This is the perfect time of year to engage in Jewish learning. The newest Jewish Learning Institute course, “Colorful Profiles: Short Stories of Extraordinary Lives from Jewish History,” will be offered on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays, beginning May 4. Instructors for the four-session course are Rabbis Moishe Traxler and Yossi Zaklikofsky, in Houston and Bellaire, respectively.

“Colorful Profiles” presents epic sagas and brave heroes whose lives share meaningful lessons for each of us today.

In lesson 1, students will learn what attracted a Roman Caesar’s nephew to convert to Judaism – and what message does his revolutionary Hebrew-to-Aramaic Torah translation provide us?

Why did a 12th-century Italian priest surrender his career to live as a wandering Jew, and what cultural gifts did he bring with him?

How did an 18th-century young Polish nobleman become a legend of devotion and sacrifice for Judaism?

These are the fascinating life stories of three converts to Judaism: Onkelos, Ovadiah of Normandy and Avraham ben Avraham.

Lesson 2 covers the dramas and triumphs of three rabbis: Shmuel Hanagid, Menashe ben Israel and Ovadiah Seforno.

How did a leading Torah sage of 11th-century Spain command a Muslim army?

How did a child born in the suffocating shadow of the Portuguese Inquisition fling open the gates of Jewish wisdom to non-Jewish scholars and force open the gates of England for his oppressed brethren?

How did the relationship between a leading Italian rabbi and his young, non-Jewish German pupil save the Talmud from destruction and establish it as a source of wisdom for all humanity?

In lesson 3, the experiences of three extraordinary women – Doña Gracia, Rebbetzin Bayla Katz and Glückel of Hameln – will be explored.

How did a clandestinely Jewish businesswoman smuggle thousands of her brethren from the clutches of the Inquisition and launch an ambitious settlement project in the Holy Land?

How did a Polish rabbi’s wife influence Jewish ritual practice and custom?

What profound life lessons did a 17th-century German Jewish entrepreneur impart via her remarkable autobiography?

The final lesson teaches how a band of pirates’ capturing a ship that ferried four rabbis changed the course of Jewish history. Why
did the top German Talmudic sage of the 13th century refuse to be released from prison? How did a 7th-century hostage crisis in Ukraine unite the Jewish world for an unprecedented rescue mission?

Lesson 4 explores the sagas of the four captive rabbis, as well as Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg and Rabbi Yaakov Koppel Margolis and his fellow captives, from the 1648 Khmelnytskyi Massacres.

For class details, locations and registration, go to chabadoutreach.org/JLI, jewishbellaire.com/JLI or myJLI.com.

https://jhvonline.com/be-inspired-by-colorful-profiles-in-the-latest-jli-course-p34843-220.htm