Jewish Learning + Community, Reimagined
Empowering you with the wisdom and rituals to build the
Foundations of your Jewish Life
About us section with CTA to email
A living, growing community rooted in lifelong learning through the foundational cycles of Jewish life.
Designed to meet you where you are and bring meaning into core areas of life: how we rest, how we nourish, how we love, and how we transform, all drawing from the well of Jewish practice and wisdom.
Our core programming is cyclical, and you can join any time. There is no way to fall behind, and you can go at your own pace. $36/month
All the ancestral wisdom, none of the dogma.
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The Foundations Course
Jewish learning designed to enhance your life.
Empowering you with the wisdom and rituals to build the Foundations of your Jewish Life, on your own terms.
Each week, you’ll receive a concise and comprehensive lesson in the form of audio, a beautiful PDF, and ritual guidance. You can learn and integrate in your own rhythm, and join live Ritual Labs and office hours to connect with others.
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The Community
We designed our online platform to be community first! We are excited to get to know you and to learn with and from you.
We are crafting a culture of belonging. It's pluralistic, global, and intergenerational. Regardless of where you are in your Jewish journey, we welcome you to co-create the community with us.
We have a great team of Rabbis, educators, ritualists and innovators ready to support you.
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The Platform
Our innovative online platform leverages technology to provide the opportunity for asynchronous, learning. Learn at your own pace, from your own home. It is easy to use, beautiful, tech-forward, and brings PDFs, audio, visuals together with virtual gatherings, seamlessly.
Our vision is that our platform enables deep connection, and expands all of our understanding of what it means to live, Jewishly.
What is it?
The Commitment
This is for you, to fit in with your life. There are two ways to experience this:
1. Slow, simple, steady: You can spend just 20 minutes a week listening to enriching audio lessons, plug and play style. And know, that when you are ready you have a trove of learning resources to return to at your own pace.
2. Go all in! Learn, join the virtual community, attend live Ritual Labs, and more!
We expect most people will move between these approaches, and we encourage you to engage in whatever way is right for you. As our friend Sruli Rapps says:
Maximum Invitation, Minimum Pressure
testimonial - or wisdom - A living, growing community for lifelong learning.
Course Overview:
One Foundational Course in Four Units, throughout the 2022 calendar year
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REST
For 8 weeks in the Winter, starting in January. This unit focuses on our weekly cycles: working with the rhythms and rituals of Shabbat to enrich our everyday life.
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NOURISH
For 8 weeks in the Spring. This unit focuses on the spiritual and physical nourishment in the cycles of our days. We will explore daily prayer, food (kosher and beyond), and our relationship with the Earth.
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TRANSFORM
For 7 weeks in the Late Summer, leading into the High Holy Days. This unit focuses on the transformative themes of our calendar cycles: the healing art of the Hebrew calendar and Jewish holidays.
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LOVE
For 8 weeks in the Autumn into Winter. This unit focuses on our life cycles and how they shape the many dimensions of love in our lives: marriage and sexuality, family, community, loss and grief, and love of the divine.
What’s included in each unit:
Weekly concise & thought-provoking lessons available in audio and PDF format, released every Sunday.
Office hours with our mentors where you can ask questions and receive thoughtful answers.
Live Ritual Lab zoom calls to practice the different rituals of Jewish life with confidence. The recordings of all Ritual Labs will live in a growing library that you can return to as often as you need to!
Prompts for your reflection and integration of core ideas, which you can take into a journal, a conversation, or a dialogue around the dinner table.
Community spaces designed for connection and cultural sharing. Our goal is that you will learn about the cultural richness of Jewish life, and make more than one friend!
So you can:
Understand the core ideas underpinning different areas of Jewish life,
Self-reflect to discover your own style and approach,
See and celebrate the diverse expressions of Jewish life around the world and right next door,
Be supported by mentors who will help you to be confident in how you're integrating and innovating in a good way,
Receive practical guidance in Ritual Lab workshops so you feel confident stepping into leadership in your family and community,
...and so much more!
In the integration time between each unit, you’ll still retain full access to all units you’ve participated in, and, most importantly, full access to the community we will have created together. You’ll connect with new and old friends, ask questions, share your own valuable insights, and feel the warmth of community on live calls- all with room for your growth into leadership within our community.
work on what our offer is here (dont double dip!)
Would you like to get a sense for what our lessons are like?
Who We Are (maybe on its own page? also add about LJ) also update team
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Rev. Ganga Devi Braun: Community Director of SOLJ
Ganga Devi is a multi-passionate innovator and systems theorist who designs for a more compassionate, connected world. Ordained as an interspiritual minister from OneSpirit Seminary, she is committed to creating pluralistic, expansive pathways for people to connect with the sacred in the way that is right for them. She developed the vision for SOLJ while going through her own conversion process, in which she craved opportunities to connect more deeply with the diverse expressions of Jewish life, as she believes that the richest blessings in life are found in the collective wisdom of many different people gathered together.
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Rabbi Bluth: Creative & Spiritual Director of SOLJ
Rabbi Bluth is known for her art, her ritual guidance, and her passionate work for a more just world. Ordained from Beit Midrash Har El, and involved in inter devotional global work (including KAICIID and RFP), Bluth builds bridges and imagination. She calls the Holy land and Toronto home. She is committed to a more loving, more beautiful, more just world, and welcomes you to co-create that world with us within SOLJ.
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Dr. Elliott Malamet: Director of Curriculum and Ethics
Elliott is known for pushing his audiences to think beyond the conventional. With decades of experience in Jewish education, Elliott has shaped our curriculum to include everything that’s wonderful about Jewish learning, and innovating where there are opportunities to do better.
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Rabbi Yossi Sapirman: Founder of Living Jewishly
One of the most compelling and influential Rabbis in North America today, Rabbi Yossi Sapirman believes the role of Living Jewishly is to take “the traditions of Jewish spirituality and translate them into very contemporary messages“
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Betty Gaertner: Chief Strategic Officer of Living Jewishly
A passionate, lifelong learner, Betty embodies the Living Jewishly mission to “innovate for a beautiful Jewish future.”
