Learn with us
We offer a robust selection of classes. No matter your interests or schedule, there's something for everyone. Explore offerings and find the perfect fit for your learning journey!
Weekly Offerings
Parsha Class
Led by Rabbi Ariella or Rabbi Jacob
Fridays 12–1 pm, CBI Library (in person only)
Join us 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! No registration required.​
​Happy Valley Beit Midrash
Led by area Rabbis
Most Thursdays 7–8:30 pm, CBI Library (in person only)
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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. In person only.
Each Thursday, you can expect:
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A short 45 minute class taught by a local teacher
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Approximately 45 minutes of self-paced study, with the support of teachers to help answer questions and guide learners.
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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)
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Organized by Rabbi Jacob Fine and Rabbi Ben Barer. Additional teachers include Rabbi Ariella Rosen, Rabbi Simcha Halpert Hanson, Rabbi Ed Feld, and others area Rabbis. Contact Rabbi Ben Barer at rabbibarer@gmail.com with questions.
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This program is generously supported by the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts.​​​
​​​Living a Meaningful Jewish Life [registration closed]
Led by Rabbi Ariella and Rabbi Jacob
Wednesdays through March 25, 7–8:30 pm, CBI Library (Zoom option*)
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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!
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*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.
Spring Offerings
Refusenik Film
Led by Mike Perlman
Tuesday, January 20, 6:30–9 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.
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Jews and Recent American Film
Led by Professor Jonathan Skolnik
Tuesdays, Feb 10, 17, 24, March 3, 6:30–8 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.
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Feb 10: For Your Consideration (Dir. Christopher Guest, 2006, 86 min.)
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Feb 17: Are You There God? It's Me Margaret (Dir. Kelly Craig, 2023, 108 min)
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Feb 24: A Real Pain (Dir. Jesse Eisebberg, 2024, 89. min)
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March 3: Eleanor the Great (Dir. Scarlett Johansson, 2025, 98 min.)​
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Beginner Hebrew (registration closed)
Led by Judy Katz
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.
CBI Cafe
Sundays, in person at CBI
10:30–11 am Coffee and nosh
11 am–12 pm Presentation and discussion
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The Meaning(s) of Yiddish
Led by Justin Cammy
March 8, CBI Social Hall and livestream
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?
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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.
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Led by Stav Appel
March 22, CBI Library (no stream)
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.
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[REGISTRATION COMING SOON]
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Led by Kenneth Stow
April 19, CBI Social Hall and livestream
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.
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[REGISTRATION COMING SOON]
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Lily Montagu: Spiritual Leader, Activist, Author
Led by Rabbi Rena Kieval
April 26, CBI Social Hall and livestream
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We will explore the life and thought of a remarkable woman from the late 19th-early 20th century, and her impact on the Jewish and general communities in Great Britain and beyond.
Led by Rabbi Rena Kieval, a social worker and rabbi who is mostly retired from her congregation in Albany NY. She continues to write, study and teach, while enjoying time in Northampton with her family and at CBI.
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[REGISTRATION COMING SOON]
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Life Lines: Art, Memory, and Relationship
Led by Joshua Roth
May 3, CBI Social Hall and livestream
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.
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[REGISTRATION COMING SOON]
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Connecting with Unrecognized Villages
Led by David Cohen
May 31, CBI Social Hall (no stream)
Come and hear about the Bedouin community in Israel, particularly the Unrecognized Villages. Learn how Healing Across the Divides is supporting them. Then help us explore ways for CBI to provide direct support to a village.
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[REGISTRATION COMING SOON]
Adult Ed Committee
The Adult Education Committee is comprised of Penina Glazer, Phyllis Eckstein, Larry Fine, Joshua Roth, Dave Gorin, Vivian Bresnitz, Dean Hartshorn, and Clara Rosenberg.