Join us online for a variety of classes and discussions each week. From Torah study to contemporary book and tv discussions, there’s something for everyone!
For online security, all temple services and classes utilize a “virtual waiting room.” Please be sure to join with your first and last name so we know who you are and let you in! If you have questions or feedback about our virtual programming, let us know.
Adult Learning
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Join via Phone: (301) 715-8592
Meeting ID: 912 7363 2495
Passcode: 763176
Saturday Torah Study
Saturday, October 17 at 9:00a
Join Rabbi Roos for our regular Shabbat Morning Torah Study.
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Join via Phone: (301) 715-8592
Meeting ID: 987 5114 9202
Passcode: 20015
Life Is Rich Film Discussion
Sunday, October 18 at 4:00p
Family, food and faith: Join TSWRJ and the Temple’s Membership and Engagement Committee along with Rabbi Roos when we host filmmaker and Jewish mom Bonnie Rich for a Q&A with Deborah Kalb, Temple Sinai member, blogger, and author, about Rich’s award-winning personal documentary, Life is Rich (watch the trailer here).
While her Jewish camp-going, two-time Israel-visiting, latke-making 20-something daughters see little need for Jewish ritual that doesn’t involve food, Rich tries to convince them to see Judaism as more than matzo ball soup. In the process, she finds herself contemplating her own connection with her faith and takes a humorous and heartfelt look at how families pass down traditions and create new ones.
Invite your teens and adult children – there’s something for everyone! After the Q&A, we’ll break into small groups for a 20-minute facilitated discussion.
Register in advance (required)
Registration is free, and in lieu of her normal fee, the filmmaker encourages attendees to make contributions to the Lipman Social Action & Tzedakah Fund. Once you register, you’ll receive a link to the 45-minute film to watch before the Q&A and discussion program.
Rabbi's Class: Israel Today: Current Issues and Critical Events
Begins Tuesday, October 20 at 10:00a
Join Rabbi Roos and a series of guest teachers and experts to explore some of the recent big news and stories from Israel: the Israeli elections, normalization with Gulf States, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s trial, Annexation (or not), the Embassy move, and more.
This class runs through May 2021, meeting on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month from 10:00-11:30 AM.
Modern Jewish Theology: Beyond the Bearded Man in the Sky
Thursdays, October 22-November 12, 10:00-11:30a
Our culture inundates us with images and texts suggesting that God is a man in the sky with a long white beard and a robe. For many of us, that theology just doesn’t work. But Judaism offers many compelling alternatives. Join Rabbi Diamondstein on a journey through modern Jewish thought to seek out new conceptualizations of the god idea. Each session we’ll look at a few thinkers as they examine the God idea through the particular lens of a key element of Jewish theology: Covenant and Chosenness, Commandedness and Law, Revelation and Redemption, feminist theology and more.
Book Discussion
Sunday, October 25 at 10:00a
Book Lover Carolyn Gruber will lead a Zoom discussion on Esther Safran Foer’s new memoir I Want You to Know We’re Still Here.
Esther Safran Foer writes her “post Holocaust” memoir as an exploration of history, memory, and the lasting impact of historical trauma on families and individuals. The child of Holocaust survivors, Foer grew up searching for shreds of evidence about relatives no longer spoken of. A passing remark by her mother revealed that her father had a previous wife and daughter and sent Foer on a search for her missing sister. Her search, documented by her son Jonathan’s best-selling novel, Everything is Illuminated, led her to Holocaust survivor communities in the Ukraine, Brazil, and Israel. What she finds reshapes her identity and gives her the opportunity to finally mourn.
I Want You to Know We’re Still Here is the story not only of Esther’s journey but of four generations living in the shadow of the Holocaust. Survivors, storytellers, and memory keepers all, they are determined not just to keep the past alive but to imbue the present with life. The book is available in the Temple Sinai Library.
Save the Date: Tuesday, December 8 at 10:00a
Rabbi Noah Diamondstein will lead a discussion on The Liar by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen.
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Join via Phone: (301) 715-8592
Meeting ID: 972 6066 4967
Passcode: 117617
When the Worst has Already Happened: Modes of Resilience in the Bible
Thursdays, December 3, 10, 17, 10:00-11:30a
In this course, we will read closely three great stories of biblical resilience, each offering a different model of how to persevere. Starting with Saul’s search for redemption, we will make sense of the relation between resilience and desperation. But resilience is not always a desperate act. In reading David’s lament over Saul and Jonathan, we will explore how loss might allow for the opportunity for growth. In our last class, we will challenge ourselves to find resilience even in the rape of Tamar, as we consider what these models might challenge us to do in our own lives.
Bex Rosenblatt has an MA in Tanakh from Bar Ilan University and is a member of the faculty of the Conservative Yeshiva.