A virtual event presentation by Dr. Devora Steinmetz

The event was co-sponsored by BMH-BJ

About The Event:

The Passover seder challenges us to see ourselves as participants in an ancient story. In this session, we will look at a variety of ways in which the hagada helps us enter into our ancestors’ story and make it our own.

*Source Sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13b0-sp_J-Q4-WfRZbZAwrtIiHG5YYZgJ/view

About The Speaker:

Devora Steinmetz serves on the Hebrew College Rabbinical School faculty and the Mandel Leadership Institute. She founded Beit Rabban, a Jewish day school profiled in Daniel Pekarsky’s Vision at Work: The Theory and Practice of Beit Rabban. She is the author of scholarly articles on Talmud, Midrash, and the Bible as well as of two books, From Father to Son: Kinship, Conflict, and Continuity in Genesis and Punishment and Freedom: The Rabbinic Construction of Criminal Law. She has served on the faculty of Drisha, the Jewish Theological Seminary, Yeshivat Hadar, and Havruta: a Beit Midrash at Hebrew University.

A virtual event presentation by Ethan Davidson

About The Event:

Inspired by his own experiences and the tragic events of October 7, 2023, And They Arose Early To Do Sexual Violence: My Personal Mirror of Torah by Ethan Daniel Davidson challenges readers to consider how ancient narratives parallel humanity’s ongoing struggle with violence and the responses to such violence; be they measured and justified, or disproportionate and unjustifiable. We will explore the story of Dinah using excerpts from Davidson’s latest book and discuss parallels to the Israel/Gaza war.

*Source Sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GpZ4gCZ5LIsbYUpNtTCuDOvxEONc-Bra/view

About The Speaker:

Author, musician, and philanthropist Ethan Daniel Davidson has authored two books, recorded 15 albums, and toured throughout North America and Europe. In 2005, he left his touring life and returned to his Detroit roots, where he helped run the William Davidson Foundation established by his late father, Bill Davidson. The private family foundation strives to fulfill its founder’s legacy by advancing the economic, cultural, and civic vitality of Southeast Michigan, the State of Israel, and the Jewish community for future generations.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi David Jaffe

The event was co-sponsored by Temple Emanuel

About The Event:

According to 20th Century Mussar master, Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler, much of our behavior is determined by past choices, habits, education, and family culture. Patterns of behavior can be passed down from generation to generation, for better or for worse. The Purim and Pesach season offers us Jewish spiritual technologies for seeing and breaking out of these patterns. This session will explore Esther as a model of facing and overcoming limiting behaviors that offer us a model for the movement towards freedom that begins during these days of Purim to Pesach.

*Source Sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15Jv87xTA2jAdWZ6_ABDn_J-T0CZB6uwH/view?usp=sharing

About The Speaker:

Rabbi David Jaffe is the Founder and Executive Director of Kirva, a national education and training organization that integrates Mussar and Chassidic wisdom and practice with the work of social change. He is the author of Changing the World from the Inside Out, and the winner of the National Jewish Book Award.