Lehrhaus Judaica Adult Education

We’re excited to share our Spring Lehrhaus schedule with you! The new semester kicks off on March 3 and features a set of fantastic 6-week classes as well as a new learning series called “Preparing your Souls for Pesach” taught by our amazing CBST clergy, CRRIs, and teachers. In this new six week intensive, we will be teaching a range of creative classes on a variety of Passover topics, leading up to the Pesach Seder. We hope this will help prepare you intellectually, spiritually, and musically to come to your own Seder full of questions, insights, and curiosity. 

Our Lehrhaus class lineup is an exciting mix of text and liturgy deep-dives, history and social justice, literary explorations and more!

Preparing your Souls for Passover: Pesach Intensive

Tuesdays March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, April 7

6-7pm and 7:30-8:30pm | Register

Week 1 and 2 (March 3 &10)

6:00-7:00pm: From Manuscript to Modern, The Haggadah in Art – Miya Rotstein

What can old images teach us about how Jews have told the story of freedom? In these two classes, we’ll explore historic Haggadot and their rich visual traditions, and consider how art adds layers of meaning to the Passover narrative across time and place. We’ll also look at classic illuminated Haggadot alongside modern artistic interpretations, and see how images shape meaning, memory, and ritual.

7:30-8:30 pm: The Radical Challenges of Ha Lachma Anya – CCRI David Elitzer

This short text in Aramaic, which opens the Magid (the central storytelling part of the Seder), presents a series of radical challenges to Seder participants. Over the course of two classes, we will explore each of these challenges: empathize with our ancestors’ oppression, open our doors to those in need, and imagine a better future. We will discuss how to understand Ha Lachma Anya not only as part of the Seder but also as a springtime call to action.

Week 3 and 4 (March 17 & 24)

6:00-7:00pm: Exploring Seder Songs from Around the World – Cantor Sam Rosen

Journey through the songs of the Passover Seder as they have been sung at different Jewish tables around the globe. The class will explore Seder songs from Europe, the former Ottoman Empire, Iran, and more! Together, we will trace how each community gave voice to liberation and memory. Through listening, singing, and attention to text and style, we will begin to uncover how language shapes ritual and communal identity. These sessions invite participants to experience Passover not as a single story, but as a woven, evolving tapestry. 

7:30-8:30pm: Leading a Social Justice Passover Seder – Rabbi Marisa James

You probably know that the Passover story inherently includes many justice themes. And maybe you’ve heard of or even attended a feminist Seder! Whether you’re leading your own, or attending a Seder led by family or friends, learn how to infuse your social justice passions into the ritual and engage others in learning and taking action with you. 

Week 5 and 6 (March 31 & April 7)

7:30-8:30pm: Ga’al Yisrael: The Blessing of the Parting of the Sea – Rabbi Yael Werber

Ga’al Yisrael (The One who has Redeemed Israel) is the blessing of redemption that recalls the Parting of the Sea which we say in our weekly prayers leading directly into the Amidah. In these two classes, we will dive into the deeper meanings of this blessing and explore why it appears in every prayer service. 

Lehrhaus Adult Education Weekly Classes

Thursdays

March 5, 12, 19, 26, April 16, 23 

6:00-7:00pm: Tefillah 101 – Miya Rotstein

What is Jewish prayer, and how did it come to look the way it does today? In this six-week beginner series, we’ll trace the evolution of the siddur, explore how Jewish communities have shaped prayer over time, and learn how daily services are built. We’ll unpack key prayers, compare morning, afternoon, and evening services, and help make the siddur feel less mysterious and more accessible—so you can feel more at home in prayer. Open to all, no Hebrew skills necessary. 

7:30-8:30pm: Immigration to America through a Jewish Lens – Rabbi Marisa James

This year, we mark 250 years of the United States of America . . . and 250 years’ worth of immigration legislation and court cases becoming the incredibly confusing, labyrinthine system we have today. Explore this history through the personal stories and letters of those who came here, starting in the first decade of the USA and continuing through the present, and learn how these changing – and increasingly restrictive – laws impacted Jewish and other minority immigrants.  

7:30-8:30pm: (Closed class for Adult B*Mitzvah. Fee included in tuition) Spiritual Autobiography – Rabbi Yael Werber (4 sessions – March 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th)

Fridays

March 6 through June 26 

12pm noon – Mystical Perspectives on the Parshah – CCRI David Elitzer

In this weekly hour-long class, we will use a range of Jewish mystical texts to shed light on the weekly Torah portion. These texts are often invaluable sources of Torah commentary, and we will explore what they have to offer. While we will make frequent use of the Zohar (Kabbalah’s central text), we will also turn to other parts of the Jewish mystical tradition, such as the late antique/early medieval Merkavah mysticism and Hekhalot.

Wednesdays

April 15, 22, 29 & TBD field trip| 7:30-8:30pm | Zoom

7:30-8:30pm: Lesbian Jewish Poetic Imagination – CCRI Alana Krivo- Kaufman

What if we read the verses of our Jewish Lesbian poets as letters from the past, written just for us. Join us to explore what the words of Adrienne Rich, Joy Ladin, Irena Klepfisz, and more have to say to us at this moment. As we journey together from liberation to revelation, we will source texts that can accompany us in wondering, wandering, belonging, and preparing to receive the unknown, together. We will meet for three sessions on Zoom and then journey together for a class field trip to the Lesbian Herstory Archive to engage with archival material.