A virtual event presentation by Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn, BCC

About The Event:

Rabbanit Alissa will share personal stories and reflections on her new book, “Shabbat Guidebook for Parents: Halacha of Caring for Infants, Toddlers, and Young Children on Shabbat and Yom Tov”, also available on Amazon.

This guide is an easy go-to for parents to learn how to care for infants, toddlers, and children on Shabbat and Yom Tov. Based on real-life situations and informed by the author’s shul and chaplaincy experiences as well as her life as a mom, this guidebook offers to-the-point halachic guidance paired with meaningful spiritual reflections. The content itself generally follows the timeline of Shabbat and holidays, with additional pastoral resources on self-care for parents and spirituality in parenting.

About The Speaker:

Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn, BCC is the Rabbanit at Congregation Netivot Shalom in Teaneck, NJ. Netivot Shalom is a Modern Orthodox shul, which she leads together in partnership with Rabbi Nati Helfgot. Rabbanit Alissa is a Board Certified Chaplain and full-time staff chaplain at NewYork-Presbyterian Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where she has specialties in Palliative Care, Critical Care, and Emergency Psychiatric Care, and she is the president of NAJC (Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains). Rabbanit Alissa is also the Moishe House Based-In Teaneck clergy and an Atra fellow in the inaugural Northern New Jersey Rabbinic (re)Design Fellowship. From 2014 to 2022, Rabbanit Alissa served as a spiritual leader at B’nai David-Judea Congregation, as the first Orthodox female clergy in Los Angeles. A frequent writer and speaker, she received her ordination from Yeshivat Maharat and graduated from Brandeis University. Rabbanit Alissa and her husband Akiva live in Teaneck with their children, Ella and Liam.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Dr. Geoffrey Claussen

About The Event:

Rabbi Dr. Geoffrey Claussen’s new book, Jewish Ethics: The Basics, is designed to help us think critically about the diversity of Jewish ethics—on topics including authority, human rights, war, land, power, gender, sexuality, environmental ethics, animal ethics, and more. In this session, we will consider how Jews have passionately disagreed about fundamental moral claims and about what constitutes Jewish ethics, and we will consider how we may understand our ideas within the history of Jewish debates.

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Dr. Geoffrey Claussen is a Professor of Religious Studies, Lori and Eric Sklut Professor in Jewish Studies, and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Elon University. His books include Sharing the Burden: Rabbi Simhah Zissel Ziv and the Path of Musar (2015), Modern Musar: Contested Virtues in Jewish Thought (2022), Jewish Virtue Ethics (2023), and Jewish Ethics: The Basics (2025).

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Zachary Truboff

The event was co-sponsored by Temple Emanuel

About The Event:

Franz Rosenzweig has long been considered one of the most brilliant and insightful Jewish thinkers. At the heart of his thought is the belief that the Jews’ covenant with God marks them as different and, as a result, orients them differently in the world than all other peoples. By neither embracing nor rejecting Zionism, Rosenzweig sought to mark a path for Judaism in modernity that would allow it to remain true to its deepest commitments.

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Zachary Truboff is the Director of the International Beit Din Institute for Agunah Research and Education, a think-tank founded by the IBD to address the halachic dimensions of the agunah problem. He is also the author of “Torah Goes Forth From Zion: Essays on the Thought of Rav Kook and Rav Shagar." His writings on Jewish thought and Zionism have appeared in various publications. Before making aliyah, he served for nearly a decade as the rabbi of Cedar Sinai Synagogue in Cleveland, Ohio. He has taught in various adult education settings, such as the Wexner Heritage Program and the Hartman Institute. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Jen, and their four children. For more of his writing and classes, see zachtruboff.com.

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.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbanit Shalhevet Cahana

The event was co-hosted by Beth El Phoenix

About The Event:

Often celebrated as the one who saved the Jewish people from certain downfall, how exactly did Esther do it? A close reading of the text indicates that Esther’s true brilliance lies not only in her bravery to even attempt it on the pain of death but also in her deft and magnificently subtle manipulation of events.

This class will analyze the layers of Esther’s calculated, cunning, and clever strategy. Far from relying on chance alone, she masterfully cast doubt on Haman, transforming him from a trusted advisor into a suspect in the eyes of King Achashverosh. We will explore how her subtle moves and reliance on Divine providence turned an otherwise “innocent” Haman into the architect of his downfall, revealing Esther’s genius as a leader and tactician.

About The Speaker:

Rabbanit Shalhevet Cahana teaches Judaic Studies at the Jewish Leadership Academy, a groundbreaking Jewish Day School in Miami.

She serves as the Community Scholar at Beth Jacob Congregation in Oakland, CA – a position she has held for seven years. She has delivered shiurim (classes) and drashot (sermons) to more than 75 synagogues and campuses in North America, France, and Israel.

Additionally, she is a Kallah Teacher, trained by Merkaz Eden in Yerushalayim, guiding couples in Mikvah and Shalom Bayit (marital harmony) in the months preceding their wedding.

Rabbanit Cahana previously studied at Maimonides School, Migdal Oz, and Stern College for Women and their advanced Gemara program called the Graduate Program for Advanced Talmudic Studies (GPATS).

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Tsvi Blanchard, Ph.D

The event was co-sponsored by Congregation Or Tzion

About The Event:

Why is Jewish Law important and relevant for us today? Written and oral Torah has been an ongoing adaptive legal system for over 3500 years. Its central institutions have been Justice and Loving Kindness, the Sabbath, and the Temple system. This talk will explore the ideals that have guided and still guide Jewish law in its search to fulfill the Divine will.

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Tsvi Blanchard, Ph.D teaches at the Law Faculty of Humboldt University in Berlin and is an adjunct at Fordham Law School in New York. He also taught and consulted with Jewish leadership groups across North America for many years. Rabbi Blanchard is the co-author of Embracing Life and Facing Death: A Jewish Guide to Palliative Care, as well as academic articles, parables, and stories.