Adult Education and Programming

Lifelong learning is at the core of Beth Emet’s values.

Beth Emet is a diverse community of individuals with different viewpoints, backgrounds, and a broad range of Jewish learning experiences.

Beth Emet Adult Programming offers exciting opportunities to meet new people, exchange ideas, and embrace Jewish history, ritual, and culture.

Our classes are taught by experienced clergy, teachers, and lay leaders from Beth Emet and the larger Jewish community. Offerings range from one-time events to yearlong classes; some have fees, and scholarships are available.

click here for previous class recordings

5785 | 2024


Everyone is invited to listen, learn, contribute, and share new insights with fellow members of the Beth Emet community.

Look out for exciting new offerings in the months ahead.

  • Registration is required for each offering, including classes and programs without fees.
  • When appropriate, you will receive Zoom links to classes after registration. You must register beforehand to ensure you will be given a Zoom link.
  • Members and Non-Members can register for individual classes at the links found on our calendar.

Check back often for updates!

 Check back often for updated class lists! If there are any issues with registration, please get in touch with communications.

 

Did you miss a class? If it was virtual, we have all our virtual programs recorded! You can access our YouTube channel here to watch all recordings of previous classes that were recorded.


Series: Fridays, October 25 - June 6 | 9:30 - 10:30 am | In-person and Virtual

Member registration  Guest Registration

There are many ways to interpret our Tanach and its nuances of meaning that are often overlooked. Having completed our close look at Torah this past May, we turn to N’viim / Prophets, beginning with Joshua. New learners are always welcome.


Friday, March 21 and March 28 | 11:00 am | In-person and Virtual

Members Register Here | Guest Register Here

It may be difficult to be kind and compassionate in the midst of uncertainty, injustice, racism, poverty, and severe climate crises across the planet. Yet each week we have Shabbat, our time for taking in all the experiences of the week and a time of consolidation and contemplation. Shabbat can be a day of mindfulness to appreciate the goodness in our lives and our amazing, beautiful world — a time to refresh, to recenter, and to reflect. Every week, we have the opportunity to cultivate a Shabbat of gratitude and kindness so we can face the world and respond with a wise heart of generosity and forgiveness.

Rabbi Dr. Rivkah (Roberta) Glick is a neurosurgeon, teacher, mother, wife, rabbi, and pursuer of peace. She began her career working with the poor and taking care of people with brain tumors and severe trauma on the west side of Chicago at Cook County and Mount Sinai Hospitals. Thirty years later, she took a sabbatical, in part to immerse herself more fully in the study of Jewish texts and meditation, here and in Israel. Today, she is a rabbi, an important stop on her spiritual path of connection to herself, to others, and to the Divine. Her aspiration is to bring kindness and compassion into the world.


Series: Mondays, last class: April 28 | 7:30-9:00 pm | In-person and Virtual

Member Registration  Guest Registration

 

A continuing lecture-discussion class on contemporary public issues of interest to Jews as citizens. The November 11 session will focus on interpretation of the 2024 election results.

David Zarefsky is the Owen L. Coon Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies at Northwestern University, specializing in argumentation and the analysis and criticism of American political discourse. He is a former president of the National Communication Association, the Rhetoric Society of America, and the Central States Communication Association. In 2012 he received the Lifetime Teaching Excellence Award from the National Communication Association. David is a past president of Beth Emet.


Series: Thursdays | Next class: February 20, March 20, May 8 | 7:15-8:30 pm | Virtual

Member Registration  Guest Registration

Speaking from our hearts, finding greater equanimity and balance in turbulent times – not easy to do. We will use poetry, songs and lyrics, Jewish text, and our own experiences to reflect on ourselves, and to explore our reactions to the world around us. This class is open to all and will follow the pattern of Nourishing our Souls. All classes will be virtual. Come with an intent to listen, to learn and to share.


Friday, March 7 | 11:30 am - 2:00 pm | In-person and Virtual

During World War II, approximately 120,000 people of Japanese descent were forcibly moved to and incarcerated in internment camps located in remote areas of the Midwest and western United States. About two-thirds of them were American citizens.

Tour a special exhibition at the Holocaust Museum of eight artists who are Sansei (third-generation) Japanese Americans. The exhibit reflects the impact the imprisonment had from generation to generation after the camps were closed. Much of the work reflects the artists’ pain, often suppressed by their elders.

Have lunch – or a snack – with other participants prior to seeing the exhibit. We will meet at Sweet Basil Café (inside Hampton Inn & Suites on Old Orchard Rd in Skokie.) at 11:30 am. For those joining us for lunch, please email Barbara Berngard.  Participants will pay for admission to the Museum.

  • Adults: $18
  • Seniors (65+): $1

Thursday, April 10 | 7:30 pm | In-person

Members Register Here | Guest Register Here

Zionism has evolved from its early days in the late 1800s, encompassing differing doctrines as well as the emergence of anti-Zionism. Dr.Hillel will explain the evolution of the political movements in the late 1800s to the 1948 establishment of Israel, including whether Zionism is a nationalist movement or settler colonialism. Then, the focus will be on the evolution of these political movements from Israel’s 1967 war victory, bringing occupied territories, through the present.


Monday, April 7 | 7:00 pm | In-person and Virtual

Between 1880 and 1914, almost two million Jews from the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires immigrated to the United States. This migration marks an important shift in modern Jewish history because it turned the United States from a peripheral to a major center of Jewish life.

Before 1914, Congress passed several immigration bills.  While hardly any Europeans were excluded, non-white migrants were not welcome.  American Jewish leaders protested Chinese exclusion early on because they grasped the threat of nativism in a period of rising antisemitism and calls for immigration restrictions.  In 1917, Congress overrode President Wilson’s veto and passed the literacy test bill. Jewish leaders were able to mitigate the bill – the test could be administered in Hebrew and Yiddish.   However, the national origin quota acts, passed in 1921 and 1924, drastically reduced Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe.


Sunday, May 4 | 2:30 pm | In-person (offsite)

Members Register Here

Guests Register Here

In 1944, a Jewish couple in Paris awaits news of their missing family. Seventy years later, their descendants face the same question: “Are we safe?” Spanning five generations, Prayer for the French Republic is a sweeping, darkly funny exploration of history, identity, and survival. Don’t miss the Chicago premiere of this powerful play, blending sharp humor and profound drama in a story as timely as it is timeless.

Buy your tickets soon for the May 4 performance at 2:30 pm, as seats are limited. Please also register above for the post- show dinner directly following the performance.


Learn Hebrew with Beth Emet

Register for all classes here

Hebrew is the language of the Torah, the prayer book, and the universal language of the Jewish people. For many, Hebrew is a gateway to Jewish community and study, empowering us spiritually, intellectually, and socially and connecting us with people in Israel, around the world, and fellow learners here at Beth Emet. Now is a good time to learn to read Hebrew or improve the Hebrew skills you already have in a supportive and stimulating environment. Our Hebrew classes meet weekly during the school year, except during Thanksgiving, winter break, and Passover. Scholarships are available do not let cost prevent you from participating. Contact Marci Dickman if you are interested in private lessons.

Introduction to Hebrew

Sundays, October 27 through Mid-May | 11:00 am – 12:00 pm

An opportunity for learners with no or limited Hebrew background to become familiar with the Hebrew alphabet, how to sound out Hebrew words, and begin to develop reading fluency. You will also acquire some basic Hebrew vocabulary that connects us to Jewish life, ritual, tradition, and Israel. This class meets a requirement for Adult Kabbalat Mitzvah.

Siddur (Prayerbook) Hebrew with Bluma Stoller

Sundays, October 27 through Mid-May | 12:15 pm – 1:15 pm

Are you seeking to participate more meaningfully in services? This class will continue to develop Hebrew reading fluency while exploring the vocabulary, structure, and themes of Shabbat worship services and individual prayers. It meets a requirement for Adult Kabbalat Mitzvah.

Bluma Stoller is a Beth Emet congregant and a graduate of Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary. She was the North American Director of Academic Affairs for Tel Aviv University and was the recipient of Hillel International’s Exemplar of Excellence Award for her commitment to social justice and tikkun olam. She has held leadership positions in major Jewish organizations, including Project Otzma and the JCRC of Greater Boston.

Conversational Hebrew with Dorit Flat

Sundays, October 27 through mid-May | 11:00 am – 12:00 pm (Class time may change when in-person)

Learn spoken Hebrew in an Ulpan-like setting. We will read news articles and discuss current events, all in Hebrew. The only prerequisite is basic Hebrew reading skills.

Dorit Flatt is the daughter of Holocaust survivors and grew up in Tel-Aviv, Israel. After completing her IDF service in the paratrooper unit, she studied elementary education at Seminar Levinsky in Tel-Aviv. She holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Michigan, and taught Hebrew language, literature, and religious studies in Michigan for twenty-five years.

 

Hebrew A Second Time Around with Bluma Stoller

Tuesdays, October 29 – November 26 | 10:30 – 11:30 am

You can sound out Hebrew words, but not as well as you’d like. This five-week crash course will review the rules and techniques for more confident Hebrew reading, and an opportunity to practice.


Beth Emet Adult Programming is supported in part by a generous grant from the David D. Polk and Marian Polk Fried Adult Jewish Studies Fund of the Beth Emet Foundation

Beth Emet Adult Programming is also supported in part by the generosity of the Jewish Education: Lifelong Learning Opportunities (JELLO) Fund of the Beth Emet Foundation.

Whether you’re considering taking a class or two (or three!), or have an idea for a topic, we’d love to hear from you!

Reach out to Marci Dickman, Director of Lifelong Learning.

Contact Marci