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ADULT EDUCATION

We teach a number of different adult education classes every week. Please browse our calendar to book your place for a single class or scroll down to book a full course.

You can also find out more about our past courses.

Advice for Life

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6 Wednesdays 

Jan 10th to Feb 14th

7:30pm to 9:00pm 

Course Details 

 

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, better known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe, or simply as “the Rebbe,” was—and continues to be—a most unique positive force in human history. In the last half of the twentieth century, in
 a world reeling with universal destruction and despair, he was determined 
to inspire and heal humanity, both its individuals and its communities. He longed for each soul to realize its potential, for each life to take a leap forward, and for the universe to mend its relationship with its loving Creator. 

To accomplish his universal goals, the Rebbe dedicated decades of his life to meeting and corresponding with world leaders, politicians, spiritual heads, community activists and leaders, and people of influence in the fields of education, medicine, law, science, art, and so on. 

At the same time, most remarkably, the Rebbe found endless hours for ordinary individuals from every walk of life. Bulging sacks of mail arrived daily at his doorstep, and his published correspondences are predictably voluminous. Private audiences (known as yechidut) cost him entire nights, several nights a week. He later traded audiences for the weekly “Dollars,” distributing bills for charity alongside personal blessings and guidance to each of the thousands who filed by for a brief but powerful exchange. 

Digital records and first-hand reports of these audiences and exchanges, and also the Rebbe’s published correspondence, cover every imaginable area of life, both personal and communal. Beyond offering encouragement and blessings, they are a treasury of often refreshingly unique guidance to finding meaning, direction, and clarity. 

In advance of the thirtieth anniversary of the Rebbe’s passing, The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute (JLI) is delighted to release Advice for Life: The Rebbe’s Guidance for Leading a More Purposeful Life, a novel course that mines his teachings and guidance for wisdom and counsel, as applied to six key areas of life. 

Advice for Life permits the Rebbe’s perspectives to spring to life organically via first-hand stories and original footage of individuals recalling their dilemmas and the clarity and insights they received, as
well as of the Rebbe’s private and public interactions. The Rebbe hardly slept and never took a vacation, because he had endless lives to inspire— including yours. 

 

LESSON 1

Money and Career 

Having a career and earning a living is generally considered a necessary evil. In the Rebbe’s perspective, conversely, holding down a job is a necessary goodness with cosmic importance beyond the paycheck. On the basis of his unique understanding of the purpose and meaning of life in general and of work in particular, his guidance on work-related matters and monetary decisions is insightful and empowering. 

LESSON 2

Family and Home 

Home and family is perhaps Judaism’s most central institution. It is also perhaps the institution most fragile and prone to attack from external distractions in today’s society. The Rebbe’s correspondences and interactions include a gold mine of clarity on family relationships and harmony, educational issues, and insights for transforming a home into a sanctified space conducive to forging a family unit with the right priorities and perspectives. 

LESSON 3

Physical Health and Well-Being 

From homes and hospitals around the globe, patients, physicians, and professors bombarded the Rebbe with communications regarding health matters. The Rebbe’s extensive responses form a treasure trove of guidance and deeper perspectives, and convey his holistic approach, in which physical health is intertwined with emotional and spiritual well-being. 

LESSON 4

Emotional Health 

Today’s society is awash with awareness of, and struggles with, unprecedented prevalence and degrees of anxiety and mental health challenges. All are seeking the keys to unlock tranquility and emotional health, and to build a healthy concept of self. The Rebbe’s trademark feature was his unending positivity. This study of his communications on emotional health guides us in adopting his effective and uniquely positive approach. 

LESSON 5

Challenge and Adversity 

Life includes bewildering moments when seemingly insurmountable challenges and obstacles threaten our path to health, livelihood, relationships, raising children, and the like. Thousands turned to the Rebbe in desperation or for inspiration to continue under such circumstances. In his responses, the Rebbe guides individuals to search for the inner meaning and purpose of the challenge, and to use that as a key to discover an effective method of handling the challenge. 

LESSON 6

Spirituality and Relationship with G-d 

Some are ultimately practical and realistic; others are quixotic, with exceedingly high expectations. When it came to assisting individuals in their personal spiritual journeys, the Rebbe forged an entirely unique path, harnessing both extremes: he was extraordinarily practical and at the same time set incredible goals. He did this by allowing individuals to realize that they are far greater than they knew, with far greater potential than they imagined. This study guides us into achieving that liberating perspective. 

Monday: Gates of Trust Course

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Gates of Trust

Discover how trust is not a powerful prayer but a post-prayer calm engagement with society. A five week course by Hadasa Korer.

Fridays: The Jewish Course of Why

 

Friday mornings

Time: 9:00-10:00

Location: Zoom / in person at our Community Centre, 1-3 Elliott's Place

Price: free

Judaism is known for its rational basis, as a place where questions are freely asked and ideas are freely debated. It is that spirit of questioning and discovery that you will encounter in The Jewish Course of Why.

 

The topics of this course span a diverse range, from fun, light, and off-the-beaten-track questions, to more complex and controversial issues. Ever wondered why there are so many Jews in Hollywood? Why Jews eat gefilte fish and cholent and wish each other mazal tov and l’chaim? Why the Bible sanctions slavery and animal sacrifices? What is the cause of antisemitism? What does Judaism say about Christianity? About the role of women in Jewish life? You will also gain insight into mysterious Jewish practices, strange biblical narratives, and enigmas of Jewish identity.

Lesson Details

 

Lesson 1

  1. Why ask “Why?”? Isn’t Judaism a belief system?

  2. Why are there no miracles today of biblical proportion?

  3. Why do we pray? Doesn’t God know what He is doing? Can we really affect His will?

  4. Why is there so much fragmentation in Jewish practice?

  5. Why have the Jews survived millennia while so many other civilizations have vanished?

  6. Why don’t Jews accept the Christian messiah?

  7. Why do we kindle yartzeit candles to commemorate the dead?

 

Lesson 2

  1. Why is the Star of David a Jewish symbol?

  2. Why does a mikveh “purify”?

  3. Why do people require such “purification”?

  4. Why are there so many dos and don’ts in Judaism?

  5. Why do many Jews sway when they pray?

  6. Why do traditional synagogues have separate seating for men and women?

  7. Why is Israel important to the Jews?

  8. Why does the Bible call for animal sacrifices?

 

Lesson 3

  1. Why are there so many Jews in Hollywood?

  2. Why do we believe that Jews cannot convert out of Judaism?

  3. Why did our ancestors continue to identify as Jews despite being victims of so much suffering through the ages?

  4. Why does a mourner recite Kaddish?

  5. Why do Jews place pebbles on headstones?

  6. Why not leave flowers at the grave?

  7. Why does Jewish law exempt women from certain ritual obligations that are obligatory for men?

  8. Why are ten men required for a minyan?

  9. Why doesn’t God respond to my requests?

  10. Why does God give us negative, even harmful inclinations?

 

Lesson 4

  1. Why doesn’t Judaism seek converts?

  2. Why does the Torah say that the Jews are the “chosen people”? Isn’t that racist?

  3. Why do we believe that we have free choice if God always knew how we would choose?

  4. Why does the Torah permit slavery?

  5. Why does Jewish law obsess over details?

  6. Why is it permitted to have sexual relations on Shabbat?

  7. Why does the Bible refer to sexual relations as “knowing”?

  8. Why aren’t vegan foods and restaurants Kosher by default?

  9. Why do we say lechayim as a drinking salutation?

 

Lesson 5

  1. Why are the Jewish holidays always “late” or “early”?

  2. Why do we say Mazal Tov?

  3. Why do Jews eat gefilte fish on Shabbat?

  4. Why do Jews eat cholent on Shabbat?

  5. Why is a God-fearing person praiseworthy? Isn’t fear a negative emotion? Why isn’t love enough?

  6. Why does Jewish law recognize matrilineal descent as the deciding factor for Jewish identity?

  7. Why do some Jews wear old-fashioned clothes?

  8. Why would the Torah state, “Do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk” if the intention—according to the Talmud—is a broader prohibition?

  9. Why are eggs pareve, though the birds that lay the eggs are fleishig?

 

Lesson 6

  1. Why have the Jews been singled out for persecution and hate throughout history?

  2. Why does Jewish adulthood begin at age twelve for girls and thirteen for boys?

  3. Why do we pour a cup of wine for Elijah at the Passover seder?

  4. Why is it not forbidden to submit petitions of prayer to a righteous person? Isn’t it true that Judaism forbids using intermediaries to access God?

  5. Why do Chasidim think it is necessary to have a rebbe? Isn’t it true that Jews do not require intermediaries to access God?

  6. Why is Moses’ name absent from the Haggadah?

  7. Why does Judaism associate so many of its celebrations with food?

Read It In Hebrew

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Next course:

Six Monday mornings 9am.

£30 (flashcards included)

Location: Zoom / in-person at Elliott's Place

Read It In Hebrew is a cutting-edge six-week Hebrew reading crash course.

 

In your spare time you will be able to practice with a specially-designed app.

Past Courses

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Past courses

Lesson Details 

 

Join this exclusive five week course by Hadasa Korer. The Gate of Trust, the 4th section in Rabbeinu Bachya's Chovot Halevavot (Duties of the Heart) brings focus to a person's belief, thought and emotions vs the much more known actions and Mitzvot that encompass Jewish life.

 

Despite the enormous library of Jewish literature assembled over centuries, Shaar Habitachon (The Gate of Trust) remains one of Judaism's foremost descriptions of our ability to climb to the transformative point where our relationship with G-d becomes at once powerful and empowering, beautiful and life changing, relaxing and invigorating.

 

The Gate of Trust seeks to inform, inspire and guide a Jewish person's choice and quality of actions, leaving us with a detailed roadmap to the Torah's vision for the Jewish heart and mind.

 

It shows us a way to harness the tools to generate a bitachon conscienceness. the greater the force with which we apply these tools, the more magnificent our bitachon, the less anxiety we experience and the greater the blessings we will receive.

 

Discover how trust is not a powerful prayer but a post-prayer calm engagement with society.

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