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JULY 2026 PROGRAMS

FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN TO THE NORTHERN LIGHTS: JEWISH JOURNEYS TOGETHER

 Jewish Norway Tour

Thursday, July 9, 12:00 pm ET

The Jewish presence in Norway began in the mid-19th century, after the repeal of the 1814 constitution’s “Jew Clause” in 1851 — a change driven by poet and activist Henrik Wergeland. Early Jewish settlers, many from Eastern Europe and Denmark, established communities in cities such as Trondheim and Oslo.  The Trondheim synagogue, once a train station, stands as a symbol of survival and adaptation. During the Holocaust, over a third of Norwegian Jews were deported and murdered, leaving deep scars on both cities’ communities. Post-war years saw a gradual rebuilding of Jewish life, balancing tradition with the realities of modern Norwegian society. Today, Trondheim and Oslo reflect a blend of resilience, migration, and living heritage.
Our guide,  Louise Kahn, is a Norwegian-born Jewish social entrepreneur, cultural organizer, and civic leader focused on strengthening Jewish identity and dialogue in Europe. Born and raised in Norway in a Jewish family with strong Zionist roots, she later moved to Israel, where she has been based since young adulthood.  Kahn is the founder of Kos & Kaos, a Nordic Jewish network that creates platforms for open conversation, intellectual exchange, and community-building around issues such as antisemitism, identity, and the public discourse surrounding Israel.  She is also the founder of Compass North, an initiative focused on connecting Nordic Jewish voices, fostering cross-border collaboration, and addressing contemporary challenges facing Jewish communities in Northern Europe. Through roundtables, debates, and cultural programming, her work aims to counter polarization and create space for nuanced, inclusive dialogue.  In parallel, Kahn works as a UX/UI designer and front-end developer, combining her tech background with her role as a public thinker and community builder. Her work sits at the intersection of identity, technology, and civic engagement, with a particular focus on amplifying underrepresented perspectives and strengthening Jewish communal resilience in Europe.
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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!

The unexpected finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls between 1947-1956 shed a new light on Jewish history in antiquity. Their final authoritative bilingual editions in Hebrew and in English or in Aramaic and in French or English became available only in the last few decades. All the unknown Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts written on parchment, are a part of a priestly sacred library of authors who describe themselves as “The priests the sons of Zadok and their allies”. In this series we’ll discuss the four fold nature of the unknown books, the background of their authors and their purpose, the historical background of their writing in the two last centuries BCE in relation to the bitter dispute on the priestly calendar, and the connection of the scrolls to the ongoing conflict between the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
Rachel Elior is the John and Golda Cohen Professor Emerita of Jewish Philosophy and Jewish Mystical Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she taught for decades and twice served as Chair of the Department of Jewish Thought. A leading scholar of Jewish mysticism and the Dead Sea Scrolls, her research spans early Jewish mystical traditions, Heikhalot literature, Kabbalah, Hasidism, Messianism, Sabbatianism, and the place of women, slavery, and freedom in Jewish culture and religious history. Prof. Elior is the author of 20 books and more than 120 scholarly articles, with works translated into multiple languages. Among her books are The Unknown History of Jewish Women, Israel Ba’al Shem Tov and His Contemporaries, and The Three Temples: On the Emergence of Jewish Mysticism. Her scholarship has received numerous honors, including the Gershom Scholem Prize for Research in Kabbalah and an honorary doctorate from Hebrew Union College.
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Take a trip back in time to celebrate summers at Revere Beach! Join the Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center in Revere for an afternoon of stories, conversation, and history of the Jewish summer community in Revere Beach. This lively event will feature a discussion about the popularity of Revere Beach as a summer destination for the Greater Boston Jewish community in the mid 20th century, opportunities for participants to share memories, and a kosher ice cream social.
More information and register here