The Progressive Judaism Education Hub 2025 – a unique online series delving into the rich history and core values of our Judaism – has seen hundreds of people already taking part

The next Zoom event is tonight (Thursday 27 February) at 7pm when Rabbi Dr Elliott Karstadt will explore the life and legacy of Rabbi Dr Leo Baeck.

SIGN UP HERE – tinyurl.com/EducationHub2025

Rabbi Dr Leo Baeck (1873-1956) began his life in Germany, and ended it here in the UK.

He acted as the leader of the Jews of Germany during the Nazi regime, often negotiating with the regime for the lives of German Jews. He eventually ended up with many others in the Teresin concentration camp. As such, he gave his name to many Jewish institutions world-wide, including Britain’s Leo Baeck College, where most of our Progressive rabbis are trained today.

In his seminal work, The Essence of Judaism (1905), Baeck argued that there is an ‘essence’ to the religion of Judaism, and that this essence can be ‘found at the highest levels of its history’.

This session will consider how Leo Baeck’s conception of Judaism’s essence informed the way in which Progressive Jews have thought about their Jewish identity in the decades since its publication, and how we might think differently today.

It will be led by Rabbi Dr Elliott Karstadt – a member of the rabbinic team at Alyth, the synagogue in which Leo Baeck found a home after the Second World War.

SIGN UP HERE – tinyurl.com/EducationHub2025

Over 10 weekly hour-long Zoom sessions, we’ll explore the lives and legacies of 10 significant individuals who have shaped the development of the Judaism we know and love today. Sessions take place on Thursday nights from 7-8pm via Zoom. They are free and open to all – and you can take part in as few or as many as you wish.

The full list of dates, topics and educators is below. For those that have passed, if you click the link you can watch it on our new YouTube channel: