Executive Director Seminar

We regularly convene executive directors and senior leadership of the major Jewish organizations serving the Bay Area Jewish community for ongoing conversation about the key challenges they face as community leaders.

Bay Area Scholars’ Circle

The Bay Area Scholars’ Circle is a select group of academics and Jewish thought leaders who tackle big questions about Jewish life. This program links our robust presence in the Bay Area to our network of scholars around the globe. As a local branch of our Kogod Research Center, the scholarship that emerges from this program contributes a Bay Area approach to the Torah produced by the Institute. Our scholars include faculty at UC Berkeley, the Graduate Theological Union, and Stanford University.

This year, the Scholars’ Circle is focusing on questions of Nationalism and Modern Judaism. The 20th century saw the development of two centers of Jewish life. One, in Israel, is wrapped up in a vision for Jewish nationalism while the other, in the US, is tied to a notion of liberal democracy. Both of these centers project notions of Judaism and Jewish sovereignty that are challenged in our current environment. We are living in a moment of global tensions around nationalism: the fundamental morality of borders and boundaries, the relationship between solidarity and violence, the role of ethnicity in shaping national identity, and the parameters of criticism within a framework of loyalty. This begs questions such as:

• How are modern expressions of Jewish identity tied to particular notions of nationalism?
• How do modern visions of Zionism reconcile the realities of the project of Israel?
• What should the relationship between loyalty and criticism be within the lived reality of nationalism? What are its limits?
• How might we negotiate the tension between solidarity and violence, both of which can result from tribal affiliation?
• How might we bring to bear the intellectual and spiritual resources of Jewish tradition in creating a better conversation on these contentious topics?

LABA East Bay

As the central address for Jewish thought leadership, SHI NA has been engaged as the key content provider for LABA East Bay: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture housed at the JCC of the East Bay. LABA Fellows are leaders in the production of Jewish culture and include faculty at SF State, California College of the Arts and Stanford. Their work has been shown at SFMOMA, the Contemporary Jewish Museum and the Brooklyn Museum of Art. 

Local Organizations

A central component of our work is supporting local organizations as they navigate the range of questions related to Judaism and modernity, Jewish Peoplehood, and Pluralism. We are excited to have been able to work with a range of vibrant organizations including the Jewish Family and Children’s Services of San Francisco, the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto, The Contemporary Jewish Museum, The Jewish Community Relations Council, Congregation Emanu-El, Berkeley Hillel, Hillel at Stanford, and many others.