CSP - Community Scholar Program, Orange County

05/31/2026

Zamru at CBI this past Shabbat and wow, what a morning. Cantor Amy curated something truly beautiful, soulful, and joyfully alive. The harmonies soared, the ruach flowed, and the sanctuary felt like it was glowing from the inside out. Huge thanks to the Jewish Community Foundation Orange County for underwriting a weekend of local programs and to Rabbi K’vod Wieder for helping make it all happen. Shabbat with soundtrack, spirit, and serious heart.

05/30/2026

Shavua Tov!
Please join us this week at CSP for some insightful programs:

Sun 5/31 - Holy Loopholes, Adaptation and Integrity in Jewish Law. Part 4 Heter Iska with Prof Marc Michael Epstein.

Tues 6/2 - Exile: The Secret of Jewish Survival with Rabbi Chaim Seidler Feller **Member's Only

Weds 6/4 - From Sand to Skyline Part 3 - “Built to Tell: Tel Aviv in Architecture” With Gila Levitan.

Click on Pics for Links!

05/29/2026

Shabbat Shalom from CSP!
As we read Parshat Naso this week and hear the timeless words of the Birkat Kohanim (Priestly Benediction) ,“May God bless you and protect you” (Numbers 6:22-27), it is remarkable to remember that these very verses were discovered by Gabriel Barkay,inscribed on tiny pure silver amulets only 27 millimeters wide, the other is just 11 millimeters at Ketef Hinnom (Shoulder of Hinnom) in Jerusalem, dating back over 2,600 years to the First Temple period.
The Ketef Hinnom scrolls, now housed at the Israel Museum, are considered the oldest surviving Biblical texts ever discovered, predating the Dead Sea Scrolls by 500 years and revealing how deeply these ancient blessings were woven into Jewish life and memory. Across millennia, from silver amulets buried outside ancient Jerusalem to synagogue sanctuaries today, the same words continue to connect Jews to a shared story of protection, hope, and continuity.

05/28/2026

CSP@25 Spotlight: David Solomon
In February 2014, CSP was honored to welcome David Solomon as our 13th Annual One-Month Scholar in Residence, bringing one of the most dynamic and wide-ranging Jewish educators in the world to our community. Over the course of his residency, David led a sweeping and ambitious journey through Major Events, Figures & Ideas in Jewish History: A Comprehensive Overview of the Jewish World, helping participants see the big picture of Jewish history through his signature “In One Hour” frameworks. With a rare ability to synthesize anthropology, literature, kabbalah, and history into clear and compelling visual maps, David made complex ideas accessible, memorable, and deeply engaging. His global perspective, intellectual breadth, and electrifying presentation style left a lasting impression and inspired many to continue exploring the richness of Jewish learning long after the month concluded.
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05/24/2026

Shavua Tov! What's on this week at CSP?

Sun 5/24 - Prof Marc Michael Epstein continues with his series Holy Loopholes Part 3, Shabbat Elevators.

Tues 5/26 - Dirshuni Part 3 When Midrash Meets Devastation Tamar will host Nurit Hirshfield Skupinsky, a survivor of Kibbutz Nahal Oz.

Thurs 5/28 - Prof Stephen Fine - The Arch of Titus
From Jerusalem to Rome and Back.

See you online, click on the pics for links!

05/21/2026

Fun Jewish history note for Shavuot night:

The custom of Tikkun Leil Shavuot took shape in 16th-century Safed, right around the same time that coffee was spreading across the Ottoman world. Are we saying the mystics invented late-night Torah study because coffee showed up? No. Are we saying the timing is extremely convenient? Absolutely.

As coffee culture blossomed in places like Salonika and Constantinople, Jews were embracing both all-night learning and this remarkable new beverage that helped one remain alert long enough to greet dawn with dignity. Over time, Torah and caffeine became one of Jewish history’s most reliable partnerships.

So if you find yourself holding a steaming cup at 1:47 AM while discussing revelation at Sinai, just know you are participating in a beautiful convergence of mysticism, migration, and mild stimulation.

Torah. Community. Coffee. Some traditions are simply meant to last.

05/20/2026

25 Years of CSP: A Legacy in Objects – Object #11: The 1795 Kopek.
Not every historic object glitters with ancient grandeur. Some carry their power in quieter ways. This large 1795 Russian kopek marks a dramatic turning point in Jewish history: the year after the final partition of Poland, when vast numbers of Jews suddenly found themselves no longer living in Poland-Lithuania, but under the rule of the Russian Empire. Thanks to the imperial ambitions of Catherine the Great and the geopolitical redrawing of Eastern Europe, countless Jewish communities, many of them the ancestral hometowns of Ashkenazi families around the world, were absorbed into what would become the Pale of Settlement. Overnight, Jews who had lived under one political reality found themselves navigating another, with new rulers, new restrictions, new bureaucracies, and yes, new coins in their pockets. This kopek may well resemble the kind of currency our ancestors first handled as their world shifted beneath their feet. One copper coin, one massive imperial power shift, and one more reminder that history is often experienced not first in books, but in the everyday objects people are suddenly forced to use.

05/14/2026

Celebrating 25 Years of CSP - Epic Photo 📷
From the early days of CSP, this special photo captures two of our cherished original supporters, Joan Kaye and Howard Mirowitz, pictured with legendary Israeli author A.B. Yehoshua at a CSP luncheon event at the Center Club in Costa Mesa in 2002. This was classic early CSP: bringing world-class Jewish thinkers, writers, and cultural voices to Orange County and creating intimate opportunities for our community to engage directly with them. A.B. Yehoshua, one of Israel’s most important literary figures, helped shape modern Hebrew literature through novels that wrestled with identity, memory, Zionism, family, and the complexities of Israeli life. For many in our community, encounters like this were transformational, turning books into conversations and global Jewish ideas into local lived experience. And for CSP, it was an early sign of what this little experiment in adult Jewish learning could become. One extraordinary author, two wonderful longtime supporters, and one more reminder that CSP has always believed that big Jewish ideas belong up close and personal.

05/13/2026

Much appreciation to EJP for publishing a piece about our CSP skydiving adventure and for giving Arie Rabbinic ordination without charge!

This past Sunday in Southern California, five members of our community scholar program family jumped out of an airplane to raise money for adult Jewish education. Yes, really. CSP - Community Scholar Program, Orange County/Facebook "Masterfully stitched together by Lance from Skydive Lake Elsinore f...

05/12/2026

Masterfully stitched together by Lance from Skydive Lake Elsinore footage, this is what happens when CSP’s idea of experiential Jewish learning involves Rabbi Elie, Marshall, Shirel, Gideon, and Lance voluntarily exiting an airplane.

On Sunday May 10, 2026 in Southern California, CSP may have hosted what is, to the best of our knowledge, the first ever freefall fundraiser for adult Jewish...