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Welcome to AJS!
We offer two kinds of courses: live and recorded.
Live courses are fully interactive, both during and between sessions.
Recorded courses now include a one-on-one meeting with the course teacher, to help guide each participant through the journey of the course.
To try any of our courses for free, or to stay updated on our online courses and events, please enter your email:
NEW COURSES
We are immensely privileged today to live at a time in which access to Torah learning has become more widely available than ever before. Alongside this general increase in access has come the absolute flourishing of Torah learning by and for women across the spectrum of Jewish practice and experience.
This course is an opportunity to mine the treasures of commentaries on the Torah by women, trans and cis alike, for the wisdom within.
The eight sessions will each focus on the parsha or Torah portion read that week around the Jewish world.
Each session will begin with a teaching, and will be anchored by time for contemplative practice and sharing. People of all gender identities and expressions are warmly encouraged to be a part of this sacred community of study and practice.
Kabbalistic teachings view “the Omer," the seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuot, as a potent season of self-cultivation and growth; a period focused on bringing attention to the Divine qualities within ourselves as a preparation for receiving the revelation of Torah. The seven weeks of the Sefirah (counting) are mirrored by the seven lower Sefirot - the Divine energies that are expressed throughout Creation, and that form our very personalities and self. This course guides participants through the sefirot, uncovering layers of meaning to help understand what they are, how they live inside of us, and how we can attune ourselves to our own innate Divine nature. The course includes text study and guided practices to form a holistic learning experience.
This is the second instalment in a course that empowers us to engage experientially with foundational contemplative practices from the Jewish tradition, from text to practice.
The meditations studied and practiced in this course focus on how the body is considered as a vessel (a keli) not only for a life of holiness (kedusha) but also for spiritual experiences.
The aim of learning various Jewish Meditation practices involving the body is threefold: first, to invite us to expand our understanding of what Jewish spirituality and meditation is; second, to relate to our bodies not as separate but as an integral part of our spiritual lives; and third, to be able to integrate these practices into our daily lives.
COURSES BY SUBJECT
TESTIMONIALS
"The courses offered through Applied Jewish Spirituality not only provide a window into the vast world of Chasidic and mystical teachings, but translate the esoteric into practices that can be integrated into ones daily spiritual life. The source sheets for every class are a remarkable resource full of deep and powerful Torah to make the teachings accessible to learners of all backgrounds."
- Rabbi Adam Gindea
"In so many ways the AJS course I followed redefined 'learning' for me. This is because of the unique way our course leader synthesised rigorous scholarship with practical spiritual practice. Through his personal skills he also created a sense of a community amongst us all - no mean feat for online learning! I ended the course feeling transformed and inspired."
- Jyll Bradley
"Not only does AJS provide access to an incredibly vast and rich well of Jewish material, but the faculty are really all masters at distilling and effectively transmitting information that ordinarily would remain hidden and inaccessible to curious beginning students. That said, faculty at AJS enthusiastically welcome and cater to the beginners mind who might otherwise feel too intimidated, or perhaps a bit too shy wandering into a traditional beit midrash of learned scholars and other big-time ball players. One really does get the sense that there is a larger learning taking place that the course as a single entity - material, teachers, and students all - participates in. And the importance of this really can’t be understated because its the facilitation of that mutual transmission of mind, body, and spirit that underlies and upholds the integrity of the great worldly wisdom traditions. I don’t know if I would have a Jewish practice if it weren’t for AJS."
- Gabe Gould
GET IN TOUCH
Appreciation for use of images:
Women and Torah image by Miriam Leibowitz
Aleph and Hebrew Calligraphy by Michel d'Anastasio
Sefirot and Tree of Life images by David Friedman from Kosmic Kabbalah
Tanya (Alter Rebbe) and Rav Kook images by Sheva Chaya from Safed Glass
Ram and Calendar images by Federico Parolo from Deuteronomy Press
Prayer photo (Shemoneh Esrei) by Mazhar Zandsalimi
Hands photo from https://www.freepik.com/free-photos-vectors/people