Jewish educator Rabbi Nati Helfgot will be the scholar-in-residence in Stamford, November 12-14, speaking on four occasions throughout the weekend. The program, which is sponsored by the Center for Community Education (CCE) at the Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy of Connecticut, will be focused on Jewish education.

His first talk will be on Friday night, November 12 at 7:45 p.m., at the home of Rabbi Eli and Naomi Kohl in Stamford. Rabbi Helfgot will speak about “Teaching Midrash … Or Was Rivka Really Three Years Old When She Married Yitzchak?”

On Shabbat morning, Rabbi Helfgot will give a shiur at 10:30 a.m., immediately following the 8 a.m. chapel minyan at Congregation Agudath Sholom, on “Why Study Tanach?”

On Shabbat afternoon, between Mincha and Maariv at Congregation Agudath Sholom, Rabbi Helfgot will deliver a second shiur, “Teaching the Mistakes of Our Avot and Imahot.”

Finally, on Sunday morning at 10 a.m., at the Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy of Connecticut, Rabbi Helfgot will speak to the entire community about “Homosexuality, Jewish Thought and What Do We Teach Our Children.”

Rabbi Helfgot is the spiritual leader of Congregation Netivot Shalom in Teaneck. He was ordained by RIETS and holds a master’s degree in education from the Azrieli Graduate School of Yeshiva University. He also is the chair of the Department of Talmud and Rabbinics at SAR High School. Previously, Rabbi Helfgot was the chair of the Departments of Bible and Jewish Thought at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, and before that, the director of the Judaic Studies curriculum at Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls. He has also taught at the Frisch School and Torah Academy of Bergen County. Rabbi Helfgot draws on his life experiences in counselling and supporting his students and the members of his shul.

He has been a leader in the Rabbinical Council of America, the International Rabbinic Fellowship and the Orthodox Caucus and Orthodox Forum sponsored by Yeshiva University.

Rabbi Helfgot is the author of “Divrei Berakah U’Moed: Halakhic Essays on the Topics of Holidays and Blessings,” and edited the book “Community, Covenant and Commitment: Selected Letters and Communications of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.” His articles have appeared in Tradition, Jewish Action, The Orthodox Forum Series, The Jewish Week, The Jewish Standard and Hamevaser.

The Center for Community Education (CCE) is a year-old initiative of the Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy of Connecticut that aims to inspire thoughtful conversation related to the spectrum of Jewish issues and ideals. Last year the group sponsored a dialogue with Rabbi Yitz Greenberg and Rabbi Shlomo Riskin that attracted close to 300 registrants, and it also organized a program on race and the Jewish community. Other speakers who have delivered CCE-sponsored talks include Elana Stein Hain, Rabbi Dr. Gil Perl, Rabbi Tully Harcsztark, and several others notable Jewish educators.

All of the programs are free and open to the entire community.