A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Yair Silverman

The event was co-sponsored by BMH-BJ

About The Event:

The Israeli Declaration of Independence opens with “The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped”. However, in the Jewish Tradition, the people of Israel are fashioned as freed slaves emerging from Egyptian bondage. How do our natives impact the vision of a shared future?

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Yair Silverman is co-founder and Rabbi of Moed in Zichron Yaakov, Israel. Moed brings together secular and religious Israelis in the Carmel region in Torah study and social action to reimagine and generate passionate and shared Jewish life in modern Israel. He also serves as a judge on the Rabbinic court of Giyur K’halacha for conversions. Before making aliyah in 2006, R. Yair served as the Rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in Berkeley, CA. R. Yair is ordained by Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University, studied at Yeshivat Birkat Moshe, and served in a combat unit of the IDF and the reserves.

In this powerful conversation, renowned author and speaker Yossi Klein Halevi joins us for an in-depth conversation exploring the evolving perspectives on Jewish survival, from the Shoah to the profound impact of October 7th.

About The Speaker:

Yossi Klein Halevi is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. He is co-host, together with Donniel Hartman, of the Hartman Institute’s podcast, “For Heaven’s Sake” – the number one Jewish podcast in the English-speaking world.

Halevi’s 2013 book, “Like Dreamers,” won the Jewish Book Council’s Everett Book of the Year Award. His latest book, “Letters to My Palestinian
Neighbor” is a New York Times bestseller and has appeared in a dozen languages. He is currently writing a book about the meaning of Jewish survival.

He has written for leading op-ed pages in North America and is a former contributing editor to the New Republic. He is frequently quoted on Israeli, Middle Eastern, and Jewish affairs in leading media around the world and is one of the best-known lecturers on Israeli issues in the North American Jewish community and on North American campuses.

He co-directs the Hartman Institute’s Muslim Leadership Initiative (MLI), which teaches emerging young Muslim leaders in North America about Judaism, Jewish identity, and Israel. Over 150 Muslim leaders have participated in the unique program.

Born in Brooklyn, he received his BA in Jewish studies from Brooklyn College and his MS in journalism from Northwestern University. He moved to Israel in 1982 and lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Sarah, an astrologer. They have three children.

A hybrid event (in-person and virtual) by Yossi Klein Halevi

The event was co-sponsored by Congregation Or Tzion & Jewish Community Relations of Greater Phoenix

About The Event:

Israelis and Diaspora Jews are experiencing the upheavals caused by the October 7 massacre in different ways, but we share trauma and deep unease about the future. How will Israel emerge from the crisis? What changes should we hope for in Israeli society? The Middle East? The American Jewish-Israeli relationship?

About The Speaker:

Yossi Klein Halevi is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. He is co-host, together with Donniel Hartman, of the Hartman Institute’s podcast, “For Heaven’s Sake” – the number one Jewish podcast in the English-speaking world.

Halevi’s 2013 book, “Like Dreamers,” won the Jewish Book Council’s Everett Book of the Year Award. His latest book, “Letters to My Palestinian
Neighbor” is a New York Times bestseller and has appeared in a dozen languages. He is currently writing a book about the meaning of Jewish survival.

He has written for leading op-ed pages in North America and is a former contributing editor to the New Republic. He is frequently quoted on Israeli, Middle Eastern, and Jewish affairs in leading media around the world and is one of the best-known lecturers on Israeli issues in the North American Jewish community and on North American campuses.

He co-directs the Hartman Institute’s Muslim Leadership Initiative (MLI), which teaches emerging young Muslim leaders in North America about Judaism, Jewish identity, and Israel. Over 150 Muslim leaders have participated in the unique program.

Born in Brooklyn, he received his BA in Jewish studies from Brooklyn College and his MS in journalism from Northwestern University. He moved to Israel in 1982 and lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Sarah, an astrologer. They have three children.

The event was presented in loving memory of Gloria & Herb Zeichick.

Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz sits down with Yossi Klein Halevi for a powerful conversation on whether there is still hope for Israeli-Palestinian coexistence.

Yossi Klein Halevi is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. He is co-host, together with Donniel Hartman, of the Hartman Institute’s podcast, “For Heaven’s Sake” – the number one Jewish podcast in the English-speaking world.

Halevi’s 2013 book, “Like Dreamers,” won the Jewish Book Council’s Everett Book of the Year Award. His latest book, “Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor,” is a New York Times bestseller and has appeared in a dozen languages. He is currently writing a book about the meaning of Jewish survival.

He has written for leading op-ed pages in North America and is a former contributing editor to the New Republic. He is frequently quoted on Israeli, Middle Eastern, and Jewish affairs in leading media around the world and is one of the best-known lecturers on Israeli issues in the North American Jewish community and on North American campuses.

He co-directs the Hartman Institute’s Muslim Leadership Initiative (MLI), which teaches emerging young Muslim leaders in North America about Judaism, Jewish identity, and Israel. Over 150 Muslim leaders have participated in the unique program.

Born in Brooklyn, he received his BA in Jewish studies from Brooklyn College and his MS in journalism from Northwestern University.

He moved to Israel in 1982 and lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Sarah, an astrologer. They have three children.

A virtual event presentation by Dr. Jonnie Schnytzer

The event was co-sponsored by Temple Chai

About The Event:

What does it mean to be Jewish? There are many ways to grapple with this question, and this lesson is inspired by and an elaboration of a unique traditional Jewish oral teaching of an Ethiopian Qes. Specifically, through comparing two modes in which Jewish tradition is carried (as well as the way stories are told!), we will come to ask how bridges can be built between different kinds of Judaism.

About The Speaker:

Jonnie Schnytzer is probably the only PhD in Jewish Philosophy, focusing on medieval kabbalah, who can say that he once beat the head of Israeli Naval Commandos in a swimming race. His dissertation focused on the scientific kabbalah of Rabbi Joseph ben Shalom Ashkenazi. Jonnie’s forthcoming book is about Ashkenazi’s Kabbalah as well as a critical edition of the kabbalist’s majestic commentary on Sefer Yesira. Jonnie’s also the author of the Mossad thriller, The Way Back, which paints a picture of contemporary Israel. Jonnie also orchestrated the publishing of an English edition of ‘The Hitler Haggadah’, an important piece of Moroccan Jewish history from the Holocaust. Jonnie has also taken on several leadership roles in the Jewish world, including advisor to the CEO of Birthright and executive manager with StandWithUs. He lectures on a wide variety of topics relating to Judaism and Israel, especially about the untold stories and unspoken heroes of Jewish history. Jonnie is happily married, with four gorgeous little kids, lives in Israel, and thinks that Australian Rules Football is the greatest sport ever invented.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn, BCC

About The Event:

Rabbanit Alissa will share personal stories and reflections on her new book, “Shabbat Guidebook for Parents: Halacha of Caring for Infants, Toddlers, and Young Children on Shabbat and Yom Tov”, also available on Amazon.

This guide is an easy go-to for parents to learn how to care for infants, toddlers, and children on Shabbat and Yom Tov. Based on real-life situations and informed by the author’s shul and chaplaincy experiences as well as her life as a mom, this guidebook offers to-the-point halachic guidance paired with meaningful spiritual reflections. The content itself generally follows the timeline of Shabbat and holidays, with additional pastoral resources on self-care for parents and spirituality in parenting.

About The Speaker:

Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn, BCC is the Rabbanit at Congregation Netivot Shalom in Teaneck, NJ. Netivot Shalom is a Modern Orthodox shul, which she leads together in partnership with Rabbi Nati Helfgot. Rabbanit Alissa is a Board Certified Chaplain and full-time staff chaplain at NewYork-Presbyterian Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where she has specialties in Palliative Care, Critical Care, and Emergency Psychiatric Care, and she is the president of NAJC (Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains). Rabbanit Alissa is also the Moishe House Based-In Teaneck clergy and an Atra fellow in the inaugural Northern New Jersey Rabbinic (re)Design Fellowship. From 2014 to 2022, Rabbanit Alissa served as a spiritual leader at B’nai David-Judea Congregation, as the first Orthodox female clergy in Los Angeles. A frequent writer and speaker, she received her ordination from Yeshivat Maharat and graduated from Brandeis University. Rabbanit Alissa and her husband Akiva live in Teaneck with their children, Ella and Liam.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Dr. Geoffrey Claussen

About The Event:

Rabbi Dr. Geoffrey Claussen’s new book, Jewish Ethics: The Basics, is designed to help us think critically about the diversity of Jewish ethics—on topics including authority, human rights, war, land, power, gender, sexuality, environmental ethics, animal ethics, and more. In this session, we will consider how Jews have passionately disagreed about fundamental moral claims and about what constitutes Jewish ethics, and we will consider how we may understand our ideas within the history of Jewish debates.

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Dr. Geoffrey Claussen is a Professor of Religious Studies, Lori and Eric Sklut Professor in Jewish Studies, and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Elon University. His books include Sharing the Burden: Rabbi Simhah Zissel Ziv and the Path of Musar (2015), Modern Musar: Contested Virtues in Jewish Thought (2022), Jewish Virtue Ethics (2023), and Jewish Ethics: The Basics (2025).

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Zachary Truboff

The event was co-sponsored by Temple Emanuel

About The Event:

Franz Rosenzweig has long been considered one of the most brilliant and insightful Jewish thinkers. At the heart of his thought is the belief that the Jews’ covenant with God marks them as different and, as a result, orients them differently in the world than all other peoples. By neither embracing nor rejecting Zionism, Rosenzweig sought to mark a path for Judaism in modernity that would allow it to remain true to its deepest commitments.

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Zachary Truboff is the Director of the International Beit Din Institute for Agunah Research and Education, a think-tank founded by the IBD to address the halachic dimensions of the agunah problem. He is also the author of “Torah Goes Forth From Zion: Essays on the Thought of Rav Kook and Rav Shagar." His writings on Jewish thought and Zionism have appeared in various publications. Before making aliyah, he served for nearly a decade as the rabbi of Cedar Sinai Synagogue in Cleveland, Ohio. He has taught in various adult education settings, such as the Wexner Heritage Program and the Hartman Institute. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Jen, and their four children. For more of his writing and classes, see zachtruboff.com.