*Please also check our Weekly Mail and Monthly Bulletin for the latest on Adult Ed classes we are offering and for registration details.
We invite you to experience Judaism on a new level. You can take a year-long course or a single class, come to a three-session series or attend a once-a-month discussion group. Classes, lectures, concerts, and tours are all opportunities to deepen your connection to Judaism. We offer classes at all levels of learning. You are welcome to participate in any course or event whatevver your prior Jewish educational background. Our clergy, teachers, and guest speakers are dedicated to helping you develop and strengthen your relationship to Judaism.
Read about upcoming FALL 2024 classes and register classes below!
Beginning Conversational Hebrew - LEVEL 2
Instructor: Orly
Tuesdays, November 12, 19, 26 & December 3, 10 & 17
6:30- 7:30 pm in Person
Some previous knowledge of Hebrew is required as this is Level 2 of Beginners Hebrew. Our Israeli method of teaching is for all Hebrew language skills: speaking, comprehension, reading, and writing.
Cost: $120 Members, $150 Non-Members
Ready to register? Sign up here
What is Jewish Art?
Instructor: Ilona Rashkow
Mondays, October 21, 28, November 4, 11
7:00- 8:00 pm ON ZOOM
"Is there a Jewish art?” Where many books and exhibitions have attempted to formulate definitions of Jewish art, in this course we will take a different approach. Rather than pinning the concept of Jewish art on a particular subject, style, or group of artists, we will use the imprecision of the term to reflect on the multiple ways in which Jewish identity has surfaced within, and been influenced by, visual art. We will begin by examining attitudes towards art in the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud, debunking the myth that Judaism is inherently opposed to “graven images,” or bereft of a visual tradition. Moving through the medieval period and the Renaissance, we will look at Jewish ceremonial art, manuscripts, and synagogues, with a particular eye to how Jews adopted—and adapted—Muslim and Christian practices. Turning to modern Jewish art, we will survey the work of several prominent Jewish artists including Amedeo Modigliani, Marc Chagall, Mark Rothko, R.B. Kitaj, and Judy Chicago. Our aim will be not only to familiarize ourselves with the works of such artists, but to see how they might open up new approaches to gender, sexuality, nationality, and other key elements of contemporary Jewish identity
Ilona Rashkow, PhD, is an Adjunct Associate Professor within Center for Applied Liberal Arts and is a specialist in Judaic Studies and Ancient Near Eastern Literature. She is Professor Emerita at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Among her book publications are Taboo or Not Taboo: The Hebrew Bible and Human Sexuality; The Phallacy of Genesis: A Feminist-Psychoanalytic Approach; Upon the Dark Places: Sexism and Anti-Semitism in English Renaissance Biblical Translation; and numerous academic journal articles. She presents papers routinely at national and international academic conferences and has been the Visiting Aaron Aronoff Chair in Judaic Studies at the University of Alabama as well as a Visiting Research Scholar at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Suggested Donation $54
Ready to register? Sign up here
Songs of the Heart:
An Introduction to the Book of Psalms
Instructor: Rabbi Alder
Mondays, 7:00 pm | November 25, December 2, 9, & 16
In person at Brotherhood
The biblical Book of Psalms are poems of faith
that portray the inner spiritual struggles of people
as they grapple with adversity, bare their souls,
display their anxieties, admit their doubts, rail
against injustice, revel in joy and proclaim their
thankfulness. We will study a representative
sample of psalms that typify these different genres
and also find their way into our prayer books.
Suggested Donation $54
Ready to register? Sign up here
Harmoni-AH! – The Brotherhood Synagogue Congregational Choir
with Cantor Isaac Yager and Meredeth Kelly
Tuesdays, 6:00-7:30pm in Person Beginning September 3
Jewish music offers a rich selection of choral music that can greatly enhance our spiritual experience. After strengthening our group sound through listening and vocal exercises, the choir will begin to tap into some of this music in a manner that is accessible for participants with advanced or no musical background. The choir will also have opportunities to perform this music for the community throughout the year, performance dates TBD. Our congregational choir is open to everyone at all levels of experience.
Please email Cantor Yager directly if you are interested in newly participating. You can also sign up here.
Lunch & Learn with Cantor Isaac Yager
Thursdays ongoing, 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm in Person and on Zoom Starting September 12
Join us for lunch on Thursdays as we discuss, learn, and engage in Jewish textual study, specifically the Parashat Hashavuah (weekly Torah reading). Following in the footsteps of the generations that preceded us, we will continue the long legacy of commenting and intellectually dissecting Jewish texts from the Torah, the book of Prophets, and other holy texts. Questions will be encouraged and debate is inevitable. This will be an inclusive, non judgmental learning environment where everyone's voice will have equal value. No prior text study is required. All are welcome to attend and participate.
Conversion Class with Cantor Isaac Yager
Wednesdays ongoing, 6:30 - 7:30 pm in Person Starting September 4
“For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”
Book of Ruth, Chapter 1
In the spirit in which Ruth was welcomed into the Jewish community, Brotherhood Synagogue offers conversion classes to those interested in joining the Jewish faith. Classes run from October through June and meet on Wednesdays from 6:30-7:30 in person at the synagogue. Our first class date will be TBD. Admission to the class is accepted on a rolling basis based on the individual, all experience levels with Judaism are welcome to inquire. Conversion classes are provided at no cost, though participants are requested to make a donation to Brotherhood Synagogue in an amount of their choosing at the end of the conversion process. Please contact Cantor Yager or Rabbi Alder if you are interested in the program.