Learning

Join us for late night learning on the the eve of Shavuot. Hosted in the Kravetz home, we welcome new and familiar faces to sit and learn together. Here is the schedule: 11:00 PM Rachel Kravetz - The Value of Intergenerational Friendship: Learning from relationships in Megillat Rut 11:25 PM Rabbi Rachel Salston - Alternative Kevurah Methods, Conservative Halakhah, and a Lifelong Obsession with Disrupting the American Funeral Industry 11:50 PM to 12:10 AM Break 12:10 AM Oren Kravetz - Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim: How are they different, how are the similar? 12:30AM Dylan Kurlansky -  Mindset or Minutiae: The conflict of Klal Gadol BaTorah being a mindset vs the sometimes overbearing minutiae of halachic observance

Join us for our monthly Shabbat morning davening complete with Tot Shabbat, Junior Congregation, babysitting, and a delicious kiddush for the entire community. We are honored to welcome Rabbanit Dr. Liz Shayne, our community's first halachic advisor, and her family this Shabbat to daven and learn with us. This special event promises to be a weekend of learning, connection, and celebration. To RSVP, please add just one ticket to your cart. In the next step, you will add everone attending with you to your ticket. Last, but not least, please add an optional donation before checking out to sponsor kiddush!

Rabbanit Liz, Koleinu's halachic advisor, will be sharing some words on wisdom in a talk titled "Telling Lies in Tefilah: How do we daven on Tisha B’Av when Jerusalem is no longer desolate?" It will be held on Wednesday evening, August 7th, at 8:15 PM in the Vaanunu Frankel home. Light refreshments will be served.

Koleinu is proud to present a new adult education series, "Pathways to God: Theology in Jewish Thought Through History," hosted by Dyland Kurlansky. The first conversation, "The Gaonim," is on Wednesday, February 5th at 8:30pm in the Kurlansky home. Join us to learn and converse among friends. No RSVP required.

Koleinu is proud to present an adult education series, "Pathways to God: Theology in Jewish Thought Through History," hosted by Dylan Kurlansky. The second conversation, “The Kuzari: A Priest, an Imam, and a Rabbi Walk Into the King's Court,” will be on Wednesday, March 19th at 8:30pm in the Kurlansky home. Join us to learn and converse among friends. No RSVP required.

Judy Klitsner Scholar-in-ResidenceMay 10, 2025, Parashat Acharei Mot-KedoshimJump to davening RSVP form Judy Klitsner is a senior educator at the  Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. A disciple of the great Torah teacher Nechama Leibowitz, Judy has had a profound impact on a generation of students, of whom many now serve as teachers and heads of Jewish studies programs in the US, the UK and Israel.Judy’s teaching style is lively, accessible, interactive and text-based, and she is particularly fond of uncovering the “vibrant conversation” that takes place between the Bible’s parallel stories. She lectures internationally at synagogues, campuses and adult education programs that span the denominational spectrum and she is a regular visiting lecturer at the London School of Jewish Studies.Judy Klitsner is the author of Subversive Sequels in the Bible: How Biblical Stories Mine and Undermine Each Other. The book, which received a National Jewish book award, is now in its third printing, as part of the Maggid Tanakh Companion series, and has recently been released in Hebrew by Rubin Mass Publishers.Judy is founding board chair of Sacred Spaces, an organization that works to systemically address abuses of power in Jewish institutions.

Join us for a lively conversation on mitzvah observance in the modern era on Wednesday, February 18th at 8:00pm at the home of Oren and Rachel Kravetz. Wine, cheese, and assorted charcuterie will be served.We hope to see you there! 

Join Koleinu for pre-Shavuot learning sponsored by JOFA at Home!Rachel Kravetz will lead us in a discussion on Naomi and Ruth: Portrait of a Complex Relationship.This event is open to men and women. The shiur will be at the Skier home on Monday, May 11 at 8:30 PM.

11:00 PM — Seeing the Other: Jewish and Christian Symbolism in the Middle Ages Speaker: Jennifer Seligman 11:30 PM — Ruth and Naomi: Portrait of a Complex Relationship Speaker: Rachel Kravetz 12:00 AM — Finding Meaning in Halacha Speaker: Dylan Kurlansky 12:30 AM — Counting the Omer when Crossing the Int’l Date Line Speaker: Oren Kravetz

Join Koleinu for an engaging shiur from Dr. Malka Simkovich! Dr. Simkovich will discuss Jewish Responses to Catastrophe: From Ancient Times to a Post-October 7th World. The shiur will be on Wednesday, May 27th at 8pm in the Kurlansky home. Dr. Malka Z. Simkovich is the Editor-in-Chief of the Jewish Publication Society and Visiting Professor at Yeshiva University’s Revel Graduate School for Jewish Studies. Her first book, The Making of Jewish Universalism: From Exile to Alexandria, was published in 2016, and her second book, Discovering Second Temple Literature: The Scriptures and Stories That Shaped Early Judaism, was published with JPS in 2018 and received the 2019 AJL Judaica Reference Honor Award. Her third book, Letters From Home: The Creation of Diaspora in Jewish Antiquity, was published in June 2024. She is also the author of over a hundred published articles, including pieces that have been published in journals such as the Harvard Theological Review, the Journal for the Study of Judaism, the Jewish Review of Books, Tablet, and The Christian Century. A Leon Charney Fellow at the Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies, a Sacks Scholar for the Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Foundation, and a Kogod Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, Simkovich served as the Crown-Ryan Chair of Jewish Studies at Catholic Theological Union from 2014–2024, and speaks regularly to audiences across North America and beyond on topics related to the Hebrew Bible, Jewish history, and contemporary Jewish-Christian relations.

Join Koleinu for a women's source-based discussion group sponsored by JOFA at Home!Leora Skier will lead us in a discussion on Women and Time-Bound Mitzvot: What Changed and What's Next.This event is open to women. It will be held at the Kravetz home on Tuesday, July 14 at 8:30 PM.