2026 High Holiday Webinar Series

August 17, 24, and 31, 2026
Online
1:00–2:00 p.m. ET

What does it mean to prepare and show up for the High Holidays in our own time? This three-part series explores how Jewish tradition has preserved, interpreted, and renewed the themes of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur through sacred objects, timeless texts, and personal prayer. Together, we’ll explore the objects that have carried Jewish tradition across centuries, engage with ancient texts with compassion and honesty, and reflect on how our own voices become part of the ongoing story of Jewish prayer and renewal.  

91����� faculty members, Rabbi Marcus Mordecai Schwartz, Rabbi Naomi Kalish, and Cantor Rabbi Shoshi Levin Goldberg will offer insight into how our pasts shape our presence as we enter the Days of Awe.

Session Topics and Faculty

August 17, 2026

Objects of Awe: The Meaning of the High Holidays Through Treasures from the 91����� Library

With Rabbi Marcus Mordecai Schwartz, Ripps Schnitzer Librarian for Special Collections; Assistant Professor, 91�����

Learn more

August 24, 2026

Fear, Trauma, and the High Holidays: Reading Ancient Texts with Compassion

With Rabbi Naomi Kalish, Harold and Carole Wolfe Director of the Center for Pastoral Education; Assistant Professor of Pastoral Education, 91�����

Learn more

August 31, 2026

From Nothing to Nothing: Finding Your Own Voice in Prayer 

With Cantor Rabbi Shoshi Levin Goldberg, Director, H.L. Miller Cantorial School, 91�����

Learn more

If you have previously registered for another session in this series, your registration admits you to all sessions in the series, and you may attend as many as you’d like. 

July 23, 2026

There is a lot to mourn right now, as American Jews. It often feels like the earth is shifting beneath our feet. Some of our greatest sources of pride and comfort that once felt immutable are at risk. Many of our ancestors fled to this country seeking the promise and protections of democracy. We are thinking more about our safety. We are frequently unsure what our place is in spaces that used to feel like home. The relationship between the US and Israel is uncertain. The foundations of democracy, in the US and in Israel, are being chipped away before our eyes. We are in pain and feeling the temperature rise around nearly every conversation, especially if it has to do with Israel. So much is broken.  

It would be hard to find a better metaphor for the experience of American Jews today, than the confluence of America’s Sesquicentennial falling within the three weeks leading up to Tishah Be’av. In this period, we consider the brokenness of the Jewish people, the ways internal divisions and external enemies have led to profound destruction in our history.   

Are these the worst times that the Jews have endured? Tishah Be’av would remind us that this is not even close. We have endured and survived profound challenges. From those experiences, we have strengthened our sense of responsibility to help others who are suffering. Emma Lazarus, best known for her poem “The New Colossus,” inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty, was born to a wealthy, fairly assimilated Sephardic Jewish New York family. By 1883, in her Epistle to the Hebrews, she was advocating for a stronger sense of Jewish peoplehood, informed by the legacy of Jewish exile, that must awaken a sense of kinship and responsibility to Jews suffering antisemitism in Europe. “When the life and property of a Jew in the uttermost provinces of the Caucuses are attacked, the dignity of a Jew in free America is humiliated. We who are prosperous and independent have not sufficient homogeneity to champion on the ground of a common creed, common stock, a common history, a common heritage of misfortune, the rights of the lowest and poorest Jew-peddler who flees, for life and liberty of thought, from Slavonic mobs. Until we are all free, we are none of us free.”  

The destruction of the Temple was a catastrophe. It represented the loss of a religious center, a cultural center, and an entire way of life. It led to exile, alienation, and the need to reinvent Judaism itself. Are we in a moment of such a profound shift as American Jews in our relationship with the American political landscape, in our relationship with Israel, that is as significant a sea change as the time after the destruction of the Temple?  

Two rabbinic texts from the post-destruction period can help us plot a way forward.  

A midrash from Lamentations Rabba is based on , “For Mount Zion, which is desolate; foxes walk on it.” 

Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya, Rabbi Yehoshua, and Rabbi Akiva … were ascending to Jerusalem…When they arrived at the Temple Mount, they saw a fox emerging from the place of the Holy of Holies. They began weeping. Rabbi Akiva laughed. They said, ‘Akiva, you astonish us; we are weeping and you are laughing.’ He said, ‘Why are you weeping?’ They said, ‘Shall we not weep?… the verse ‘For Mount Zion, which is desolate; foxes walk on it,” has been fulfilled!’  He said: ‘This is why I am laughing.…If the words of Uriya have come true: ‘So said the Holy One of Hosts: Zion will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will be heaps’ (Jeremiah 26:18), the words of Zechariah will be realized: ‘So said the Holy One of hosts: Old men and old women will again sit in the squares of Jerusalem and the city squares will be filled with boys and girls playing.’ (Zechariah 8:4-5).  

I was joyful that the words of Uriya were realized, because ultimately the words of Zechariah are destined to be realized.’  

They said to him, ‘Akiva, you have comforted us.’ 

The pendulum of history finds us in a frightening place. It may yet get worse. It may take a long time, but it will eventually swing back, if we continue working towards justice, democracy, and repair. We cannot do this work, however, if we succumb to despair.  

A story from the Talmud,, recalls:

The sages teach that after the Temple’s destruction, some Jews embraced extreme asceticism. They stopped eating meat and drinking wine because those offerings could no longer be brought to the Temple. Rabbi Yehoshua challenged them: If they would no longer eat meat, should they also stop eating bread, since grain offerings had ceased? Perhaps they would live on fruit. Then should they stop eating fruit because first-fruit offerings had ceased? Perhaps they would drink water. Then should they stop drinking water because water libations had ceased? Eventually, they fell silent. 

Extreme grief can lead us toward unsustainable forms of self-denial. We cannot survive if we deny ourselves all joy. We cannot live governed entirely by fear, anger, and despair. But neither can we pretend that nothing has happened. 

Rabbi Yehoshua therefore teaches: ‘My children, come, and I will tell you. Not to mourn at all is impossible, as the Temple has been destroyed. But mourning excessively is not sustainable. Rather, the Sages said: A person may plaster her house, but she must leave a small amount unplastered.  A person may prepare what he needs for a meal but leaves out a small item…A woman adorns herself, but leaves out a small item.’

The lesson is profound. To live as a Jew is to move forward with eyes open to suffering, injustice, and loss. There are days when mourning is necessary. We must allow ourselves those days. And then we must rise and return to life. We must return to the work of healing, justice, and peace making.  

We live in a time of tremendous loss. Many of us carry not only grief for what has already happened but dread about what may yet come. If we refuse to experience loss, we will never experience joy.  And then we need to paint our homes, prepare our meals, and adorn ourselves. We must sustain ourselves so that we can continue the work before us, to channel our fear and anger into action and connection. Resisting despair is part of what it means to be in relationship with God. We cultivate hope not by ignoring suffering, but by seeing it clearly and continuing the work. 

The poet Adrienne Rich (from Dreams Before Waking, 1983) wrote : 

What would it mean to live in a city whose people were changing each other’s despair into hope? 

You yourself must change it. 

What would it feel like to know your country was changing? 

You yourself must change it. 

Though your life felt arduous, new, unmapped, and strange— 

What would it mean to stand on the first page of the edge of despair? 

Tishah Be’av is the beginning of the path towards the Days of Awe, when we dress ourselves and our sanctuaries in white, like a fresh page that has just been turned. We pray for a new beginning, giving voice to grief and loss while making room for hope. We remember and name the challenges we are experiencing and partner with God to renew our days for a better future.  

At the recent Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) conference in Evanston, Illinois, we celebrated the graduation of 13 participants in the Certificate in Judaica and Hebraica librarianship program. Featuring more than 90 participants from across the United States, Canada, and 12 European countries, this international online program between 91����� and AJL is designed for librarians hoping to further careers in Judaica librarianship. Participants complete 5 courses and a 100-hour in-person internship, bringing their schoolwork outside the classroom.

In a session entitled “Your Future Colleagues and Their Work: Graduates of the 91�����/AJL Certificate in Judaica and Hebraica Librarianship Program,” our recent graduates and others nearing graduation presented on their internship projects from leading research libraries and collections of Judaica across the globe. One participant described the history of collecting Judaica at the newly formed, post-unification University of Potsdam in Germany, and among the graduates who weren’t at the conference was an intern at the Danish National Library in Copenhagen. In the United States, a graduate created a geospatial map of 18th-century Jewish Philadelphia businesses based on business cards in the University of Pennsylvania’s collection, and another processed the digital archival collection of Hanoch Levi, an Israeli playwright whose plays were featured at a Stanford University program.

Several participants also interned at The Library of 91�����. Their projects included cataloging kabbalistic manuscripts and co-curating an online exhibition of secular and religious work in different languages.

A few treasures from The 91����� Library that our participants encountered during their internships

After the presentation, participants, lecturers, and internship supervisors had the opportunity to connect socially (many for the first time in person!) at a happy hour.

It was gratifying to gather and to meet so many members of the certificate program community, and we are excited about their future contributions to the field of Judaica librarianship.

For more information about the program, click here.

This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library ServicesRE-254902-OLS-23. 91����� and AJL are grateful for their generous support.

Over the summer, the 91����� faculty has been engaged in academic research and scholarship both at home and across the globe. Here are a few highlights.

One exciting development for the entire faculty is the return of to 91�����. A peer-reviewed academic journal, JANES is dedicated to scholarship on the languages, literatures, and material culture of the ancient Near East. The journal was founded in 1968 and housed at 91����� starting in 1982. Thanks to 91����� faculty and staff’s efforts, the journal will once again be hosted by 91�����. The journal covers a wide range of topics, including Biblical studies, archaeology, anthropology, art history, linguistics, philology, and religious studies, with special attention to Assyriology, Ugaritic, Phoenician, Hittite, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Check back often to read future volumes. You can find Volume 38 (2026), just published, along with all previous volumes at .

Dr. Robert A. Harris, Professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages, has been working as a Visiting Professor at Bar Ilan University in Givat Shmuel, Israel, where he has finished editing new publications and has been meeting with professors, recent doctoral graduates, and current students.

In June, Professor Marjorie Lehman, Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, delivered a paper at “Books on the Move: Transfer in the World of Hebrew Books,” a conference at The Schocken Institute for Jewish Research of 91�����. Her paper entitled “Books Rooted in Place: Examining the Library of the Bikur Cholim Synagogue in Bardejov, Slovakia” focused on the synagogue’s extraordinary collection of approximately 500 volumes. The synagogue and its contents were protected from Nazi and Slovak looters in 1942 by Anna Koperniechova, a non-Jewish neighbor. In preparation for the conference, Professor Lehman traveled to Bardejov, Slovakia, to attend the community’s annual memorial commemorating the Jews of Bardejov, who were murdered during the Holocaust. Read more about this conference here.

In July, Dr. David Fishman, Professor of Jewish Thought, visited Ukraine and worked on the Jewish Archival Survey, a joint project of 91����� and the Ukrainian Archival Service. He also spoke at a program in the city of Kamianets-Podolsk in honor of the publication of a guide to Jewish Kamianets-Podolsk and attended services with the Masorti community in Chernivtsi.

Also in July, Dr. Yael Landman, Assistant Professor of Bible, was a guest on Bar Ilan University’s podcast “The Bible Bar,” hosted by Professor Joshua Berman. The discussion drew on her article, “A Mother Gets Custody: The Legal Background to Genesis 21: 14-21,” published in the journal Biblical Interpretation in 2024. Listen (scroll down to Gen. 21).

Miriam Meir recently returned from Israel, where she completed intensive training in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Alongside Hebrew language program leaders from Israel and around the world, she deepened her expertise in internationally recognized language standards, further strengthening 91�����’s Hebrew language program, aligning it with global best practices, and expanding our collaboration with the Hebrew University.

From June 8–11, 91����� welcomed 35 adult learners from across the United States—and even one participant from Switzerland—for the inaugural Text and the City, a new four-day learning experience that combined intensive Jewish text study with unique opportunities to explore New York City through a Jewish lens. 

Participants represented a wide range of ages and levels of experience with Jewish text study. Some had been engaging with 91����� remotely through programs such as Context, weekly webinars, Biblical Hebrew, and Open Classroom, and were excited for the opportunity to learn together in person. For others, Text and the City was their first experience studying with 91�����.

A distinctive feature of the program was studying the same biblical chapter with four different 91����� scholars. In the morning, participants gathered in the Beit Midrash for an immersive study of Genesis 18. Each scholar focused on different passages and brought distinctive questions and interpretive approaches to the text. Through close reading, intertextuality, comparative interpretation, and philosophical reflection, learners engaged with enduring questions—questions of hospitality and justice, faith and doubt, and the complex relationship between the human and the divine.   

For Andie Levinger of New York City, this was one of the program’s highlights. “The concept of taking one text and exploring it in four different ways was remarkable,” she reflected. “From each teacher, I gained curiosity, excitement, and inspiration. It makes me want to look at every Jewish and secular text in a similar way—with multiple perspectives.” 

As part of the morning text study, participants also had the opportunity to learn in hevruta, the traditional practice of paired learning. For many, this approach was new, but it quickly became one of the most meaningful aspects of the experience. Through thoughtful conversation and collaborative inquiry, learners deepened their understanding of the text while building connections with one another. 

“The way the program was structured enabled people to participate fully,” said Beryl Levinger of Carmel, CA. “Each person brought a unique set of experiences, and those experiences were treasured and valued by everyone else.” 

The hevruta model, combined with opportunities to pray together and share meals, fostered a vibrant learning community. Carol Ehrlich of Brookline, MA, observed, “We formed a lovely community after just a few days—a community of respectful dialogue, willingness to challenge ourselves, willingness to be vulnerable in our approach to text, and a commitment to seeing what others saw in the text.” 

In the afternoons, the learning extended beyond the classroom. Participants joined 91����� scholars, who applied the different interpretative tools that they were using in the Beit Midrash to other cultural artifacts: books, documents, visual art, and NYC landmarks. Participants enjoyed visits to some of New York City’s most significant cultural institutions, including The 91����� Library’s world-renowned special collections with Dr. Marcus Mordecai Schwartz, a walking tour of Jewish life on the Lower East Side led by Dr. Sandra Fox, a special visit to The Met Cloisters with Dr. Julia Perratore and Dr. David Kraemer, and a private tour of Paul Klee: Other Possible Worlds at the Jewish Museum. The group also attended the opening night of the Israel Film Center Festival. 

“91����� is part of the fabric of New York City,” reflected Michael Ratney of Washington, D.C. “Participants walk away with a great appreciation for how 91����� contributes to the life of Judaism in the city.” 

Plans are already underway to grow the program next summer, enabling even more learners to experience the powerful combination of rigorous study, meaningful community, and cultural exploration that made this inaugural gathering such a success. Sign up here for news about the program.

The Forward recently featured 91����� in an article highlighting the growing rabbinical class enrollments of 91����� and Hebrew Union College. This coming fall, 91����� will be welcoming a Rabbinical School class of 25 aspiring rabbis, our largest class since 2011.

“We are seeing a beautifully diverse population of students, which I think mirrors the people who are in our Jewish communities,” said Rabbi Ayelet Cohen, thePearl Resnick Dean of The Rabbinical School and Dean of the Division of Religious Leadership at 91�����.

Read “”

Dr. Marjorie Lehman, Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, discusses traveling with a cohort of Gladstein rabbinic fellows on a mission to Buenos Aires, Argentina and Santiago, Chile.

I have spent my career at 91����� in the world of rabbinic texts. I have sat with students in our beit midrash and embraced those moments when an ancient page comes alive for them. I have outlined Talmudic passages, scribbled charts across blackboards, and read hundreds of assignments. I have listened to countless students as they interpret our complicated textual tradition. This is the most sacred work I know. This is my contribution to the development of Jews who love Torah, as I do. To have the opportunity to learn every day and contribute to the formation of rabbis, teachers, and Jewish leaders, is an incredible gift for which I am utterly grateful.  

But recently, through the extraordinary generosity of Ned and Jane Gladstein, I was given the chance to step beyond the walls of the 91����� classroom and join something far larger than myself. I traveled with a remarkable cohort of Gladstein rabbinic fellows on a mission to Buenos Aires, Argentina and Santiago, Chile. These are young rabbis, many of whom were my students, who had been selected in their very first year of rabbinical school and mentored by the Gladstein Fellowship with intention and care to develop the kind of rabbinic leadership skills needed to transform Jews. 

We were also joined by inspirational lay and professional leaders, people whose devotion to the mission of building and sustainingMasortiJudaism across the globe is nothing short of incredible. Together, we immersed ourselves in the living reality ofMasorticommunities in South America. Together, we sat with rabbis, teachers, and lay leaders who have plantedMasortiJudaism deeply into their communities, reaching Jews of every age and every background. There is something rare about traveling with a group of people who are bound together by a commitment to vibrant, serious, engaged Jewish life. That was the spirit of this mission, and it set the tone for everything that followed.

What moved me most profoundly wasencounteringthe Gladstein Fellows, who were at various stages of their rabbinic careers. They shared their struggles and triumphs with boundless energy and hope. I could sense that they were working hard to shape the present moment, each trying to find the place where they could be the most contributive. To hear about their lives in the field enabled me to understand the role that the GladsteinFellowship in Entrepreneurial Rabbinic Leadership plays in their rabbinic formation. Theyareliving proof that when you invest in the right people, in the right way, at the right moment in their formation, something extraordinary becomes possible.

And then there were Ned and Jane Gladstein. 

To travel alongside the very people whose generosity and vision made all of this possible was a privilege I did not take lightly. What struck me most was not simply their philanthropy, remarkable as it is. It was their presence. Their genuine curiosity about the communities we visited, their warmth toward the rabbis they have helped to form, their obvious joy in seeing the fruits of what they set in motion. They were true models for me of people who enter into a relationship with the individuals committed to the mission they support.  

I have long admired the work of Masorti Olami from a distance. This mission brought me close enough to see it whole.We were able to visitLamrothHakolandCasa Malka/AmijaiinBuenosAires. We were also hosted byNueva B’nai Israel andCírculoIsraelita de Santiagoin Santiago. There we were joined by rabbis, lay leaders, and members, each with a different story about their Jewish journey, each with different models of how to build energetic communities.What Iwitnessedwas the remarkable power of integration and what becomes possible when excellent rabbinic leadership, utterly devoted lay leaders, and skilled, passionate professionals are working in genuineconcerttoward a shared vision. Each piece matters:The rabbi who can teach and inspire, the lay leader who gives their time, their resources, and their heart with devotion, theprofessional who holds the organizational threads together with competence and care. Remove any one of these, and the structure weakens. But togetherthey create something that is greater than the sum of its parts. Thank you to allour hosts and thosewho shared this journey with me.I am honored to be working alongside you.

Last Thursday, 91����� hosted a full-day convening exploring the limits of law and the ethical commitments required to sustain justice in democratic societies.

We were honored to welcome leading scholars and practitioners who examined how moral responsibility, empathy, and civic norms can complement legal frameworks when the law alone is insufficient to address complex social challenges.

Rabbi Dr. Jane Kanarek, Professor of Rabbinics and Dean of Faculty, Hebrew College, and Imam Dr. Khalil Abdur-Rashid, Muslim Chaplain and Lecturer, Muslim Studies, Harvard University, began the event with a discussion about Jewish and Muslim views on the relationship between religious law, secular law, human reason, and empathy.

The second session explored the idea that law can help solve human problems, but justice depends on the values and actions of the people who live under it. Courts and constitutions matter, yet lasting change often comes from education, dialogue, civic engagement, and sometimes challenging unjust laws. The panel featured Lincoln Caplan, Journalist and Senior Research Scholar in Law at Yale University, Hon. Judith Bartnoff, Senior Judge at the Superior Court of the District of D.C., Talia Milgrom-Elcott, Founder and Executive Director of Beyond100K, and Dimitry Anselme, Smith Family Senior Vice President and Chief Officer of Facing History & Ourselves, and Assistant Attorney General in Charge of Special Litigation in the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office David Leit moderated the discussion.

Participants also took part in interactive workshops, exploring “Ethics in Action: Applying Legal Principles to Civic Challenges,” covering a wide range of additional topics.

The day concluded with the Henry N. and Selma S. Rapaport Memorial Lecture. Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz moderated a conversation on law, repair, and civic life between Martha Minow, 300th Anniversary University Professor, Harvard Law School, and Susan Sturm, George M. Jaffin Professor of Law and Social Responsibility, Columbia Law School.

If you weren’t able to join us in-person, you can now watch these important conversations.

Religious Law and Ethical Foundations

• Moderator: Rabbi Gordon Tucker, Vice Chancellor for Religious Life and Engagement, 91�����
• Rabbi Dr. Jane Kanarek, Professor of Rabbinics and Dean of Faculty, Hebrew Collegek
• Imam Dr. Khalil Abdur-Rashid, Muslim Chaplain and Lecturer, Muslim Studies, Harvard University

When the Law Meets Ethics: Understanding Limits and Responsibilities

• Moderator: David Leit, Assistant Attorney General in Charge of Special Litigation, New Jersey Attorney General’s Office •
• Lincoln Caplan, Journalist and Senior Research Scholar in Law, Yale University •
• Hon. Judith Bartnoff, Senior Judge, Superior Court of the District of D.C. •
• Talia Milgrom-Elcott, Founder and Executive Director of Beyond100K •
• Dimitry Anselme, Smith Family Senior Vice President and Chief Officer, Facing History & Ourselves

Rapaport Lecture: A Conversation on Law, Repair, and Civic Life

• Moderator: Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz
• Martha Minow, 300th Anniversary University Professor, Harvard Law School
• Susan Sturm, George M. Jaffin Professor of Law and Social Responsibility, Columbia Law School