Why do most Jews live in the US and Israel today? How did your family end up where they are? How the invent of Christianity and Islam impacted Jewish life and thought? And what does any of this have to do with bagels?

In this class, we will be tracing the epic 2,000-year journey of how Jewish communities survived, thrived, and sometimes barely made it through some of history's wildest plot twists. We will start in 70 CE when everything changed with the destruction of the Second Temple. From there, we'll follow the trail through: How Judaism completely reinvented itself to survive. The rise and fall of the Pale of Settlement (aka where half your ancestors probably lived). Why antisemitism became a "modern" problem in the 1800s. The birth of the idea that became Israel

Plus: How Jewish food became the comfort food we know and love.

Fair warning: This is discussion-based, so your voice and questions matter. We're not just learning what happened – we're figuring out why it matters to YOU and your place in this ongoing story.

Dates for class: