Program
- Education Series
- Streaming
Introduction to Judaism Beyond Nationalism: Cohort 2
Whether you’re new to Judaism, seeking conversion, or reimagining your Jewish life, this course is for you! This 16-class, two-module series offers a fresh and rigorous exploration of Jewish identity, history, and practice grounded in justice, diaspora, and spiritual autonomy.
Course Description: This is an overview course in broad strokes about Jewish life, culture, belief, non-belief, and thought. This course will give the participants a general background in the ideas, practices, and expressions of Jewish life from ancient times to the present. The course is split into two modules, with a third advanced module available upon completion of the second. This cohort will be taught by Rabbi Koach Baruch Frazier.
Module 1: History and Ideas
Tuesdays, 6:00–7:30pm EDT | 3:00 - 4:30pm PCT
August 13 - October 8, 2025
This module traces the historical development of Judaism from biblical times to postmodernity, with a focus on philosophy, diaspora, the advent of Zionism, and responses to it.
Module 2: Practices and Lifecycle
Wednesdays, 7:00–8:30pm EDT | 4:00 - 5:30pm PCT
October 22 - December 5, 2025 {Skipping week of Tuesday, September 23}
This module dives into the practices and lifecycles of Jewish life—Shabbat, prayer, festivals, and ritual objects—centering tradition as lived experience rather than nationalist ideology.
We encourage regular attendance although we understand that it may be impossible for participants to attend every session. We will record and make the classes available to watch afterwards. The class is paired with the books Judaisms by Aaron Hahn Tapper, or Jewish History: A Very Short Introduction by David Meyer.
Course Pricing Structure:
- Module One: $300
- Module Two: $300
- Modules One & Two: $550
- Scholarship allocation available through application
Course Outline:
MODULE ONE: History & Ideas
Week 1: Introduction & What is a Jew?
Week 2: The Jewish Timeline: History of the World Pt. 1
Week 3: The Jewish Timeline: Locating ourselves in the Jewish story Pt. II
Week 4: Torah: From the Bible to the Talmud (a journey through the year)
Week 5: Jewish Belief: One God or Less
Week 6: What is Zionism
Week 7: Antisemitism
Week 8: The Jews in America (Streams & Secularism)
MODULE TWO: Practices & Lifestyle
Week 1: Introduction to Shabbat
Week 2: The Jewish Lifecycle: Pt. : Birth, Bar Mitzvah, and Marriage
Week 3: The Jewish Lifecycle Pt. 2: Divorce, Death, the Afterlife
Week 3: Prayer: An Introduction to Services
Week 4: Fall Festivals: Elul, Slichot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur
Week 5: Sukkot and Shavuot: Harvest Festivals
Week 6: Purim and Chanukah
Week 8: Jewish Symbols and Ritual Objects: Their Meaning and Use
Related Programming
- Education Series
- Streaming
Introduction to Judaism Beyond Nationalism with Student Rabbi Noa Leba
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.
Learn More
- Education Series
Parshanut: An Intro to Jewish Commentary
Parshanut: An Intro to Jewish Commentary
Wednesdays at 6:00-7:30 PM EST October 21st - November 25th
This six session class will introduce students to the world of Jewish Torah commentary, known as parshanut. We'll study the weekly Torah portion with some of the most foundational commentators, exploring the approaches of these medieval and early modern rabbis to interpreting Tanakh.
Learn More
- Education Series
The Past, Present, and Future of Queer Torah: Between Sunlight and Shade With Rabbi Avigayil Halpern
This class takes its name from the Rabbinic sage Rabbi Yochanan, who is often read as queer – his beauty is described as that of a silver goblet filled with pomegranate seeds and crowned with roses, set between sun and shade. It is in the beauty of that middle space that queer Torah emerges. In this series, we will examine texts and narratives from ancient to modern to ask: Is there such a thing as a canon of queer Torah? What qualifies Torah as “queer?” And what are the stakes of these questions for us as we approach an uncertain future?
Learn More