Staying Creative in Chaotic Times

Event Time and Date: Thursday, September 17th, 8:00pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Frank Center for Public Affairs, Room 100

Event Organizers: Center for Jewish Studies

Event Description: (attendance open to the public) When the world changes, the reasons we write change with it. In an era shaped by war, uncertainty, and the aftermath of COVID, Etgar Keret reflects on how creativity adapts in uncertain times and explores new creative strategies for navigating a challenging world. Free Admission. Open to the Public

WJC Shabbat Services

Event Time and Date: Friday, September 18th, 5:30pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: The Bayit (157 Church St.)

Event Organizers: Wesleyan Jewish Community

Event Description: (attendance open to the public) Shabbat services followed by homemade dinner. All are welcome!

IT GOES THAT QUICK Film Screening, plus Q&A with directors Joe Stankus '08 and Ashley Connor

Event Time and Date: Saturday, September 19th at 8:00pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Goldsmith Family Cinema, at the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies

Event Organizers: CFILM, Wesleyan Film Series

Event Description: (attendance open to the public) It Goes That Quick is a 70-minute documentary hybrid film released in 2026 by married filmmakers Ashley Connor and Joe Stankus. The movie was filmed over eight years. It follows an extended family network in the Northeastern United States.  It mixes everyday activities—like grocery shopping, arguing over Seder dinner plans, and doing chores—with big life events like a wedding, a trip to Paris, and the birth of the filmmakers' child. Real family members play versions of themselves. The film blends home video footage shot on 16mm film with a narrative structure that explores memory and the fast passage of time.

Kol Nidre Services

Event Time and Date: Sunday, September 20th, 5:45pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Multiple locations (Usdan, Beckham Hall)

Event Organizers: Office of the Jewish Chaplain, Wesleyan Jewish Community

Event Description: (attendance open to the public) At 5:45pm: Pre-Yom Kippur Fasting Meal in Usdan Campus Center: Second floor, Quiet side (Mink).  At 6:30 pm (Promptly): Erev Yom Kippur Kol Nidre | Beckham Hall, Fayerweather Building

Yom Kippur Services

Event Time and Date: Monday, September 21st, 11:00am

Event Location/Zoom Information: Multiple locations (Fayerweather Building, the Bayit, Beckham Hall, Usdan, CFA Courtyard, DFC)

Event Organizers: Office of the Jewish Chaplain, Wesleyan Jewish Community

Event Description: (attendance open to the public) At 11:00am: Yom Kippur Morning Service in Fayerweather Building Rehearsal Rooms, 55 Wyllys Ave.  At 1:45 pm: Fasting Friendly Hang-out in The Bayit, 157 Church St.  At 3:00 pm: Contemplative Walk to Indian Hill Cemetery, meet at the Bayit.  At 5:50 pm: Yom Kippur Afternoon Services in Beckham Hall, Fayerweather Building.  At 7:10 pm: Musical Havdalah in CFA Courtyard.  At approx. 7:40 pm: Tekiah Gedola services and following services Lox and Bagel Break the Fast in DFC Usdan Campus Center, Third Floor

Welcome to SSI! What Happened in Israel this Year?

Event Time and Date: Tuesday, September 22nd, 7:00pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Frank Center for Public Affairs, Room 001

Event Organizers: Students Supporting Israel

ShabbaTent

Event Time and Date: 9/25 - 9/27. Specific times should be set shortly

Event Location/Zoom Information: Devil's Hopyard State Park

Event Organizers: Wesleyan Jewish Community

Event Description: (attendance open to students only) First year Wesleyan students are invited to join us for a weekend camping away from campus!

WJC Shabbat Services

Event Time and Date: Friday, September 25th, 5:30pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: The Bayit, Sukkah on College Row

Event Organizers: Wesleyan Jewish Community, Office of the Jewish Chaplain

Event Description: (attendance open to the public) Join members of the WJC for shabbat services at the Bayit (157 Church St.) followed by homemade dinner at 6:45pm at the WJC Sukkah on College Row. All are welcome.

Sushi in the Hut

Event Time and Date: Monday, September 28th (rain date is 9/26), 6:00pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Sukkah on College Row

Event Organizers: Wesleyan Jewish Community, Office of the Jewish Chaplain

Event Description: (attendance open to the public) Join us in the WJC Sukkah on College Row for a festive sushi dinner!

WJC Shabbat Services

Event Time and Date: Friday, October 2nd, 5:30pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: The Bayit

Event Organizers: Wesleyan Jewish Community

Event Description: (attendance open to the public) Join members of the WJC for shabbat services at the Bayit (157 Church St.) followed by homemade dinner at 6:45pm at the WJC Sukkah on College Row. All are welcome.

October 7th Memorial - Remembering and Honoring Loved Ones

Event Time and Date: Wednesday, October 7th, 6:00pm-6:30pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Outside of Usdan

Event Organizers: Students Supporting Israel at Wesleyan, Chabad, and Wesleyan Jewish Community

WJC Shabbat Services

Event Time and Date: Wednesday, October 9th, 5:30pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: The Bayit

Event Organizers: Wesleyan Jewish Community

Event Description: (attendance open to the public) Join members of the WJC for shabbat services at the Bayit (157 Church St.) followed by homemade dinner at 6:45pm at the WJC Sukkah on College Row. All are welcome.

Avi Melamed - History of the Land of Israel

Event Time and Date: Monday, October 12th at 6:45pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Frank Center for Public Affairs, Room 001

Event Organizers: Students Supporting Israel at Wesleyan and Chabad at Wesleyan

Translating Israeli Books: Beyond the Conflict

Event Time and Date: Tuesday, October 13th, 8:00pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Frank Center for Public Affairs, Room 100

Event Organizers: The Center for Jewish Studies

Event Description: (attendance open to the public) When the average American thinks about Israel, a few images instantly come up: The Wailing Wall is one. Camels in the desert is another. But perhaps the first to pop into anyone’s mind, especially these days, is war. Naturally, Israelis write plenty of books dealing with the Israeli Palestinian conflict as well as the memory and commemoration of the Holocaust. And yet Israeli society and culture contain multitudes, and its writers deal with a wide and diverse range of subjects, from ethnic tensions to crises of religion, mental health, and sexual awakenings. In this presentation by fiction writer and translator Yardenne Greenspan, we will explore contemporary Israeli literature as a window into a fuller, more layered view of the Israeli psyche, and navigate the ways in which translating Hebrew writing can help introduce Israelis–not the country or the government, but the people at the heart of it all–to the rest of the world. Free Admission. Open to the Public

WJC HCFW Shabbat services

Event Time and Date: Friday, October 16th, 6:00pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: The Bayit and Daniel Family Commons, Usdan 3rd Floor

Event Organizers: Wesleyan Jewish Community, Office of the Jewish Chaplain

Event Description: Join members of the WJC for shabbat services at the Bayit (157 Church St.) followed by dinner at the DFC at 7:30 PM. For dinner reservations, please visit https://www.wesleyan.edu/hcfw/

Sabbath Queen Film Screening and Q and A with filmmaker Sandi Dubowski and Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie

Event Time and Date: Wednesday, October 21st, 7:30pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: CFA

Event Organizers: Office of the Jewish Chaplain

Event Description: (attendance open to the public) SABBATH QUEEN, a feature documentary filmed over 21 years, follows Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie's epic journey as the dynastic heir of 38 generations of Orthodox rabbis including the Chief Rabbis of Israel. He is torn between rejecting and embracing his destiny and becomes a drag-queen rebel, a queer bio-dad and the founder of Lab/Shul--an everybody-friendly, God-optional, artist-driven, pop-up experimental congregation. SABBATH QUEEN joins Amichai on a lifelong quest to creatively and radically reinvent religion and ritual, challenge patriarchy and supremacy, champion interfaith love, and stand up for peace, ceasefire, and an end to the Occupation in Israel/Palestine. The film interrogates what Jewish survival means in a difficult rapidly changing 21st century.

Meet Me in the Messy Middle

Event Time and Date: Thursday, October 22nd, 12:00pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Frank Center for Public Affairs, Room 100

Event Organizers: Office of the Jewish Chaplain

Event Description: (attendance open to the public) How do we meet each other's truths, hurts, and hopes despite deep differences, bridge divides, and imagine kinder, more peaceful realities for all? "Meet Me in the Messy Middle" invites conversation with Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie on current events, the urgent need for face-to-face dialogue in times of conflict and division, and Jewish perspectives on moral repair and resilience. A key theme in Rabbi Amichai's Sabbath Queen film and his work with Rabbis for Human Rights is the "both/and" approach, embracing fusion over binary thinking to navigate personal, religious, and political ruptures. Through stories—on screen, around the Sabbath table, or in listening circles—we open to diverse narratives, fostering respect, justice, and peace. Indian food will be served!

Discussion with Sandi Dubowski and Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie

Event Time and Date: Thursday, October 22nd, 4:30pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Olin Library, Devlin Room

Event Organizers: Office of the Jewish Chaplain, The Resource Center

Event Description: (attendance open to students only) Join the director of Sabbath Queen and Rabbi Lau-Lavie for a discussion of activism, queer identities, filmmaking, and more.

Center for Jewish Studies Open House

Event Time and Date: Wednesday, October 28th, 12:15pm -1:15pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Albritton 311

Event Organizers: Center for Jewish Studies

Event Description: (attendance open to students only) Learn about the Minor in Jewish and Israel Studies Meet faculty and students who minor in Jewish and Israel Studies Learn about our exciting interdisciplinary courses. Learn about our cultural events including the Israeli Film Festival, the Contemporary Israeli Voices Series, and our endowed lectures. Find out about academic distinction prizes and summer internship awards Check out our alumni’s accomplishments.  Lunch will be served. Everyone is welcome

Too Funny, Too Real: Inside the Creative World of Noa Yedlin

Event Time and Date: Thursday, November 12th, 8:00pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Frank Center for Public Affairs, Room 100

Event Organizers: Center for Jewish Studies

Event Description: (attendance open to the public) Award–winning Israeli author and screenwriter Noa Yedlin will share her creative world, where humor meets complex family relationships and white-collar crime meets everyday life. In this lively, story–filled lecture, Yedlin reveals how wild ideas take shape, how research fuels fiction, and why laughter belongs even in life’s darkest moments. Featuring clips from the hit TV adaptation of Stockholm—winner of Israel’s Best Mini–Series Award—Yedlin shares insights on writing, adaptation, and the art of storytelling that connects deeply across cultures. Her work, as Israeli famous writer Etgar Keret notes, is “too funny, too sad, too real”— just like life. Free Admission. Open to the Public