Beit Midrash Study Session | Under the Water: Asking for Rain in a Time of Floods and Sea Level Rise
Nov 9 @ 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
A FLOWING THROUGH TIME AND TRADITION PROGRAM
Join us for Chaos and Creation, the first in a series of Beit Midrash Study Sessions inspired by the art and objects on view in Flowing through Time and Tradition.
Sunday, November 9, 2025 / 18 Cheshvan 5786
1:30 – 3:00 pm | Study Session: Hebrew Folk Dance with Claire Sherman and Discussion with Dr. Joel Gerwein
In person at the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA
RSVP
From California’s coasts to worldwide shores, the boundaries of land and sea shift, shorelines retreat, and the line between blessing and curse blurs. In the Hebrew month of Heshvan—a time of praying for rain—we reflect on what this means in an age of droughts, rising seas, and increasingly frequent storms.
Join artist Claire Sherman for a Hebrew folk dance celebrating water and community, followed by a conversation with Dr. Joel Gerwein weaving together current research on sea level rise with Jewish stories about water. Together, we’ll reflect on the insights water offers about moving forward and retreating—adaptation and change.
Please join us for a special gallery tour focusing on objects connected to the monthly Beit Midrash theme before each study session from 1:00-1:30pm. Please RSVP for the gallery tour here.
The Magnes’s programs and exhibitions are supported by our community. Click here to make a suggested donation of $10 per session or $55 for the full series.
If you have any questions about accessibility or require accommodations to participate in this event, please contact us at dalter@berkeley.edu or call us at (510) 643-2526 with as much advance notice as possible.
Program is subject to change.
About the guest teachers
Claire Sherman has been doing Israeli folk dancing since childhood. In college she taught and directed an Israeli folk dance performing troupe at the Brown/RISD Hillel. Currently she’s one of the dance teachers at Cafe Simcha in Kensington, on Wednesday nights.
Dr. Joel Gerwein is a volunteer with Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action and North Coast Program Manager for the State Coastal Conservancy
About the series
Beit Midrash, meaning a house of study in Hebrew, is a series of eight creative, collaborative study sessions inspired by the art and objects on view in Flowing through Time and Tradition. Guided by the curator and guest teachers, we will engage with texts and artistic expressions to delve deeper into the exhibition objects and themes, to draw knowledge, surface reflections, and pour forth new perspectives.
About the exhibition
Exploring the theme of water through the holdings of the Magnes Collection, Flowing through Time and Tradition traces how water flows through and shapes Jewish lives: enacting belief, sustaining life and communities, providing the means for spiritual cleansing, and mapping identities.
