Growth: Learning & Torah with Nefesh

Educational and spiritual growth offerings in Los Angeles or virtually from anywhere

Torah, t’filah, mussar, collective singing, and spiritual growth practices for adults

Adult Learning

Torah, t’filah, mussar, collective singing, and spiritual growth practices for adults

Robust and creative Jewish and Hebrew learning for kids from TK-6th Grade

Makom

Robust and creative Jewish and Hebrew learning for kids from TK-B’nai Mitzvah.

Elul 5784

Spiritually prepare for the High Holy Days and  5785 with the Nefesh community. We have many incredible Elul offerings, both online and in person starting September 2nd.

  • Elul Spiritual Challenge with Rabbi Susan Goldberg – Beginning on Rosh Chodesh Elul on Sept. 2nd, join Rabbi Susan for four weeks of self guided spiritual preparation for the High Holy Days in the form of video teachings and optional chevruta (partner) to help you reflect.
  • What is Teshuvah and Why is it So Hard?  –  Join Rabbi Aaron Leven to explore what our sacred texts have to offer us as we continue on our own personal and collective journeys towards offering and receiving forgiveness.
  • Land in the Time of the Bible and Early Rabbis  –  Rabbinic Intern Sasha Perry leads an exploration of Nature as a character in Torah. Through themes of separation and unification we will look at what we can learn from early teachings of land and their relationship to the Divine and humans and what that might mean for tshuvah now and in the future.
  • Moses: Provocations from a Disabled Prophet – Moses describes himself as “slow of speech and slow of tongue.” While some commentators treat Moses’ speech disability as a spiritual impediment, Rabbi Julia Watts Belser brings Moses’ story into conversation with the life experiences and activism of contemporary disability communities. 
  • Shifting Ground: American Jewish Communities’ Relationships With Israel Palestine – Join Nefesh for a conversation with Professor Dov Waxman and Rabbi Susan Goldberg on the many shfits and changes in American Jewish communities and their relationships to Israel Palestine.

Mussar | מוּסַר

Nefesh is a Middot driven community.

Mussar is Jewish wisdom perspective and a discipline of transformative spiritual practices. We center the deepest values of the Jewish tradition – the MIDDOT – as the grounding framework for our learning and practice.

Upcoming offerings:

At the beginning of the new year, on Rosh Hashanah day we gather as a community after services to talk about focusing on a middot in the new year. Stay tuned for more info about Nefesh High Holy Days.

 

 

    Adult Education | לִמּוּד

    Grow and learn with Nefesh. Adult learning classes on Mussar, Torah, and prayer with Rabbi Susan Goldberg and guest teachers. Group singing for all experience levels. Classes both in person in Los Angeles and online wherever you are.

    Current Offerings:

    • Lai Lai: Learn and L’Chaim with Rabbi Aaron – Every first and third Friday of the month @ 6:30 before our Erev Shabbat service. Come say the kiddush, toast with friends, and do a little bit of prayer learning before our 7pm service. On hiatus for the summer.
    • Parshat Study with Rabbi Aaron – every Thursday, 12-1:15pm in person at location TBD. Sign up here.
    • Singing with Sally – 3rd Sundays, 10:45am-12pm in person in Eagle Rock. On hiatus after the last June session for the summer. 

    Makom – Jewish Learning for Kids | מְקוֹם

    Robust content, creative expression, and practical tools for building Jewish life for TK-B’nai Mitzvah.

    The word makom means “place”, and we are developing an understanding that every place can be a Jewish place. Using art, storytelling, text study, discussion, service learning, music, and movement – we offer a full bodied experience of Jewish education!
    Weekend classes focus on:

    • Blessings/T’filah: to learn, unpack, and appreciate prayer
    • Middot: our soul traits, which we apply to real life situations
    • Torah: examining and questioning the story behind the story; learning to interpret themes
    • Hebrew: learning to read Hebrew, studying the Aleph-Bet, and building vocabulary for Jewish prayer, middot, and Torah.
    • Jews around the World: learning about our diverse, global Jewish experiences, indentities, and practices

    B’nai Mitzvah | בְּנֵי מִצְוָה

    The Nefesh B’nai Mitzvah program embraces our inner lives and spiritual growth; care, responsibility and knowledge of others; and the repair of the world. We believe that becoming a B’nai Mitzvah at any age is an individual moment and a collective moment all at once. It is about your story and the story of our people.

    If you are interested in exploring having a B’nai Mitzvah with Nefesh, please contact us and our Interim Makom Director, Rabbi Yechiel Hoffman, will be in touch with you.