Discovering Seeds of Spiritual Awareness

What is this course?

In this course, Yiscah will share portions from her recently published book, Planting Seeds of the Divine: Torah Commentaries to Cultivate Your Spiritual Practice. Participants will locate, excavate and contemplate on spiritual middot — seeds of spiritual awareness — that are embedded in the weekly Torah portions. Rooted in the Jewish spiritual tradition, this exploration provides the fertilizer to cultivate a life of meaning, purpose and sustainable inner serenity. Imagine yourself in the role of the gardener. The gardener is in service to care for all the trees, plants, bushes, and flowers, one at a time. The gardener diligently tends to the garden, ensuring that each plant receives the proper hydration, combination of sun exposure and shade, and type of soil conducive to its unique needs to blossom. You, the reader—as a gardener—are invited to plant and cultivate your own unique inner garden with forty-seven assorted seeds that correspond to forty-seven weekly Torah portions. Each seed or middah (quality) contributes to the garden’s beauty: the beauty of a higher God consciousness. As you reflect on each week’s Torah portion, a process of internalization may begin to manifest in you, affecting you in positive and profound ways. HOW DOES IT WORK? The course consists of eight live online sessions, of approximately 1.25 hours per session. While you are encouraged to purchase the book, Yiscah will send out a PDF version of each week’s portion with the zoom link. Each class is recorded as well and is sent out to all registrants following each class, so participants can watch and listen to the recordings at their own leisure. Each class includes three essential components: 1) An exploration of a selected entry in Yiscah’s book, featuring that portion’s spiritual middah (quality). 2) A guided contemplative practice and visualization focusing on that portion’s spiritual middah. You become your own havrutah—learning partner— as you review the entries with your own mind and heart. 3) The concluding 15 minutes is time dedicated to participants sharing their experiences during the sit as well as asking questions that may arise from both the text and the sit. DATES AND TIMES Mondays, December 01 – January 26* at 9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern / 5pm UK / 7pm Israel and the relevant hours in other time zones, for 75 minutes each time. *Skipping December 29. Course registration is $250. Please contact R' Daniel to request subsidized registration.