Got Kabbalah?
Chabad wants to make sure you do. To that end, several Bay Area chapters of Chabad will debut a new course on the subject of Jewish mysticism.
Titled “Kabbalah Rhythms,” the eight-week course is the latest offering from Chabad’s recently inaugurated Jewish Learning Institute.
Students may enroll in the class at Chabad centers in San Francisco, San Rafael, Mill Valley and Sacramento.
Four years in the making, the JLI constitutes Chabad’s revamped adult education program. Though education has long been central to Chabad’s outreach efforts, even its own rabbis thought it was time to overhaul the system.
“We were lacking a vehicle to bring adult education to the next level,” says Rabbi Yisroel Rice of Chabad’s Marin chapter. “The JLI brings together the best educators to write curriculum, design teaching methods and put together courses on Jewish subjects.”
Fully enrolled JLI students are in for a rigorous intellectual ride. Some 32 classes throughout the year allow students to progress through the curriculum. Upon completion, graduates will receive an honorary certificate from the JLI.
Or they can just take one course at a time.
JLI classes are offered throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. Despite the global scope, JLI allows its teachers to tailor educational materials to their particular students’ needs.
“We don’t tell teachers how and what to teach,” says Rice, a member of the JLI’s executive committee. “Rather, we give them tools to make them better at what they already do so well.”
Those tools include coordinated syllabi, uniform texts and cooperative learning activities that can be adapted to the individual classroom
“We produced a professional text” for the new Kabbalah course, says Rice. “It’s full of various readings from the past 3,000 years, as well as contemporary thought.”
The goal, according to Rice, is to help students understand the fundamentals of Kabbalah, and how it can be understood as “an essential part of Judaism and of oneself. The focus is on the aspects of Kabbalah people can apply to their life.”
Another instructor, Rabbi Aaron Hecht of the Richmond Torah Center of Chabad in San Francisco, notes, “We’re teaching Kabbalah, but it’s not so academic. These are concepts we attempt to live by.”
With the popularity of Kabbalah growing, attracting such non-Jewish followers as Madonna and Mick Jagger through the worldwide Kabbalah Centre, Orthodox organizations such as Chabad are seeking to impart their own teachings on the Jewish mystical tradition to wider audiences.
Though the thought of studying Kabbalah with Chassidic rabbis might seem daunting to some who are new to Jewish education, Rice promises all JLI classes are open to everyone, no matter what his or her level of Jewish learning.
“Thirty to 40 percent of our students are unaffiliated,” says Rice. “People often assume they need a certain amount of knowledge to do this, but people do not have to have any prior background. We put forth the material in a welcoming and compelling way”
Launched last fall, the JLI debuted with a class called “From Sinai to Cyberspace: The Evolution and Development of Jewish Law.” Sixty-five Chabad centers offered the class, with 2,800 students enrolled.
Part of the thinking behind the JLI was making courses easily reproduced. “Any Chabad rabbi can plug in and achieve the same success,” says Rice.
That “plugging in” is all-important to the program’s success. Each participating JLI teacher takes part in a regular post-session online review to help improve teaching methods and presentations.
“We have an e-mail group,” says Rice, “so any input automatically gets out to all instructors, including the good jokes.”
The program has helped not only students, but the teachers as well. Being a LJI instructor, says Hecht, “has forced me to crystallize my thoughts and how I present them to others. I reexamine my own belief system, justify it.”
Upcoming JLI courses include “Jewish Essentials: A Spiritual Guide to Jewish Life & Living,” and “Journey of a Nation: The Miracle of Jewish Survival.”
Whatever the course, teaching remains a source of profound joy to the participating JLI rabbis. Says Hecht: “Our goals are to connect with each other as Jews and to connect with God. When I teach, I’m sharing something personal. It’s like teaching family. This is my life force.”