I need human help to enter verification code (office hours only)

Sign In Forgot Password
Home > Learn > Adult Education

Adult Education

Adult Education 5786

Classes currently planned for the 2025-26 academic year are listed below.

 If you plan to attend, please don't wait to register. Only those registered receive emails with important details including schedule changes. Classes also need a minimum number of registrations to be held as planned.

This year we are offering four class series:

  • Torah at Panera (drop-in Monday mornings)
  • Tefilah Talk (periodic drop-in class on Shabbat morning after services)
  • Exploring Jewish Identity (four session Sunday morning class in March)
  • Learn to Read Hebrew (six session Sunday afternoon class starting in January)

 

We will also hold some shorter one to two session classes, with three coming up in December, 2025:

  • Our Bodies, Ourselves Quilt: Craftivism Opportunity at TBB (Thursday, December 4th at TBB with Rabbi Eliana and Liz Perlman)
  • The Judith You Do Not Know (Monday, December 8 on Zoom with Penina Weinberg)
  • The Scroll of Antiochus: Zealotry, Martyrdom, and the Freedom to Practice (Wednesday, December 17th and Monday, December 22nd on Zoom with Rabbi Eliana)

 

Scroll down for information on  all of these classes and the opportunity to register!

Torah at Panera!

8:00-9:00 AM Mondays, at the Porter Square Panera (downstairs)
This is an ongoing drop in class, starting up on Monday, Dec 1, 2025

We are returning our weekly Torah study to the Porter Square Panera!  Rabbi Eliana will be offering a weekly study of the parashah with a special focus this year on the Targumim--the ancient Aramaic translations of the Torah.  We'll look at the Targum Yonatan (the "Yerushalmi") and the Targum Onkelos (Babylonian), exploring how these voices open layers of meaning that often remain hidden.  This is a conversational, drop in class--no Hebrew or prior background needed.  Sign up here

Tefilah Talk

12:15 - 12: 45 PM during kiddush following Shabbat morning services in Nissenbaum Hall. 

Dates: January 31st, March 7th, April 18th, May 16th, June 6th, 2026

Rabbi Eliana will be leading a periodic drop-in 30-minute exploration of different parts of our prayer service.  These conversations offer a chance to understand the liturgy more deeply and to notice the ways prayer can shape our inner lives.  We'll meet during kiddush following Shabbat morning services, from 12:15-12:45--grabbing food and settling around a table on the side for a relaxed learning space.  Our first session will be: "U'v'nucho: Tefilah as an Embodied Experience." Sign up here

Exploring Jewish Identity

9:45-11:00 AM on four Sunday mornings in March, 2026

Dates: March 8, March 15, March 22, March 29

Join Rabbi Eliana on Sunday mornings in March for a four-part exploration of Jewish identity--who we are, what we believe, how we practice, and the many ways we belong.  Together we'll reflect on our stories, our choices, and the diverse paths that make up Jewish life today.  This class for adults will parallel some of the discussions that our teens will take on in their B'nai Mitzvah class.  Class fee is $15/session of $60 for the full course (fee can be waived if needed).  Sign up here

Learn to Read Hebrew

We need to confirm sufficient interest in this class prior to finalizing the schedule.  It will likely run on six Sunday afternoons, in person at TBB, beginning at 1 PM and starting some time in January, 2026.

Hebrew College Rabbinical Student and TBB Children's School teacher Alex Dillon will be teaching a six session class full of slightly silly mnemonics to give everyone the chance to learn to decode Hebrew.  Absolutely no background necessary, but please fill out the interest form if you are considering the class so we can confirm sufficient enrollment and finalize the schedule.  Class fee will be $90 for the 6-session series (the fee can be waived if needed). Let us know you are interested here!

Our Bodies Ourselves Quilt: Craftivism Opportunity at TBB

Thursday, December 4th from 7:00-9:00 PM

Join expert fiber artists Rabbi Eliana and Liz Perlman in Nissenbaum Hall at TBB to contribute to the quilt that speaks of gender-based violence.  Our Bodies Ourselves has created a national project: Our Bodies Our Quilt.  You can learn more about the project here.  No previous experience needed; all materials provided.  There is no charge to participate.  Start making your quilt square with us and finish it on your own time, or get the whole thing done with us and we will deliver your square to Our Bodies Ourselves. Sign up here

The Judith You Do Not Know

Monday, December 8th from 7:00 to 8:30 PM on Zoom

TBB Member Penina Weinberg will teach this standalone Zoom class delving into the story and history of Judith.  Judith is a woman who has been called warrior, priestess, feminist icon, slave of the patriarchy, icon of piety and celibacy, seductress, femme fatale, independent, wise.  In the Septuagint (Greek Bible in 3rd Century BCE), Judish is a Jewish heroine, heartily accepted and lauded by her people after she saves them from Holofernes.  Yet Judith does not appear in the Hebrew Bible or any Jewish sources until the Middle Ages, over 1,000 years later, in midrashim (stories) and piyyutim (hymns) of Hanukkah.  Who is Judith really, and why does she appear, disappear, and reappear?   Sign up here

The Scroll of Antiochus: Zealotry, Martyrdom, and the Freedom to Practice

Wednesday, December 17th and Monday, December 22nd at 7:00 PM on Zoom

Join Rabbi Eliana for a two-part Zoom exploration of the Megillat Antiochus--an ancient Jewish retelling of the Hanukkah story that wrestles openly with the themes of zealotry, religious oppression, and the sacred insistence on Jewish identity.  Together, we will use this evocative text to trace how Jews across the centruies have understood Kiddush Hashem--sanctifying God's name through acts of faith, sometimes at great personal cost.  This class invites us into a thoughtful conversation: How did earlier generations view martyrdom and resistance? How do we understand these concepts today? What changed, and what does that reveal about modern Jewish life and values? Bring your curiousity and a willingness to explore a complex, powerful piece of our tradition.  Class fee is $30 for the full two-session class (fee can be waived if needed).  Sign up here

Tue, November 18 2025 27 Cheshvan 5786