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 possibilities for meeting new people, exchanging ideas, and embracing 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.
The Summer 5784 term features a wide range of classes and special programs. Stay tuned for more information on the classes. Course and program descriptions will specify the venues.
Everyone is welcome to listen, learn, contribute, and share new insights with other members of the Beth Emet community.
Stay tuned for new offerings in the coming months!
Members – Register for all programs Members – Register for adult education courses alone
Non-Members – Register for all programs
Friday's through June | 9:30 am | In-Person and Virtual on Zoom
There are many ways to interpret Torah and its nuances of meaning that are often overlooked. We will continue our learning from last year, reading and interpreting the text of the Book of Deuteronomy line by line. New learners are always welcome.
No Fee for members; non-members fee is $130
Non-Members Register Here
Members Register Here
Thursday, May 9th | 7:00pm| In-person
Join us for a screening of the 2021 documentary Three Minutes: A Lengthening, directed by Bianca Stigler. After the screening, Congregant Jesse Rosenberg will lead a discussion of this remarkable film. Stigler’s documentary is based on the discovery of 3-minutes of footage which provide an emotionally charged, meditative glimpse into the lives of unsuspecting Jewish citizens of Nasielk, a small Polish village, in 1938, just before the onset of World War II.
Friday, May 10th | 11:00 am | In-person & Virtual on Zoom
Is it possible to recover the religious experience of New Christians (Jews who were forcefully baptized to Christianity), also known as crypto-Jews or anusim (“forced ones”), from the thousands of records left by the Spanish Inquisition? In this class, led by Dr. Shai Zamir who is the Sava Ranisavljevic Post-Doctoral Fellow in Judeo-Spanish Studies at Northwestern University, will teach about one of the most notorious institutions of Spanish and Jewish history and read closely a testimony left by a female conversa.
Thursday, May 16th | 7:30pm | In-person & Virtual on Zoom
A continuing lecture-discussion class, led by David Zarefsky, on contemporary public issues of interest to Jews as citizens.
A continuing lecture-discussion class on contemporary public issues of interest to Jews as citizens.
No Fee for members, Non-Members Fee: $10.
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.
Individuals who wish to prepare for an adult Kabbalat Mitzvah (a more gender inclusive term to refer to B’nai Mitzvah), successfully complete Hebrew 1 and Hebrew 2 or an equivalent learning program. They also study for one or two years in a class about Jewish rituals and customs, values, and texts from Torah.
Please contact Marci Dickman, Director of Lifelong Learning, for additional information.
Hebrew is the language of the Torah and the prayer book, and the universal language of the Jewish people. For many, Hebrew is a gateway to Jewish community and study, empowering us spirituality, 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. Hebrew classes meet weekly during the school year in a supportive and stimulating environment. (Scholarships are available.) Classes do not meet during Thanksgiving, Winter or Passover breaks.
November 2 through Mid-May | 10:00 am – 11:00 am
Can you open a Siddur and participate in the synagogue service? Do you want to read the prayers in Hebrew? For learners with no or limited Hebrew language background. This class focuses on mastery of the hebrew alphabet in order to read and understand Hebrew words and phrases in the prayer book and modern usage. Hebrew 1 also connects Hebrew vocabulary with Jewish life, ritual, tradition, and Israel.
Member fee $250; non-member fee $300 (five-student minimum for this class)
NANCY FINK is a Beth Emet congregant who abandoned a budding career as an urban planner to pursue her love of all things Jewish, especially Hebrew. She has worked at Beth Emet’s school community since 1983 as a teacher, mentor, administrator, and is currently the Assistant Principal of Beit Sefer, the K-6 school.
Sunday, October 15 through Mid-May | 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Hebrew 2 is for learners seeking more meaningful participation at services. This class provides opportunities to improve your Hebrew reading fluency while exploring the structure, themes, and key Hebrew vocabulary of the Shabbat morning worship service and its individual prayers. Hebrew 2 also includes basic elements of Hebrew grammar.
Non-member Register Here
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.
Sundays, October 15 through mid-May| 11:00 am – 12:00 pm (Class time may change when in-person)
Hebrew 3 is like an Ulpan that focuses on conversational Hebrew. We read news articles and discuss current events all in Hebrew. The only prerequisite necessary 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.
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 a generous the Jewish Education: Lifelong Learning Opportunities (JELLO) Fund of the Beth Emet Foundation.
Reach out to Marci Dickman, Director of Lifelong Learning.
Contact Marci
