A virtual class series hosted by Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz

ABOUT THE CLASS:

Discover the depth, drama, and enduring wisdom of the Talmud in this inspiring new Valley Beit Midrash 20-part Zoom series with Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz: “20 Talmudic Stories Every Jew Should Know.” Each class brings to life a powerful narrative from the Talmud—stories of courage, curiosity, compassion, conflict, and transformation. Rabbi Yanklowitz will guide participants through the historical context, spiritual meaning, and ethical challenges embedded in each tale, revealing how these ancient narratives still speak urgently to the modern Jewish experience. Whether you’re a seasoned learner or brand new to Talmud study, you’ll find yourself captivated by the richness and relevance of these stories.

More than just storytelling, this series is an invitation to think, question, and grow. Each session will open space for thoughtful discussion, personal reflection, and practical takeaways that can elevate daily life, relationships, and spiritual practice. Come connect with a vibrant community of learners, deepen your understanding of Jewish tradition, and be energized by Rabbi Yanklowitz’s uniquely passionate, inclusive, and justice-centered approach to Torah. These are stories that shape who we are—and who we can become. Join us and let them inspire you.

All are held over Zoom every Tuesday at 10am PT (1pm ET).

Cost: $360 for the whole series, free for VBM members

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz is the President & Dean of Valley Beit Midrash.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Natan Margalit

Please note event times are listed in PT

EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: Temple Emanuel

ABOUT THE EVENT:

Either/Or dilemmas such as Universal versus Tribal, Us versus Them, Culture versus Nature, and more only keep us stuck in conflict and confusion. But Judaism's core mode of thought is not either/or, it's nested, fractal and leads us to the kinds of both/and solutions that we need today.  We'll explore the ways that Jewish wisdom of nestedness in our traditions, rituals and texts can lead us to hold the complexity of Jewishness and universal values, of human progress and caring for the natural world,  and of finding the balance between individual freedom and communal bonds.  

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Natan Margalit was raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. As a young adult he lived for twelve years in Israel and received rabbinic ordination at The Jerusalem Seminary in 1990. He earned a Ph.D. in Talmud from UC Berkeley in 2001. Natan has taught at Bard College, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. He is currently the Dean of Faculty and a member of the Va’ad (steering committee and core faculty) of the Aleph Ordination Program, and serves as chair of their Rabbinic Texts department. Natan is the author of The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking. He is the founder of Organic Torah, fostering holistic thinking about Judaism, environment and society, which is a program of Aleph: Alliance for Renewal.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Jack Riemer

Please note event times are listed in PT

ABOUT THE EVENT:

In this class, we will compare and contrast the Declaration of Independence with Jewish statements that are similar to it and explore how Rashi might have interpreted some of the key phrases in the Declaration.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Rabbi Jack Riemer is now retired after serving as the spiritual leader of congregations in Ohio, California, and Florida. He is the author of six books of Jewish thought and of a three volume commentary on the High Holy Day prayerbook. 

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Dr. Alan Brill

EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: BMH-BJ

Please note event times are listed in PT

ABOUT THE EVENT:

The 21st-century Kabbalistic approaches to AI offer optimistic utopian approaches based on the writings of Sefer Yetzirah and Rabbi Isaac Luria. Secular innovators of AI at MIT who see the world as informational and AI as creativity, authors in Jewish thought who see the world as the Lurianic network, and rabbis who treat the new informational era as the unfolding of the divine mind and even a messianic fulfillment. 

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Rabbi Prof. Alan Brill is the Cooperman/Ross Chair for Jewish-Christian Studies at Seton Hall University. Brill is an expert on Jewish thought and interfaith relations. He is the author of many books including Judaism and World Religions: Christianity, Islam, and Eastern Religions (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), Judaism and Other Religions: Models of Understanding (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010). Brill received a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh in India. He was a keynote speaker at the R-20 conference held in Indonesia, This research produced his recent volume Rabbi on the Ganges: A Jewish Hindu Encounter (Lexington Books, 2019). His recently published book is A Jewish Trinity: Contemporary Christian Theology Through Jewish Eyes (Fortress Press, 2025).

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Marc Gitler

Please note event times are listed in MT

ABOUT THE EVENT:

From Abraham shattering his father's idols to the challenges we face today, the Jewish tradition has always called us to question what our society holds sacred. Join Rabbi Marc Gitler for a thought-provoking class exploring how the ancient practice of "smashing idols" speaks directly to our modern moment — the false certainties, distractions, and misplaced values that shape contemporary life. Together we'll draw on Torah, commentary, and Jewish thought to ask what idols we might need to smash today.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Rabbi Marc Gitler serves as Senior Jewish Educator for Valley Beit Midrash and is the visiting Rabbi of Aish SanDiego. A recipient of the Wexner Fellowship, he was ordained at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. The founder of Fast for Feast, he lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife Sarah and their four children.

A virtual presentation by Dr. Marc Dollinger

Please note event times are listed in PT

EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: TEMPLE SOLEL, ASU CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES

ABOUT THE EVENT:

One of the thorniest questions in contemporary American Jewish life, the boundaries between anti-Israelism, anti-Zionism, and antisemitism are now the subject of university policy debates as well as proposed state and federal action. This presentation offers historical background into each category, outlining the points of debate in this highly-contentious subject.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Dr. Marc Dollinger holds the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility at San Francisco State University. Dr. Dollinger currently serves on the executive board of the Union for Reform Judaism. He is also board president of URJ Camp Newman. Professor Dollinger has spoken about his research with the CEO of the NAACP on CNN as well as the CNN-podcast “Silence Is Not An Option,” the PBS docu-series Black and Jews: An Interwoven Alliance, the NFL Network, ESPN, and Germany’s National Public Radio. Just for fun, Dr. Dollinger helped actress Helen Hunt learn about her Jewish roots on the prime-time NBC show, “Who Do You Think You Are?”

A virtual event presentation by Rabba Aliza Libman Baronofsky

Please note event times are listed in PT

ABOUT THE EVENT:

The mishna was written during a time period that included the destruction of the second temple and the Bar Kochba Revolt. The 63 tractates of the mishna include the rabbis' origin story for rabbinic Judaism and many clues about the world it was written in. We'll explore mishnas that give us explicit information about the early rabbinic period as well as hints about the groundbreaking changes happening in the Jewish world at the time.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Rabba Aliza Libman Baronofsky is a career educator who teaches Jewish text and mathematics at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. In the summer, she works as a teacher and Rabba at Camp Yavneh in Northwood, NH. She is the host of the podcast “Mishna Accomplished.”

A virtual event presentation by Dr. Paul Franks

Please note event times are listed in PT

EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: BMH-BJ

ABOUT THE EVENT:

What is kavanah — usually translated as “intention” — in the performance of mitzvot?  What, in particular, is kavanah in Jewish prayer?  Often used but rarely explained, the term will be illuminated by means of the speech act theory of the great Oxford philosopher and architect of the Normandy invasion, J. L. Austin (1911-60), articulated most famously in his 1955 William James Lectures at Harvard, later published as How to Do Things with Words.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Paul Franks is the Robert F. and Patricia Ross Weis Professor of Philosophy and Jewish Studies, and the Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Yale University. Educated at Gateshead Yeshiva, Oxford and Harvard, he has taught at Indiana University, Notre Dame, and Toronto, and has been visiting professor at Chicago, Leuven, and Hebrew University.  He works on post-Kantian philosophy, Jewish philosophy and kabbalah.  Among his publications are Franz Rosenzweig: Philosophical and Theological Writings, and All or Nothing: Systematicity, Transcendental Arguments, and Skepticism in German Idealism.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Karyn Kedar

Please note event times are listed in PT

EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: Congregation Ner Tamid

ABOUT THE EVENT:

Join Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar for a 45-minute exploration of her award-winning book, Unfolding: A High Holy Day Companion. Drawing from meditations, poetry, reflections, retellings of Talmudic and Hasidic stories, and lyrical encounters with prayer and scripture, Rabbi Kedar will share insights from the book and offer selections that illuminate the path through the months of Av and Elul, Rosh HaShanah, the Ten Days of Repentance, and Yom Kippur.

Together, we will reflect on themes of grief, longing, forgiveness, repentance, and renewal, discovering how ancient wisdom and contemporary spiritual practice can help us navigate this season with greater depth and compassion. Whether this year’s High Holy Days were your first or you have new questions about familiar rituals, this gathering will offer inspiration on how to carry forward the lessons of the holidays into the new year ahead.

Books are available for purchase at a 20% discount for participants. More details will be shared upon registration. 

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Karyn Kedar is a gifted writer and teacher. She inspires people of all backgrounds and faiths to live intentionally, find beauty and purpose in everyday moments, and cultivate a life of spiritual depth, meaning, compassion, and purpose. Through poetic reflections and practical insights, she guides others to navigate life’s complexities with grace and deepen their connection to their essential self and to others.

As the author of six non-fiction books, everything she writes—whether poetry, liturgy, or essays—is an invitation to pause, to contemplate, and to awaken the spirit.

Her newest work, Unfolding: A High Holy Day Companion, invites readers to sit on the edge of what they know and explore the mysteries of forgiveness, beauty, and spiritual renewal.

Her books, teachings, and retreats explore the shared human experiences of love, struggle, forgiveness, resilience, and the search for meaning. She invites us to “come to the edge of what you know and sit a while.”

Karyn lives with her husband Ezra in the Chicago area. Their children and six grandchildren are making their way in life in both the United States and Israel.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Steven M. Bob

Please note event times are listed in PT

EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: Congregation Or Tzion

ABOUT THE EVENT:

The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell the story of the return to Jerusalem from the first exile in ancient Babylonia. These books contain the foundational ideas for our modern sense of Jewish identity and key elements of our Jewish lives. The public reading of the Torah begins with Ezra reading from the scroll before the community in Jerusalem. In these books we will meet the first people to think of themselves as Jews. Jewish holidays take shape during the beginning of this period, as does the Jewish calendar. Ezra and Nehemiah are the first biblical books to use the names on the months that we use today, like Elul and Kislev.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Rabbi Steven M. Bob was Senior Rabbi of Congregation Etz Chaim in Lombard, IL for 35 years. Rabbi Bob serves as a Guest faculty member at Wheaton College and as an Instructor at the Hebrew Seminary for the Hearing and the Deaf. He is a leader of the faculty of Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute. His newest book is When Judaism Began: Exploring the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah (2026). He is also the author of Go to Nineveh (2013) and Jonah and the Meaning of Our Lives (2016) and Ha'aretz named Rabbi Bob as one of the 36 American Jews who helped shape the 2008 Presidential election.