Tuesday, January 19, 2027 12:30 to 1:30 PM CST
Spertus faculty member Dr. Jonathan Golden leads this interactive session.
Does Jewish peoplehood matter today? Join Jonathan Golden for a conversation exploring the history of Jewish peoplehood, the questions that continue to shape contemporary Jewish life, and the ways these ideas surface—both explicitly and implicitly—in Jewish communal institutions. Together, we will consider tools and paradigms that can help Jewish communal professionals and others engaged in Jewish life navigate these questions in their work and communities.
Dr. Jonathan Golden is Senior Educator at OpenDor Media. He also teaches at Hebrew College and is the founder of HeartStance Education Consulting. He is also a fellow at the Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education. From 1999 to 2023, he taught at Gann Academy, a pluralistic Jewish high school in Waltham, MA and served as the school’s Israel Curriculum Coordinator.
A graduate of Princeton University, Dr. Golden received his M.J.Ed. from Hebrew College and Ph.D. from Brandeis University. At Brandeis, he studied American Jewish history under the tutelage of Professor Jonathan Sarna and wrote a dissertation entitled From Cooperation to Confrontation: The Rise and Fall of the Synagogue Council of America. Dr. Golden has participated in the Schusterman Center Summer Institute for Israel Studies which in 2022 included participants from Abraham Accords countries (Morocco, Bahrain, UAE), and has taught the Myra Kraft Seminar on Israel to first year students of the Hornstein program at Brandeis University.
As a member of a Conservative synagogue in his childhood, a Reform community in college, modern Orthodox synagogues in his 20s and the independent Temple Beth Zion today, Dr. Golden is interested in historical and contemporary questions of Jewish pluralism. His professional career in the world of Jewish pluralism is a natural extension of his educational path.
In 2007, Dr. Golden was the recipient of Hebrew College’s Sydney Hillson Memorial Award for Distinguished Leadership in and Commitment to Jewish Education. In 2014, he received the AJC Boston Young Leadership Award. In 2018, he was given CJP’s Chai in the Hub award honoring the contributions of young professionals and lay leaders in the greater Boston Jewish community. He is a member of the Boston JCRC Board.
Presented by Spertus Institute and JPro Chicago, Connect & Learn is an online, community-building, professional development series.
Connect & Learn workshops offer participants around the world a chance to join Spertus students and alumni for lively sessions on topics key to Jewish professional life today.
Build skills you can apply immediately to your life and work. Become part of a network of learners and Jewish community leaders. Sessions are online, live, interactive, and collaborative. Each session includes time to connect, network, meet new colleagues, and strengthen relationships. Sessions are free of charge thanks to the generosity of our sponsors.
Programs take place via Zoom.
Connect & Learn is presented in partnership with JPro Chicago.
This program is an Alex and Klara Tulsky Presentation on the Jewish Future.
Spertus Institute’s Center for Jewish Leadership is supported in part by a generous grant from the Crown Family.
Spertus Institute is a partner with the Jewish United Fund in serving our community.
If you can, we encourage you to make a gift to support this free program and others like it!