Fall Semester is online. Spring Semester TBD

Fall Semester is online. Spring Semester TBD

Fall Semester is online. Spring Semester TBD

Fall Semester is online. Spring Semester TBD

Fall Semester is online. Spring Semester TBD

Bob Dylan revolutionized popular music by bringing the great questions that have driven religious and spiritual quests for millennia to the radio. The riddle at the heart of his 1965 song Like a Rolling Stone—“How does it feel / to be on your own / no direction home?”—affirmed the search for spiritual meaning that defined rock and roll for all who followed him. While Dylan’s challenge to a generation of seekers is universal, it also resonates strongly with the continuing Jewish journey between home and exile in America. Dylan’s restlessness models how, even as Jews have felt more at home in America than perhaps any other country or kingdom in the past two thousand years outside of the Land of Israel, they have also wrestled with their individual and collective Jewish purpose in ways that intertwine with and influence not just rock and roll, but the American spirit as a whole. Dylan’s career-long search for a “direction home” is one of the essential creative journeys of his era. It is deeply Jewish, deeply American, and still deeply unresolved.

Fall Semester is online. Spring Semester TBD

Part 1: Friday night service and Shema section, beginning Jan. 10, for 10 sessions

These classes are taught by our rabbis, educators and by distinguished scholars and lay leaders within our community. In order to help create a class community, once a series begins, new students will not be allowed to join the class until the next series begins. Attendance will be taken in order to fulfill the requirements for conversion.

When it comes to Jewish cuisine, Ashkenazi classics like brisket and matzo ball soup only tell a fraction of the story. Jews have lived and cooked all over the world, and their cuisine tells the tale of delicious diversity. In this interactive Zoom event, cookbook author Leah Koenig (The Jewish Cookbook, Modern Jewish Cooking) will discuss the Jewish cuisines of India, Ethiopia, and Rome, and will demonstrate how to make pizza ebraica, a sweet, fruit and nut studded bar cookie from Rome's Jewish ghetto. The recipe (with optional, gluten-free substitutions) will be shared with participants in advance for those who want to bake along. This Cooking in Community series is a collaboration between 3 of the synagogues in Austin - Congregation Agudas Achim, Congregation Beth Israel, and Temple Beth Shalom.

In this 10-session course we will explore Jewish stories where our ancestors pushed back on the authority of their government and society, of their own Jewish leadership, and even of G-d. This class is for everyone and will lead to wonderful open discussions. REGISTRATION REQUIRED below. If you do not see a registration below, the class is closed. Members attend for free, nonmembers are required to pay $18.00. Donations are also appreciated!

Led by Cantor Abby Gostein and Rabbi Ellie Steinman A special group for Temple Beth Shalom members to connect. New to the group? Contact our office.

This course invites participants to look anew at the prayerbook, to investigate the Shabbat and weekday prayers, with an eye toward personal meaning. The course is intended not only for those with a prayer practice, but also for those interested in examining this rich literature from a personal perspective. REGISTRATION REQUIRED below. If you do not see a registration below, the class is closed. Members attend for free, nonmembers are required to pay $18.00. Donations are also appreciated!

For more information about First Friday, you can visit https://www.bethshalomaustin.org/worship/shabbat/first-fridays. Join us for First Friday services at https://www.bethshalomaustin.org/livestream

This study group is guided by one of our rabbis, educators, or lay leaders. Contact us to receive more information about taking part in Torah Study. Free for members and non-members.