Our annual community-wide Shavuot program returns with rabbis and educators from Houston area congregations leading 18-minute sessions on a variety of Jewish topics.

We will break in the middle to come together for Ma'ariv and end the evening with cheesecake!

Rabbi Brian Strauss (Beth Yeshurun)
Do They Hate Us Because of Sinai?

Rabbi Ronen Teller (Brith Shalom)
Revelation through a Rabbinic Lens: Classic Midrashim in all their Beauty and Complexity

Rabbi Steve Gross ( HCRJ )
Regret, Return, and Responsibility: A Jewish Take on Second Thoughts 

Cantor Mark Levine (Brith Shalom)
The Book of Ruth: In the days when the Judges Ruled | An Intertextual look at ways in which the Book of Ruth proposed solutions to the chaos of the Book of Judges."

Rabbi Gideon Estes (Or Ami)
Ani Hashem Elohekha -  I am Adonai Your God: An exploration of the first of the Ten Commandments and what it can help teach us.  | Rabbi Estes will delve into meaning of this opening line of the Aseret HaDibrot and explore what our take away can be. "      

Rabbi Sarah Fort (Beth Yeshurun)
Magic Trees

Rabbi Josh Fixler (Emanu El)
How Do YOU Count to 10? Jewish and Christian understandings of the Decalogue in light of the new 10 Commandments Law in Texas.

Rabbi Steven Morgen (Beth Yeshurun)
Why We Should Oppose Putting the Ten Commandments in Public Schools

Rabbi Eitan Krul (Shaar Hashalom)
Torah of Light: Hope and Wholeness in the Teachings of the Piaseczno Rebbe | How can Torah be a source of light—not only on the mountaintop of revelation, but also in the valleys of despair? In this Shavuot session, we will explore how Torah can sustain the soul with hope, connection, and inner light—both in times of joy and in the darkest of moments. Through the powerful writings of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Piaseczno Rebbe, composed in the Warsaw Ghetto, we will encounter a Torah that does not retreat in the face of suffering, but instead burns brighter within it. His teachings, recorded in Esh Kodesh (“The Holy Fire”), offer a vision of Torah as a path toward resilience, spiritual wholeness, and enduring love.
Together, we’ll reflect on what it means to receive Torah in every generation, and how its light can still guide us—wherever we are.

Rabbi Scott Hausman-Weiss (Shma Koleinu)
Hashkiveinu: A Prayer for the Vulnerable Heart of the Jewish People | The Hashkiveinu prayer is a plea, an expression of earnest hope, a lullaby of sorts. A prayer for protection, a salve for the vulnerability we have known for centuries. And yet also it is a call to action, to be raised up to greatness, when each new day dawns. On Shavuot, and especially at this moment in our story, the millennia old words of Hashkiveinu echo powerfully upon the eardrums of today’s Jewish people. May they rouse us to a deeper connection to our people’s moment at Sinai and to a strengthening of our presence in the world.

Please register below to attend.