Temple B'nai Israel's focus on education involves the adults in our community, too. Jewish traditions, various aspects of contemporary Judaism and a meaningful awareness of the Jewish holidays can be approached from many fascinating directions. That's why TBI offers an extensive series of classes members and non-members may enjoy. The goal is to provide a deeper understanding of Jewish principles that can be applied to daily life.

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From thoughts on the Sabbath to interpretations of Jewish laws, Rabbi Edward Friedman has important insights that will keep you both informed and enlightened. His classes are designed to give you more of an in-depth appreciation of what it means to be Jewish today's world.

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Contact us today and discover how you can participate in our ongoing adult education programs.

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Classes led by Rabbi Friedman

Contact the Rabbi to Enroll

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Rabbinic Judaism - Mondays 7:00 - 8:30 pm (Zoom)

This group chooses Jewish texts, generally in Hebrew with a free translation by the Rabbi. We are currently completing the study of the 8th century Midrash Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer, which retells some of the biblical stories with rabbinic embellishments. Past sessions included studying the Book of First Maccabees, selections from Maimonides' law code, the Mishneh Torah, and an overview of rabbinic texts. The class welcomes new people to join us and soon will select the next text for study.

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Basic Judaism - Tuesday 7:00pm - 8:30pm at the Temple

This is an Introductory class on Judaism that covers the sources of Jewish tradition, the calendar and holidays, Shabbat observance, the synagogue and prayer, keeping kosher, and various other traditions that are part of Jewish life. It is open to Jews who seek additional knowledge of our religion as well as to non-Jewish partners or people of other faiths who are interested in studying the basics of Judaism. It is a prerequisite for those seeking conversion.


               
ADULT EDUCATION CALENDAR
2026-2027

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Please contact Temple Office for Zoom Link

Phone: (630)-892-2450
Email: office@temple-bnai-israel.org
 

October 11 – 2:00 pm zoom– Abraham Silver

Tel Aviv: A Social Architectural Perspective

Just over one hundred years ago sixty families ascended a sand dune off the

Mediterranean coast and dreamt of creating the first Hebrew speaking city in close to two thousand years. The city of Tel Aviv, a city designed by ideology rather than commerce, reflects the values of early Zionism and its attempt to create a new Jewish society. Through the exploration of Tel Aviv’s architecture, as well as stories of the people, along with their writings, poetry and paintings, we will develop an understanding of the dreams of the Jewish community. We will also confront the remarkable realization of those dreams as reflected in their built environment and sociological descendants, and the tremendous ideological challenges created by the success of the city founders. We will also put those dreams in perspective by providing an understanding as to how the events that unfolded in this city affected and continue to affect each person’s own perception of Judaism today.

 

Abraham Silver was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. After receiving a B.A. in History and Philosophy from S.U.N.Y. Binghamton, Abraham moved to Kibbutz Ketura, in the Negev desert, where he spent nineteen years as a date farmer. He received his army training in the Israel Nachal Paratrooper Corps and continued to serve in a front-line combat unit as a reservist in the IDF until retirement in 2003, serving in Lebanon and during both Intifadas.

 

Abraham completed an M.A. in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. His architectural emphasis is on the design of Jewish Space in Israeli and modern American Jewish architecture. In addition to practicing architecture, he is a licensed tour guide and senior Jewish/Israel educator, with an emphasis on guiding the organized Jewish Community - JCCs and synagogues, and more. Abraham served as Educational Director of the Dorot Fellowship in Israel where he was part of a team that designed new concepts of peer-led education. Abraham’s background has led him to a unique understanding of Tel Aviv as the most Jewish city in the world: its development, its architecture, its impact on the Jewish world and Jewish Identity. He provides specialty tours of Tel Aviv.

Abraham is also a lecturer on the Architecture of Jerusalem at Hebrew University. He is co-author of the book “Living the Dream: Israel at 50” as well as “Israel at 60: People, Places and History”, a three-volume set of DVDs.

Abraham and his wife Elissa live in Tel Aviv with their two nineteen-year-old daughters, Shiri and Libi.

 

 

 

 

November 8 – 1:00 pm at TBI - Dr. Ranana Dine

Surely Bury: The Halakhic History of Suicide and What it All Means for Medical Aid in Dying Today

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On December 12, 2025, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed into law SB 1950, legislation that legalizes

medical aid in dying (MAID) for qualified terminally ill patients. The new law (and others like it) has

left religious leaders with questions about how to respond to parishioners who wish to make use of the

legislation. Although most traditional interpretations of medical halakha ban the use of MAID for

Jewish patients, we are still left with questions of how to respond to those who choose to die in this

manner.

 

Ranana Dine is an Assistant Professor of Catholic-Jewish Studies and the Crown-Ryan

Chair at Catholic Theological Union, where she also directs the Catholic-Jewish Studies

Program. She joined the CTU faculty in 2025 after finishing her PhD at the University of

Chicago Divinity School in religious ethics. Prior to enrolling in the PhD at the University

of Chicago, she studied religion and art at Williams College and completed two master’s

degrees in Christian theology and medical humanities respectively at the University of

Cambridge. She also has experience in clinical ethics from the MacLean Center for

Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago.

 

 

 

 

December 3 – 7:00pm Rabbi Steven Bob

The Moment Judaism Began Introducing Ezra and Nehemiah -
 

The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell the story of the return to Jerusalem from the first exile in ancient Babylonia. These books contain the foundational ideas for our modern sense of Jewish identity and key elements of our Jewish lives. During this class, we will explore the meaning of 21st century Jewish existence in light of these texts from the early Second Temple period.

 

Steven M. Bob was Senior Rabbi of Congregation Etz Chaim in Lombard, IL for 35 years. Rabbi Bob serves as a Guest faculty member at Wheaton College and as an Instructor at the Hebrew Seminary for the Hearing and the Deaf. He is a leader of the faculty of Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute. He is a recipient of the Rabbi Mordecai Simon Award from the Chicago Board of Rabbis and Rabbi Samuel Cook Award from the CCAR. His newest book is When Judaism Began: Exploring the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah (2026).  He is also the author of Go to Nineveh (2013) and Jonah and the Meaning of Our Lives (2016)

 

 

January 14 – 7:00 pm Faith Rosenshein Young

Declutter with Purpose: Creating Clarity for Today & Flexibility for Tomorrow

Start 2027 with a fresh, organized space and clear peace of mind!  Join real estate professional Faith Rosenshein Young for an empowering, step-by-step Zoom session designed to take the stress out of decluttering and downsizing.  Whether you’re looking to simplify your current home, improve safety, reduce mental clutter, or begin preparing for a future move, this presentation provides a manageable roadmap to get started, one room at a time.

Faith Rosenshein Young is a dedicated real estate broker with The Tully Team at Platinum Partners Realtors, serving Downers Grove, DuPage County, and the surrounding Chicagoland communities.  Backed by the specialized resources of an SRES-designated team, Faith focuses on providing educational, patient, and pressure-free guidance to homeowners looking to navigate life transitions with ease.

With a background rooted in compassionate service, Faith specializes in helping clients plan, rightsize spaces, and execute thoughtful strategies for downsizing and home preparation.  She is passionate about empowering seniors and their families to maintain control, clarity, and independence in every season of life.

 

Additionally, of course, Faith has been a long time member of Temple B’nai Israel.
 

 

 

February 11 – 7:00 pm Dr. Jonathan Lipma "Islam in China:  'Uyghur,' 'Hui,' and Other Categories in Historical Perspective"

 

In 2017, when the People's Republic of China (PRC) began to incarcerate hundreds of thousands of people called "Uyghurs" in what their government called "re-education centers"--in fact, concentration camps--many Americans were surprised to learn that the PRC has millions of Muslim citizens.  How did that happen?  Who are they?  Where are they?  What does Islam mean to them?  How are they connected to Islam and Muslims elsewhere in the world?  This talk is a start to answering these questions, using the methods of history as well as those of contemporary journalism.

 

 

Raised in a Reform rabbinical family, Jonathan Lipman studied sociology and social psychology with Ezra Vogel at Harvard, with a focus on China.  After learning Chinese and Japanese, he trained as an historian of modern China at Stanford (Ph.D., 1981) and served in the History Department of Mount Holyoke College from 1977 to 2015, holding the Felicia Gressitt Bock Chair in Asian Studies.  His publications, including Familiar Strangers:  A History of Muslims in Northwest China (1997), deal primarily with the long-term residence and acculturation of Muslims and Jews in China.  He edited Violence in China:  Essays in Culture and Counterculture (1990), Remapping China:  Fissures in Historical Terrain (1996), and Islamic Thought in China:  Sino-Muslim Intellectual Evolution from the 17th to the 21st Century (2016) and co-wrote a college textbook, Modern East Asia:  An Integrated History (2012).  His current project is the biography of a 17th century Chinese Muslim author whose book The Compass of Islam, written in classical Chinese, remains in print 300 years after its first publication.

 

 

 

March 25 – 7:00 pm Rabbi Victor Mirelman 
The Jews in Argentina: A Story of Attainments and Challenges

 

Themes to be included are: Why Argentina was a land of opportunity during the waves of Jewish migration; Sephardim and Ashkenazim; building of communities; the Jewish gauchos of the Pampas;  role of Zionism; the Yiddish press and the Yiddish theater; the Eichmann capture in Buenos Aires and its aftermath !960); terrorist attacks  (1990s), etc

 

Dr. Victor A. Mirelman began servicing as rabbi of Temple Har Zion in 1990. Prior to joining the synagogue he spent 14 years, from 1975 to 1989, as the spiritual leader of Congregation B’nai Israel in Milburn, New Jersey, where he was also visiting professor of history at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. From 1970 to 1974, he lectured at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, concentrating his courses in the modern and contemporary history of the Jewish people.

A native of Argentina, Dr. Mirelman received a master’s of science in mathematics from the University of Buenos Aires. He was ordained as rabbi at the Jewish Theological Seminary and received his doctorate from Columbia University.

Dr. Mirelman is an authority on Latin American Jewry, the focus of his doctoral dissertation and articles in scholarly publications. He also has a special interest, personal and academic, in Sephardic Jewry. His most recent book, “Jewish Buenos Aires, 1890-1930: In Search of an Identity,” was published by Wayne State University Press.

In 1991, Dr. Mirelman was appointed Professor of Jewish History at Spertus College in Chicago. In 2005, he was elected President of the Chicago Board of Rabbis

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