. The class will begin on Thursday, June 1, at 12:30 pm, and continue on Thursday through August. For more information or to register, click here.

The Biblical Archaeology Society will hold its hybrid Summer Seminar 2023 on "The Beginnings of Ancient Israel" from July 16-22. Ralph Hawkins of Averett University and Jillian Ross of Liberty University explore the Books of Joshua and Judges and examine recent archaeological and textual evidence in order to provide new perspectives on ancient Israel.

Keeping It Sacred will offer “Duties of the Heart” on Monday, June 12, at noon, and continue weekly throughout the summer every Monday. People can attend as many or as few classes as they like. The class will discuss Rabbi Bachya Ibn Pakuda’s work “Duties of the Heart,” an 11th century text whose translation can be found free on Sefaria.org. For more information or to register, click here.

The UJA Federation New York will hold the virtual program “A Conversation With New York Times Correspondent Isabel Kershner” on Tuesday, May 23, at 6 pm. Isabel Kershner will talk about her new book, “The Land of Hope and Fear: Israel’s Battle for Its Inner Soul,” with award-winning journalist Sandee Brawarsky. For more information or to register, click here.

MyJewishLearning.com will hold the virtual program “Imagery in Persian Jewish Poetry” on Wednesday, May 24, at 1 pm. Alan Niku will discuss the celebration of Shavuot, known to some Persian Jews as Moed E Gol, the Festival of the Roses, and talk about Persian Jewish poetry that incorporates rose imagery. For more information or to register, click here.

Maven will hold the virtual program “Netflix’s Jewish Matchmaking Series” with Aleeza Ben Shalom on Tuesday, May 30, from 3-3:45 pm. Alyssa Silva will be in conversation with Ben Shalom to look at the experiences and traditions of Jewish singles from across the U.S. and Israel. For more information or to register, click here.

MAZON will hold a virtual tour of its online Hunger Museum on Thursday, May 25, at 2 pm. The Hunger Museum, hungermuseum.org, tells the fascinating story of the last 100-plus years of hunger and anti-hunger public policy in the United States. To register for the event, click here.

Melton will hold the virtual class “The Bard & the Bible: Comparing Shakespeare to the Torah” on Thursday, June 8, from 2-3 pm. The cost to attend is $18. The class will compare the Torah and William Shakespeare’s writing styles, and look at the tools needed for analyzing rhetoric, before applying that framework to the Bard and the Bible. For more information or to register, click here.

Ritualwell will hold the virtual class “Tongues Shaped Like Harps: Experimenting with Poetry and Visual Art” on Tuesdays, June 6-27, from noon-1:30 pm. The cost to attend is $180. The class will study a variety of artist and writers, and offer ways to “deepen our writing through simple exercises in drawing, watercolor painting, and collage.” For more information or to register, click here.

The Yiddish Book Center will hold several virtual events: the radio drama “On the Road to Zion” on Sunday, May 21, from 7-9 pm (available here); the talk “There and Back Again: Jacob Glatstein’s Voyage Home, with Ezra Glinter” on Thursday, June 1, from 7-8 pm (available here); and the talk “Women in Exile: What Yenta Mash Can Tell Us” with Ellen Cassedy on Thursday, June 15, from 7-8 pm (available here). 

Qesher will hold the virtual talks “Travel to Spain: Sephardic Jewish Heritage Tour” on Thursday, June 8, at 3 pm. The talk will explore the Jewish history of Spain and present information about the upcoming “Sephardic Jewish Heritage Tour to Spain” on October 18-26, 2023 (with an optional extension to Barcelona). For more information or to register, click here.

Maven will hold several programs in June and July. The cost for each program is $21. They include “Tour Global Jewish Life: Egypt” on Thursday, June 8, from 3-4 pm (available here); “Jewish Languages Today: Endangered, Surviving, and Thriving” on Thursday, June 29, from 3-4 pm (available here); “Tour Jewish Museums: The Sassoon Saga Exhibition” on Thursday, July 6, from 3-4 pm (available here); and “Tour Global Jewish Life: Argentina” on Tuesday, July 18, from 3-4 pm (available here).

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and the Blue Dove Foundation has new digital resources that can be found here. It also has resources for Shavuot, which can be found here.

GenAleph – an initiative of the Department of Community Projects and Partnerships, a department of the Orthodox Union – has launched a podcast called “Child Safety.” It offers experts in several fields to help people ensure the safety of their children. For more information or to listen to the podcasts, click here.

The Jewish Grandparents Network will hold “The Joys and Oys of Multifaith Families: How Grandparents Can Find the Blessings and Navigate the Challenges” on Tuesday, June 6, at 7-8 pm. Dr. Ruth Nemzoff will offer a view of the ways multiple faiths can enrich family life and how to address the challenges. For more information or to register, click here.

Maven will hold “Embracing Our Jewish LGBTQ+ Community” for Pride Month on Wednesday, June 7, from 3-3:45 pm. Founder and CEO of JQ International Asher Gellis will discuss his personal journey and inform listeners of “the steps and actions necessary to be inclusive and embracing as allies and fellow community members.” For more information, click here.

Maven will commemorate the seventh anniversary of Elie Wiesel’s death with the program “Elie Wiesel: Confronting the Silence” on Thursday, June 15, from 3-3:45 pm. Joseph Berger and Michael Berenbaum will explore Wiesel’s life from his childhood in Europe through his years as a spokesman for Holocaust survivors. For more information or to register, click here.

Melton will hold the virtual talk “Meir Shalev z”l: Magical Storytelling at Its Best” on Monday, June 5, from 1-2 pm. Israeli literature expert Aviva Laskov will explore of the works of this master storyteller. For more information or to register, click here.

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