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 Center for Jewish Ethics at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College offers the website Race, Religion & American Judaism. According to the website, “the project’s goal is to produce cross-disciplinary research, public scholarship, and curricula that will advance scholarly and public understanding of race, religion, Jewishness, racism, and antisemitism; multiracial, multicultural heritage of the Jewish people; [and] how to challenge racism effectively and in keeping with Jewish ethical ideas.”

The Center for Jewish History will hold the hybrid lecture “Horace M. Kallen’s Frontiers of Hope (1929): A journey to Palestine and Eastern Europe between the world wars” on Thursday, May 11, at 6:30 pm. Esther Schor, National Endowment for the Humanities scholar-in-residence 2022-23, will explore Kallen’s contributions to American multiculturalism, chief among them, the concept of “cultural pluralism.” For more information or to register, click here.

Uri L’Tzedek, Orthodox Social Justice, will hold the virtual program “Jews and Humanity: Evolution of a Conversation with Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein” on Monday, May 15, at 1 pm. The cost to attend is $18. The program will explore diverse views of Gentiles in key Jewish texts, from earlier biblical texts and down through the many generations of rabbinic teachings. For more information or to register, click here. 

The Yiddish Book Center will hold the virtual program “Wandering through the Land of the Postscript: A Discussion of Chava Rosenfarb’s Short Stories” with Goldie Morgentaler on Thursday, May 18, at 7 pm. The program will focus on the short stories found in Chava Rosenfarb’s upcoming anthology, “In the Land of the Postscript.” For more information or to register, click here.

The Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy will hold “A Virtual Tour of Jewish Berlin: Part 2 – The Holocaust and Re-Birth of Berliner Jews” on Thursday, May 11, from 7-8:30 pm. There is a sliding scale cost of $10-25 for the event. It will focus on Jewish Berlin from the 1930s through World War II and up to the modern day city. It is not necessary to have attended part one to attend part two. For more information or to register, click here. 

The Braid will offer a virtual life performance of the show “What a Surprise!” on Sunday, June 4, at 2 pm. The show offers six true stories that have been called “humorous and heartfelt.” For more information about the performance or to register, click here.

A Wider Bridge and A Wider Lens – with co-sponsors the East Bay International Jewish Film Festival and Deputy Consul General Matan Zamir, consulate general of Israel to the Pacific Northwest – will hold “Queering anti-Zionism” with Dr. Corinne Blackmer, on Wednesday, May 17, from 2-3 pm. The program will look at academic freedom, LGBTQ intellectuals and Israel/Palestinian campus activism. To register for the program, click here.

Maven will hold several free programs: “Finding Hope After the Holocaust: Portraits of Resilience” on Tuesday, May 9, from 3-3:45 (click here); “The Marriage Box: Old World Traditions Meet New World Desires” on Tuesday, May 16, from 3-3:45 (click here); and “Life, Love, and the BRCA Mutation” on Tuesday, May 23, from 3-3:45 pm (click here).

The spring issue of Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas is now available online and can be found here. The issue focuses on “Jews & Law.”

Maven will hold the virtual three-session class “Jewish Composers of Hollywood’s Golden Age” on Wednesdays, June 7-21, from 3-4 pm. The cost to attend is $54. The class will explore discover how immigrants, many who escaped the Nazi regime, created the Hollywood music. For more information or to register, click here.

Unity Through Diversity will celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month be presenting the two-hour program on Sunday, May 21, at noon. Dancers, singers, communal and global leaders, chefs and more will provide a virtual taste of the celebration of Jewish diversity. For more information or to register, click here.

The Jewish Grandparents Network will hold the virtual class “The Torah of Being a Grandparent: How We Live Our Values” on Tuesday, May 9, at 7 pm. For more information or to register, visit https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/YAOzT2Sr6ULJA0tCz27LWg.
The Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion will hold the hybrid program “Siona Benjamin: Crossing Boundaries and Building Bridges” on Wednesday, May 31, at 7 pm. Dr. Samantha Baskind, distinguished professor of art history at Cleveland State University, will discuss how Siona Benjamin’s multifaceted identity influences her artwork. For more information or to register, click here.

The Shalom Hartman Institute will hold the virtual class “Connecting Israeli Interests with Jewish Values: Reclaiming a Religious Zionism that Embraces Darkhei Shalom (Paths of Peace)” on Thursday, May 11, from noon-1:30 pm. A panel will discuss “the possible relationships between values and interests in a Jewish state and the role that plays in shaping their views.” For more information or to register, click here.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage will hold several virtual programs: “A Conversation with the Second Generation: The Importance of Telling Our Stories” on Tuesday, May 9, from 6-7 pm; “Focus on Holocaust History: The Holocaust in Transnistria” on Monday, May 15, from 12:30-1:30 pm (there is a $36 fee to attend); “The History of Antisemitism: The Prisoner and the Writer” on Tuesday May 16, from 7-8 pm; “Rain of Ash” book talk with Ari Joskowicz and Petra Gelbart on Thursday, May 18, from 6:30-7:30 pm; “The Last Secret of the Secret Annex” book talk on Tuesday May 23, from 2-3 pm; “Pickles Demystified with Sandor Katz: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Pickles But Were Afraid to Ask” on Thursday, July 6, from 6-7 pm; and “The New Yorker Documentary Presents ‘Nina & Irena,’” a film screening and conversation with Daniel Lombroso and Nina Gottlieb on Thursday, July 27, from 7-8:30 pm. For more information or to register, visit here, here and here. 

Maven will hold several courses: “Life, Love, and the BRCA Mutation” on from 3-3:45 pm (https://maven.aju.edu/events-classes/program/life-love-and-the-brca-mutation); “Text and the City: Street Hebrew Walk Through Tel Aviv” on Wednesday, May 24, from 3-4 pm (https://maven.aju.edu/events-classes/program/text-and-the-city-street-hebrew-walk-through-tel-aviv); and “Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew” on Thursday, June 1, from 3-3:45 pm (https://maven.aju.edu/events-classes/program/mel-brooks-disobedient-jew). 

Siegal Lifelong Learning will hold the virtual lecture “The New New Hebrew: Contemporary Trends in Israeli Culture” on Wednesday, May 10, from 7-8:30 pm. The lecture “will focus on some of the trends in contemporary Israeli literature, art and music” that offer insights into the Hebrew of the 21st century. For more information or to register, visit https://case.edu/lifelonglearning/lectures/new-new-hebrew-contemporary-trends-israeli-culture-remote.

Ritualwell will hold the virtual workshop “Creating Jewish Liturgy for Juneteenth” with Rabbi Sandra Lawson on Thursdays, May 11 and 18, from noon-1:30 pm. The workshop invites “people of all backgrounds, but specifically Black (and Jewish) individuals and allies, to give voice to the significance of Juneteenth through writing.” For more information or to register, visit https://ritualwell.org/event/creating-liturgy-for-juneteenth/2023-05-11/.

Uri L’Tzedek will hold the virtual program “Exploring Halacha on Living Kidney Donation” with Rabbi Jason Weiner on Tuesday, May 16, at 4 pm. The cost to attend is $18. The program will explore personal, halachic and Torah issues related to contemporary living organ donation. For more information or to register, visit https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zCqIXh5vQquUYsJ_B5JoAA#/registration.

Sapir will hold several virtual programs: “A Conversation with Bret Stephens” on Tuesday, May 16, at noon; “A Conversation with Daniel Gordis” on Monday, May 22, at noon; and “A Conversation with Rabbi Deborah Waxman” on Tuesday, May 30, at noon. For more information or to register, visit https://sapirjournal.org/events/.

The Milken Archive of Jewish Music is holding the virtual exhibit “Music and Israel in the American Jewish Experience” at www.milkenarchive.org/articles/virtual-exhibits/view/music-and-israel-in-the-american-jewish-experience. Highlights of the exhibit include Jacob Weinberg’s “Piano Concerto No. 2,” Ruth Schonthal’s “A Bird Over Jerusalem” and Paul Ben-Haim’s “Kabbalat Shabbat.” 

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