If you’re into golems, AI, or visions of a better world, this class is for you. Using Becky Chambers’ Psalm for the Wild-Built as our starting point, we’ll explore how the novel’s gentle, tea-sipping robot echoes the earth-based golem—both shaped by human hands, yet moving beyond human control. We’ll dig into themes of feminism, environmental care, and repair, asking how these stories help us imagine more just and sustainable futures, and what ancient myths can teach us about tomorrow’s machines.

Rabbi-Cantor Michael McCloskey is a inspiring and innovative teacher of Torah and thought leader. He has taught at the Toronto Jewish Music Festival, Hebrew College Open Circle Jewish Learning, through the Cantors Assembly, and currently is a Lecturer at the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York. The Rav-Chazzan at Temple Emeth in Chestnut Hill, he has had writing published in AJS Perspectives, Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism, and Exploring Judaism, among others. He is also an accomplished composer and pianist. In his spare time he loves to boulder and read cosmic horror.