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Leora Lawton was a yeshiva student in Israel in the mid-1980s when she had a kind of epiphany. She was studying Deuteronomy when it dawned on her that "learning Torah is a lot like interpreting Grateful Dead lyrics."

That insight was the starting point for her nearly 15-year informal study and documentation of some striking parallels between Judaism and what she describes as "Grateful Dead spirituality."

Coming from someone less devout or less educated, these ideas might seem frivolous. But Lawton, who now lives in Berkeley, has a Ph.D. in sociology and is extremely observant. She formally presented her theory in an October lecture, "Kabbalah of the Grateful Dead," at Lehrhaus Judaica in Berkeley, where she also teaches Torah. Lawton is scheduled to give the lecture again on Feb. 6 in Santa Cruz.

After her initial insight that Deadheads — those devoted to the iconic rock group — and Jews shared a number of "cultural" similarities, Lawton returned to the United States to attend graduate school at Brown University. There, she formally pursued a doctorate in gerontology, though her passion lay elsewhere. The self-described Deadhead became much more interested in the applied sociology of Rebecca Adams, a professor at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.

Adams has done considerable research on Grateful Dead subculture and collected data indicating that between 15 and 30 percent of all Deadheads are Jewish. By contrast, Jews represent only about 2 percent of the general U.S. population. And while other sociologists have pondered the reasons, Lawton sees a clear logic in the Jewish attraction to the Grateful Dead phenomenon. (The band disbanded after the death a few years ago of lead guitarist Jerry Garcia, though former band members perpetuate the subculture with their individual musical efforts.)

While Lawton's theory is quite complex, she essentially argues that during its 30-plus years of existence the Grateful Dead spawned a coherent culture with unique attitudes, rituals and practices that are highly akin to those in Judaism.

"Music and going to Grateful Dead concerts are spiritual and community experiences," Lawton says. "And Jewish practice is a spiritual and community experience with music implicit.

"Observant Jews organize their lives around holidays and Shabbat; Deadheads organize their lives around shows," she adds. And just as there is a yearly holiday cycle in Judaism, the Grateful Dead had a fixed annual touring cycle (fall tour, Halloween, New Year's Eve, Chinese New Year, Mardi Gras, etc.).

"Each seasonal experience has its own kind of ambiance and meaning," she says. "Jews and Deadheads alike set their expectations and planning to take advantage of this seasonality."

Of course, the center of the Grateful Dead experience was and is music. That might appear to put it at odds with Jewish spirituality and observance, which is centered around Torah and other texts. However, Lawton has an intriguing and complicated analysis of the relationship of Kabbalah and music. "You can't really understand Kabbalah without knowledge of musical theory," she contends.

Lawton's analysis goes into considerable detail about the role of music and instruments in the prayer service before the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. In particular, each instrument used in the prayer service carried symbolic meaning. Music was used to induce a meditative state, she says, "in order to create opportunities to have a prophetic experience." She also cites the centrality of singing in Jewish ritual and spiritual observance as part of this musical legacy.

Deadheads relate to live concerts in much the same way, tending to "focus on specific instruments during a show as a way to achieve a high musical experience." Indeed, Lawton says the experience of Grateful Dead shows was "religious" for many Deadheads. "I've heard non-Jews refer to the show experience as 'going to church.'"

The salient comparison point for Lawton is the shared experience of community. "For both Jews and Deadheads, community is an intrinsic setting of the spiritual experience." For this reason, she believes, "if someone understands one side of it, they can get the other side."

Lawton also admits she has a purpose other than simply illuminating the interesting parallels between the two groups: "I'm hoping that non-observant Jewish Deadheads will come to see that there's a lot more depth to Jewish experience than they were aware of."