Jewish Spirituality

Many Jews perceive a lack of concern and little emphasis on matters of spiritual growth within the organized Jewish community. In order to serve the growing number of Jews who are comfortable with, indeed searching for, a life of meaning, purpose, connection and depth, we must respond to the palpable spiritual hunger of our age. We are all well aware that many Jews seeking to cultivate the inner life have left the Jewish fold, and have looked to traditions and communities more ready to embrace and support their quests. If this continues, we will lose many of our deepest souls and our most profound teachers. By helping those interested to pursue their spiritual quests within the Jewish community, they will both challenge and invigorate Judaism for the benefit of all.

This course, then, is designed to help those interested in Jewish learning to rediscover the spiritual depth of our tradition and to learn to take its wisdom into their lives.

Tentative Schedule (Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm)

1) November 3 –    The Spiritual Journey/Coming Home

2) November 10 –   God-Talk, God Belief, and God Experience

3) November 17 –    Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation/Spiritual Practice

4) December 1 –     Contemplative Prayer

5) December 8 –     Praying with Words, Liturgical and Personal

6) December 15 –   Psalms and Niggunim

7) January 5 –        Mussar – Using the Omer period to work on middot

8) January 12 –      How to study a Jewish Text

9) January 19 –      Study as Encounter with God

10) January 26 –    Finding ourselves in the text