What is Eshkolot Project?

The Eshkolot project operated in Moscow from 2009 to 2022 with the support of the Avi Chai and Genesis foundations. In spring 2022, the Eshkolot team moved to Israel and created a new project, "Ideas Without Borders," at Beit Avi Chai cultural center in Jerusalem. This site is no longer updated, but it contains project materials covering all the years of its activity.

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Eshkolot is a Moscow-based non-profit cultural and educational project founded in 2010. We present traditional and contemporary Jewish culture as “oral non-fiction.”

Our series of academic Jewish study sessions, seminars, workshops and discussions are geared toward a largely unaffiliated, young and intellectual audience (with an average age of 30) in a variety of different occupations, from students, scholars and journalists to designers, critics, editors and more. Eshkolot programs attract audiences who previously did not participate other types of Jewish cultural activity, yet are drawn by the allure of in-depth study alongside international experts in their respective fields.

Among our past international speakers have been Moshe Idel, Amos Oz, Yair Zakovich, Avigdor Shinan, James Kugel, AB Yehoshua, Etgar Keret, Daniel Boyarin, David Stern, Zvi Mark, Moshe Halbertal, Shalom Sabar, Jonatan Meir, Peter Lehnardt, Boaz Huss, Naama Ben-Shachar, Yuval Harari and many others.

Our programming is primarily conducted in Russian. When the talks feature other languages, we do our best to preserve the original audio and create Russian subtitles.

Almost all of our events are streamed online, and recordings are available free of charge anywhere in the world.

One of our goals is to showcase Jewish culture as the result of constant contact with other cultures. To this end, Eshkolot regularly holds events in partnership with the Hungarian Cultural Center, the Polish Institute, the Italian Cultural Institute of Moscow, Instituto Cervantes, Goethe-Institut and others.

Event formats

Ongoing Events

We aim to combine lectures by scholars from universities in Russia, Israel, Germany, the United States and other countries with concerts, film screenings, master classes and food shows in order to give our listeners a “taste” of the ideas presented.

Slow Reading Festivals and expeditions

outside events held over the course of several days. Aside from seminars and lectures, the program includes “field research” and cultural events.

Online Academy

A collection of professional video and audio recordings of lectures, interviews with lecturers and other materials organized by topic. Access to all of these resources is provided free of charge.

Radio Eshkolot

A podcast highlighting music by Jews and their neighbors from around the world (from folk to classical and from synagogue singing to klezmer punk). Available on all leading streaming platforms (Apple, Google, Spotify and Soundcloud)

Eshkolot Project is made possible with the generous support of Genesis Philanthropy Group