Artists & Scholars in Residence

Artists & Scholars in Residence

Open Minds is excited to host artists and scholars as they bring their talents and expertise to our community.

Artists and scholars hosted in partnership with the Jewish Book Council will be denoted below.

You can see our upcoming events below.
Click here to view our past JBC Author Series events. 

Click on an event to learn more or to register to attend.

Past Events

Make your own Halava & Book Talk with June Hersh
Thursday, September 19 at 7:30 PM  
 

June Hersh is a former teacher and businesswoman who began her food writing career after retiring in 2004. She
has authored five books with a focus on the Holocaust,
Jewish food and food history, all of which have generated proceeds for charitable organizations.

She was a featured guest on QVC’s In the Kitchen with David, has given hundreds of book talks in connection with her published works and writes extensively for food blogs and magazines.

Her book, "Food, Hope & Resilience: Authentic Recipes and Remarkable Stories from Holocaust Survivors" is a vital collection of survivor stories uplifts and inspires alongside recipes that nourish your soul. Read about daring partisans who fought in the woods, hidden children who sought comfort from strangers and those who endured unimaginable internment.

For Holocaust survivors, food was a way to connect their lives before the war with the homes they created after.  Culinary icons such as Michael Solomonov, Jonathan Waxman, Ina Garten and more contribute their own recipes as tribute to the remarkable survivor community.

June gives readers a taste of history and a life-affirming message that honors the legacy of Holocaust survivors.

June Hersh is the author of Recipes Remembered: A Celebration of Survival, written in association with the Museum of Jewish Heritage as well as The Kosher Carnivore, a primer on how to cook kosher meat and poultry. Hersh served as editor and interviewer for Still Here: Inspiration from Survivors and Liberators of the Holocaust. 

She resides in Bedford, New York, with her husband of forty-seven years. When not cooking or writing, June enjoys traveling, playing with her dog Mallomar and, most of all, being called Nana by Henry, Daisy and Aria.

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Poppy Project *FOR ADULTS* : Creating A Memorial to Commemorate October 7th
Tuesday, October 8 at 7:30 PM

We have a very special opportunity to come together to create clay poppy flowers for a memorial to October 7th at our synagogue. Led by artist, Yael Frenkel-Jaffe.

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The Klansman's Son with R. Derek Black 
Friday, October 25 at 6:30 PM (*During Erev Shabbat services)

Hear the story of Derek Black (they/them), raised to take over the White nationalist movement in the United States, when they renounced it in 2013 and knew they couldn’t stay silent. Elisha Wisel, chairman for the Elie Wisel Foundation wrote, “[Derek’s story may] hold the key for fighting the varied strains of antisemitism the Jewish community faces in 2024.

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Lunch and Learn: We Are the Children of ‘23
Tuesday, November 19 from 12:00 - 1:30 pm via ZOOM

This poignant and gripping session will follow the trajectory of Israeli identity of generations who have faced a rollercoaster of despair and hope. Using music and graffiti art, Uri will trace how a generation anguished by the Yom Kippur War faced the possibilities of an uncertain peace in the 1990s, and then how that artistic expression exploded in so many ways after last October 7th . A single song – and its variants – will be the catalyst for a conversation about the unprecedented and painful reality of this moment, and how it reflects many expressions of Israel’s pride and awe, anger and pain in this time.
 

Born in the US, Uri Feinberg has been a Jewish Educator for 25 years, has been a guide for a number of our synagogue trips to Israel over the past 20 years, and is a member of the Refom synagogue in Modi’in, Israel. Immigrating to Israel when he was ten, growing up in Jerusalem, having served in the IDF, and now with children of his own in the IDF, he offers a broad perspective on the Israeli reality.

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Old Jewish Men's Guide to Eating, Sleeping, and Futzing Around with Noah Rinsky
Thursday, January 23 at 7:30 PM  

Noah Rinsky is a writer and the creator of the viral social media account @oldjewishmen. When he’s not chasing down Old Jewish Men in South Florida, New York, and Tel Aviv or hocking overpriced OJM merchandise, he’s probably hanging out with his wife at Mister Wontons, filming old men in the sauna for a mockumentary about the World
Sauna Championships or brewing a fresh pot of decaf.

Through Noah's exceptional work and sense of humor, he easily identifies the various "Old Jewish Men" that are widely known and loved.

Many of your own loved ones are likely to fall under at LEAST one of these OJM categories! Crumbs, sauce stains and pants hiked up to the belly button – these are the hallowed tracings of the New York Schlub. And the Tough Guy (aka the muscle)? They’re the short kings with the James Caan shoulder-hair bravado who take meetings in the shvitz. And if you run into a self-serious, nearsighted, highly irritable Grumpy Intellectual on the deli circuit, don’t approach for a photo (and if you do, prepare to be humiliated.)

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The House Is On Fire with Rachel Beanland
Thursday, February 13 at 10:00 AM via ZOOM 

Rachel Beanland is the author of two novels, The House Is On Fire and Florence Adler Swims Forever. Her novel, The House Is On Fire received high recognition from the American Booksellers Associate, Good Morning America, the Washington Post as well as The New Yorker.

Through her exceptional writing skills, her essays have appeared all over the map. These include, but are not limited to: Lit Hub, Business Insider, Creative Nonfiction as well as Broad Street. Along with Beanland's essays, she has benefited from both a fellowship along with numerous residencies.

Beanland lives in Richmond, Virginia with her family. She attended the University of South Carolina and earned her MFA in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University. She was the 2023-24 Writer-in-Residence at the University of Richmond in which she was also a professor.

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