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Days of Learning Spring 2026

About Days of Learning

On the Jewish calendar, we are in the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot.  Days of Learning 2026, from May 11 through May 15, is designed to accompany you along this remarkable journey  that  the  children of Israel took from Egyptian bondage to receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai. 

On Shavuot itself, Thursday, May 21, when it is traditional to study into the wee hours, we will do it RS style, with a three-part program. A wine and cheese tasting with a Jewish flair, with Bill Uffner and Rabbi Bill Kuhn discussing wine and Yoav Perry and Helene Jawhara Piner on the history of Jewish cheese making; followed by music with Jon Broder and his group of amazing musicians; and concluding with a book talk about interwar Zionism. 

This year’s Days of Learning is made possible in part by a donation in memory of Gail ‘Malka’ Meister, the founder of this program at Rodeph Shalom. 

Co-chairs are Ellen Poster, Marc Lowenstein, and Howard Green, along with committee members Ben-Zion Friedman and Jeffrey Saunders. 

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Classes

It is traditional to study Pirkei Avot (The Ethics Our Sages), a tractate of the Mishnah, during the weeks between Pesach and Shavuot.  We have provided you with a Pirkei Avot quote for each of our classes to enhance your Days of Learning experience as you journey toward Sinai and revelation.

Monday, May 11

Pirkei Avot 2:5: “The inhibited will not learn, the irate cannot teach.”
Everything You Wanted to Know about Artificial Intelligence with Dr. Barry Marks, 10:00 to 11:00 AM, Breakfast provided
Barry will explain what AI is, how we can use it to enhance our daily lives, and what does the future hold. There will be plenty of time to ask questions!

Pirkei Avot 1:12: “Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving mankind and drawing them close to the Torah.” 
Introduction to Pirkei Avot: The Ethics of our Sages with Rabbinic Intern Sai Koros, 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM, Lunch provided
Join us for a creative introduction to Pirkei Avot, a collection of ancient rabbinic guidance and aphorisms. Together, we will explore the purpose of aphorisms, create sayings based on our experience, and learn about the history of this foundational rabbinic text.

Pirkei Avot 6:6: ““Greater is learning Torah than the priesthood and than royalty…By an understanding heart…By generosity, By acceptance of suffering…Who loves [their fellow creatures] Who shares in the bearing of a burden with his colleague…Who asks and answers…”
Transplant Surgery and Jewish Law: Why I Became a Living Donor with Todd Hacker and Dr. Kenneth Chavin, 6:00 to 7:30 PM, Dinner provided
Meet a hero among us. Todd, an RS member and Berkman Mercaz Limud teacher, donated part of his liver. He will share his courageous and inspiring story, as well as explain the Jewish law on being a living donor. Dr. Ken Chavin, who specializes in liver transplant surgery, will add the medical perspective.

Tuesday, May 12

Pirkei Avot 3:2: “If two sit together and there are words of Torah spoken between them, then the Shekhinah [the Divine Presence] dwells among them.
What Are the Neshamah (Soul) Training and Community Experiences of Torah Study with Rabbi Jill Maderer, 3:00 to 4:00 PM
Marking her 25th year since ordination, Rabbi Maderer will lead a study of her rabbinic thesis, “Learning Disabilities and Inclusion in the Rabbinic Understanding of Talmud Torah,” and discuss the implications on Torah Study today.

Pirkei Avot 3:15: “Everything is foreseen yet freedom of choice is granted.”
Reading Ruth: Between the Lines with Mindi Snoparsky and Denise Finer, 6:00 to 7:00 PM, Dinner provided
Embrace the spiral of Jewish time with Mindi and Denise as they deepen our understanding of the Book of Ruth, traditionally read on Shavuot. They will discuss who wrote the Book of Ruth and when, describe the protagonists of the story and lead a discussion about which characters resonate with you.

Wednesday, May 13

Pirkei Avot 1:14: “If I am not for myself, who is for me? But if I am for my own self only, what am I? And if not now, when?”
Repairing the World: Standing Up for Immigrant Rights with Rabbi Jill Maderer, Rabbi Eli Freedman, Cantor Brad Hyman, and Deborah Davies, 10:00 AM to 2:30 PM, Brunch provided
Rabbi Freedman will teach on how we are commanded to treat the stranger among us and invite discussion in the context of today’s immigration issues. We will then make our way to the ICE office on 8th Street between Arch and Cherry Sts. where RS clergy and members will lead us in a New Sanctuary Movement sponsored vigil outside the ICE office. The 30 to 40 minute vigil will include song, prayer, readings and stories. RS is hosting week 26 of this 40 week project. It may just become an important part of your own spiritual practice! Carpooling will be provided.

Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5: “Whoever saves a single life is considered by Scripture to have saved the whole world.”
Book Talk: A Force for Good, the rescue of children from Nazi Germany with Anita Wyzanski Robboy and Lynn Edelman, 
6:00 to 7:30 PM, Dinner provided
We are proud to present Anita Wyzanski Robboy, the author of the critically-acclaimed new biography about her late mother, Gisela Warburg Wyzanski. Gisela was a remarkable German Jewish woman who used her wealth and influence to rescue thousands of Jewish children and resettle them in the land now known as Israel. We will go behind the scenes of the Kindertransport and Youth Aliyah movements and meet Gisela’s mentors – Henrietta Szold, the founder of Hadassah, and Chaim Weitmann, Israel’s first president.

Thursday, May 14

Pirkei Avot 1:2: “The world stands upon three things: the Torah, the Temple service, and the practice of acts of piety.”
Seeing RS Through My Eyes with Karen Michaels, 10:00 to 11:00 AM, Breakfast provided
Shape and color catch Karen’s eye and she photographs what she sees. These photos of RS have the most spiritual meaning to her. Hear her talk about each photo and join her in discussion.

Pirkei Avot 4:19: “If your enemy falls, do not exult.”
First Salute Weitzman Tour with Resa Levinson, 12:00 to 1:30 PM
Tour the core exhibits with an emphasis on colonial America and the new exhibit First Salute, “the first-ever major museum exhibition to explore the little-known story of a small group of Jewish merchants in the Caribbean whose outsized contributions to the cause of liberty flipped in the scales in the fight for American independence.” Cost: $20/person + $5/person for lunch.

Pirkei Avot 4:14: “Leave home and go to a place of Torah.”
Jews by Choice with Denise Finer, Todd Hacker, Robert Higgins, Liliana Kimbrough, and Michael Riccardi, 6:00 to 7:30 PM, Dinner provided
Be inspired by the profound personal journeys of our RS friends who have chosen to embrace Jewish life, identity, and faith.

Friday, May 15

Pirkei Avot 1:6: “Acquire for yourself a friend.”; Pirkei Avot 4:12: “Let the honor of your colleague be equal to the respect due to your teacher.”
Tour of Calder Gardens with Jane Friedman, 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Enjoy a docent-led tour of Calder Gardens exhibiting the works of Alexander Calder, and then go to the Barnes for a box lunch and a discussion of Calder’s friendship and collaboration with New Yorker cartoonist Saul Steinberg led by Jane Friedman. Cost: $20/person + $5/person for lunch.
 
Pirkei Avot 4:3:  “Do not despise anyone, and do not discriminate against anything, for there is no one that has not their hour, and there is no thing that has not its place.”
Yiddish Theater Comes to RS with Susannah Trubman, 4:00 to 5:30 PM
This workshop features YIVO Institute for Jewish Research Educator Susannah Trubman leading a guided lesson utilizing the YLMC’s Archival Box Lessons. The program begins with a talk on the history of the Yiddish theater in Eastern Europe and one of its early pioneers, Esther Rokhl Kaminska, followed by an exploration of original source materials relating to her life and a group discussion. 
 

Thursday, May 21: A Shavuot Celebration Sponsored by Days of Learning

 
5:30 to 6:30 PM 
Wine, Cheese, and Time: A Journey through Jewish History: From Biblical Roots to the Inquisition to Modern Israel – Tracing Resilience and Reinvention
Learn about the history and tradition of Jewish wine and cheese-making, while sampling curated wines and cheeses for your pleasure with Bill Uffner, Rabbi Bill Kuhn, Yoav Perry, and Hélène Jawhara Piñer.  

6:30 to 7:30 PM
A Stroll through Jewish Musical Genres over the Decades
While you are noshing on delicious wine, cheese, and hors d’oeuvres, enjoy the music of Jon Broder, Louis Bernstein, Melissa Broder, and Barbara Lewandowski, as they take us through a Jewish musical revue.
 
7:30 to 8:30 PM
Book Talk: Promised Lands: Zionism in Interwar Palestine and America with Sharon Musher
In 1922, Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, first initiated the Bat Mitzvah as a rite-of-passage for Jewish girls. Kaplan’s family, including his second daughter, Hadassah, played a role in shaping his ideas about women, culture, and Zionism. She joined a small, but influential, cohort of American Jewish women who studied, worked, and volunteered in British Mandate Palestine. Promised Lands draws on a rich personal archive of diary entries, photographs, and letters, to follow Hadassah’s journey to Palestine and illustrate how travel shaped a cohort of American Jewish women who went on to shape American Jewry.