Classes will explore modern Judaism

“Merging Identities: The Jews of America” is a course that will ask: “What does it mean to be a Jew today?” It will be taught by Dr. Robert Kirschner, a teacher, lecturer and ordained rabbi, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Nov. 1 to 29, in Room 163 at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. Cost is $50 students, $75 Skirball members and $100 general public.

Jews came to the U.S. from many lands and cultures. While other immigrating groups took on minority status for the first time in America, the Jews had lived as a minority for nearly 2,000 years around the world.

In the U.S., as recently as 50 years ago, many American Jews continued to have primarily Jewish social relationships. But as Jewish life shifted from the old urban neighborhoods to the suburbs, the social distance between Jew and non-Jew diminished, and assimilation and intermarriage began to alter the shape of Jewish families.

Old customs and folkways increasingly became memories of the immigrant generation.

Now that Jews are at home in America, how will Jews maintain their unique spiritual and cultural identity? What forms of Jewish expression will survive? This course includes a tour of the exhibition “From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America.”

For course enrollment information, please call (310) 440-4500.