Open Circle Social Action

Learn. Discuss. Act.

How can we put Jewish values into action? What can Jewish texts teach us about doing justly today? How can advocacy and activism inform our study of Jewish texts? And how can one person bring about healing and repair in these troubled times?

Open Circle Social Action (OCSA) brings together young adults in Greater Boston for Jewish learning, organizing, and activism. Joining together with local organizations fighting for justice and equality on a variety of fronts – immigration, civil rights, gender justice, the environment, and more – OCSA invites you to form community, explore foundational values, and discover how to put them into action.

Classes feature Jewish texts, artwork, and film clips that focus on questions of power and justice and on the history of Jewish social justice advocacy. Each course also features guest lecturers from local advocacy organizations, training in community organizing, and a guided service component in which participants engage in the thoughtfully-planned social action activity of their choice.

Open Circle Jewish Learning, a Hebrew College program sponsored by Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP), also offers classes focused on Mindfulness and Mysticism, Politics and History, Art and Culture, and Texts and Traditions, or you can create your own Open Circle salon on any Jewish text or theme.

Spring 2019 Social Action Circles:

  • The Case for Reparations: Talmud & Today’s America (Instructor: Alona Weimer; Tuesdays, 7-8:30 pm; May 7 to June 18; private residence, Porter Square)
  • Our Liberation is Bound Together: Combatting Racism, Antisemitism and White Supremacy (Facilitated by Kavod’s Anti-Racism Curriculum Team; May 12 and 19; 1-6 pm; Temple Beth Zion)
  • Organizing and Resilience: A Workshop for Jewish Urban Educators (Instructors: Rabbis Leora Abelson, Shahar Colt, Laura Bellows, and Daniel Schaefer; Saturdays, 7-8:30 pm; May 11 to June 15; private residence, Jamaica Plain)
  • Spiraling Though Time: Radically Rethinking Our Relationship to Land (Instructors: Rabbi Getzel Davis & Leora Mallach; Tuesdays, 7-8:30 pm; May 21 to June 25; Hebrew College)
  • Torah for the Apocalypse: Jewish Wisdom for Queer Survival (Instructors: Elie Leaderman-Bray and Emily Rogal; Tuesdays, 7:30-9; April 30 to June 18; private residence, Cambridge)

Click here for course descriptions.

Tuition assistance is available — don’t let cost be a barrier! For more information, please contact Natan Margalit, Director of Open Circle Jewish Learning, at nmargalit@hebrewcollege.edu.

REGISTRATION

 

REFUND POLICY

Those who withdraw from the class before the first session will be given a full refund. A $50 administrative fee will be deducted from your refund if you choose to withdraw from the class after the first session.

If you have any trouble registering, please reach out to Natan Margalit, Director of Open Circle Jewish Learning, at nmargalit@hebrewcollege.edu.