Hebrew College

10/22/2026

Hear from a student about last week's rabbinical school shabbaton:

💬 "The Shannie Lightman Goldstein Annual Shabbaton was such a wonderful experience for me as a second year student. While I already know many members of our community well, it was a great opportunity to have dedicated time to make connections with newer students, with faculty members that I have yet to take classes with, and with the families of many of my beloved peers! On top of this beautiful integration of relationships, the setting was gorgeous and allowed for different types of prayer and connection based more in our natural world. The weekend was organized, led, and held by our graduating class and it felt like a beautiful expression of their learning over the last 5 years, and their creativity, thoughtfulness, and sensitivity. I really got to see our pluralistic values come to life and also just had a really fun time hanging out with peers and teachers in a new context, relaxing together over a Shabbat."

10/21/2026

We were delighted to host a Yom Iyun (day of learning) at Hebrew College for Greater Boston Area’s Education Directors in congregational settings. Thank you for a day of deep collegial conversation, learning, sharing, and soul-filling activities as we addressed the challenges ahead in 5787.

Thank you to the participating organizations:
B'Yachad
Congregation Beth Elohim
Congregation Beth Shalom of the Blue Hills
Congregation B'nai Shalom
Kerem Shalom - Vineyard of Peace
Temple Ahavat Achim
Temple Beth Shalom Melrose
Temple Chayai Shalom
Temple Emanu-El, Marblehead, MA
Temple Emanuel
Kesher Newton
Temple Emunah Lexington
Temple Isaiah
Temple Israel of Natick
Temple Reyim
Temple Shalom of Newton
Temple Shir Tikvah
Sinai Brookline

10/16/2026

Hebrew College stands by our alumna, Rabbi Nikki Golomb, who was recently fired from a campus position because of her fiancé’s political views. People of good faith can disagree about politics and the limits of what is welcome in our communities, but this has the potential to set a dangerous precedent. Rabbi Golomb is a dedicated and talented young rabbi with a deep sense of connection to Israel and a passionate commitment to serving the Jewish people. We, as a Jewish community, must do better in engaging with mutual respect and compassion across our differences.

10/16/2026

Yesterday evening, the halls of Hebrew College were illuminated during the opening reception of Psalm 27: A Dialogue with Text and Art. Eighteen artists were featured across painting, photography, sculpture, mosaic, printmaking, and mixed media; each artist brought a distinct visual language, aesthetic practice, and spiritual perspective to the psalm, creating works that stand on their own while participating in a larger conversation.

Special thank you to the featured artists:
Frann Addison
Bette Ann Libby
Arlene Bandes
Sandra Mayo
Michael Bogdanow
Joshua Meyer
Mel Brown
Silvina Mizrahi
Terri Eisenberg
Anita Rabinoff-Goldman
Deborah Feinstein
David Ratz
Lynda Goldberg
Elliot Schildkrout
David Harlow
Marcie Scudder
Linda Hoffman
Emily Sper

Additionally, we want to thank Deborah Feinstein, founding chair of the College’s Arts Initiative, and Hebrew College faculty Rav Rachel Adelman and Rabbi Or Rose for their teaching.

10/16/2026

We are so proud of Hebrew College rabbinical student Elly Chane Bovarnick! Read the inspiring article by Jewish Women's Archive, "7 Questions for Elly Bovarnick."

https://jwa.org/blog/7-questions-elly-bovarnick

"I started making tallitot because I really wanted to have a tallit gadol (the really big tallit that hangs down the back) because they seemed more impactful to me. I wanted to be able to truly wrap myself up in a tallit and be enveloped by it in my prayer. However, I didn’t want a tallit gadol made for men because that would feel like appropriating someone else’s custom."

Elly Bovarnick Studios produces spiritually significant Jewish art and ritual pieces sold around the world. Bovarnick earned a Master’s in Textile and Surface Design from the Instituto Europeo di Diseño and is in her second year of rabbinical school at Hebrew College.

📷 Image courtesy of Elly Bovarnick.

10/15/2026

70 Faces
Understanding God's Will in a World of Uncertainty

by Leah Weinstein, rabbinical student

💬 "Perhaps the contrast between Noah and Bavel teaches us that we cannot always understand the entirety of God's purposes. Noah acts faithfully despite not understanding every mystery of creation. The builders, meanwhile, pursue their own vision without recognizing the possibility that their ambitions conflict with a greater purpose. Yet this does not mean that every unexpected consequence is a punishment or that human beings should stop questioning. The story challenges us to balance faith with humility and moral reflection. We may not always know God's will, but we can remain open to purposes beyond our own understanding."

Follow our "Seventy Faces of Torah" series, torah commentaries written by faculty, rabbis, students, and alumni of Hebrew College: https://hebrewcollege.edu/blog/category/seventy-faces-of-torah/

10/14/2026

Join us tomorrow for the opening reception for "Psalm 27: A Dialogue with Text and Art" at Hebrew College!

🎨 Painting
📸 Photography
🗿 Sculpture
💠 Mosaic
🖼️ Printmaking
🪶 Poetry
✂️ Mixed media

Learn more: https://hebrewcollege.edu/events/fall-exhibit-psalm-27-a-dialogue-with-text-and-art/

10/14/2026

Join us online today for our free Tamid of Hebrew College GROW program!

Rabbi Leonard Gordon will examine two trajectories in Jewish history:
- The drive to build a homeland in the Land of Israel
- The desire to make sense of the Jewish experience of exile and diaspora

➡️ Register here: https://hebrewcollege.edu/events/grow-october-exile-as-homeland-the-jewish-experience-of-diaspora/

10/13/2026

💬 The month of Cheshvan is also referred to as “Mar Cheshvan,” Bitter Cheshvan. The month is void of Jewish holidays, and therefore regarded by some as lacking, lamentable, less than. This somewhat pejorative read of Cheshvan feels incomplete. Must bitter be seen only through the lens of the negative?

Read "Blessing for the Month of Cheshvan" by Director of Student Life, Rabbi Rachel Tali Kaplan: https://hebrewcollege.edu/blog/blessing-for-the-month-of-cheshvan

10/09/2026

Seventy Faces of Torah
A Song of Rising Up

By Rabbi Avi Strausberg `15

💬 "God’s early acts of creation are all about order and separation. God delineates the light from the dark, the waters above from the waters below, dry land from wet. Creative act after creative act, the world moves from a barren wasteland toward something that makes sense, where different opposing forces are held separate from one another. Yet we know that it is a fragile order. Everything is not held quite as separate as we might like. Sometimes the waters of the sea spill over onto the land and the waters of the heavens pour down to the water below. Sometimes light eclipses into dark and darkness blots out the light. This is the stuff of apocalyptic visions in the Prophets, but it’s also the reality of the natural world."

Follow our "Seventy Faces of Torah" series, torah commentaries written by faculty, rabbis, students, and alumni of Hebrew College: https://hebrewcollege.edu/blog/category/seventy-faces-of-torah/