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Spiritual Tools for the High Holidays - virtual course starts next week
Dear Friends,
Today is the 17th of Tamuz, the day when the tablets were broken. In the Midrash, this is seen as the beginning of two cycles of 40 days, when Moshe goes up to Mount Sinai, praying for forgiveness and mercy. It takes one cycle to bring down the second set of tablets—this time man-made. It takes another cycle, from the end of Av through the month of Elul and into Tishrei, culminating on Yom Kippur, to bring down full forgiveness.
I invite you to
walk with me
through this special time and experience deeply the unfolding of teshuva and forgiveness. Each week we will explore one spiritual tool our tradition offers us in this sensitive and possibility-filled time of year.
If you have studied with me before, you know that my passion is to delve into parts of Jewish tradition and expose the many layers of meaning and spiritual practices that can offer us a deep interface and multiple ways we can practice and participate, both on our own and as part of a community. Kabbalistic and meditative layers are favorites, as are chanting, prayer practices, and ideas for inner work. I invent the course as we go along, and your input is part of the course of sailing.
I already know that Psalm 27 will get its own session (when we get into Elul), as well as the practice of S'lichot with the special Piyyutim (Hymns). We'll explore deep Cheshbon Hanefesh (soul accounting), secrets of the Shofar (with guest Michael Kagan, Master Blower), and of course the 13 Attributes of Mercy—a spiritual tool that the Talmud promises "never comes back empty-handed”, amongst other Spiritual tools. Many of the practices I share have been tried in my community, Nava Tehila in Jerusalem, both as preparation for the High Holidays and as part of our experiential services.
Texts will be provided with translation, as well as playlists and extra texts for those who want to deepen further. This course is geared for independent spiritual seekers as well as for rabbis and lay leaders who may want to bring this material and these exercises to their community.
I am very excited to launch this journey next week, in collaboration with the wonderful AJS online teaching platform.
See below a brief video I made for AJS with more details about the course.
Schedule: 8 Zoom Classes on Tuesdays, 9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern/ 5pm UK / 7pm Israel, from July 22. each class is 90 min.
Price: $240 (financial assistance available through AJS)
Read more and register here
Free trial class
option available, and all sessions recorded for flexible viewing
Looking forward to learning with you!
With love
Rabbi Ruth
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