Valley Beit Midrash

Professor Nathaniel Berman, Rahel Varnhagen Professor of International Affairs, Law, and Modern Culture in Brown University’s Religious Studies Department, presents his Valley Beit Midrash lecture "A Poetic Mythology for our Age of Anger? The Furious Emergence of Gods, Devils, and Human Beings in Kabbalah and its Lesson for Today" before an audience at Temple Chai (www.templechai.com/) in Phoenix, AZ. ABOUT THIS SPEAKER: Nathaniel Berman is the Rahel Varnhagen Professor of International Affairs, Law, and Modern Culture in Brown University’s Religious Studies Department. For much of his career, Berman’s scholarship focused on the construction of modern internationalism through its relationships to nationalism, colonialism, and religion. In particular, it has examined early 20th century internationalism as one of the sites of the invention of cultural modernism. Berman’s work on these issues has been broadly interdisciplinary, drawing on literary criticism, cultural studies, post-colonial theory, and religiou

Professor Nathaniel Berman, Rahel Varnhagen Professor of International Affairs, Law, and Modern Culture in Brown University’s Religious Studies Department, presents his Valley Beit Midrash lecture "'But Now God is Not One': Kabbalah as the Cry of a Broken World Longing for Redemption" before an audience at Temple Beth Shalom (tbsaz.org/) in Sun City, AZ. ABOUT THIS SPEAKER: Nathaniel Berman is the Rahel Varnhagen Professor of International Affairs, Law, and Modern Culture in Brown University’s Religious Studies Department. For much of his career, Berman’s scholarship focused on the construction of modern internationalism through its relationships to nationalism, colonialism, and religion. In particular, it has examined early 20th century internationalism as one of the sites of the invention of cultural modernism. Berman’s work on these issues has been broadly interdisciplinary, drawing on literary criticism, cultural studies, post-colonial theory, and religious studies. More recently, Berman’s work has focu

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, President & Dean of Valley Beit Midrash interviews Professor Yair Lorberbaum, a member of the Law Faculty at Bar Ilan University, on the topic of "Rabbinic Understandings of Human Dignity!" DONATE: http://www.bit.ly/1NmpbsP For podcasts of VBM lectures, GO HERE: https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/learning-library https://www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, President & Dean of Valley Beit Midrash interviews Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Amit Orot Shaul, on the topic of "Fair Wages in Halakhic Thought." DONATE: http://www.bit.ly/1NmpbsP For podcasts of VBM lectures, GO HERE: https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/learning-library https://www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, President & Dean of Valley Beit Midrash interviews Professor Ronit Irshai, a Senior Lecturer in the Gender Studies Program at Bar Ilan University, on the topic of "Feminist Halakha & Halakhic Epistemology!" DONATE: http://www.bit.ly/1NmpbsP For podcasts of VBM lectures, GO HERE: https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/learning-library https://www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash

Rabbi Ian Pear of Shir Hadash (shirhadash.wordpress.com/) presents his Valley Beit Midrash lecture "Who Guarantors the Guarantor? How Bankruptcy Law in Halacha Reveals the Essence of the Jewish People" before an audience at Temple Chai (www.templechai.com/) in Phoenix, AZ. ABOUT THIS SPEAKER: Rabbi Chaim (Ian) Pear, a Rabbi, lawyer and social activist living in Jerusalem, is the founder of Shir Hadash, a popular Jerusalem based Synagogue, Educational Institute and Community Center, as well as an expert in Israeli and Jewish environmental law – he worked at Israel’s premier environmental law firm, Laster and Goldman – and a leader in the Spiritual Diplomacy efforts made on behalf of Israel. A one-time aspiring standup comedian, Rabbi Pear received his ordination from Yeshiva University, and holds law degrees from Hebrew University (LLM, with a focus on Mishpat Ivri) and NYU School of Law (JD, with a concentration in international law), and a degree in International Law, Politics and Security from Georgetown U

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, President & Dean of Valley Beit Midrash interviews Rabbanit Rivkah Lubitch, a board member for the Center for Women's Justice, on the topic of "The Chief Rabbinate's Control Over Women!" DONATE: http://www.bit.ly/1NmpbsP For podcasts of VBM lectures, GO HERE: https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/learning-library https://www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, President & Dean of Valley Beit Midrash interviews Rabbi Aryeh Bernstein, Director of the Justice Fellowship in Chicago, on the topic of "Are We Responsible for the Sins of our Ancestors?" DONATE: http://www.bit.ly/1NmpbsP For podcasts of VBM lectures, GO HERE: https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/learning-library https://www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash

Rabbi Aryeh Bernstein, Director of the Justice Fellowship in Chicago, presents his Valley Beit Midrash lecture "There’s a Riot Goin’ On”: Violence in Rabbinic Thought" before an audience at Temple Chai (www.templechai.com/) in Phoenix, AZ. ABOUT THIS SPEAKER: Rabbi Aryeh Bernstein is the Director of the Justice Fellowship in Chicago, where he also works as Educational Consultant for the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, Staff Educator for Farm Forward’s Jewish Initiative for Animals, and Coordinator and Teacher for Mishkan Chicago’s Social Justice Beit Midrash. He has taught at Hadar, Drisha, Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, the TAKUM social justice beit midrash, and campuses, communities, and organizations around the U.S. and Israel. He is a Senior Editor of Jewschool.com. DONATE: www.bit.ly/1NmpbsP LEARNING MATERIALS: https://bit.ly/2PxBo1p For more info, please visit: www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash/ www.facebook.com/temple.chai twitter.com/VBMTorah www.facebook.com/RabbiShmulyYanklowitz/ Music: "They Say" b

Rabbi Aryeh Bernstein, Director of the Justice Fellowship in Chicago, presents his Valley Beit Midrash lecture "The Torah Case for Reparations" before an audience at Temple Chai (www.templechai.com/) in Phoenix, AZ. ABOUT THIS SPEAKER: Rabbi Aryeh Bernstein is the Director of the Justice Fellowship in Chicago, where he also works as Educational Consultant for the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, Staff Educator for Farm Forward’s Jewish Initiative for Animals, and Coordinator and Teacher for Mishkan Chicago’s Social Justice Beit Midrash. He has taught at Hadar, Drisha, Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, the TAKUM social justice beit midrash, and campuses, communities, and organizations around the U.S. and Israel. He is a Senior Editor of Jewschool.com. DONATE: www.bit.ly/1NmpbsP LEARNING MATERIALS: https://bit.ly/2E7PIbK For more info, please visit: www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash/ www.facebook.com/temple.chai twitter.com/VBMTorah www.facebook.com/RabbiShmulyYanklowitz/ Music: "They Say" by WowaMusik, a public

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, President & Dean of Valley Beit Midrash interviews Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum, the Founder of ZION: An Eretz Israeli Congregation, on the topic of "A New Synagogue Model in Israel." DONATE: http://www.bit.ly/1NmpbsP For podcasts of VBM lectures, GO HERE: https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/learning-library https://www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash

Professor Marc Dollinger, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Chair, Social Responsibility at San Francisco State University, presents his lecture "Black Power, Jewish Politics: Reinventing the Alliance in the 1960s" before an audience at Temple Solel (www.templesolel.org/) in Paradise Valley, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Professor Dollinger’s most recent book, Black Power, Jewish Politics: Reinventing The Alliance In The 1960s, takes a new and different look at Jewish involvement in the civil rights movement, showing how American Jews leveraged the Black Power movement to increase Jewish ethnic and religious identity in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Join us as we explore never-before-seen historical documents that reveal a story that’s been hidden from view for over half a century. With so much contemporary interest in Black Lives Matter and larger questions of race and justice, we’ll explore a fascinating and surprising Jewish past. DONATE: bit.ly/1NmpbsP For more info, please visit:
 www.facebook.com/valleybei

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, President & Dean of Valley Beit Midrash interviews Professor Marc Dollinger, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Chair, Social Responsibility at San Francisco State University (https://jewish.sfsu.edu/), on the topic of "Campus Anti-Semitism from the Right & Left!" DONATE: http://www.bit.ly/1NmpbsP For podcasts of VBM lectures, GO HERE: https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/learning-library https://www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash

Professor Marc Dollinger, chard and Rhoda Goldman Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility at San Francisco State University, presents his lecture "Jews and Whiteness" before an audience at Congregation Beth Israel (www.cbiaz.org/) in Scottsdale, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Are American Jews white? The question, answered differently by different generations of American Jews, gets at the heart of American Jewish identity. Have Jews remained separate and distinct from the rest of middle-class America or have they assimilated so much that they have become white? Come explore the contentious history and sociology of Jews and racial definition. We’ll journey back to the 1960s and discover some (surprising) insights into the debate over Jewish whiteness. DONATE: bit.ly/1NmpbsP For more info, please visit: www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash/ www.facebook.com/cbiaz twitter.com/VBMTorah www.facebook.com/RabbiShmulyYanklowitz/ Music: "They Say" by WowaMusik, a public domain track from the YouTube Audi

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, President & Dean of Valley Beit Midrash interviews Dr. Eddy Portnoy, Academic Advisor & Exhibitions Curator at YIVO Institute for Jewish Research (https://www.yivo.org/), on the topic of "Jewish Psychics & Clairvoyants!" DONATE: http://www.bit.ly/1NmpbsP For podcasts of VBM lectures, GO HERE: https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/lea... https://www.facebook.com/valleybeitmi...

Dr. Eddy Portnoy, academic adviser for the Max Weinreich Center and exhibition curator at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research (www.yivo.org/) presents his Valley Beit Midrash lecture The "The Bizarre Tales of Yiddishland: What the Yiddish Press Reveals about the Jews" before an audience at Congregation Or Tzion (www.congregationortzion.org) in Scottsdale, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: An underground history of downwardly mobile Jews, Eddy Portnoy’s new book Bad Rabbi and Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press mines century-old Yiddish newspapers to expose the seamy underbelly of pre-WWII New York and Warsaw, the two major centers of Yiddish culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One part Isaac Bashevis Singer, one part Jerry Springer, this irreverent, unvarnished, and frequently hilarious compendium of stories provides a window into an unknown Yiddish world that was. DONATE: bit.ly/1NmpbsP LEARNING MATERIALS: https://bit.ly/37FxnAp For more info, please visit:
 www.facebook.com/vall

Dr. Eddy Portnoy, academic adviser for the Max Weinreich Center and exhibition curator at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research (https://www.yivo.org/) presents his Valley Beit Midrash lecture The "Distorted Mirror: What Yiddish Cartoons Reveal about Jewish Life in the early 20th Century" before an audience at Temple Beth Shalom (https://tbsaz.org/) in Sun City, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: For many centuries, Jews were the target of antisemitic visuals, images that framed them negatively as one-dimensional figures. It is only with the advent of the Yiddish press that Jewish artists began to develop a visual language with which they were able to describe their own communities. Yiddish cartoons became a unique forum that considered all aspects of cultural and political life, as well as a number of little known scandals that occurred in Yiddish-speaking communities which historians have mostly ignored. DONATE: bit.ly/1NmpbsP LEARNING MATERIALS: Forthcoming For more info, please visit:
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Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, President & Dean of Valley Beit Midrash, interviews Professor Menachem Lorberbaum, Vice Dean of Humanities and Professor of Jewish Philosophy at Tel Aviv University, on the topic of "The Jewish Political Tradition: What Is The Model Jewish Form of Government?" DONATE: http://www.bit.ly/1NmpbsP For podcasts of VBM lectures, GO HERE: https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/learning-library https://www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, President & Dean of Valley Beit Midrash interviews Professor Paul Nahme, Dorot Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies and Religious Studies at Brown University, on the topic of "Black and Jewish Expressions of Freedom." DONATE: http://www.bit.ly/1NmpbsP For podcasts of VBM lectures, GO HERE: https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/learning-library https://www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, President & Dean of Valley Beit Midrash interviews Rabbi Dr. Alon Goshen-Gottstein, the founder and director of the Elijah Interfaith Institute (http://elijah-interfaith.org/), on the topic of "On Religious Pluralism and 'Truth.'" DONATE: http://www.bit.ly/1NmpbsP For podcasts of VBM lectures, GO HERE: https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/learning-library https://www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash