A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Jade Sank Ross

The event was co-sponsored by BMH-BJ

About The Event:

Year after year, as we read and re-read the same portions of Torah, it does not change, but we do. The Psalms have been part of Jewish ritual and liturgy for centuries, and generation after generation they have sung to us in moments of awe, sorrow, longing, and much more. Together, we will explore how the ancient words of Psalms can be part of our daily lives today and how we might forge deep and personal connections with the words of the Psalmist.

*Source Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RV5qCB0ylWmWYELYtUYhU644aNVNd5eSznPJNzYgZ24/edit?tab=t.0

About the Speaker:

Rabbi Jade Sank Ross grew up in Kinnelon, New Jersey. She received her BA in Anthropology and International and Global Studies from Brandeis University. She was ordained as a rabbi in 2018 by the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR). Rabbi Sank Ross currently serves as the Associate Rabbi at The Community Synagogue in Port Washington, New York. She is married to Rabbi Daniel Ross, and together they are most proud to be raising their children, Adina and Bella. Rabbi Jade Sank Ross is the author of To You I Call: Psalms Throughout Our Lives, new from CCAR Press.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Dvir Cahana

About The Event:

What happens when a Rabbi and an Artist study Torah together? … Chidushim!!! The Amen Institute has provided an incubator to empower artists with the charge of being wisdom disseminators. Join Rabbi Dvir Cahana in a unique program describing the discoveries of these artist meaning seekers.

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Dvir is our Base Rabbi for Miami. He has taught Torah, led tefillah, and built community in his hometown of Montreal, then New York City, and now Miami. Dvir was a winner of the Jewish Week’s “36 Under 36” award for launching The Amen Institute, an international space where professional artists and rabbis unite to inspire each other in the creation of Torah-art. Himself a hip hop and rap artist, Dvir is the rabbinic educator for the Jewish rap collective Rappers and Rabbis. Under his guidance, the group has made a Hip Hop Haggadah and The MC-DUR, performed in front of thousands of teens nationwide. Dvir’s 15 studio albums show a love of Yiddishkeit and wordplay.

He received his rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in 2024 and holds a master’s in Jewish studies from McGill University.

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Dr. Nolan Lebovitz

The event was co-sponsored by Congregation Or Tzion

About The Event:

Following October 7, Rabbi Lebovitz synthesizes the Jewish turning point in history with lessons from the past, arguing that it is a moral imperative to radically change the way we engage with both Israel and the United States. Proudly declaring Jewish loyalty forges a new path forward imbued with pride in peoplehood and collective destiny. Challenging the trope commonly cast against the Jewish people in diaspora, Lebovitz argues that affirming dual loyalty serves as our best hope to shape a brighter tomorrow here in the United States and for our sense of Jewish peoplehood.

About The Speaker:

Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz, PhD, is the Senior Rabbi at Valley Beth Shalom, one of the largest Conservative synagogues in North America. Shaped by a proud Zionist upbringing and as the grandchild of four Holocaust survivors, he has endeavored to instill a strong relationship with Israel in all of his congregants. As a prominent Jewish thought leader, his work has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Jewish Journal, and Jerusalem Post. Rabbi Lebovitz is an adjunct fellow at the Z3 Institute, sits on the Executive Board of the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition, and serves as a national board member of MERCAZ. The horrific massacre of October 7 and its aftermath around the world prompted Rabbi Lebovitz to begin speaking out about the next chapter of Jewish life.