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Table of Contents:
- Weekly Parsha Class
- Current Class Offerings
- CBI Cafe
- Happy Valley Beit Midrash
- Sign up for the Adult Education email list
- Archive of previous talks
If you have questions about our Adult Education offerings, please reach out to Amy Stein, Engagement and Program Manager.
The Adult Education Committee is comprised of Penina Glazer, Phyllis Eckstein, Larry Fine, Joshua Roth, Dave Gorin, Vivian Bresnitz, Dean Hartshorn, and Clara Rosenberg.
Adult Ed Purim Classes, February 12 & 26
How Do We Respond To God’s Hiddenness?
Thursday, Feb 12, 7:00–8:30
Rabbi Benjamin Barer
In the millennia-old covenant that the Jewish people have held with G-d, Purim stands out as a moment of change, a moment where G-d is seemingly absent, and the genocidal intentions of our enemies are all too clear. Together, we will explore some incredible, and incredibly optimistic, responses to the challenge represented by Purim that continue to reverberate throughout Jewish history.
How Do We Respond To Perceived Evil?
Thursday, Feb 26, 7:00–8:30
Rabbi Jacob Fine
How do we make sense of evil in the world, and how are we meant to respond to it? Jewish tradition offers a wide range of perspectives, reflecting its diverse theological and spiritual voices across time. Using the story of Purim as a jumping off point, we will examine several Jewish approaches to understanding evil and consider how these ideas shape our responses to what we perceive as evil today.
Class Offerings
Weekly Parsha Class with Rabbi Ariella and Rabbi Jacob
Fridays 12:00-1:00 pm, CBI Library, in person only, drop in; no registration required.
Join Rabbi Ariella or Rabbi Jacob for a discussion of the weekly Torah portion. All are welcome, no prior knowledge or experience required. Each session will stand alone, feel free to come whenever it works for you. And please feel free to bring your own lunch!
Living a Meaningful Jewish Life
Led by Rabbi Ariella and Rabbi Jacob. Registration Closed.
Wednesdays, beginning October 29, 7:00-8:30 pm, in person in the CBI Library with Zoom option*
Oct. 29, Nov. 5, 12, 19, Dec. 3, 10, 17, Jan. 7, 14, 21, 28, Feb. 4, 11, 25, March 4, 11, 18, 25
*We encourage students to attend in person whenever possible to get the most out of the experience. A Zoom option is available for those who need it.
In this 18-week course we will explore together many aspects of Jewish life: daily spiritual practices, the holiday cycle, Shabbat, eating practices, migration, history, and more. This class is geared toward anyone who wants to learn more about Jewish life: individuals exploring conversion, non-Jews part of Jewish families, and Jews of all stripes who want to learn more. If you think this class might be for you, it is! Students are encouraged to come with questions, curiosity, and challenges. Ever wonder why Jews do [insert curious custom here]? Ask us and we’ll cover it!
Refusenik Film
Led by Mike Perlman. Register Here.
Tuesday, January 20, 6:30-9:00 pm CBI Library, in person only
Viewing and discussion of a film describing the 30-year international movement to free Soviet Jewry. Michael Perlman is a retired psychiatrist who was a former President and Board Member of CBI.
Jews and Recent American Film
Led by Professor Jonathan Skolnik. Register Here.
Tuesdays, February 10, 17, 24, March 3, 6:30-8:00 pm, CBI Library, in person only.
This four-week class will analyze and discuss representations of Jewish themes in selected recent American films. What do these products say about the changing place of Jews and Judaism in American life? What complex messages might they be communicating to different kinds of audiences? Participants will watch the films on their own, and we will meet over four Tuesdays to analyze and discuss them.
February 10: The Plot Against Harry (Dir. Roemer 1969)
February 17: For Your Consideration (Dir. Christopher Guest, 2006, 86 min.)
February 24: Are You There God? It's Me Margaret (Dir. Kelly Craig, 2023, 108 min)
March 3: Eleanor the Great (Dir. Scarlett Johansson, 2025, 98 min.)
Beginner Hebrew
Led by Judy Katz. Register Here.
April 21, 28, May 5, 12, 19, 26. CBI classroom 3, in person only.
This 6-session class will help you learn to decode and read Hebrew, even if you don’t understand it. Students must obtain the following book for this class: Learn Hebrew Today: Alef-Bet for Adults. Limited to 6 students.
Judy Katz taught Hebrew reading in Delaware and Maryland for many years and is looking forward to teaching at CBI.
Happy Valley Beit Midrash (HVBM)
Thursdays, 7:00-8:30 pm, in person only
Refer to CBI calendar for specific dates
CBI Library - Register Here
The Happy Valley Beit Midrash (HVBM) was created to meet the needs of an intellectually and spiritually curious and growing Jewish community. The Beit Midrash (house of study) is an exciting new hub for Jewish life in the Pioneer Valley, a public resource for adult Jewish learning.
Each Thursday, you can expect:
- A short 45 minute class taught by a local teacher
- Approximately 45 minutes of self-paced study, with the support of teachers to help answer questions and guide learners.
- Resources will be made available for those looking for something new to study, and the teacher will also be available to help pair those who want to learn but do not yet have a chevruta (study partner)
Organizers: Rabbi Jacob Fine, Rabbi Ben Barer
Other teachers: Rabbi Ariella Rosen, Rabbi Simcha Halpert Hanson, Rabbi Ed Feld
This programming is supported by community contributions as well as the support of the Jewish Federation of Western Mass.
Questions? Please contact Rabbi Ben Barer at rabbibarer@gmail.com
Sundays, in person at CBI
10:30-11:00 am: Coffee and nosh
11:00-12:00 pm: Presentation and discussion
Registration is encouraged, but not required
February 8: Tobit: A Model of Jewish Charity
CBI Social Hall, in person and on livestream
Led by Joel Kaminsky. Register Here.
This talk will focus on the wonderful story of Tobit, an ancient Jewish book preserved in the Catholic Bible that draws on various folk motifs and highlights the importance of tsedakah (charity) and the mitzvah of burying the dead.
Joel Kaminsky is the Morningstar Professor of Jewish Studies at Smith College where he teaches courses on the Hebrew Bible and on ancient Jewish religion and literature. His research explores the interaction between narrative and theological currents in the Hebrew Bible and Rabbinic literature and seeks to illuminate the overlapping but not quite distinct ways that Jews and Christians over the past two millennia have interpreted the Hebrew Bible. He has authored, co-authored, and co-edited several books as well as published many essays and book reviews in both scholarly and more popular journals.
March 8: The Meaning(s) of Yiddish
CBI Social Hall, in person and on livestream
Led by Justin Cammy. Register here.
What are the various assumptions about Yiddish at the contemporary moment, and why has Yiddish become as much a symbol for unrealized desires as it is a spoken language?
Justin Cammy is Associate Dean of Faculty and Professor of Jewish Studies and Comparative Literature at Smith College. A specialist in Yiddish literature, he is co-author (along with his wife Rachel Rubinstein) of the forthcoming Cambridge History of Yiddish Literature.
March 22: The Torah in the Tarot
CBI Library, In-person only.
Led by Stav Appel. Register Here.
The Torah in the Tarot presents the provocative thesis that one of the oldest known decks of Tarot contains secret depictions of Hebrew letters, Torah stories, Judaic ritual objects, and Jewish holy days. The cards' hidden Judaica suggests the Tarot originally served as a tool for secret Jewish education during the centuries of the Inquisition.
Stav Appel is a data scientist and a lifelong student of Torah. Earlier in his career, he was the director of the Israeli-Palestinian coexistence organization Nitzanei Shalom, and the director of International Service Programs for American Jewish World Service. He holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and has studied Biblical Hebrew at Hebrew University and Yale Divinity School. After a chance encounter with an old deck of Tarot cards, Stav began to explore the origins and meaning of the biblical reference he recognized in its images. He is now a frequent speaker and popular writer on the Torah in the Tarot, the lost and forgotten Judaic origins of the mysterious Tarot de Marseille. He currently resides in New Salem, NY. Find Stav on Instagram @torah.tarot.
April 19: Feeding Jewish Rome
CBI Social Hall, in person and on livestream
Led by Kenneth Stow. Register here.
How Jewish and Christian Butchers collaborated to feed the city's 4,000 Jews during the period of the ghetto, 1555-1870.
Kenneth Stow is Professor of Jewish History emeritus, University of Haifa. He is also the author of several books including Alienated Minority: the Jews of Medival Latin Europe, Theater of Acculturation: The Roman Ghetto in the 16th Century, Anna and Tranquillo: Catholic Anxiety and Jewish Protest in the Age of Revolution, and most recently Feeding the Eternal City: Jewish and Christian Butchers in the Roman Ghetto.
April 26: TBD
Rabbi Rena Kieval
May 3: Life Lines: Art, Memory, and Relationship
CBI Social Hall, in person and on livestream
Led by Joshua Roth. Register here.
In this talk, Joshua Roth will discuss his recently published graphic memoir about his father, who was stationed in Nurenberg during the American occupation of Germany in 1946 and in the Haganah in 1948, and later became a visual artist. The graphic memoir explores the question of how these early experiences may have informed his later creative work.
Joshua Roth is Professor of Anthropology at Mount Holyoke College. His research has focused on Japan-Japanese Brazilian migration, the history of driving, and, most recently focused on graphic narratives of aging and caregiving.
Archive of Previous Talks
Professor Mark Auslander
"Mourning across borders: honoring the voices of the lost" --- Read the transcript of this talk here.
January 14, 2024
Professor Omar Bartov
"Weaponizing Language: Misuses of Holocaust Memory and the Never Again Syndrome" --- Fill out this form to receive the recording link.
February 28, 2024
Laurie Sanders
"History of the Northampton Alms House" --- Watch the Zoom presentation here.
February 4, 2024
Rabbi David Seidenberg
"Jews and Indigenousness" --- Watch the livestream recording here.
March 11, 2024
