We are honored to welcome Dr. Malka Simkovich, an expert in Jewish life during the Second Temple period, to celebrate Chanukah with us, offering her unique historical expertise on the oldest sources that shaped what Chanukah meant then and what it continues to mean today. Dr. Simkovich is the Crown-Ryan Chair of Jewish Studies and the director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies program at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. A graduate of Stern College, Dr. Simkovich earned a doctoral degree in Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism from Brandeis University and a Masters degree in Hebrew Bible from Harvard University. She is the author of The Making of Jewish Universalism: From Exile to Alexandria (2016) and Discovering Second Temple Literature: The Scriptures and Stories That Shaped Early Judaism (2018).

Shabbat Schedule

Friday Night Oneg:

Reclaiming Our Miraculous Narrative: Fighting for Our Version of the Chanukah Story, Then and Now  

Shabbat Morning Lecture:

Letters from Chanukah’s Past: Revisiting the Establishment of Chanukah and the Goal of its Celebration

Seudah Shlishit:

Jewish-Christian Dialogue: Historical and Personal Perspectives

This weekend is sponsored by Gaby and Kenny Friedman, commemorating the yahrzeits of Gaby’s beloved mother, Sitta Hamburger (Simcha Bat HaRav Avraham Shmuel Binyamin HaKohein a”h), and beloved aunt, Kate Caro ( Kayla Bat HaRav Avraham Shmuel Binyamin HaKohein a”h). It is also sponsored anonymously to commemorate the yahrzeit of Berta bas Yehuda and Beti a”h.