Sign In Forgot Password
Home > Learn With Us > Adult Education

Adult Education

Beth Shalom offers learning opportunities throughout the year, sponsoring speakers, classes, and holiday programs. Highlights of the Adult Education program include:

  • Scholar-In-Residence: a Shabbat weekend full of lectures and discussions with an invited educator, thinker, speaker, or artist.
  • Tikkun Leil Shavuot: a full evening of multiple education sessions led by rabbis and educators held during Erev Shavuot, along with dairy desserts and snacks.
  • Programming for Selichot and Yom Ha’atzmaut: on topics relating to repentance and Israel (respectively), with moderated discussions.
  • Author speaker series:  Jewish authors read excerpts from and discuss their recent novels and non-fiction books. The author series is usually held in the spring.
  • Lecture and Discussion Series:  Stimulating classes are taught by Rabbi Greenspan, Cantor Apt, Rabbi Susan Grossman Emerita, and our congregants. 
  • Shabbat Across America: A national Jewish event to celebrate what unifies all Jews — Shabbat.  We celebrate with a dinner and speaker. 

Upcoming Classes and Events

The Adult Education Calendar shows all upcoming programs. (Click the arrow on the right for future months.)

Here are the programs coming up soon:

All Events
  • Thursday ,
    NovNovember  21 , 2024
     
     
    Nusach 101–Sounds of Prayers & Sacred Time
    Thursday, Nov 21st 7:45p to 9:15p
    Have you ever wondered where our prayer melodies come from? Why can’t we just sing them the same way every day? Come to explore more about the way our melodies enhance the experience of praying. Note: this class is virtual.

    MORE INFO

  • Sunday ,
    DecDecember  1 , 2024
     
     
    America in the Middle East: What Washington Gets Wrong with Roy Gutman, President and CEO, Blatimore Council on Foreign Affairs & Pulitzer prize-winning journalist
    Sunday, Dec 1st 7:00p to 9:00p
    America’s involvement in the Middle East is pockmarked with failures, including the deployment to Lebanon in the 1980s, the 2003-2011 Iraq War, and the 2011 intervention in Libya. What does America consistently get wrong about the Middle East? As a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Roy Gutman has seen U.S. foreign policy up-close as it has played out in the countries he covered. During this program, Mr. Gutman will focus on the Middle East and, particularly, on the U.S. role during the recent Syrian civil war. Before his appointment as president and CEO of the Baltimore Council on Foreign Affairs in March 2022, Mr. Gutman reported from Germany, Britain, the former Yugoslavia, Europe at the end of the Cold War, and, more recently, Iraq and Turkey. The author of numerous books, his reporting on ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina won the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting and other awards.

    MORE INFO

  • Tuesday ,
    DecDecember  3 , 2024
     
     
    The Oldest Hate II
    Tuesday, Dec 3rd 7:00p to 9:00p

    MORE INFO

  • Tuesday ,
    DecDecember  10 , 2024
     
     
    The Oldest Hate II
    Tuesday, Dec 10th 7:00p to 9:00p

    MORE INFO

  • Tuesday ,
    DecDecember  17 , 2024
     
     
    The Oldest Hate II
    Tuesday, Dec 17th 7:00p to 9:00p

    MORE INFO

  • Sunday ,
    JanJanuary  5 , 2025
     
     
    Israel in the Mideast Strategic Landscape With Assaf Orion, IDF Lieutenant General (Reserve) Liz
    Sunday, Jan 5th 7:00p to 9:00p
    The strategic landscape of the Middle East has shifted considerably since the tragic events of October 7, 2023. During this program, General Assaf Orion will discuss Israel’s military position in the wake of its war with Hamas, Hezbollah, and other Iranian proxy groups. Gen. Orion is the Liz and Mony Rueven International Fellow at Liz and Mony Rueven International Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. As the head of the Strategic Division in the Planning Directorate of the IDF General Staff, he was in charge of communication with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the Lebanese army, led staff meetings with counterparts from the Pentagon and from other Western militaries, took part in the U.S.-Israel security dialogue, and represented the IDF in talks with the Palestinian Authority.

    MORE INFO

  • Sunday ,
    JanJanuary  19 , 2025
     
     
    Israel and the Palestinians Before and After October 7 with Neomi Neumann, visiting fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
    Sunday, Jan 19th 7:00p to 9:00p
    The Hamas-Israel war has thrust the fraught relationship between Israel and Palestinians to the forefront of global affairs. What led up to the Hamas attack of October 7, what is the status of Israeli-Palestinian affairs, and what does the future hold? Neomi Neumann formerly served as head of the research unit at the Israel Security Agency, or Shin Bet, and with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    MORE INFO

 

Thu, November 21 2024 20 Cheshvan 5785