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Fear, Trauma, and the High Holidays: Reading Ancient Texts with Compassion

Aug 24, 2026 By Naomi Kalish | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Rosh Hashanah

In this session, Rabbi Naomi Kalish, Director of the Program in Spiritual Care and Counseling, ¹û¶³´«Ã½, will explore how the themes of fear and trauma surface throughout the High Holidays, with particular attention to the banishment of Hagar and Ishmael, the binding of Isaac,¯and the recurring language of the Psalms.

Objects of Awe: The Meaning of the High HolidaysThrough Treasures from the ¹û¶³´«Ã½ Library

Aug 17, 2026 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur

What can a medieval prayer book, one of the earliest printed Hebrew mahzorim, and a set of century-old baseball card sized boxing cards teach us about the High Holidays? These three remarkable objects from The ¹û¶³´«Ã½ Library demonstrate how Jewish communities across the centuries have expressed themes of kingship, tradition, strength, repentance, and renewal.

Deuteronomy and the Separation of Powers¯

Jun 29, 2026 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Part of the series “America at 250: Jewish Ideas and the American Experiment”   Download Sources WithDr. Benjamin D. Sommer,Professor ofBibleand Ancient Semitic Languages, ¹û¶³´«Ã½ The core of democracy as understood by the framers of the United States Constitution understood it was not just majority rule, but the separation of powers and the rule of law. […]

¹û¶³´«Ã½ High Holiday Webinars 2026

Join ¹û¶³´«Ã½ this August for a special webinar series to help prepare for the Days of Awe. Through conversations with ¹û¶³´«Ã½ scholars, we will explore themes that shape the High Holiday season, including fear and resilience, prayer and liturgy, and the enduring wisdom of Jewish texts and traditions. These sessions will offer fresh perspectives, thoughtful reflection, and practical insights to help deepen your experience of the High Holidays.

One Nation Under God? Heschel, Niebuhr, King and the Intersection of Religion and Politics in America

Jun 22, 2026 By Arnold M. Eisen | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Part of the series “America at 250: Jewish Ideas and the American Experiment”   Download Recommended Resources With Dr. Arnold Eisen, Chancellor Emeritus; Professor of Jewish Thought, ¹û¶³´«Ã½, and E.J. Dionne, Journalist, Harriman Chair in American Governance, Brookings Institute A frank and wide-ranging conversation between two admirers of these great religious leaders ¯about the fateful linkage of politics to prophecy in America from the […]

The Changing Landscape of Jewish American Literature

Jun 15, 2026 By Benjamin Resnick | Public Event video | Video Lecture

For decades, Jewish American literature was defined by giants like Roth, Bellow, Malamud, and Ozick, whose novels explored assimilation and the immigrant experience. But what defines Jewish American writing today? Author and ¹û¶³´«Ã½ alum Rabbi Benjamin Resnickreflectson how the field has changed and asks whether the Jewish American novel still exists in the way readers once understood it.

Jewish Storytelling and American Lawin Post-WWII America

Jun 8, 2026 By Shira Billet | Public Event video | Video Lecture

In the decades after World War II, Jewish American legal thinkers began drawing on biblical and rabbinic stories to help explore fundamental questions of constitutional interpretation. The work of Robert Cover in the 1980s, first developed in the context of the Vietnam war, is the most famous and influential example. Butlesser-knownfigures such as Edmund Cahn and ¹û¶³´«Ã½ professor Shalom Spiegel began developing this discourse in the context of the postwar moment in 1950s America, and the civil rights movement thatemergedin its wake.

Hard Cases: Facing Law Challenges in American Legal Theory and Rabbinic Literature

Jun 1, 2026 By Sarah Wolf | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Part of the series “America at 250: Jewish Ideas and the American Experiment”   Download Sources With Dr. Sarah Wolf, Assistant Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, ¹û¶³´«Ã½ How do judges settle cases when there is no clear right answer? How are precedents mined for new rulings? Should laws be the product of a legislator own creativity, or are […]