*Please also check our Weekly Mail and Monthly Bulletin for the latest on Adult Ed classes we are offering and for registration details.
We invite you to experience Judaism on a new level. You can take a year-long course or a single class, come to a three-session series or attend a once-a-month discussion group. Classes, lectures, concerts, and tours are all opportunities to deepen your connection to Judaism. We offer classes at all levels of learning. You are welcome to participate in any course or event whatevver your prior Jewish educational background. Our clergy, teachers, and guest speakers are dedicated to helping you develop and strengthen your relationship to Judaism.
Register for class below!
Beginning Conversational Hebrew - LEVEL 2
Instructor: Orly
Tuesdays, November 12, 19, 26 & December 3, 10 & 17
6:30- 7:30 pm in Person
Some previous knowledge of Hebrew is required as this is Level 2 of Beginners Hebrew. Our Israeli method of teaching is for all Hebrew language skills: speaking, comprehension, reading, and writing.
Cost: $120 Members, $150 Non-Members
Ready to register? Sign up here
Songs of the Heart:
An Introduction to the Book of Psalms
Instructor: Rabbi Alder
Mondays, 7:00 pm | November 25, December 2, 9, & 23
In person at Brotherhood
The biblical Book of Psalms are poems of faith
that portray the inner spiritual struggles of people
as they grapple with adversity, bare their souls,
display their anxieties, admit their doubts, rail
against injustice, revel in joy and proclaim their
thankfulness. We will study a representative
sample of psalms that typify these different genres
and also find their way into our prayer books.
Suggested Donation $54
Ready to register? Sign up here
Ashkenazi Folk Magic and Religion
Instructor: Rokhl Kafrissen
Mondays, 7:00 pm | January 13, 27 and February 3 ON ZOOM
Join us for an illuminating exploration of Ashkenazi Folk Magic and Religion through the captivating stories of Yiddish writer Sarah Hamer-Jacklyn. This three-session course, led by our skilled instructor, delves into the rich traditions of Ashkenazi Jewish life, where religion and folk magic intertwine. We will read select translated stories, unveiling folklore’s deep-rooted elements with expert annotations. Topics include the mystique of dybbuks, Jewish cemeteries as places of both rest and connection, and traditions like the plague wedding, as well as Ashkenazi herbalism and beliefs surrounding the living and the dead. This is a unique opportunity to engage with the timeless spirit and spirituality embedded in Yiddish literature and the cultural heritage it preserves.
Rokhl Kafrissen is a journalist, teacher, and playwright, as well as the 2022 recipient of the prestigious Adrienne Cooper Dreaming in Yiddish Prize. Since 2017, her column Rokhl’s Golden City has appeared monthly in Tablet magazine, where she explores the depth and diversity of Yiddish culture. In 2021, her song “Kum tsu mir,” a Yiddish translation-adaptation of Jimmy Buffett’s Why Don’t We Get Drunk..., was recorded by an acclaimed klezmer trio. Her work continues to make waves, with her Yiddish adaptation “Makhn a vayivrekh” (Breakthrough) featured on the latest album from Israeli funk-fusion band Malox in 2024. In October 2023, Rokhl taught her first course for the Yiddish Book Center, Between Heaven and Earth: Yiddish Women’s Folklore, Rituals, & Magic, and her classes on Everyday Ashkenazi Magic have since become popular with students worldwide. In September 2024, she introduced a new High Holiday-focused course for the Yiddish Book Center, Sacred Time and Liminal Space: Ashkenazi Folk Magic at the Threshold.
Suggested Donation $54
Ready to register? Sign up here
Harmoni-AH! – The Brotherhood Synagogue Congregational Choir
with Cantor Isaac Yager and Meredeth Kelly
Tuesdays, 6:00-7:30pm in Person Beginning September 3
Jewish music offers a rich selection of choral music that can greatly enhance our spiritual experience. After strengthening our group sound through listening and vocal exercises, the choir will begin to tap into some of this music in a manner that is accessible for participants with advanced or no musical background. The choir will also have opportunities to perform this music for the community throughout the year, performance dates TBD. Our congregational choir is open to everyone at all levels of experience.
Please email Cantor Yager directly if you are interested in newly participating. You can also sign up here.
Lunch & Learn with Cantor Isaac Yager
Thursdays ongoing, 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm in Person and on Zoom Starting September 12
Join us for lunch on Thursdays as we discuss, learn, and engage in Jewish textual study, specifically the Parashat Hashavuah (weekly Torah reading). Following in the footsteps of the generations that preceded us, we will continue the long legacy of commenting and intellectually dissecting Jewish texts from the Torah, the book of Prophets, and other holy texts. Questions will be encouraged and debate is inevitable. This will be an inclusive, non judgmental learning environment where everyone's voice will have equal value. No prior text study is required. All are welcome to attend and participate.
Conversion Class with Cantor Isaac Yager
Wednesdays ongoing, 6:30 - 7:30 pm in Person Starting September 4
“For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”
Book of Ruth, Chapter 1
In the spirit in which Ruth was welcomed into the Jewish community, Brotherhood Synagogue offers conversion classes to those interested in joining the Jewish faith. Classes run from October through June and meet on Wednesdays from 6:30-7:30 in person at the synagogue. Our first class date will be TBD. Admission to the class is accepted on a rolling basis based on the individual, all experience levels with Judaism are welcome to inquire. Conversion classes are provided at no cost, though participants are requested to make a donation to Brotherhood Synagogue in an amount of their choosing at the end of the conversion process. Please contact Cantor Yager or Rabbi Alder if you are interested in the program.