This lesson will familiarize learners with a story of Creation from the Jewish mystical tradition. The story, based upon the Sefer Yetzirah, provides the foundation for the Jewish concept of tikkun olam, repair of the world. Learners will begin to formulate a personal concept...
This lesson will introduce learners to a number of texts from classical and modern sources on the topic of how the work of tikun olam is to be performed. From these texts, the learners will derive rules for Jewish living and apply those rules, along with input from family members, to...
In this lesson the learners will be introduced to some of the individuals/Heroes whose acts of tikun olam provide important models. Having developed a better understanding of tikun olam based upon Sefer Yetzirah and other classical and modern sources on the topic of how the...
We compare and contrast the beliefs of the three cultures explored in lessons 1-4 to one's own family traditions - similarities and differences.
Participants read about the philanthropic traditions of early African-American culture and place the values of giving in a hierarchy circle.
It would seem that contradictions abound in the Bible! Finding interpretations that allow these contradicting texts to coexist is both a traditional religious concern and a contemporary dynamic enterprise. It is also a pursuit that will determine how one comes to understand the role of Biblical...
Our lives are the results of billions of decisions. Not only the big decisions – law school or skydiving classes, but the small decisions as well – do you greet someone or pass by? Do you extend a helping hand or the back of it? What we decide determines the course of lives, the content of our...
Students read an old quote about the interconnection of all life on the planet and recognize that we are each affected by what happens to others and the environment. They will analyze current local, state, national and international issues addressed in the evening news. They become...