Current Classes
Teshuvah: The Inward Turn Toward Repairing the World
Tuesdays July 28th, August 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th, September 1st & 8th · 7pm - 8:30pm
This is an online class. You will receive a link after you register.
Teshuvah is the Jewish idea of self and communal repair. It means "return," and it refers to the process by which we examine our lives and take responsibility for how we want to more fully live in accordance with what we need to be — and, in turn, what the world needs us to be. The word is often translated as "repentance," and we most often encounter it in the High Holy Day prayerbook.
In this class we will look at the different layers of teshuvah: in Torah and Talmud, in Jewish ethical literature (Mussar), and in Kabbalah. The goal is not just an analytical understanding but real tools — practices like cheshbon hanefesh (a structured accounting of one's own life and conduct), focused work on a single middah (character trait), drawn from the Mussar tradition, and meditative practices drawn from the mystical tradition. In other words, to discover how teshuvah can become a reality for us, not just an idea we study.
This course will lead us right in to Rosh Hashanah, so you will enter the High Holy Days with new perspectives on the liturgy, and more prepared to move through this season engaged in the actual process of teshuvah.
No knowledge of Hebrew is required to love this class!
This series is "Pay what you wish" - really! - but Rabbi Josh asks that you consider offering $360 total.