Renewing Our Torah, Our People & Ourselves | A Scholar-in-Residency  

With Musician, Author, and Teacher Dr. Stephen Daniel Arnoff 

Register                    Schedule

Join us at CBS as we prepare to enter a new Jewish year and reflect together on the many ways each of us encounters renewal amidst the voices of the Divine, sacred text, and reimagining our ancestors, our community, and ourselves.  For thousands of years, each generation of the Jewish people has been called to renew its understanding and fulfillment of tradition – to interpret, expound upon, and reimagine Torah, Judaism, and our place in the world. 

About: 

Dr. Stephen Daniel Arnoff is the CEO of the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, and has served in senior leadership roles at the 92nd Street Y, the 14th Street Y, Shalem College, and the JCC Association. Holding a doctorate in Midrash and Scriptural Interpretation from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America as a Wexner Graduate Fellow, Stephen teaches and lectures at synagogues, conferences, community centers, universities, and private and corporate convenings around the world, specializing in the nexus of religion, spirituality, identity, and culture.

His book About Man and God and Law: The Spiritual Wisdom of Bob Dylan, based on his popular podcast on the Pantheon Podcast Network, was published in 2022, and has been called “a revelation.” Stephen writes regularly for Times of Israel, having served as Manager Editor of Zeek, and a contributor to the Forward, the Jerusalem Post, HuffPost, and more. He was awarded the Rockower Prize for Jewish Journalism for his essay on Philip Roth, and has contributed books on Jewish communal life, Bruce
Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and contemporary spirituality.

Formerly a Mandel Jerusalem Fellow, a Revson Fellow, and a Tikvah Scholar at theNYU School of Law, the Forward called Stephen “the godfather of New Jewish Culture” when he founded the 14th Street Y’s LABA, which since 2007 has established leading-edge Jewish artist residencies in New York City, the Bay Area, Berlin, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, and Istanbul. He has also served as the Chair of the Board forJerusalem Culture Unlimited (2017-2024). Fluent in Hebrew and having proudly made aliyah to Israel in 1994 and served in the IDF’s Engineering Corps, Stephen lives in Jerusalem with his four children.

Weekend Schedule:

FRIDAY | RENEWAL THROUGH MUSIC 

5:15-6:00 pm | Torah and Music - The Spiritual Soundtracks of Our Lives “Pre”-Neg*  

How does popular music illuminate the spiritual pathways of our lives? How is Torah and Jewish purpose embedded in the music we love? With Rabbi Jill Borodin, community members, and Dr. Stephen Daniel Arnoff. Enjoy a “pre-neg” L’Chaim with Bob Dylan’s own Heaven’s Gate whiskey, bourbon, and rye. 

6:00-7:15 pm | “Oh Sister” - Renewing Kabbalat Shabbat Through the Torah and Music of Bob Dylan 

Jewish lore speaks of the Sabbath as a union of two star-struck partners, whose love animates the worship that welcomes the Sabbath and carries us on the wings of song through Saturday night. We’ll greet the “Shekhina,” or Sabbath Queen, with melodies inspired by Bob Dylan as well as traditional prayer and reflection. Lead by Deb Arnold and Stephen, who teaches about the spiritual wisdom of Dylan around the world. 

SATURDAY | RENEWAL THROUGH MIDRASH 

D’var Torah - The Torah and Midrash That Must Be Renewed Today 

Reflected through the lens of the vibrant hub of people and programs at the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, we will ask how Israel and the Jewish People can and must reimagine what is sacred, what is meaningful, and what is to come after the most difficult period the Jewish people have faced in generations.  

1:00 pm | Torah and Traditional Midrash - How Tradition Renews Itself 

We will explore the weekly Torah portion with fascinating, even radical midrash – biblical interpretation – comparing the visions of sages, kabbalists, and philosophers of the ages as well as poets of our own time on selected verses from the weekly Torah portion. How do we continually renew tradition even as we preserve it? 

Registration for Havdalah is now closed | SATURDAY | RENEWING OUR LIVES 

8:30 pm | Havdalah - Seventh Day, Second Life – in Song, Conversation, and Reflection 

Havdalah will be hosted at one of our members' homes. To attend, please register below. Location details will be provided upon registration. We will cap the registration at 40 participants. 

Using myths and motifs of personal development, particularly in context of contemporary teachings about “the two halves of life,” we will end Shabbat and begin the week thinking about our personal Torah. How does what matters to the Torah animate what matters to us? What do the pathways of Jewish tradition and sacred stories tell us about becoming who we are meant to be, particularly as we grow deep into adulthood in the second half of life? 

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