Unfolding the Amidah: History, Practice, and Meaning
2025-12-03 18:30 - 19:45 (America/New_York) | BZBI chapel
We are called on to recite the Amidah so often—three or more times per day. But we rarely sit back to learn about it: where it came from, where it fits in the service, or how to tap into true kavanah. This three-part class begins a deeper exploration. Click here to register!

December 3: Where It Began: The Amidah Through Time with Davida Charney
December 10: Standing in the Doorway: Experiencing the Amidah with Doug Barg
December 17: Infusing Spontaneity into Fixed Ritual via Text and Tradition with Jeff Hurok

Hanukkah Happening
2025-12-07 10:00 - 14:00 | BZBI, 300 South 18th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, United States
Get ready for a fun-filled day for the whole family — the Hanukkah Happening includes:

Tons of shopping with a wide variety of vendors at our Bazaar and BZBI Sisterhood Gift Shop – Downstairs in the Preschool
Young Professionals Hanukkah Themed Cooking Class – Mr. Gregory’s Kitchen & Culinary Center – Click here to register
Delicious food to buy from our Youth and Family Committee (pretzels, donuts (sufganiyot), latkes, and drinks) – Kahaner Auditorium
Crafts for kids (with their grownups) & a sensory activity from The Regulation Lab – Kahaner Auditorium
Lively entertainment from BZBI’s own Dr. Dani Dance Pants – Klinghoffer Chapel

Vendors Include:

GLDN RULE – Permanent Jewelry, Engraving, Custom Jewelry (@gldnrule)
SpencerLand – Custom Snuggies (@shopspencerland)
My Travel Set – Womenswear Apparel (@mytravelset)
Ava’s Closet Boutique – Clothing and Accessories (@shopavasclothing7)
Brace URself – Beaded Jewelry – STUFF & SPRAKLE – Buy a bag & stuff it with as many pieces of jewelry as you can (@Brace_urself)
All Aboard Candy – Candy + Select Small Homewares & Gifts pulled from our retail location on 20th & Locust! Bringing all vegan candy (@allaboardcandy)
MunchKIN – Children’s Toys, Clothing, Accessories and Gear – For ages 0-6 years old (@shop_minchKIN)
Julie’s Bottega – Clothing, Accessories, Costume Jewelry (@juliesbottega)
Ari Loves Ruby – Hand Painted Denim Jackets, Pouches, Hats & Jewish Gifts (@arilovesruby)
Re-doux/mimi – Resale of Upscale Clothing (styling as well)
The Extra Edit – Homewares & Jewelry (@the.extra.edit)
State of Being – Affirmation candles and Room Sprays (@stateofbeingco)
Philly Homer – Boutique Style Philly Apparel for Women and Children (@phillyhomer)
N.R.S. Boutique – Reworked Vintage Sports Apparel (@nrsboutique)
Anna Lee Hafer – Original Artwork & Prints (@annaleehafer)

Hanukkah Themed Cooking Class for Young Professionals
2025-12-07 13:00 - 14:00 | PA
Join the newly formed Young Professionals group at BZBI for a Hanukkah themed cooking class!
This group is geared towards folks in their 20’s and 30’s to get together – and we are so excited to introduce the group with our first event in Mr. Gregory’s Kitchen & Culinary Center.
Click here to register.
Questions can be directed to the Young Professionals Board at BZBIYoungProfessionals@gmail.com.

Dust to Dust: Alternative Burial in the Jewish Tradition
2025-12-08 18:00 - 19:30 | BZBI chapel
Join Rabbi Abi for a discussion of Jewish approaches to burial. What is the contemporary Jewish approach to cremation? What is “green burial” and can it be done in a Jewish way? Join us to learn and discuss.

Volunteering at Winter Shelter
2026-02-02 18:00 - 19:00 | Trinity Memorial Church, 2212 Spruce St, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, United States
Trinity Memorial Church is home to a shelter of 20 beds for homeless men run by the Bethesda Project. Our own BZBI member Terry Hirshorn coordinates dinner there every evening from November through April. The Tikkun Olam Committee is preparing and serving a meal one night each month – join us to serve and get to know the guys!
Fill out this spreadsheet with your availability: BZBI @ Winter Shelter 2026.
Let Bill Brookover know if you’d like to help!

It's About Time: Time and Difference in Rabbinic Judaism
2026-02-05 12:00 - 13:30 | PA
Join BZBI’s Rabbi Abi Weber and Mekor Habracha’s Rabbi Steven Gotlib as they co-teach a 5-session series in Center City (near Market Street). The focus will be the book Time and Difference in Rabbinic Judaism by Dr. Sarit Kattan Gribetz (Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Yale University). The class is $36 per session and kosher lunch will be served.
Click here to register.
(Center City location – address given upon registration)

World Wide Wrap Day
2026-02-08 09:00 - 11:00 | BZBI chapel
Join the Congregational Learning Committee and the Men’s Club for World Wide Wrap Day on February 8! This is an opportunity to learn how to wrap tefillin ahead of Sunday morning minyan.
Stick around after the service for a nosh and some text study with Diana Myers about the mitzvah of tefillin. We will have spare sets available for those who want to learn to wrap. All ages and genders are welcome.

World Zionist Congress Delegate Panel
2026-02-25 18:30 - 20:00 | Kahaner Auditorium
Last year, American Jews like us voted in record numbers to send delegates to the 39th World Zionist Congress that met in Jerusalem in October 2025.
Now hear what happened from a panel of local area delegates from four different slates:

Rabbi Jay Kornsgold from Beth El in E. Windsor NJ, President of the Rabbinical Assembly (Mercaz)
Mark Levenson, President of the American Zionist Movement (Religious Zionists)
Rabbi Jill Maderer from Rodeph Shalom (Arza)
Yael Dormont (Hatikvah)

Click here to register. This discussion will be moderated by BZBI member Arlene Fickler.

Young Professionals Kabbalat Shabbat & Dinner
2026-02-27 18:00 - 20:30 | PA
Join BZBI’s Young Professionals group for Kabbalat Shabbat Services led by Rabbi Kenneth A. Stern and Goldie dinner afterwards!
Click here to register.
For questions or to learn more about our Young Professionals group – contact Hope Wright at BZBIYoungProfessionals@gmail.com.

Purim at BZBI
2026-03-01 - 2026-03-03 | PA
BZBI Purim Carnival – Sunday, March 1 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Enjoy an early afternoon of carnival games, sweet and savory treats, performances, face painting and arts and crafts at BZBI. We invite you to beat the cold with us for some Purim fun INSIDE the BZBI building. People of ALL ages are welcome to join us for this afternoon of fun and games.
This is our biggest volunteer event of the year – click here to sign up for a volunteer shift.
Megillah Reading and Purim Pub – Monday, March 2 from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM
Join us in the Goldberg Sanctuary for the Megillah reading and afterwards for a festive Purim Pub and Karaoke night. Our special guest and Drag Queen Bubbie Merriam Levkowitz will be MCing and joining us for the evening! Snacks and drinks will be provided at the pub. All are welcome.

Sixers Jewish Heritage Night
2026-03-10 19:00 - 21:00 | PA
Come join Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel as they cheer on the 76ers at the Xfinity Mobile Arena! Tickets are $40 each – click here to get yours!
Included with ticket purchase:
• Group shoutout on jumbotron
• Access to pre-game warm-ups at 5:30 PM
• 25th Anniversary Rally Towel
• Jewish Heritage 76ers T-Shirt
• There will be a donation to the BZBI Men’s Club with each ticket purchased

BZBI goes to the theater: Marsha Blovotnick and the Marvelous, Magical Chicken Soup by Dan Kitrosser
2026-03-15 14:00 - 17:00 | PA
Sunday, March 15 at 2:00 PM – The Bluver Theatre @ The Drake (302 S. Hicks Street)
Marsha Blovotnick is angry. At the world. At her ex-wives. At her nephew. And especially at her sister—who has just invited herself over for Shabbat dinner. Marsha doesn’t know how she’ll get through the evening… and then a mysterious ancestor appears bearing a pot of magical chicken soup that just might heal the world. Will Marsha simmer down long enough to actually serve the magical soup? Could this “Jewish penicillin” truly be the cure for what annoys her? Find out in this hysterical and tender world premiere from one of Philly’s funniest writers!
Special price for BZBI members: $25.00 (regular price: $38.75) – purchase tickets here by March 10!

Clean Your Pantry for Pesah - Food Drive
2026-03-16 - 2026-03-26 | PA
Donate unopened and unexpired packages of canned goods, pasta, rice, chickpeas and legumes for our annual Pesah Food Drive! A bin will be available in the 18th Street Lobby to drop off donations.
Donated items will be taken to Temple University’s Cherry pantry for students in need.

Winter Shelter Volunteering
2026-03-16 17:45 - 19:00 | Trinity Memorial Church, 2212 Spruce St, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, United States
Trinity Memorial Church is home to a shelter of 20 beds for homeless men run by the Bethesda Project. Our own BZBI member Terry Hirshorn coordinates dinner there every evening from November through April. Join the Tikkun Olam Committee by volunteering to prepare a dish (for 8-10 people) AND/OR to serve the meal and get to know the guys!
Sign up by Thursday 3/12 to provide a dish AND/OR serve the meal at BZBI @ Winter Shelter 2026. Please see the guidelines on that page. Contact Bill Brookover with any questions.

Third Annual BZBI Urban Shabbaton!
2026-03-20 | PA
Registration is now LIVE: Third Annual BZBI Urban Shabbaton!
Friday, March 20 – Sunday, March 22
Join your BZBI community for three days of learning, singing, eating, davening, and shmoozing! This year’s Urban Shabbaton will feature a full slate of guest lecturers, classes taught by community members, and a performance by the Penn Shabbatones.
Register here — you won’t want to miss it!

Pesah Wine & Cheese Tasting
2026-03-23 17:00 - 19:00 | PA
Join us for our Passover Wine and Cheese Tasting with Rosenberg Blue Star Wines. Buy all of your Passover wine and candy for your Seders and support BZBI and our Youth & Family and Early Childhood Education Programs!

Tikkun Olam Lunch & Learn: There Shall Be No Needy
2026-03-26 12:30 - 14:00 | PA
Join Rabbi Abi Weber, Davida Charney, and Bill Brookover for our next Tikkun Olam Lunch & Learn! Each month, we will meet to discuss There Shall Be No Needy: Pursuing Social Justice Through Jewish Law & Tradition by Rabbi Jill Jacobs. Please read Chapter 2 ahead of the meeting.
Don’t worry if you don’t get to it in time — we’ll have source sheets available! Lunch will be provided — please register here by Tuesday, March 24.

Second Seder at BZBI
2026-04-02 18:30 - 20:00 | Kahaner Auditorium
BZBI is proud to announce that we will be hosting a second night Seder for the BZBI community thanks to a very generous and Anonymous Donor who helped to lower the cost to our community. We welcome all to join your BZBI family for a warm, inviting and celebratory occasion – catered by Deluxe Catering and led by Rabbi Kenneth A. Stern.
Registration is now closed, if you are interested in joining us next year, let the Temple Office know!
The menu includes:
FIRST COURSE
Chicken Soup with Matzah Balls
Hearty Garden Fresh Vegetables in a Vegetarian Broth
SECOND COURSE
Gefilte Fish with Beet Horseradish
SIDE DISHES
Glazed Carrots with Yams, Assorted Dried Fruit, and Accent of Cinnamon
Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes with garlic
ENTREE COURSE
Braised Brisket with House-Made Bourbon BBQ Sauce
Squash with Quinoa
Chicken Fingers & French Fries
DESSERT OPTIONS
Brownies (Not Gluten-Free) and Nut-Free Charoset
Selection of Assorted Passover Macaroons
Seasonal Fresh Fruit to include Watermelon, Honeydew, Cantaloupe, Pineapple, and Grapes

Pesah Hol HaMoed Lunches
2026-04-06 12:00 - 13:00 | Kahaner Auditorium
Pesah Hol HaMoed Lunches Are Back
On Monday and Tuesday (April 6 and April 7 at 12:00 PM in the Kahaner Auditorium), BZBI will host catered, kosher for Pesah lunch for members, and the entire Center City Jewish community. BZBI members receive a discount, so sign up today and send the link on to those who might wish to join us! Click here to register.
Maximum Capacity: 20 people for each meal.

Yom HaShoah at BZBI: The World that Was
2026-04-13 18:00 - 19:30 | BZBI chapel
Join us on the eve of Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) for a moving ceremony and presentation by Nancy Scholem (sister of Rabbi Ken Stern). Nancy will speak about her mother’s experience — Rabbi Ken says that she “channels our mother” — surviving Auschwitz and the death marches, ultimately to be liberated from Bergen-Belsen. From Germany, she went on to convalesce in Sweden before coming to relatives in Chester, PA.
Nancy will share family stories, photos, and history about the Jewish community in Czechoslovakia and Hungary prior to the Nazi invasion.

Community Gathering for Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha'atzmaut
2026-04-19 09:00 - 13:00 | PA
Special guests from Jerusalem Nava Tehila will lead us in a powerful ceremony transitioning from Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day for fallen Israeli soldiers and victims of terror) to Yom HaAtzmaut (Israeli Independence Day). Keren Keshet, the leader of Philadelphia’s Israel Scouts unit (“Pa’amon Tzofim”), will present about her experience as a child born during the Yom Kippur war, now a mother of Israeli soldiers since October 7.
Light refreshments will be served. Register here (donations optional).
This program will be in conjunction with our Morning Minyan.

Rebuilding the Future: Resilience, Recovery, and Hope in Israel
2026-04-23 19:00 - 21:00 | PA
Please join us for a meaningful discussion with Gilles Darmon, Founder and President of Latet, Israel’s largest NGO fighting poverty and food insecurity, for a rare and intimate conversation about the effects that the prolonged war had on poverty, resilience, and hope in Israel, and the role of Israeli civil society in rebuilding the country. We hope you’ll be able to join us for an evening of discovery, insights, and solidarity.
Click here to register.
The event will take place in Philadelphia (near Rittenhouse square), exact address will be provided closer to the event. For questions please contact Ortal Margalith.

Resilience and Return: Segev Kalfon’s Survival of Captivity in Gaza
2026-04-26 15:00 - 17:00 | Society Hill Synagogue, 418 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19106, United States
Join us as Segev Kalfon shares his remarkable story of the resilience, determination, and faith which sustained him through 738 days of captivity in Gaza. He will discuss the strength, purpose, and hope that can emerge even in the darkest of circumstances.This program will be held in Society Hill Synagogue’s Sanctuary, with a reception and Israeli hors d’oeuvres to follow in the Social Hall.
This program is presented by Society Hill Synagogue’s Israel Connections Subcommittee in partnership with Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.
Click here to register.

Get Siddurized: A Class on the Siddur with Leslee Schwartz
2026-04-27 18:15 - 19:45 | PA
Ever wonder when to stand and when to sit during Shabbat services? How and when to bow? Why to repeat some lines and not others? Wish you had notes in your siddur? If so, join Leslee Schwartz for these classes where you can talk through the order of the service and personalize your own copy of Sim Shalom!
Click here to register.
Purchase a copy of the blue Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat from the Rabbinical Assembly here.
If cost is in any way an obstacle to registering please call or email Leslee directly!

Whatever Exists, Exists in God: A Contemporary Jewish Encounter with Spinoza’s Ethics led by Rabbi Ira F. Stone
2026-04-29 18:15 - 19:45 | BZBI chapel
A brief introduction to the work of one of the greatest Jewish philosophers whose work caused his excommunication from the Jewish community 500 years ago.. a ban that is theoretically still in force. But Spinoza’s worldview is one that may be much more compelling to contemporary Jews. In fact, it may serve as a firmer basis for religious affiliation and practice than more traditional frameworks do for many. We will explore the basic outline of his thought and its potential applications for today.
There are four sessions within the course, each costing $25 ($100 for the full four weeks). Click here to register!

Annual Phyllis Kramer Torah Fund Shabbat
2026-05-02 09:30 - 13:00 | BZBI Sanctuary
We are hopeful that you will be able to be with us at our first annual Phyllis Kramer Torah Fund Shabbat on May 2, 2026. Our speaker will be our own Rabbi Kenneth Stern who will share his experiences at JTS that were made possible because of WLCJ Torah Fund.

Young Professional Lag B'Omer
2026-05-04 19:00 - 20:30 | PA
We’ll be gathering to enjoy a potato bar and s’mores. Soft drinks and seltzers will be provided. You’re welcome to bring your own beverages (alcoholic or non) and vegetarian snacks. Musical instruments are also encouraged!
Cost is $9/person. Given the limitations of space, we anticipate this event will reach capacity, so we strongly encourage you to register early!
Reach out to Hope Wright with questions.

Jews and Divorce: Being a Welcoming Community for All of our Families
2026-05-09 09:30 - 12:30 | BZBI Sanctuary
Join us for a special Shabbat with guest teachers Rabbi Ezra Weinberg and therapist Batsheva Ganz, co-founders of Areivut. How can we, as a Jewish community, best support our members going through divorce? What rituals can help families in this process? What should we say (or not say) to someone who is getting a divorce?
The day will include a Shabbat teaching for the whole community, a post-kiddush learning session, and an afternoon meetup for Jews going through divorce. See a recent feature about Areivut’s work in the Jewish Exponent.

American Red Cross Blood Drive in Partnership with Tenth Presbyterian Church
2026-05-11 14:00 - 19:00 | tenth presbyterian church, 1701 Delancey Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, United States
Donate blood in May! Click here to sign up for a donation slot.
Please let Julia Pollock know if you can volunteer during the blood drive that day.

Tikkun Olam Lunch & Learn: There Shall Be No Needy
2026-05-13 12:30 - 14:00 | BZBI chapel
Join Rabbi Abi Weber, Bill Brookover and Davida Charney to discuss There Shall Be No Needy: Pursuing Social Justice Through Jewish Law & Tradition by Rabbi Jill Jacobs (order your copy at this link).
Please read Chapter 4, Sufficient for One’s Needs: The Collection and Allocation of Tzedakah, ahead of the meeting. Don’t worry if you don’t get to it in time — we’ll have source sheets available!
Lunch will be provided –please email me at bill.brookover@gmail.com by Monday, May 11 so we have an accurate count for lunch.
