Learning Fellowships
The Grad Network Fellowships are designed for grad students looking to meet friends, discuss meaningful topics, and explore what Judaism means to them. Throughout each fellowship, students will examine Jewish texts, share their own interpretations and connections, and learn from each other.
Registration for the following Spring semester Fellowships are currently open! Sign-up to join a learning community.
The Grad Network: Judaism & Law Fellowship
6 Thursdays | February 1- March 22 | 5:30-7:30 p.m.
In this six-part speaker series, we will discuss the relationships between law, Jews, and Judaism. We’ll consider political, social, cultural, religious, historical, and legal circumstances contributing to law being an essential component to Jews and their identities.
Sessions will include legal theory and Jewish law, the Jewish imprint on the United States Supreme Court, with facilitators from Columbia Law School, local Jewish educators, and experts in the field. Of course, dinner will also be provided!
The Judaism & Law Fellowship is open to all graduate students at Columbia University and Teachers College. Rabbi Yonah Hain & Rabbinic Intern Sarah Pincus will be leading the fellowship.
Sign-up by 5 p.m. January 25 to be included in this learning cohort.
The Grad Network: Kol Yisrael Fellowship
7 Mondays | February 12- April 15 | 6:30-8:30 p.m.
This conversation series will focus on the experiences of ethnic minorities living in Israel and their relationship to the Jewish State, its laws, and its language. Throughout the series, we will engage with the perspectives of Holocaust survivors, Mizrahi Jews, Ethiopian Jews, Palestinian citizens of Israel, Druze, and Soviet Jews.
The fellowship is open to all graduate students and Columbia University and Teachers College. The ideal participant is curious, willing to consider new ideas, and open to hearing different perspectives. Disagreement is a feature of the Kol Yisrael conversations.
Dinner will be provided at all Fellowship sessions.
The Grad Network: Coffee Conversations
5 sessions | Time and day to be determined by you and your learning group
Can’t commit to a fellowship? Be matched with a conversation partner and discuss together on your own time!
In Jewish tradition, Jews most commonly study text in pairs, in a methodology known as havruta. The word havruta derives from the root— haver, which, in English, means friend. The idea is that friendship develops through learning together! All conversation guides, as well as a Starbucks gift card, will be provided.
Sign-up by 5 p.m. September 19 to be matched with a conversation partner.