Program
- 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.
Introduction to Judaism Beyond Nationalism
Tuesdays, 6:30–8:00 pm Pacific
Module 1 begins April 20, 2026
Course Overview
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.
Course Pricing
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Module One: $300
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Module Two: $300
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Modules One & Two Together: $550
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Scholarships available by application
Module 1: History and Ideas
April 20 – June 8, 2026
This module traces the historical development of Judaism from biblical times to postmodernity, with attention to key philosophical questions, diaspora as a civilizational framework, the advent of Zionism, and Jewish responses to nationalism.
Weekly Topics
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April 20 — Introduction: What is a Jew?
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April 27 — The Jewish Timeline, Pt. I: From Abraham to Maimonides
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May 4 — The Jewish Timeline, Pt. II: From Ramban until Today
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May 11 — Torah: From the Bible to the Talmud and beyond
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May 18 — Jewish Belief
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May 25 — What Is Zionism?
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June 1 — Antisemitism
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June 8 — The Jews in America: Movements & Secularism
Module 2: Practices and Lifecycle
June 15 – August 3, 2026
This module explores Jewish practices, lifecycles, and rituals. Grounded in lived experience rather than nationalist narratives, it introduces the rhythms and symbols that shape Jewish religious and cultural life.
Weekly Topics
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June 15 — Introduction to Shabbat
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June 22 — The Jewish Lifecycle: Birth, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, and Marriage
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June 29 — The Jewish Lifecycle: Divorce, Death, and the Afterlife
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July 6 — Prayer: An Introduction
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July 13 — Fall Festivals: Elul, Slichot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur
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July 20 — Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot: Harvest Festivals
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July 27 — Purim and Chanukah
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August 3 — Jewish Symbols and Ritual Objects: Their Meaning and Use
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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?
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Tanakh Beyond Nationalism
The Hebrew Bible is one of the most argued-over texts in human history, and today is used to propagate some of the most pernicious agendas in the world. Rather than reading the Tanakh as a single voice delivering a settled message, this class will treat it as an ongoing conversation in which the terms of the covenant are renegotiated in every generation. Each session centers a pivotal moment where that relationship is updated, and notices that these stories always come with competing accounts of the moment, what the covenant was before, and competing visions of what it should become.
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