IKAR Los Angeles

Join peacebuilder, activist, Palestinian American neurosurgeon Dr. David Hasan, Founder, President & CEO of The Gaza Children Village, in conversation with Rabbi Sharon Brous Recently featured in The New York Times, The Gaza Children Village provides daily education, nutritious meals, healthcare, and trauma-informed support to orphaned and vulnerable children through their Academies of Hope. Co-Sponsored by NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change.

From movement leaders to strongmen, the whole world is reeling from the abuses of men striving for greatness. But it's never too late for a moral reckoning. Humility and decency must be our new metric for leadership.

Parashat Vayikra This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's class The Weekly Parashah from 3.18.2026, co-sponsored by IKAR and Hadar.

Class #15 | March 17, 2026 This is a recording of Rabbi Morris Panitz's session of For the Love of Learning class. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we'll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to modern questions. Join us in-person at the Event Space (coffee and nosh provided) or over Zoom (B.Y.O. nosh) for as many sessions as possible… your Tuesday will thank you.

This is a heavy and complicated and confusing time. But we must not respond to the spiritual overload by closing off our hearts. Let us pry our hearts open instead.  Vayak-hel Pekudei 5786

Parashat Vayakhel-Pekudei This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's class The Weekly Parashah from 3.11.2026, co-sponsored by IKAR and Hadar.

Class #14 | March 10, 2026 | Click here for source sheet. When the man entered with the boy in his arms, a change came over the place. All of us felt it. Something in the air trembled; a warmth passed through the yard, and we knew that one of the living had come among us. We assembled in small knots, whispering about our former lives. Some remembered their misdeeds, some their triumphs. We debated, we argued, we laughed when the memory allowed it, but always we were together, bound by the strange circumstance of our continued existence. - Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders

This is a recording from 3.4.2025 of Rabbi David Kasher's Weekly Parashah class, co-sponsored by Hadar and IKAR. There were technical difficulties in the last 10 minutes of class and Rabbi Kasher had to join from a different device.

Moses has an encounter this week that he never speaks of again. But we can't seem to stop quoting it. What happened, and what can we learn from Moses' secret?

Michael Lynton and Joshua Steiner discuss their new book, From Mistakes to Meaning: Owning Your Past So It Doesn't Own You (https://www.simonandschuster.com/book...)

Gideon Maltz is the Chief Executive Officer of the Tent Partnership for Refugees, having previously served as Executive Director from 2017 to 2021. The Charles Bronfman Prize recognizes young humanitarians whose work is grounded in their Jewish values and is of universal benefit to all people. The goal of the Prize is to recognize dynamic leaders whose innovation and impact serve as inspiration for the next generation.

This is a recording of Rabbi Sharon Brous's session of For the Love of Learning class. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we'll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to modern questions. Join us in-person at the Event Space (coffee and nosh provided) or over Zoom (B.Y.O. nosh) for as many sessions as possible… your Tuesday will thank you.

Rabbi Morris Panitz's sermon from 2.21.2026

This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's class, The Weekly Parashah, a collaboration between Hadar and IKAR.

This is a recording of Rabbi Brad Artson's session of For the Love of Learning class. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we'll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to modern questions. Join us in-person at the Event Space (coffee and nosh provided) or over Zoom (B.Y.O. nosh) for as many sessions as possible… your Tuesday will thank you.

As the lies become more brazen, practice telling the truth. Parashat Mishpatim

This is a recording from 2.11.2025 of Rabbi David Kasher's Weekly Parashah class, co-sponsored by Hadar and IKAR.

Source sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wv-W6BEn2iahSenDoy9F9b4CBDrffE8RQkeyCM621O0/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.oq4x0c2v3hwp This is a recording of Rabbi Sharon Brous's For the Love of Learning class. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we'll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to modern questions. Join us in-person at the Event Space (coffee and nosh provided) or over Zoom (B.Y.O. nosh) for as many sessions as possible… your Tuesday will thank you.

This is a recording from 2.4.2025 of Rabbi David Kasher's Weekly Parashah class, co-sponsored by Hadar and IKAR.

It is human nature to retreat from the risks of love and the demands of goodness.  But, it isn't inevitable. Come back to the mountain– painfully aware of why we flee– but recommitted to love and life.

⁠Click here to read the source sheet.⁠ This is a recording of Rabbi Morris Panitz's of For the Love of Learning. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we'll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to modern questions. Join us in-person at the Event Space (coffee and nosh provided) or over Zoom (B.Y.O. nosh) for as many sessions as possible… your Tuesday will thank you.

In our first battle with Amalek - the perennial enemy of the Israelites that preys on the vulnerable - the Torah also gives us the tools to fight back. In this moment, we desperately need these tactics, strategy, and spiritual grounding for the fight ahead. It's going to take all of us. 

This is a recording from 1.28.2025 of Rabbi David Kasher's Weekly Parashah class, co-sponsored by Hadar and IKAR.

⁠Click here to read the source sheet.⁠⁠ This is a recording of Rabbi Morris Panitz's of For the Love of Learning. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we'll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to modern questions. Join us in-person at the Event Space (coffee and nosh provided) or over Zoom (B.Y.O. nosh) for as many sessions as possible… your Tuesday will thank you.

Beth Oppenheim, the new CEO of HIAS, in conversation with Rabbi Jensen. why supporting immigrants and refugees feels both newly urgent and deeply familiar. As displacement and fear shape lives in our own neighborhoods, this conversation asks what it means to respond not only with memory, but with action.

When the nation falls under the spell of state terror, when we spiral from a politics of aspiration to one of capitulation, the people must rise up with love. This is the fight of our lives.

This is a recording from 1.21.2025 of Rabbi David Kasher's Weekly Parashah class, co-sponsored by Hadar and IKAR.

Guest hazzan Yoni Avi Battat and Sarah Bunin Benor in conversation at IKAR's Lunch & Learn from our Sephardi / Mizrahi Shabbat on January 17, 2026.

Click here to read the source sheet.⁠ This is a recording of Rabbi Morris Panitz's of For the Love of Learning. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we'll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to modern questions. Join us in-person at the Event Space (coffee and nosh provided) or over Zoom (B.Y.O. nosh) for as many sessions as possible… your Tuesday will thank you.

The people of Iran are begging us to turn towards them, our hearts open to their pain. They deserve our solidarity and support, our identification with their struggle. Because human life is precious. And we, who love life, must always be on the side of those who love life.

Click here to read the source sheet. This is a recording of Rabbi Sharon Brous's of For the Love of Learning. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we'll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to modern questions. Join us in-person at the Event Space (coffee and nosh provided) or over Zoom (B.Y.O. nosh) for as many sessions as possible… your Tuesday will thank you.

This is a recording from 1.7.2025 of Rabbi David Kasher's Weekly Parashah class, co-sponsored by Hadar and IKAR.

A seemingly superfluous sidebar in our grand narrative in fact models what we most need to remember in a time of tyranny: There will emerge a vast moral vacuum. Step into it. Use the power you do have to muck up the machinery of injustice. Lean into faith. And remember that goodness, courage, and integrity are contagious. This is how we push back against the darkness. Parashat Shemot 5786

This is a recording of Rabbi Sharon Brous's of For the Love of Learning. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we'll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to modern questions. Join us in-person at the Event Space (coffee and nosh provided) or over Zoom (B.Y.O. nosh) for as many sessions as possible… your Tuesday will thank you.

This is a recording from 12.31.2025 of Rabbi David Kasher's Weekly Parashah class, co-sponsored by Hadar and IKAR.

Jacob's farewell address in Parashat VaYechi features a vision of a snake and a cry for Divine salvation. As our world backslides into fear, anger, violence, and deceit, we nonetheless find hope in self-transformation. By caring for the needy and welcoming the stranger, we preserve the legacy of B'nei Yisrael, and become partners with God in redeeming a broken world. 

Hidden within the broader narrative of exodus and redemption is a sub story about how a minority retains its distinctive culture. And the unlikely messengers of this story are… sheep.

This is a recording from 12.23.2025 of Rabbi David Kasher's Weekly Parashah class, co-sponsored by Hadar and IKAR.

Lunch & Learn with American Federation for Teachers President Randi Weingarten and Rabbi Sharon Brous to discuss Weingarten's new book, Why Fascists Fear Teachers: Public Education and the Future of Democracy, which exposes the long-planned strategy to undermine education—and lifts up the powerful role educators play in protecting truth and democracy. We apologize for technical difficulties that occured during the livestream which caused compromised the quality of the first 20 minutes of audio.

1. We must be exactly who we are, only more so. 2. There is great geographical, ideological, political and religious distance between us. We must remember that we are responsible for one another. And 3. We must dramatically shift our approach to fighting antisemitism.

This is a recording of the Weekly Parashah with Rabbi David Kasher, a class co-sponsored by Hadar and IKAR from 12.18.2025 / Mikeitz 5786

This is a recording of Rabbi Sharon Brous's of For the Love of Learning. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we'll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to modern questions. Join us in-person at the Event Space (coffee and nosh provided) or over Zoom (B.Y.O. nosh) for as many sessions as possible… your Tuesday will thank you.

The seeds of redemption were being planted—we were just too busy to notice.

A conversation between Rabbi Angela Buchdahl and Rabbi Sharon Brous on faith, identity, leadership, and Buchdahl's new book, Heart of a Stranger.

Dr. Kraemer focuses on the literary analysis of rabbinic literature, rabbinic ritual, the social and religious history of Jews in late antiquity, and Jewish diaspora ideologies. Since 2024, he has played a crucial role in forging policy and expanding the impact of the Library's world-renowned collections and programs. His most recent book is Embracing Exile: The Case for Jewish Diaspora.

This is a recording of Rabbi Sharon Brous's third session of For the Love of Learning. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we'll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to modern questions. Join us in-person at the Event Space (coffee and nosh provided) or over Zoom (B.Y.O. nosh) for as many sessions as possible… your Tuesday will thank you.

When it comes to speaking about the personal experiences we've had— or we yearn for— with God, we tend to retreat into self-consciousness and silence.  I'd like for that to change.  So, here's my story.

This is a recording of our second session of For the Love of Learning. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we'll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to modern questions. Join us in-person at the Event Space (coffee and nosh provided) or over Zoom (B.Y.O. nosh) for as many sessions as possible… your Tuesday will thank you.

Our ancestor, Isaac, repeated the pattern of his father's failures—an expression of loyalty to the covenant. We, too, may feel trapped by the force of the past, as though we are powerless to the repetition of the worst chapters of our history.  But we can—and must—choose agency over inevitability.