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 Museum will hold the two part class “Art in Context: Sargent and the Sassoons” on Thursdays, July 6 and 13, from 11:30 am-12:30 pm. The cost for two classes is $30. The class will explore the “history of the Sassoon family and their pioneering role in trade, art collecting, architectural patronage, and civic engagement from the early 19th century through World War II.” For more information or to register, click here.

The Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy will hold the virtual talk “Hollywood’s Jewish New Wave” on Monday, July 10, from 7-8:30 pm. The presenters from FilmShul will discuss a time “when Jewish cultural visibility was making major inroads into public consciousness and popular culture via literature, music and especially cinema.” For more information or to register, click here.

Melton will hold the virtual lecture “Decoding Medieval Jewish Art” Thursday, July 20, from 1-2 pm. The cost to attend is $18. The lecture will look at medieval Jewish images that appeared in illuminated Bibles, mahzorim, and haggadot. For more information or to register, click here.

The Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy will hold the virtual tour “The Conservancy at the Museum: A Virtual Tour of ‘The Sassoons’” on Monday, July 17, from 7-8:30 pm. Dr. Sharon Keller will discuss the exhibit, which is at the Jewish Museum and features more than 120 works from paintings to illuminated manuscripts, Chinese art and Judaica collected by Sassoon family members. For more information or to register, click here.

Tikvah is offering the online course “The Book of Samuel: Religion, Politics, and the Longing for Order” taught by Dr. Micah Goodman. In the five episodes, Goodman will talk about “Samuel’s dramatic narrative, showing how it provides answers to some of humanity’s most enduring challenges and comments powerfully on the meaning of religion and sacrifice.” For more information or to watch the classes, click here.

Qesher will hold the lecture “Jewish names around the world” on Thursday, August 3, at 3 pm. The cost to attend is $18. Sarah Bunin Benor, professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (Los Angeles campus) and adjunct professor in the University of Southern California Linguistics Department, will discuss what makes a family name Jewish and how Jewish family names originated in different periods. For more information or to register, click here. 

Uri L’Tzedek, Orthodox Social Justice, will hold the virtual program “Divinely diverse: The Jewish value of b’tzelem Elokim and the LGBTQIA2S+ community” on Thursday, July 13, at 11 am. The cost to attend is $18. The presentation will “connect the value of b’tzelem Elokim and how we as Jews can embody this value by welcoming LGBTQIA2S+ members of our community and acting as allies.” For more information or to register, click here.

Melton will hold the virtual course “Technology Ethics’ with Rabbi Johnny Solomon on Mondays, July 10-31, from 1-2:30 pm. There is a sliding scale cost to attend. Solomon will explore the moral issues that exist from sharing on social media and ethical issues emerging from the use of Artificial Intelligence. For more information or to register, click here.

Tikvah offers the podcast “Building the Impossible Dream: The History of Zionism” with Shalem College’s Dr. Daniel Polisar. Polisar’s podcast offers “a tour of the big ideas and the heroic figures that defined the rise of Jewish nationalism.” For more information or to listen to the podcast, click here.

Melton will hold the virtual lecture “The Music of Tisha B’Av” on Tuesday, July 25, from 7-8 pm. Cantor David Lipp will discuss “the history and practice of the music of Tisha B’Av, which includes the Book of Lamentations, the alteration of liturgical modes and the Kinot, the poems of despair that Jews traditionally chant to commemorate the loss of the Temple.” For more information or to register, click here.

Qesher will hold the several virtual tours including “Greek Jewry: At the crossroads of civilizations” on Sunday, July 23, at 3 pm; “Jewish New York: A Virtual Tour of Harlem” on Tuesday, July 25, at 3 pm; “Gleams and Shadows of Jewish Life in France” on Sunday, July 30, at 3 pm; “Finland: Home of Kosher Reindeer and Kabbalat Shabbat at Midnight” on Sunday, August 6, at 3 pm; “Jewish Africa: A Photographic Journey” on Thursday, August 10, at pm; “A Journey Through the Jewish Heritage of Hungary” on Sunday, August 13, at 3 pm; and “Stories of Jewish Budapest: From affirmation to persecution and revival” on Thursday, August 17, at 3 pm. The cost to attend is $18. For more information or to register, click here. 

The podcast “Unholy: Two Jews on the News’ features Yonit Levi of Channel 12 Israel and Jonathan Freedland of The Guardian talking about developments in politics and life in Israel, the U.S., the U.K. and around the world. For more information about the podcast, click here.

Melton will hold the virtual lecture “The Jews of Mexico City” on Tuesday, July11 from 2-3:15 pm. Dr. Sara Aroeste will discuss “the Jewish journeys that brought people from around the Jewish world to settle in Mexico City” and the makeup of the Jewish community living there today. For more information or to register, click here.

Uri L’Tzedek, Orthodox Social Justice, will hold the virtual program “What does loving the stranger truly mean?” on Tuesday, July 25, at 12:30 pm. The cost to attend is $18. Uri L’Tzedek’s Campaign Director Eddie Chavez Calderon will utilize Torah sources to discuss immigrant justice. For more information or to register, click here.

Melton in partnership with Jewish Sacred Aging will hold the virtual class “A Spiritual Pathway for Aging into the Year Ahead” on Wednesdays, July 19-August 9, from 2-3:30 pm. Rabbi Richard Address, founder and director of Jewish Sacred Aging, will discuss how Jewish texts and ideas can provide support and guidance as people enter the third and fourth life stages. For more information or to register, click here.

MyJewishLearning.com will hold the course “Turning Toward Teshuvah: A High Holiday Journey of Transformation” taught by Rabbi Sarah Bracha Gershuny, which will begin on Sunday, July 16. There is an early bird fee of $150 for those who sign up before Monday, July 10. It includes eight video lessons, two live Zoom sessions with the instructor, explanations of Jewish spiritual practices and downloadable source sheets so participants can explore the material at their own pace. For more information or to register, click here.

The Center for Jewish History will hold the virtual lecture “‘The ‘Tsenerene’: The Most Popular Yiddish Book in History” on Tuesday, July 18, at 2 pm. Dr. Avi Blitz will discuss the “The Tsenerene’s” anthological style, which includes a combination of commentary and folklore. He will also explore what the book teaches about the folk beliefs of early modern Ashkenazi society. For more information or to register, click here.

Aleph, An Alliance for Jewish Renewal, will hold “All Together Now: A 35th Anniversary Kallah Celebration Cabaret” on Thursday, July 6, from 7-9:30 pm. There is a sliding scale amount to attend. To see a list of performers or to register, click here.

The Center for Jewish History will hold the virtual lecture “The Hasidic Revival on the Eve of the Holocaust” on Tuesday, July 11, at 2 pm. Glenn Dynner, Ph.D., Carl and Dorothy Bennett Professor of Judaic Studies and director of the Bennett Center at Fairfield University, will explore the Hasidic revival that took place in the early 20th century and what occurred during the Holocaust. For more information or to register, click here.

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