Visiting Scholars
Ta Sh'ma: Visiting Scholars Adult Education Series
We had an exciting series of adult ed classes by visiting scholars in the midst of a pandemic. Leading voices in today's Jewish world bring their perspectives on the troubling topics. These classes are free but require registration by clicking on the link following each class description.
Upcoming classes are below; see previous scholars here.
Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz Sunday, March 14 at 3p.m.
Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz is the President & Dean of Valley Beit Midrash, Founder & President of Uri L’Tzedek, Founder & CEO of Shamayim: Jewish Animal Advocacy, and Founder & President of YATOM: The Jewish Foster & Adoption Network.
His writings have appeared in outlets as diverse as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Guardian, and the Atlantic among many other secular and religious publications. Rabbi Yanklowitz is a sought-after educator, social justice activist, and motivational speaker as well as the author of seventeen books on Jewish spirituality, social justice, and ethics.
As a global social justice activist and educator, Rabbi Yanklowitz has volunteered, staffed trips, and taught across the world, including Israel, Ghana, India, France, Thailand, El Salvador, England, Senegal, Germany, Switzerland, Ukraine, Argentina, South Africa, and Haiti. Rabbi Dr. Yanklowitz has also served as a rabbinic representative, facilitator, and speaker at the World Economic Forum in Geneva and Davos. Rabbi Shmuly's religious journey was filmed in the Independent Lens/PBS documentary "The Calling."
Rabbi Shmuly earned a masters degree from Harvard University in Leadership and Psychology, another masters from Yeshiva University in Jewish Philosophy, and a doctorate from Columbia University in Moral Development and Epistemology. He obtained rabbinical ordination from the Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School and two additional, private ordinations in Israel. He has twice been named one of America's Top Rabbis by Newsweek. In 2016, The Forward named Rabbi Shmuly one of The Most Inspiring Rabbis in America. In 2016, the Forward named Rav Shmuly one of the 50 most influential Jews. In the same year, Yanklowitz was selected for the Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship in Cross-Cultural Leadership and Innovative Entrepreneurship at the University of Cambridge.
Rabbi Shmuly, his wife Shoshana, and their four children live in Scottsdale, Arizona. They are also foster parents.
Rabbi Steven G. Sager Presents "Giving Each Generation it's Torah" - 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18
RABBI STEVEN G. SAGER, Director of Sicha, is the Rabbi Emeritus of Beth El Synagogue in Durham, NC, where he served as rabbi for 32 years. He is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) and he earned a Ph.D. in Rabbinic Literature at Duke University.
Rabbi Sager has been a teacher, rabbinic advisor and mentor for students and graduates of the RRC, the Hebrew Union College, The Jewish Theological Seminary and the Rabbinical School of the Boston Hebrew College. An adjunct faculty member of the Duke Divinity School, he has taught at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and in the Department of Social Medicine at the University
of North Carolina Medical School.
Rabbi Sager is a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem where he is also a leader of the Rabbinic Programs Advisory Committee and of the Rabbinic Havurah program. Rabbi Sager has served as President of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and of the Greater Carolinas Association of Rabbis (GCAR). He served as the co-director of the GCAR Interfaith Institute. Rabbi Sager has served as Scholar in Residence on numerous occasions for the GCAR as well as serving in this capacity in congregations throughout the United States. Rabbi Sager has published articles in The Reconstructionist, The Journal of Religious Education, and The Southern Medical Journal. Rabbi Sager now serves as the Director of Sicha, a project to stimulate conversations between classical Jewish culture and contemporary Jewish needs.