Have you ever wondered why Jews stop working for an entire day every week? Why they keep reading the same book generation after generation? Why they gather ten people to pray, put little boxes on their doorposts, or insist on arguing about almost everything?

Pragmatic Judaism is an invitation to explore Judaism from a different angle. Instead of asking whether Judaism is true, I ask what Judaism does. What problems were Jewish traditions trying to solve? How did they help a small people survive, adapt, and thrive across thousands of years? And what lessons might they offer us today about community, identity, resilience, meaning, and belonging?

This conversation is for everyone: religious and secular Jews, people who feel deeply connected to Judaism, people who feel disconnected from it, and even non-Jews who are curious about Jewish life and culture. The goal is not to convince, but to converse.

Together, we’ll explore our different Jewish identities through a different lens and ask what Judaism might still have to teach us about what it means to be Jewish today, especially in the wake of October 7.

The timing is intentional. We will gather one week before Tisha B’Av, the day on which Jews mourn the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Yet the destruction of the Temple was not only an ending. It was also a beginning.

Many of the institutions and practices that define Judaism today emerged in response to that loss, transforming Judaism from a Temple-centered religion into the portable, resilient civilization that sustained Jewish life across centuries of diaspora.

Whether you agree or disagree with the ideas presented, the hope is that you’ll leave with new questions, new perspectives, and a deeper understanding of how Judaism reinvented itself after crisis—and what that might teach us about Jewish identity today.

All proceeds will be split between JewishERGs & Pragmatic Judaism and are tax deductible. If you would like to purchase a ticket in a currency other than USD (e.g. CAD, GBP, EUR) Please email events@JewishERGs.org