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Welcome

Welcome to Kolel's course: Tastiest Torah Treats, developed by Justin Lewis.
The course map below provides an outline for the course that you can use to navigate through the course.
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Introduction

We are using "Torah" in the broad sense: the Torah is the scroll we read from in synagogue, the first five books of the Bible, but Torah is all Jewish wisdom and learning and teaching.
It is vast and full of riches. No matter what path we are on in Judaism or spiritual life, Torah has resources to offer us.
Each module in this course will offer a different type of Torah: different texts, different ideas, different ways of learning. A recurring theme will be the possibilities of connecting with God through the imagination. Everything is offered as resources for you to make use of, according to your own path. Some things will surely be more useful to you than others. The Talmud says that you should engage in the type of Torah study that your heart desires. But we may not know what our heart's desires are until we've had a taste of them.
Please feel free to ask questions and make comments at any time. There will be a sincere attempt to seriously answer all questions.

Course Outline

Session One

The Sample Plate: The Siddur

 

Session Two

Unexpected Depths: Chumash with Rashi

 

Session Three

The Way of Imagination: Midrash

 

Session Four

Jewish Chess: Talmud

 

Session Five

A Rose is a Rose is Shekhinah: Kabbalah

 

Session Six

G-d in the Mountains: The Baal Shem Tov

 

Session Seven

Yom Kippur Dancing: Yiddish Radicalism

 

Session Eight

The How-To Manual: Hasidic Teachings

 

Session Nine

Food for the Journey: Concluding Remarks and
Bibliography

 

Course Instructor

Justin Jaron Lewis is rabbi of Congregation Iyr Ha-Melech of Kingston, Ontario (Reform) and the on-line teacher of the "Zohar" module at Kolel. He was ordained in May 2001 by the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York City, the only post-denominational rabbinical school, and writing a PhD thesis at the University of Toronto on Hasidic stories. Justin has published articles on topics in Judaism and storytelling, and has taught Torah and told Jewish stories across North America, from Cape Breton to Whitehorse. He has been studying and teaching Zohar for years, and identifies with the saying of the Hasidic Rebbe Pinchas of Koretz, "The Zohar has kept me Jewish."