For the next program in Hebrew College Adult Learning’s free, monthly GROW series, we examine storytelling. We hope you will spend an hour with us for this and future programs in our series, to gather, reflect, observe, and wrestle with topics that will deepen your Jewish learning.
Date: March 13, 2024 | 12-1 PM EST/9-10 AM PST | Zoom
Program: Building Resilience through Stories
Instructor: Margie Bogdanow
Research shows that learning and knowing about family history helps build resilience in children of all ages. Judaism is a religion of stories. We tell the same Torah stories over and over and each time they have new meaning with the Passover Seder being the most famous example. As grandparents, sharing our stories is one of the most important things we can do for our grandchildren. Today our stories can be told in many ways, from sitting on a lap to sitting at computers across the world. They can be shared in words, in music and in pictures. Join other grandparents to reflect on our stories, explore the Jewish wisdom around the value of storytelling, and share practical approaches to becoming impactful stewards of our family narrative.
ABOUT OUR INSTRUCTOR
Margie Bogdanow, LICSW, is an educator, coach and consultant working in the Boston area. Over her many years as a facilitator for Parenting Through a Jewish Lens, Margie demonstrated both her belief that Judaism has wisdom to help us navigate our lives as well as her love of connecting the Jewish and secular worlds. She is passionate about “educating and supporting adults to make a difference in the lives of young people.” After spending many years as a parent educator, Margie is thrilled to now work as a grandparent educator. She and her husband Michael now live in Needham to be close to grandchildren.
DEDICATE A SESSION
You can dedicate a GROW session in memory or in honor of a dear one and you and your name will be shared with gratitude in the session. Simply click the link below, fill in the secure form, and indicate in the text box that this is your GROW sponsorship [suggested minimum gift of $180].
save the dates
Future Free, Monthly GROW Programs
Date: April 10, 2024 | 12-1 PM EST/9-10 AM PST | Zoom
Program: TBD
Instructors: Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld
Join us: Register now
Date: March 13, 2024 | 12-1 PM EST/9-10 AM PST | Zoom
Dr. Susie Tanchel joined Hebrew College in the summer of 2020, after serving as the head of school at JCDS, Boston’s Jewish Community Day School.
Date: February 14, 2024 | 12-1 PM EST/9-10 AM PST | Zoom
Jessica Kate Meyer is a prayer leader, storyteller, vocalist, and rabbi, who served as rabbi-hazzan at Romemu in NYC, and most recently, at The Kitchen in San Francisco. She has studied sacred Jewish music with masters from Ashkenazi and Mizrahi traditions and has performed as a vocalist with ensembles in the United States and Israel. In a previous life, Jessica appeared in film, theater, and television projects in Europe and the United States: most notably, as a principal role in the Oscar-winning film, The Pianist.
Program: Illuminating Christmas and Hanukkah from the Inside
Rabbi Dr. Michael Shire is the Academic Director for Hebrew College’s Master’s in Jewish Education program. He grew up in Birmingham England and completed his B.A. Hons in Hebrew Literature and Jewish History at University College, London. He continued his studies at Hebrew Union College both in New York and Los Angeles completing a M.A. and Ph.D. in Jewish Education. His research work, later to be published, proposed a curriculum orientation for spiritual enhancement in Jewish educational settings. He concurrently served as director of education at Temple Beth Hillel, a large Reform synagogue in North Hollywood, California. On returning to Great Britain in 1988, he took up the post as the national director of the Centre of Jewish Education developing the infrastructure, day schools and professional and academic learning of Jewish education in the UK. Following further study, he was ordained as rabbi at Leo Baeck College in 1996.
Reverend Tom Reid (he/him) is Director of the Building Interfaith Leadership Initiative (BILI) Launchpad Fellowship with the 
Date: February 14, 2024 | 12-1 PM EST/9-10 AM PST | Zoom
November Program
Rabbi Neal Gold teaches and writes about Jewish texts, Israel, and the intersections between Jewish spiritual life and the contemporary world. In 2020, he created a rapidly expanding online platform for adult Jewish learning called “