Makomdc (Learning & Immersion) 2024-25

MakomDC 2024-2025

Jewish Peoplehood: Connection, Commitment and Conscience

Join us this year as we explore the ties that bind us (and sometimes divide us) as a Jewish people. The notion of Jewish peoplehood encompasses Judaism as a civilization with a collective story/s, religion, culture/s, language/s, ethical tradition/s, identity/s, dedication to community, and perhaps most critically a responsibility toward one another. In an age of diversity, globalization, and divisiveness, what does this actually mean? How do we understand this concept and how does it fit in with our other commitments and values?

Prepare for our year of learning by diving into our rabbis recommended reading.

Mendelson Guest Scholar Dr. Yehuda Kurtzer: November 16-17

Join us as we welcome Dr. Yehuda Kurtzer for a Shabbat morning Sermon in the Smith Sanctuary,  Shabbat Afternoon shiur and Sunday morning Breakfast at 10am in the Gewirz Beit Am.

Shabbat Sermon: “Universalism, Particularism, and the Paradoxes of Jewish Peoplehood"

The character of Abraham, who takes center stage in this week’s Torah portion, serves as both the anchor for the story of the Jewish people who descend from him and Sarah, as well as a model for the complexities of Jewish collective identity that is constructed in his model. Just chapters apart in the book of Genesis, Abraham leaves his family to build a new national identity in a promised land; advocates on behalf of the wicked in the name of a commitment to a broader humanity; and expresses a willingness to sacrifice everything to Divine will. Abraham invites us to consider, at the very point of origin of the invention of the idea of Jewish peoplehood, all that is at stake in Jewish collective identity; and offers us a framework to think about what it means to belong to the Jewish people today

Shabbat Afternoon Shiur, 1pm, after Kiddush: "Ahavat Yisrael: What Does Jewish Peoplehood Demand?"

Jewish peoplehood invites us into a conversation on rights and responsibilities – what we owe to one another and what we are entitled to demand from one another. Some behaviors, like standing in solidarity or the obligation to redeem captives, are straightforward; other expectations, like the idea that we are responsible to love each other, are more complicated! We will explore the strange and controversial history of this Jewish idea, and consider its ramifications for today’s divided Jewish people.

Sunday Morning Breakfast, 10am, Post Minyan Conversation: "On Liberal Zionism, Between Loyalty and Imagination" 
All are welcome! Click Here to Register

Liberal Zionism – the belief that a Jewish state is the best mechanism to advance liberal values – is squeezed by growing skepticism from the left and the right, part of a larger question about the future of liberalism in polarized societies. We will consider the path forward for this idea and what responsibilities we bear to advance a better future in Israel for all its citizens and inhabitants.

Achdut (Solidarity), and/or Achidut (Uniformity) in Classical Rabbinic Texts
Taught by Rabbi Aaron Alexander

Shabbat Afternoons at 1pm,  Biran Beit Midrash: November 9, December 7, January 11

Together we’ll learn the formative classical rabbinic responses to divisions, fractures, and contradictions in practice amongst and between different communities. What core concepts & values drive rabbinic decision making around unity and/or uniformity? In what ways are communities encouraged to retain and maintain diversity of practice when unity is at stake? Are there obligations to achieving uniformity within and outside of communities?

Am Yisrael Covenant of Faith or Covenant of Destiny or No Covenant At All?
Taught by: Rabbi Elianna Yolkut

Tuesday evenings, Biran Beit Midrash: 6:30pm Wine and Snacks, 7pm Teaching | Register Here
November 12th,  December 10th,  January 7th

We will explore this 20th century conception of the notion of peoplehood conceived of by Rabbi Joseph Solevetchik and explore texts that challenge his ideas and we will ask probing questions in the 21st century - does peoplehood exist any longer? Do we have a shared identity with all Jews? How does our diaspora/Israel relationship help to shape or unravel that connection? What is our responsibility to the mythic “people Israel” when we have moral, religious and political disagreements?

Preparing for the High Holy Days

Elul Tisch

Saturdays at 1pm in the Biran Beit Midrash:
September 21st with Special Guests Riman Barakat and Karen Brunwasser from Jerusalem facilitated by Rabbis Holtzblatt & Alexander
September 28th with Rabbis Krinsky and Yolkut

Join us for 3 Shabbatot  in Elul at 1 pm in the BBM as we gather around the table to sing and learn together in advance of the High Holiday season. Gather in community so we can intellectually, spiritually and emotionally prepare  for the Season of Awe. Enter the  high holidays uplifted, challenged, and ready for the growth mindset the season offers us. 

An Evening of Meditation with Rabbi Holtzblatt
Co-Sponsored by Or HaLev and The Den Collective

 Tuesday, September 10 at 7pm | Click Here to Register

An update to our September 10th Wellness Center Evening of Meditation & Learning--Rav James of Or HaLev is unable to to be in attendance as planned, due to the ongoing unrest in Israel.  We look forward to welcoming Rav James to Adas when he is able to make the journey.  We are pleased to share that the evening of Meditation & Learning in preparation for the Yamim Norayim--the High Holidays, will be lead by our very own, Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt.  We look forward to seeing you on September 10th at 7pm.

Sustaining Growth

Ulpan Adas with Mark Lewis

Tuesdays, Beginning November 12, 2024, 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM | Biran Beit Midrash
Click Here To Register
This fall, Ulpan Adas will offer a full immersion Hebrew class on Tuesdays nights at Adas. Led by Mark Lewis, the class will be conducted primarily in Hebrew, with occasional English assistance as needed. Focusing on everyday scenarios, from ordering at a restaurant to chatting with friends, this course is perfect for anyone looking to gain proficiency in spoken Hebrew. Whether you’re preparing for a trip to Israel or simply want to feel more confident in your Hebrew skills, this class will equip you with the tools you need to navigate everyday situations with ease. 

Boker Ohr Shabbat Study

Shabbat Mornings at 8:30am, In Person Only
The Boker Or Torah study group meets Saturday mornings at 8:30 a.m. with the weekly portion as its focus. Join our clergy and community each week for an engaging, text-based conversation on the week's parsha, before Shabbat services.

Weekday Torah with Sisterhood

Monthly, 3rd Tuesday at 10:30am
Weekday Torah with Sisterhood is an engaging approach to traditional text study that offers participants the opportunity to study and discuss challenging texts and ideas. Students of all levels and backgrounds are welcome. Please contact Marilyn Cooper with questions, or if you would like a link to the Zoom Torah study class.

Downtown Study Group

The full return of our Downtown Study Group!  Until the pandemic, for almost 3 decades Adas members (and guests) would meet downtown every so often to learn Torah together over a catered lunch. This  year we are back for four sessions at the wonderful Capital Jewish Museum. Have you ever wondered what Torah is floating in the minds of the rabbis? Join as we explore texts and ideas that are shaping our thinking throughout the year. Please                           click here to sign up. 

Intro 2.0

Wednesdays at 7:30pm-9pm | Click Here to Register
Beginning November 13
Join Rabbi Avigayil Halpern for this year’s Intro 2.0 series, which will focus on Shabbat. We will use Jewish texts and our own experiences to explore the nature of rest and sanctity: do the traditional laws of Shabbat align with our own needs around peaceful time? How can Shabbat become a container for relationships? What makes for a really great Shabbat meal experience? Come for one session or all of them!

The Mendelson Family Scholar Series

Rabbah Rori Picker Neiss
"Rest, Relief, and Regret: God’s Great Sigh and the End of the World"

November 2 at 1pm, Biran Beit Midrash

In the Torah, Noah's name means rest, but he is given his name because he will bring relief. Together we will explore the connections between rest and relief-- and ultimately regret-- as we attempt to understand the deeper significance of the story of the Flood and what we are meant to learn about our responsibilities towards one another.

Rabba Rori Picker Neiss serves as the Senior Vice President for Community Relations at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. Prior to that she was Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of St Louis-- an organization committed to a vibrant and secure Jewish community in a thriving and just St Louis region-- after previously serving as a member of the clergy team at Bais Abraham Congregation, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in St Louis, MO. Rori is one of the first graduates of Yeshivat Maharat, a pioneering institution training Orthodox Jewish women to be spiritual leaders and halakhic (Jewish legal) authorities.

Barry Chiswick
"The Americanization of Jews and Judaism"

January 25th at 1pm, Biran Beit Midrash

A review of the labor market attainment of American Jews from 1654 to the present,  and how this has impacted the religious lives of Jews. 

Rabbi Gorden Tucker 
"The Key to Jewish Peoplehood May Be Doubt”

March 1st at 1pm, Biran Beit Midrash

An exploration of how Jewish sources can guide us to a life that intentionally creates space for doubt, which in turn leads to humility and thus leads to the possibility of a deeply connected community that allows for diversity and disagreement. 

Rabbi Gordon Tucker is Vice Chancellor for Religious Life and Engagement at The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), and a Senior Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America.  He served as Senior Rabbi at Temple Israel Center in White Plains, NY, from 1994 to 2018, and is now Senior Rabbi Emeritus.   He holds the A.B. degree from Harvard College, a Ph.D. from Princeton University, and Rabbinic Ordination from JTS.  From 1984 to 1992 he was the Dean of the JTS Rabbinical School, and from 1982 to 2007 he was a member of the Rabbinical Assembly Committee on Jewish Law and Standards.  He has also been deeply involved in the cause of religious pluralism in Israel, through the Masorti Foundation, of which he is a past Chairman.  In 1979-80, he was a White House Fellow, and served as Special Assistant and chief speechwriter to U.S. Attorney General Benjamin R. Civiletti.  He is married to Amy Cohn, and has three children and six grandchildren.  He hikes and bikes every chance he gets, and is a devoted fan of opera, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Rangers.

End of Year Siyyum with Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld , President Hebrew College

April 25 - April 27

Friday Night D’var Torah
"Rejoicing in Being a Part"

Shabbat Morning Sermon in Smith Sanctuary 
"Journeys in Grief and Joy: When the Personal and the Communal Collide"

Shabbat Afternoon Shiur in the Biran Beit Midrash at 1 pm
Shouts and Whispers: On Saying “We Jews”
Over a hundred years ago, in an essay entitled “Renaissance of Jewish Learning and Living,” Franz Rosenzweig wrote about the subtle act of commitment and transformation that takes place “when in the confusion of the world we once quietly say, ‘we Jews.’ In this session we will explore the significance of saying ‘We Jews.’ What does it mean, why does it matter, what gets in the way, and what possibilities emerge when we shout it, when we sing it, and when we whisper it – to ourselves and to each other?

Israel: The Place

Book Club with Rabbi Aaron Alexander and Marilyn Cooper 
Peoplehood and Israel (Virtual)

Thursdays at 12pm: Dec 5th, Feb 27th and May 22nd
Click Here to Register

Deepening Our Connection to Am Yisrael: Listening to the diverse Voices and Stories of our Land and Our People

December 5th we will discuss The Gates of Gaza: A Story of Betrayal, Survival, and Hope in Israel's Borderlands

Together we’ll read & discuss in small groups engaging books, fiction and nonfiction, that will open our minds to new ideas, inspire us to read more, and challenge us to grapple with the world as it is. 

Book titles for this year’s three sessions will be sent to registrants two months before our first session, if not sooner. (For a list of the books this evolving club has read in the previous 3 years, click here.) 

Mar­i­lyn Coop­er is a Wash­ing­ton, DC – based author and poet. She is a con­tribut­ing edi­tor and writer for a num­ber of Jew­ish pub­li­ca­tions; her work focus­es on Jew­ish his­to­ry, lit­er­a­ture and con­tem­po­rary culture.

Study Scholarship Fund