Jewish Learning + Community, Reimagined

Empowering you with the wisdom and rituals to build the
Foundations of your Jewish Life

 
 

A living, growing community rooted in lifelong learning through the foundational cycles of Jewish life.

Designed to meet you where you are and bring meaning into core areas of life: how we rest, how we nourish, how we love, and how we transform, all drawing from the well of Jewish practice and wisdom.

Our core programming is cyclical, and you can join any time. There is no way to fall behind, and you can go at your own pace. $36/month

All the ancestral wisdom, none of the dogma.

  • The Foundations Course

    Jewish learning designed to enhance your life.

    Empowering you with the wisdom and rituals to build the Foundations of your Jewish Life, on your own terms.

    Each week, you’ll receive a concise and comprehensive lesson in the form of audio, a beautiful PDF, and ritual guidance. You can learn and integrate in your own rhythm, and join live Ritual Labs and office hours to connect with others.

  • The Community

    We designed our online platform to be community first! We are excited to get to know you and to learn with and from you.

    We are crafting a culture of belonging. It's pluralistic, global, and intergenerational. Regardless of where you are in your Jewish journey, we welcome you to co-create the community with us.

    We have a great team of Rabbis, educators, ritualists and innovators ready to support you.

  • The Platform

    Our innovative online platform leverages technology to provide the opportunity for asynchronous, learning. Learn at your own pace, from your own home. It is easy to use, beautiful, tech-forward, and brings PDFs, audio, visuals together with virtual gatherings, seamlessly.

    Our vision is that our platform enables deep connection, and expands all of our understanding of what it means to live, Jewishly.

 

The Commitment

This is for you, to fit in with your life. There are two ways to experience this:
1. Slow, simple, steady: You can spend just 20 minutes a week listening to enriching audio lessons, plug and play style. And know, that when you are ready you have a trove of learning resources to return to at your own pace.
2. Go all in! Learn, join the virtual community, attend live Ritual Labs, and more!
We expect most people will move between these approaches, and we encourage you to engage in whatever way is right for you. As our friend Sruli Rapps says:

Maximum Invitation, Minimum Pressure

 
“Signing up for SOLJ has been one of the best decisions I’ve made in a really long time.
Learning from such great teachers and from such a diverse community is changing my perspective on my Judaism and really, the lens from which I view all things.”
— Dani, SOLJ Member

Course Overview:
One Foundational Course in Four Units, throughout the 2022 calendar year

  • REST

    For 8 weeks in the Winter, starting in January. This unit focuses on our weekly cycles: working with the rhythms and rituals of Shabbat to enrich our everyday life.

  • NOURISH

    For 8 weeks in the Spring. This unit focuses on the spiritual and physical nourishment in the cycles of our days. We will explore daily prayer, food (kosher and beyond), and our relationship with the Earth.

  • TRANSFORM

    For 7 weeks in the Late Summer, leading into the High Holy Days. This unit focuses on the transformative themes of our calendar cycles: the healing art of the Hebrew calendar and Jewish holidays.

  • LOVE

    For 8 weeks in the Autumn into Winter. This unit focuses on our life cycles and how they shape the many dimensions of love in our lives: marriage and sexuality, family, community, loss and grief, and love of the divine.

What’s included in each unit:

  • Weekly concise & thought-provoking lessons available in audio and PDF format, released every Sunday. 

  • Office hours with our mentors where you can ask questions and receive thoughtful answers.

  • Live Ritual Lab zoom calls to practice the different rituals of Jewish life with confidence. The recordings of all Ritual Labs will live in a growing library that you can return to as often as you need to!

  • Prompts for your reflection and integration of core ideas, which you can take into a journal, a conversation, or a dialogue around the dinner table.

  • Community spaces designed for connection and cultural sharing. Our goal is that you will learn about the cultural richness of Jewish life, and make more than one friend!

So you can:

  • Understand the core ideas underpinning different areas of Jewish life,

  • Self-reflect to discover your own style and approach,

  • See and celebrate the diverse expressions of Jewish life around the world and right next door,

  • Be supported by mentors who will help you to be confident in how you're integrating and innovating in a good way,

  • Receive practical guidance in Ritual Lab workshops so you feel confident stepping into leadership in your family and community,

  • ...and so much more!

In the integration time between each unit, you’ll still retain full access to all units you’ve participated in, and, most importantly, full access to the community we will have created together. You’ll connect with new and old friends, ask questions, share your own valuable insights, and feel the warmth of community on live calls- all with room for your growth into leadership within our community.

Would you like to get a sense for what our lessons are like?

Meet the Team

  • Rabbi Yossi Sapirman

    One of the most compelling and influential Rabbis in North America today, Rabbi Yossi Sapirman believes the role of Living Jewishly is to take “the traditions of Jewish spirituality and translate them into very contemporary messages“

    Every Tuesday in SOLJ, Rabbi Yossi hosts an hour long exploration of the Parsha with a unique perspective that only he can bring.

  • Rabbi Bluth stands in front of a white wall with trailing plants, smiling holding a mezuzzah scroll, an orange head wrap adorns her head.

    Rabbi Bluth

    Rabbi Bluth is known for her art, her ritual guidance, and her passionate work for a more just world. Ordained from Beit Midrash Har El, and involved in inter devotional global work (including KAICIID and RFP), Bluth builds bridges and imagination. She calls the Holy land and Toronto home. She is committed to a more loving, more beautiful, more just world, and welcomes you to co-create that world with us within SOLJ.

  • Dr. Elliott Malamet

    A renowned contemporary Jewish educator and thinker, Elliott is known for pushing his audiences to think beyond the conventional.

    With decades of experience in Jewish education, Elliott has shaped our curriculum to include everything that’s wonderful about Jewish learning, and innovating where there are opportunities to do better.

  • Jessie Duke

    Jessie is a gatherer, facilitator, and ritualist passionate about building relationships and connections that empower others to be in deeper relationship with themselves and the earth through Jewish traditions, connecting with the elements, and tending to the body. An entrepreneur and apprentice of cacao, she is the founder of “Bendichas Manos” (blessed hands in Ladino) ceremonial cacao company. As a lifelong learner and forever student, she is grateful to be about creating opportunities for belonging in the intergenerational and global community that is SOLJ.

  • Betty Gaertner

    Betty is the Chief Strategic Officer of Living Jewishly, and the School of Living Jewishly.

    A passionate, lifelong learner, Betty embodies the Living Jewishly mission to “innovate for a beautiful Jewish future.”

  • Samantha Goodman

    Samantha is thrilled to be part of the Living Jewishly team. As a graduate from Carleton University’s Journalism program, she loves stories and connecting with people. While in Israel with the intention to build on her passion for and understanding of Judaism she attended seminary, travelled the country and met people from many different communities. This sparked her desire to work for a Jewish organization upon her return to Toronto.

    Since university, Samantha has been exploring her Judaism and has stayed deeply connected to the community. Samantha is excited to bring her experiences to Living Jewishly.

  • Ganga Devi Braun

    Ganga Devi is a multi-passionate innovator and systems theorist who designs for a more compassionate, connected world. Ordained as an interspiritual minister from OneSpirit Seminary, she is committed to creating pluralistic, expansive pathways for people to connect with the sacred in the way that is right for them. She believes that the richest blessings in life are found in the collective wisdom of many different people gathered together.

No matter where you are in your journey through Jewish life, we welcome you.

  • Young Adults

    Interested in connecting with Jewish life on your own terms? Seeking meaning and wisdom? We welcome your questions and curious minds. We developed our community and curriculum to give you the knowledge and tools to design your Jewish life in an informed, empowered way.

  • Engaged, Newlywed, + Creating a Jewish Home

    At this phase of life, you and your partner have the opportunity to consciously co-create your Jewish life together. Whether both partners are Jewish or you’re in an interfaith marriage, our courses are a great way to grow, and will empower you both to step confidently into this new chapter together.

  • Parents

    You are raising the future, and we honour you! We know the challenges of parenting, and have designed our program to be flexible and supportive for you. We trust that the more confident and creative you are when leading rituals and answering the big questions, the more grounded your children will feel in their Jewish identity.

  • Elders

    You may have thought your school days were over, but we warmly welcome you into a new phase of deepening and broadening your relationship with Jewish life, spirituality and practice. We know that learning never ends, and we’re eager to hear your stories!

  • Jewish Thinkers, Activists & Artists

    Are you a Jewish visionary, artist, or activist looking for wisdom and spiritual grounding? Do you have a strong Jewish background, yet are looking to engage in a new way, and reinterpret practice for the now? We welcome you to co-create our learning community around what it means to be Jewish and human in this moment.

  • Curious?

    Whether you’re dating a Jewish person, have recently learned about Jewish heritage, or are simply drawn to and curious about Jewish life and theology, you are warmly welcomed to join us.

  • Converting?

    If you’re curious about or committed to converting, we designed our Foundations Course to serve either as a basis for, or supplement to conversion. Whether you would like to finalize your conversion with us in Toronto, or have a local Rabbi and Synagogue you’ll be working with in addition to the Foundations course, we warmly welcome you to join us.

  • Are you a Rabbi, Jewish educator, entrepreneur, or community leader?

    We want to connect with you, hear your voice, and support your growth, and the best way we can do that is if you join our community as a member in our early stages. Click here to learn why.

FAQs

  • We believe that Jewish community, Jewish wisdom, and Jewish learning should be accessible to anyone who is or feels Jewish. In fact, we believe that community, wisdom, and learning should be accessible to everyone, full stop.

    We also believe that the people who dedicate their lives and work cultivating community, wisdom, and learning should be compensated well. Unfortunately, through history, these have often been life-paths that many open hearted, passionate, skilled people pursue at the cost of their own material and financial stability.

    Our $36/month membership fee is based on our desire to balance those two values.

    Membership fees and all donations will go toward:
    1. Compensating our small, dedicated team.

    2. Growing our team to include more diverse voices from across the range of Jewish experience.

    3. Building an honorarium fund from which we will be able to appropriately compensate guest speakers, workshop hosts, and educators with whom we will partner to continuously grow the educational offerings of the School of Living Jewishly.

    If the cost is prohibitive to you, and you would like to join us, we do not want money to be a barrier, particularly to those who experience economic disadvantage due to race, class, age, ability, etc. Please email school@livingjewishy.org, we will work with you to find an agreement that will work well for all of us.

  • While we believe in the power of connection through community, we also believe in everyone doing what is truly right for them.

    If all you want to do is listen to the ~20 minute audio lesson each week (you can listen from our app on a walk, washing dishes, looking at birds, anything!) and take your contemplations inward into your own life, you are more than welcome to do so.

    Consider SOLJ a slinky- it can be small and compact, or extend widely to infuse as much space of your life as you’d like with Jewish wisdom, ritual, and meaning.

  • We are excited about the complete journey we’ve prepared for the 2022 calendar year, but we know that a whole year’s commitment can feel like a lot.

    This is why we’ve made it possible to pay monthly, quarterly, or all at once.

    You can end your membership by cancelling the next payment at any point, but your payments are nonrefundable, so please select the payment option that makes the most sense for you.

  • Yes! Our vision is that this is a community for lifelong learning that enriches and deepens all of our understanding of what it means to Live, Jewishly, together.

    We expect all members to uplift the pluralistic nature of the Jewish experience, and honor the inclusive nature of this community.

    If that sounds like the kind of space you would like to be in, then we look forward to hearing your wisdom, your stories, and your traditions, and we also know that learning never ends- there’s a lot that you’ll be able to grow from and through by being open to the wisdom of others.

    Click here to read more about our approach to scaling leadership from within the community.

  • Yes! We created this to add richness, context, wisdom, and meaning to the lives of many different kinds of people, and as long as you have a curious mind and open heart, you are warmly welcome. We have included this item in our community code of conduct to clarify what we ask of you:

    5. For members who are not Jewish, particularly who are strongly rooted in other religious traditions, we welcome your curiosity, engagement, and allyship! We look forward to hearing your reflections about how the wisdom shared here might be integrating into your own worldview. And we ask that you be mindful and respectful that you are entering a Jewish community, centered around Jewish experience. Please be respectful and conscientious of the complex multi-generational traumas that Jewish identity carries, and we ask that you come from a stance of cultural respect and curiosity.

    We love sharing the wisdom and rituals of Jewish life with people who are genuinely interested to learn, particularly as we believe it will serve to clarify nuances of Jewish life that can so often be misunderstood.

  • In upcoming years, we will be developing courses to correspond with all Jewish lifecycle events (Marriage, Birthing, Grieving, and more). These courses will be co-created with a range of educators and specialists in these fields, and we will be connecting with those partners as much as possible from within the community.

    If you are a Jewish educator, guide, etc., when you join, please let us know what your area of expertise is, and what your visions are! We want to support your thriving. Click here to learn more.

    Eventually, we will build a whole Shuk (Market Place) for sharing and amplifying diverse course content, services, and products. Stay tuned!

    In the meantime, check out our umbrella organization, Living Jewishly, for podcasts on Jewish spirituality, ethics, and mental health; for blogs and essays; for Jewish holiday retreats and broadcasts, and more!

Join us today!

Code of Conduct

 

  • We are dedicated to being an inclusive and safer space for all of our members and to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, or religious experience. We do not tolerate harassment of fellow community members in any form.

  • This means that unless someone is directly asking for advice, it is not your place to offer your opinion on what they are sharing. Instead, ask a question or ask consent for telling a related story about your own experience. This will be strictly enforced but because it's a hard one, we expect everyone to be aware and remind each other when UA comes up.

    Examples of what to say instead of UA:

    "May I share a story that might help?"

    "May I offer some feedback?"

    "How can I best support you?"

    "What would be most helpful for you right now?"

  • Always assume the best of intentions. Be patient with others, help each other with the integration of ideas. It also means that when someone has done something against the rules and values of the community, we don't call them out, we call them in with compassion and discernment.

  • The only way community works is if each of us embraces our own unique gifts and make an effort to show up as our full selves. Whenever you have a choice between being cool and distant and doing or saying something that might be different, choose showing up as your whole self!

  • For members who are not Jewish, particularly who are strongly rooted in other religious traditions, we welcome your curiosity, engagement, and allyship! We look forward to hearing your reflections about how the wisdom shared here might be integrating into your own worldview. And we ask that you be mindful and respectful that you are entering a Jewish community, centered around Jewish experience. Please be respectful and conscientious of the complex multi-generational traumas that Jewish identity carries, and we ask that you come from a stance of cultural curiosity. If you have any questions at all about this, you are welcome to send a direct message to any of our administrators, and we will be happy to talk with you.