Programs
ACJ offers a range of programming from our public education series, to online courses, to in person events.
Learn more and join us!
Featured Programming
- Education Series
- Streaming
Introduction to Judaism Beyond Nationalism Cohort 4
What is a Jew? What is Judaism? And what does Jewish life look like when it's grounded in ethics, history, and practice rather than nationalism?
Whether you're Jewish, Jew-ish, exploring conversion, or simply curious, you're invited into this space.
Introduction to Judaism Beyond Nationalism is a 16-week survey course broken up into two modules, covering Jewish history, belief, practice, lifecycle, philosophy, and culture from the ancient world to the present.
We'll ask hard questions, sit with complexity, and learn together.
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- Lecture Series
- Streaming
The Cultures of the American Jewish Left with Benjamin Balthaser and Dania Rajendra
Join ACJ executive director Andy Kahn, Open Society fellow Dania Rajendra, and professor of multiethnic US literature at Indiana University, Benjamin Balthaser, for a timely conversation on Jewish radical history, anti-Zionism, and the roots of today’s Jewish uprising for Palestinian liberation.
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- Event
- Midtown, NYC
- Streaming
Upside-Down Love: A Conversation with Sari Bashi
The American Council for Judaism, Community Church of New York, Jewish Currents, Rabbis for Ceasefire and 15th Street Monthly Meeting (Quakers), invite you to an evening with author and human rights lawyer Sari Bashi, in conversation with Rabbi Andy Kahn, discussing her memoir Upside-Down Love.
Upside-Down Love tells the story of Sari and her partner Osama, a Palestinian professor originally from Gaza, and the life they have built together in the West Bank under the apartheid conditions of restricted movement, legal uncertainty, and enforced separation. The memoir speaks to the unique circumstances of this specific moment in history, while also illustrating a timeless truth: Love will triumph over bigotry and destruction.
Together, Sari Bashi and Rabbi Kahn will explore how personal story, law, and Jewish ethical frameworks can illuminate paths toward a more humane future.
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- Event
- Streaming
Sources of Pride: A Conversation with Rabbi Abby Stein
Join Rabbi Andy Kahn and Rabbi Abby Chava Stein for a powerful conversation about the evolving edges of Jewish life today. Abby reflects on growing up in a Haredi community shaped by anti-Zionist teachings, how those ideas have shifted over time, and how her journey as a trans woman has helped her craft a Judaism rooted in truth, dignity, and expansive possibility.
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- Education Series
- Streaming
From Trauma to Transformation: A Conversation with Rabbi Tirzah Firestone
Join Rabbi Andrue Kahn for a conversation with Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, acclaimed Jungian psychotherapist, teacher of Jewish renewal, and author of Wounds into Wisdom: Healing Intergenerational Jewish Trauma. Drawing on Jewish tradition, psychology, and case studies from across the globe, Rabbi Firestone offers seven principles for transforming inherited pain into resilience and moral clarity. Together, we'll explore how Jewish wisdom can guide us through grief, hope, and collective transformation in this season of reflection.
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- Education Series
- Streaming
Dismantling Antisemitism with Kohenet Shoshana Brown
Join Rabbi Andy Kahn and Kohenet Shoshana Brown for a powerful conversation about how accusations of antisemitism are increasingly weaponized to silence dissent, divide communities, and align Jewish identity with far-right agendas. We'll explore how to dismantle antisemitism through liberatory, non-punitive practices grounded in restorative justice, solidarity, and collective healing.
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- Education Series
- Streaming
Beyond Fear: Combatting Antisemitism with Shane Burley and Ben Lorber
Rabbi Andy Kahn will be joined by Ben Lorber and Shane Burley to discuss their recent book, Safety Through Solidarity. The discussion will highlight approaches of shared responsibility across difference in the fight for justice and safety for all people as as the most effective form of combatting antisemitism.
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- Education Series
- Streaming
People, Faith, Nation: Exploring Judaism’s Many Identities with Professor Rabbi Shaul Magid
Join Rabbi Andy Kahn in conversation with Professor Rabbi Shaul Magid for a deep dive into the possibilities of post-ethnic Judaism in America. Together, they’ll explore how shifting tides in Jewish identity intersect with the growing crisis of Zionism, and what this moment might mean for reimagining Jewish life beyond nationalism.
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All Programming
- Education Series
- Streaming
Across Generations: Steve Naman and Sam Panken
Join us on Thursday, March 19th at 6:00 PM Eastern for a wide-ranging conversation between two people who have devoted themselves to the American Council for Judaism, one who shaped its modern history, and one who is helping write its next chapter.
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- Education Series
- Streaming
Judaism in Times of Fascism: An Eight Week Course on Theory and Practice
This course will provide students with a unique venue for this inquiry. Students will be introduced to key concepts, theories, and methods that can help us make sense of loaded terms like "Judaism," "fascism," and "antifascism"; to historical readings and case studies that illuminate the lineages of Jewish antifascism -- including anarchist, Bundist, liberal, and Marxist varieties -- as well as the lesser known histories of Jewish fascism; and to recent texts and other media that address the crisis within contemporary Judaism. Finally, the course will feature ample opportunities for open discussion, and will conclude with a consideration of the possibilities for an emancipatory Judaism and a world without fascism.
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- Education Series
- Streaming
Introduction to Judaism Beyond Nationalism Cohort 3
Introduction to Judaism Beyond Nationalism is a broad-stroke survey of Jewish life, culture, belief and non-belief, and the major ideas that have shaped Jews and Judaism across time. The course offers participants a grounding in the practices, philosophies, and expressions of Jewish life from the ancient world to the present.
The course is divided into two 8-week modules. A third module, focused on personal Jewish development and practice-building, will be offered after the conclusion of Module 2.
Recordings will be provided for anyone who cannot attend live. We encourage regular participation, while recognizing that life happens. The course pairs well with either Judaisms by Aaron Hahn Tapper or Jewish History: A Very Short Introduction by David Meyer.
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- Education Series
- Streaming
Terms of Service: An Exploration of Covenant and Jewish Collectivity
Join the ACJ and Shel Maala for a three work journey through the creation and development of the concept of brit, covenant, throughout Jewish history. We will explore its roots in the ancient Near East, its usage throughout Biblical and Rabbinic texts, and its usages, for good and for ill, in today's world.
All classes via Zoom, December 22nd, 29th, and January 5th from 6:30-8pm Eastern
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- Event
- Brooklyn, NY
Havdalah Into Hannukah with Chavurat Binah
Join the Chavurat Binah with the American Council for Judaism for Havdalah into Chanukah on December 13 at 5:00 PM at Christ Church in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. We'll do fun, social group learning about Hannukah together, then join in a songful, lay-led gathering of liturgy in Hebrew and English and music for Havdalah. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
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- Lecture Series
- Streaming
The Only Way Out Is Through
An Indigenous Perspective on Surviving, Being Witnesses, Bystanders, and Beneficiaries to Genocide
How do we stay human while witnessing atrocity?
Join ACJ and Queer Mikvah Project for “The Only Way Out Is Through” — a conversation with Rosa Blumenfeld-Romero, an Indigenous woman from the Muisca nation in Colombia, raised in the Jewish community, on what it means to survive, witness, and take responsibility in a time of genocide.
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