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SEPTEMBER 2026 PROGRAMS
HIGH HOLIDAYS 2026-5787
Please visit our High Holidays page for details on services, our Yizkor book and other holiday programming.
High Holidays 2026-5787
FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN TO THE NORTHERN LIGHTS: JEWISH JOURNEYS TOGETHER
Jewish Finland Tour
Thursday, September 17, 12:00 pm ET (online)
Our series concludes with a virtual visit to the Jewish community in Finland. The Finnish Jewish community is a small but active community that encompasses a synagogue a Jewish school, Chabad house and sports activities by the only Maccabi in Europe that did not stop operating during World War II. Today the Finnish Union of Jewish Students is one of the most active ones in Northern Europe and has been recently awarded the prize of the Developing Union of the Year by the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS). Finland is the northernmost Jewish community in Europe and its traditions and active Jewish life is as diverse and alive as in any big city elsewhere.
Our presentation will be given by Beto Guzman, who is originally from Mexico but has lived in Helsinki since 2015. As an activist and community organizer, he has been working and volunteering in the Finnish Jewish community first as a Moishe House host and even starting the Finnish Union of Jewish Students.
Register here
Learn more about the series here
CSP
The Walnut Street Synagogue is pleased to be a partner congregation of the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program. Please join us at an upcoming program!
Part 2 – Thursday, September 3, 1:00 pm ET (online)
Part 3 – Thursday, October 1, 1:00 pm ET (online)
(online in partnership with the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program)
Join acclaimed artist Tobi Kahn for a captivating three-part adventure through the artistic soul of Italy, where every stone, canvas, and canal tells a story. From the eternal layers of Rome, where ancient sculpture, Renaissance genius, and contemporary vision meet in the Vatican Museums, Galleria Borghese, Musei Capitolini, Palazzo Barberini, and MAXXI; to Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance, where Michelangelo’s David, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, and Brunelleschi’s soaring Duomo forever changed the way humanity sees beauty; to the magical waterways of Venice, where Byzantine splendor, Renaissance masters, Murano glass, delicate lace traditions, and daring engineering created a city unlike any other. Together, we will explore not only Italy’s greatest masterpieces, museums, and architectural wonders, but also the artists, patrons, ideas, and innovations that transformed Italy into one of the world’s most extraordinary centers of creativity and civilization.
Tobi Kahn is an internationally acclaimed painter and sculptor whose work has been featured in more than 70 solo museum exhibitions and is included in major collections worldwide, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Phillips Collection, The Jewish Museum, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Yale University Art Gallery. A longtime educator, Kahn has taught fine arts at New York’s School of Visual Arts for over 30 years and lectures internationally on visual language, creativity, and art as a source of healing. He holds a BA from Hunter College and an MFA from Pratt Institute. His upcoming solo survey exhibition, Quest for the Essence, will be presented at the Boca Raton Museum of Art from November 2026 through April 2027.
Register here
The Changing Shape of Religious Zionism & the Upcoming Elections
Sunday, September 6, 1:00 pm ET (online)
(online in partnership with the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program)
Religious Zionists, though relatively small in number, are crucial for understanding the history of Zionism and the State of Israel today, both for what they do, and for the larger trends they reflect not only in politics and religious life, but also in Israeli ideology and culture. October 7th and its aftermath has shaken up Religious Zionists, with some radicalizing even further towards the right, and others seeking new alliances with Israeli politics’ moderate center, and a few moving determinedly towards the left. In our time together, we will learn about the complex, and surprising, history of Religious Zionism, how it came to shape the current Israeli government, and what the changes it is experiencing may portend for the future.
Yehudah Mirsky is Professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University and a faculty member of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies. He teaches Jewish political thought, theology and mysticism, Zionism and Israel, environmental ethics, and human rights. A dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, he is a longtime civil society and democracy activist in Jerusalem. He was recently the inaugural Senior Fellow of the Weisfeld Maayan Centre for Sustainability and Jewish Ethics at Bar-Ilan University and previously a Visiting Professor at Harvard. He also served in the U.S. State Department’s human rights bureau and has written for publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, The Guardian, and Haaretz. Earlier in his career, he was an aide to Senators Bob Kerrey and Al Gore. His Rav Kook: Mystic in a Time of Revolution (Yale, 2014) won the Jewish Book Council’s Choice Prize. A revised Hebrew edition appeared in 2021, the same year he published Towards the Mystical Experience of Modernity: The Making of Rav Kook, 1865–1904. He is currently writing a book about 1948. An ordained rabbi, he served as a Red Cross chaplain after 9/11 and was educated at Yeshiva College, Yale Law School, and Harvard.
Register here
Hayom Harat Olam – Creation, Science, and Rosh Hashanah
Thursday, September 10, 1:00 pm ET (online)
(online in partnership with the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program)
For more than four decades, surveys by Pew have found that roughly 38–42% of Americans believe that the world was created within the last 10,000 years. This view, known as young-earth creationism, is rooted in a literal reading of Genesis 1 and stands in contrast to evolutionary explanations of the origins of life and the universe. Rosh Hashanah, however, invites us to think deeply about creation in ways that go beyond chronology. In the High Holy Day liturgy, we proclaim Hayom Harat Olam – “Today is the conception of the world.” The Torah and Haftarah readings for the holiday center on conceptions and births: Sarah giving birth to Isaac and Hannah giving birth to Samuel. Join us for a CSP discussion as we explore what the High Holy Day liturgy and Jewish thought say about creation, and whether Judaism supports, challenges, or transcends the claims of young-earth creationism.
After spending twelve years on the faculties of Vanderbilt University, UCLA, and University of San Diego teaching Jewish Thought, Rav Shai Cherry transitioned to the pulpit just in time to be derailed by Covid. For the past seven years, Shai served as the rabbi for Congregation Adath Jeshurun outside of Philadelphia. He is currently completing his third book tentatively titled The Covenant: People, Land, and Torah.
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The Gate of Tears – Why Cry on Yom Kippur?
Tuesday, September 17, 1:00 pm ET (online)
(online in partnership with the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program)
Can the Day of Atonement move us to tears? Should it? Are we crying for ourselves, our families or our people? And what happens to all those tears? Where do they go? The Talmud and the Yom Kippur Machzor have much to say on this topic; and recent historic events have only compounded the issue. This class is an intimate meditation on the relationship we cultivate with our Creator, and the God-in-us, on the holiest day of the year.
Rabbi Dr. Raphael Zarum is Dean of the London School of Jewish Studies (LSJS) where he holds the Rabbi Sacks Chair in Modern Jewish Thought, established by the Zandan family. He has a Physics PhD, ordination from Rabbi Sacks, and studied at the Mandel Leadership School in Jerusalem. Rabbi Zarum is an acclaimed educator whose latest book, Questioning Belief: Torah and Tradition in an Age of Doubt, was a Yeshiva University Book Prize finalist. He hosts the Big Questions of Jewish Belief podcast and travels the globe lecturing in Jewish communities and diverse institutions.
Register here
YAD CHESSED
Yad Chessed helps Jewish individuals and families who struggle with financial hardship pay their bills and buy food. As a social services agency rooted in the Jewish values of kindness (chessed) and charity (tzedakah), they are committed to helping those in need navigate a path toward financial stability while preserving their privacy and dignity. They provide emergency financial assistance, grocery gift cards and compassionate advice for those trying to make ends meet. Hundreds of families and individuals throughout the state rely on Yad Chessed to provide for their essentials, and even at times, a Jewish burial for a loved one. Members of our community, as well as others in the Jewish community, who need assistance may contact Yad Chessed by phone at 781-487-2693 or by Email at intake@yadchessed.org for a confidential conversation. Questions can be directed to info@yadchessed.org.
Support Yad Chessed
PAST SEPTEMBER 2026 COMMUNITY PARTNER PROGRAMS
Israel’s Elections: What They Mean for Israel’s Future
Wednesday, September 2, 7:00 pm ET
(in-person program presented by Combined Jewish Philanthropies at Jewish Community Center of the North Shore, 4 Community Road, Marblehead)
As Israelis prepare to head to the polls, the stakes of this election extend far beyond party politics. The outcome will shape Israel’s leadership, security, society, and relationships with the Jewish world at a pivotal moment in the country’s history. Join us for an insightful evening with Professor Reuven Hazan, one of Israel’s leading experts on politics and democracy, for a timely overview of Israel’s political landscape ahead of the October elections. Professor Hazan will provide clear, nonpartisan analysis of the major issues, key political players, and the possible paths forward, helping our community better understand the dynamics shaping Israel today.