As the pandemic surged and forced us into our homes, many of us dreamed with new intensity of being elsewhere. For Jews throughout the ages, the promises and perils of travel have been central to shaping the individual and collective experience. Notions of home and homeland have been redefined by Jewish wandering.

Drawing on literary, spiritual, and historical sources and responses, JTS scholars will explore what happens when Jews—whether by force or volun-tarily, whether in reality or in the imagination—travel from one place to an-other. The sessions include:

JUNE 7
“If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem”: The Idea of the Return to Zion In Jewish History 
with Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz
Learn more and register here.

JUNE 14
Home and Exile, Center and Periphery: Ambivalent Journeys In the Torah 
with Dr. Benjamin Sommer
Learn more and register here.
 
JUNE 21
Preparing for The Final Journey: The Tahara Ritual and is Significance 
with Rabbi Eliezer Diamond
Learn more and register here. 

JUNE 28
“Jewish Travel”: Yehuda Amichai on Memory, Place, and Identity 
with Dr. Barbara Mann
Learn more and register here.

JULY 12
Flight, Return, and Emigration: The Wanderings of a Yiddish Writer During and After the Holocaust 
with Dr. David Fishman
Learn more and register here.
 
JULY 19
Finding Hijar: A Scholar's Quest to Uncover the History of Her Jewish Community Through the Journey of its Books 
with Dr. Marjorie Lehman And Dr. Lucia Conte Aguilar of Universitat Pom-Peu Fabra
Learn more and register here.
 
JULY 26
The Global Journey of a Jewish Stage Play: The Spectacular Story of S. Anski’s The Dybbuk and How it Trans-Formed American Jewish Theatre 
with Dr. Edna Nahshon
Learn more and register here.

AUGUST 2
The Early Modern Travel Pass: Controlling the Plague and Jewish Mobility In 16th Century Tuscany 
with Dr. Stefanie Siegmund
Learn more and register here.
 
AUGUST 9
Work-Life Balance in Ancient Times: Why the Rabbis Left Their Homes to Study Torah 
with Dr. Rachel Rosenthal.
Learn more and register here.

AUGUST 16
Judah Halevi: Poet and Pilgrim 
with Dr. Raymond Scheindlin
Learn more and register here.

AUGUST 23
Traveling to Babylon—For Good 
with Dr. David Kraemer
Learn more and register here.