Pictured: Dawn Shavuot service at the 2025 Urban Shavuot Retreat in downtown Iowa Citg
Jewish life in our community has roots both in our beloved synagogue building and in the vibrant life of downtown Iowa City and Coralville. We are committed to bringing Jewish life into the heart of these cities through learning, gathering, Jewish spirituality, and acts of justice. We call this Public Space Judaism initiative “Iowa City Jews.”
Iowa City Jews is for you if you’re Jewish, Jew-ish, Jew-Curious, or Just Plain Human! It creates welcoming ways for people to connect— whether you’re a longtime member, new to the area, unaffiliated, or simply curious about Jewish life. At its heart, Iowa City Jews is about meeting people where they are—creating shared experiences that make Jewish life visible, accessible, and meaningful beyond synagogue walls.
Current ongoing projects of Iowa City Jews include:
- The Big Ideas in Jewish Books club at Iowa City Public Library (click the link for a complete list of books we’ve read or scheduled)
- The Peace and Justice Seder, held downtown annually
- Our Urban Shavu’ot Retreat, a night-long event held at a downtown location
- The Rabbi’s weekly coffee hours by appointment at Bread Garden Market
- The downtown Torah for Our Times series
- The annual Iowa City Pride festival, in which we participate in the march and host a booth
- Pop-up events like a downtown Havdalah (ceremony to conclude Shabbat).
You can follow all of Iowa City Jews’ offerings on the Iowa City Jews Instagram page @iowacityjews. You can find out more at the links above, but below are quick summaries:
Urban Shavuot Retreat, May 22-23, 2026 at Brown Street Inn
Shavuot—one of Judaism’s three pilgrimage festivals, alongside Passover and Sukkot—is a time of learning, celebration, and community. For the fourth year in a row, we’ll mark the holiday with a traditional all-night vigil – this year in the comfort of the Brown Street Inn.
We’ll begin at 6:15 p.m. with a potluck dinner, followed by a Kabbalat Shabbat service, music and dancing, overnight learning sessions, and eventually a dawn service. You’re welcome to join us for as much—or as little—of the evening as you like; rooms will be available for napping. It’s a beloved Agudas Achim experience you won’t find anywhere else. Click here for details.
Meeting monthly at the Iowa City Public Library, this public book group explores Jewish thought and culture through the work of rabbis, scholars, journalists, and historians. The series is open to all and is usually led by Rabbi Hugenholtz. Click here for the full listings of our 2026 meetings, all scheduled on Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m.
Torah for Our Times: An Urban Beit Midrash (Torah Study Hall) created and offered by Rabbi Hugenholtz in 2025. The inaugural series was presented at Public Space One, a nonprofit in downtown Iowa City, and will be repeated in future years. You can find more information at the link.
Every year we invite our friends and neighbors to celebrate Passover with us at a downtown Iowa City location. The venue for the 2026 Peace and Justice Seder was the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center, where about 70 people joined us. The seder, created by Rabbi Hugenholtz and Lisa Heineman, focused on Passover’s message of liberation and peace. The potluck that followed was delicious and abundant, and the whole evening was unforgettably welcoming and positive.
At each Peace and Justice Seder we raise funds for selected charities. Our 2026 causes were the HOPE Foundation, the Immigrant Welcome Network of Johnson County, and OneIowa.
We have an annual booth at Iowa City Pride, and our congregation marches in the annual downtown parade.