Welcome to Lishma: a community of learners in our 20s and 30s
Whether you're a seasoned scholar or brand new to Jewish learning, we value the perspectives and experience you bring to the class.
In grateful recognition of J.B. and Dora Salsberg Fund for their support.
Semester 2
In-person @ Miles Nadal JCC
Jan 29 - Mar 5, 2025
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
In-person @ Miles Nadal JCC
Jan 29 - Mar 5, 2025
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Riding the Chariot: Psychedelic Jewish Mysticism and the Fringes of Consciousness with Izzy Waxman
Thousands of years ago, Jewish mystics “rode the Chariot down" to glittering, fractaling realms, populated with impossible beings and indescribable sights. They left warnings that these experiences could expand one’s mind, or drive one mad. Today, psychedelics offer similar experiences, with similar risks and rewards - but are easily accessible at stores and online, without the rigorous preparation and training endorsed by our ancestors.
How can Jewish spiritual and cultural framings help us spelunk the Caverns of Consciousness safely and generatively? What wisdom can we glean from our trippiest ancestors, the Mystics and Prophets, about both sober and 'enhanced' states of consciousness? How are Jewish psychedelic leaders and researchers, from the 60s to today, building on these foundations to enrich our spiritual and material lives with and without drugs? And what do these teachers think is even going on in this wild Creation we're Cartwheeling through?
Whether you come with or without personal psychedelic experience, you’ll leave our Meander through the Mysteries with an expanded mind, inspiration, and concrete skills (but no pressure to use them). You're asked only one thing in return: expect this class to get really, REALLY weird.
Acid, Shrooms, and DMT, Consecrated unto Thee... Angels, elves, and heavenly realms, oh my, oh my, oh my....!
Lishma is generously supported by the J.B and Dora Salsberg Fund.
Izzy Waxman is a mystical miscreant, a prophetic wannabe, and a queerdo Jewess ready for her next Zohar Girl Summer. Her Kabbalah book collection is getting out of control. When she's not mindfreaking for HaShem, she's: Executively Directing the Jewish Response to Hunger (@mazoncanada); supporting a week-long summer camp for queer Jewish youth (@machanelev); founding an experimental alternative shul with pals (@renewalshabbat.to); and cooking really good soup. Just kidding - doing those things is mindfreaking for HaShem.
Thousands of years ago, Jewish mystics “rode the Chariot down" to glittering, fractaling realms, populated with impossible beings and indescribable sights. They left warnings that these experiences could expand one’s mind, or drive one mad. Today, psychedelics offer similar experiences, with similar risks and rewards - but are easily accessible at stores and online, without the rigorous preparation and training endorsed by our ancestors.
How can Jewish spiritual and cultural framings help us spelunk the Caverns of Consciousness safely and generatively? What wisdom can we glean from our trippiest ancestors, the Mystics and Prophets, about both sober and 'enhanced' states of consciousness? How are Jewish psychedelic leaders and researchers, from the 60s to today, building on these foundations to enrich our spiritual and material lives with and without drugs? And what do these teachers think is even going on in this wild Creation we're Cartwheeling through?
Whether you come with or without personal psychedelic experience, you’ll leave our Meander through the Mysteries with an expanded mind, inspiration, and concrete skills (but no pressure to use them). You're asked only one thing in return: expect this class to get really, REALLY weird.
Acid, Shrooms, and DMT, Consecrated unto Thee... Angels, elves, and heavenly realms, oh my, oh my, oh my....!
Lishma is generously supported by the J.B and Dora Salsberg Fund.
Izzy Waxman is a mystical miscreant, a prophetic wannabe, and a queerdo Jewess ready for her next Zohar Girl Summer. Her Kabbalah book collection is getting out of control. When she's not mindfreaking for HaShem, she's: Executively Directing the Jewish Response to Hunger (@mazoncanada); supporting a week-long summer camp for queer Jewish youth (@machanelev); founding an experimental alternative shul with pals (@renewalshabbat.to); and cooking really good soup. Just kidding - doing those things is mindfreaking for HaShem.
Colourful Kabbalah of Sefirat Ha'Omer with Rabbi Jordan Shaner
Visual imagery and colour plays an important role in Jewish mysticism. In this class, create low-stress, vibrant images and learn about the symbolism of the sefirot-- the intellectual, psychological and emotional attributes of Creation-- and the practice of meditation over the mystical tree of life throughout the weeks between Passover and Shavuot. With colouring, collage, and creativity, we'll gather inspiration and emanate insight.
Lishma is generously supported by the J.B and Dora Salsberg Fund.
Jordan Shaner is the associate rabbi of Temple Sinai Congregation in Toronto. He runs the synagogue's NextGen program for young professionals, adult learning and engagement initiatives, and has instituted new programs for young families, including a monthly Circle Time Shabbat program. He was ordained as a cantor and rabbi from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City in 2019.
Visual imagery and colour plays an important role in Jewish mysticism. In this class, create low-stress, vibrant images and learn about the symbolism of the sefirot-- the intellectual, psychological and emotional attributes of Creation-- and the practice of meditation over the mystical tree of life throughout the weeks between Passover and Shavuot. With colouring, collage, and creativity, we'll gather inspiration and emanate insight.
Lishma is generously supported by the J.B and Dora Salsberg Fund.
Jordan Shaner is the associate rabbi of Temple Sinai Congregation in Toronto. He runs the synagogue's NextGen program for young professionals, adult learning and engagement initiatives, and has instituted new programs for young families, including a monthly Circle Time Shabbat program. He was ordained as a cantor and rabbi from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City in 2019.
Blasphemy in Jewish Poetry After Catastrophe with Jordan Paul
This course explores European Jewish poetry written after major community tragedies, including biblical and medieval poetry as well as works from the early 20th century. Through group and pair readings, we'll examine the theme of "literary blasphemy," where poets express anger and protest against God, and even mock or deny the sacred, as a response to their suffering. We'll look closely at the core tension of such poems: the way that the poets simultaneously make use of Jewish sacred texts, even if only through parody, while struggling (or refusing) to accept traditional religious ideas about sin, punishment, and divine justice after their experience of so much pain.
We'll read from translated Yiddish and Hebrew poems written in response to the crises and upheavals of the early 20th century, looking at them in their own context as well as through the lens of earlier examples like the Book of Lamentations and medieval reactions to the Crusades. The course will include an option to discuss post-Holocaust or post-October 7 poetry on similar themes.
Lishma is generously supported by the J.B and Dora Salsberg Fund.
Jordan Paul is a scholar of Jewish Literature with graduate degrees from Queen’s University, the University of Oxford, and the University of Pennsylvania. While dealing with a wide variety of time periods and topics, her work returns again and again to the collisions between historical events, religious (dis)engagement, and the artistry of the individual writer. She has written extensively about the Jewish literature of catastrophe in the 20th century, and about the experiences of trauma, crises of belief, and aging in Modern Hebrew Literature. Jordan lives in Toronto with her husband and three young children.
This course explores European Jewish poetry written after major community tragedies, including biblical and medieval poetry as well as works from the early 20th century. Through group and pair readings, we'll examine the theme of "literary blasphemy," where poets express anger and protest against God, and even mock or deny the sacred, as a response to their suffering. We'll look closely at the core tension of such poems: the way that the poets simultaneously make use of Jewish sacred texts, even if only through parody, while struggling (or refusing) to accept traditional religious ideas about sin, punishment, and divine justice after their experience of so much pain.
We'll read from translated Yiddish and Hebrew poems written in response to the crises and upheavals of the early 20th century, looking at them in their own context as well as through the lens of earlier examples like the Book of Lamentations and medieval reactions to the Crusades. The course will include an option to discuss post-Holocaust or post-October 7 poetry on similar themes.
Lishma is generously supported by the J.B and Dora Salsberg Fund.
Jordan Paul is a scholar of Jewish Literature with graduate degrees from Queen’s University, the University of Oxford, and the University of Pennsylvania. While dealing with a wide variety of time periods and topics, her work returns again and again to the collisions between historical events, religious (dis)engagement, and the artistry of the individual writer. She has written extensively about the Jewish literature of catastrophe in the 20th century, and about the experiences of trauma, crises of belief, and aging in Modern Hebrew Literature. Jordan lives in Toronto with her husband and three young children.
Costs and Funding
Lishma is funded by student contributions and partnering organizations, providing us with coordination, teachers, facilitators and space.
Lishma is presented with support from the J.B and Dora Salsberg Fund.
Our partners are Annex Shul, Beth Tzedec Congregation, Darchei Noam, and Miles Nadal JCC, and we We strive to keep costs accessible and we use a sliding scale.
We strive to keep costs accessible and we use a sliding scale.
The suggested contribution is $72 ($12/night). There is a minimum of $36 for the semester ($6/night).
If you are unable to contribute at this time, please be in touch in confidence with Emunah Woolf at [email protected].
Lishma is funded by student contributions and partnering organizations, providing us with coordination, teachers, facilitators and space.
Lishma is presented with support from the J.B and Dora Salsberg Fund.
Our partners are Annex Shul, Beth Tzedec Congregation, Darchei Noam, and Miles Nadal JCC, and we We strive to keep costs accessible and we use a sliding scale.
We strive to keep costs accessible and we use a sliding scale.
The suggested contribution is $72 ($12/night). There is a minimum of $36 for the semester ($6/night).
If you are unable to contribute at this time, please be in touch in confidence with Emunah Woolf at [email protected].
Previous Classes
2024/25:
Semester 1:
Gender and Judaism with Simon Hart
When You Get What You Pray For with Rabbi Ryan Leszner
Semester 2:
Deviant Drash: Drawing out of the Margins with Cliel Shdaimah and Sof Kreidstein
Dreams: The Torah of The Unconscious with Rabbi Aaron Rotenberg
Censoring the Jewish Library with Maxine Lee Ewaschuk
2023/24:
Semester 1:
Women Haunted: Yiddish Literature from Folklore to Modernism: with Julia Sharff
If These Walls Could Talk: Archaeology as Source Material: with Amit Rozenblum
Semester 2:
The Behemoth in the Wild: Compassion, Uncertainty, and the Quest for Meaning in the Book of Job with Benjamin Hackman
Revisiting Israel from the Dawn of Modernity to Our Time with Dr. Meirav Jones
Semester 3:
Shabbat Lab Presented in partnership with Jewish& + OneTable
Are You There, God?: Exploring Theology through the lens of Torah and Commentary with Lara Rodin
2022/23:
Semester 1:
Tools for Ending Antisemitism: Understanding Ourselves and the Canadian Context of Antisemitism with Aaron Rotenberg
The Jewish View on Reproductive Rights with Cantor Cheryl Wunch
Semester 2:
Tikkun-ing this Shattered Olam: Kabbalah 101 with Izzy Waxman
Jewish Fabulous: Queer and Subversive Figures from Across Jewish Sacred Text with Toby King
Semester 3:
Controversy and the Jewish Tradition with Dr. Ori Werdiger
Tending the Jewish Garden with Elena Potter
Marking Time: Creating a Jewish Calendar Together with Leah Gold, A Printmaking Course for Artists of All Levels and Experience
2021/22:
Semester 1:
ONLINE
Shmita: Release, Rest, and Reset with Risa Alyson Cooper
Spoken Word Poetry: Resistance and Resilience with Ayla Lefkowitz
Semester 2:
ONLINE
North African Jewish Storytelling: Miracles, Folk Tales, and Histories with Chaim Grafstein
Diaspora Judaism & Reconciliation: Locating Ourselves in the Conversation with Sterling Stutz
Tackling Talmud: Leadership and Society with Rabbi Jordan Shaner
2020/21:
Summer mini-mester:
ONLINE
Learning and Unlearning: Exploring the Experiences of Jewish People of Colour and Inequality in Canada with Sara Yacobi-Harris
Semester 1:
ONLINE @ Beth Tzedec
Hands-On Track: Middle Eastern Cooking with Ronnie Abraham
Judaism +Modernity Track: Finding Our Place: Jews in the Struggle for Racial Equity with Tema Smith
Text and Context Track: Exploring Sephardi Jewry through Rabbinic Texts with Chaim Grafstein
Semester 2:
ONLINE @ Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre
Multigenerational Trauma and Resilience with Carmelle Wolfson, MSW, RSW and Adrianna LeBlanc, MSW
Punishment and Prisons: the Polemics and Politics with Dyanoosh Youssefi
Homesteading the Holidays with Rabbi Becca Walker
Semester 3:
ONLINE @ Holy Blossom
Klezmer Crash Course with Lorie Wolf, Toronto Klezmer Society
Hands-on History: The Early Years of the Toronto Jewish Community with Sharoni Sibony
The Illustrated Pirke Avot with Rabbi Zachary Goodman and special guest, Jessica Tamar Deutsch
2019/20:
Semester 1:
@ CSI Annex
Tzedakah (Hands-On Track): Dyeing & Doykheit: An exploration of natural dyeing, connection to land and Jewish diaspora with Sarit Cantor
T’shuvah (Judaism +Modernity Track): Returning, Repenting & Reconnecting with Yacov Fruchter
T’fillah (Text and Context Track): Learning to Live Whole-Heartedly with Rabbi Julia Appel
Semester 2:
@ Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre
Hands-On Track: Jewish Self-Care through the Arts with Or Har-Gil
Judaism + Modernity: Faith Based Social Justice with the Lishma Team
Text and Context: 6 Amazing Texts with Rabbi Zachary Goodman
Semester 3:
@ Holy Blossom Temple
Hands-On Track: New Jewish Film with Aaron Rotenberg
Judaism + Modernity: Bad@$$ Sheroes with Rabbi Becca Walker
Text and Context: Jewish Couplehood with Yacov Fruchter
Semester 4:
ONLINE @ Beth Tzedec
Hands-On Track: Creative Writing with Tikva Hecht
Judaism + Modernity: Medical Ethics with Rabbi Steven Wernick
Text and Context: Queer Apocalypse in the Jewish Imagination with Rabbi Andrea Myers
2018/19:
Semester 1:
@ Miles Nadal JCC
Hands-On Track: Hebrew Calligraphy as Jewish Art with Baruch Sienna
Judaism +Modernity Track: Harry Potter and the Sacred Text with Jenny Isaacs
Text and Context Track: Weekly Torah for Beginners with Rabbi Jordan Helfman
Semester 2:
@ Beth Tzedec
Hands-On Track: Tachles! Learning (Beginner) Conversational Hebrew with Lior Sagi
Judaism + Modernity: PJ Library/Melton Foundations of Jewish Living with Daniel Silverman
Text and Context: People of the Book, People of the Land with Risa Alyson Cooper
Semester 3:
@ CSI Annex
Hands-On Track: Mindfulness in Silence and Song with Aviva Chernick / Jewish Music for the Healing of the Soul with Aaron Lightstone (split course)
Judaism + Modernity: Jewish Couplehood with Yacov Fruchter
Text and Context: Feminist Torah with Rabbi Denise Handlarski
Semester 4:
@ Holy Blossom Temple
Hands-On Track: Starting an Indigenous/Jewish Conversation with Leah Mauer
Judaism + Modernity: Refugees, Judaism and Asylum with Howard Adelman
Text and Context: Judaism and Happiness with Rabbi Baruch Frydman-Kohl
Semester 1:
Gender and Judaism with Simon Hart
When You Get What You Pray For with Rabbi Ryan Leszner
Semester 2:
Deviant Drash: Drawing out of the Margins with Cliel Shdaimah and Sof Kreidstein
Dreams: The Torah of The Unconscious with Rabbi Aaron Rotenberg
Censoring the Jewish Library with Maxine Lee Ewaschuk
2023/24:
Semester 1:
Women Haunted: Yiddish Literature from Folklore to Modernism: with Julia Sharff
If These Walls Could Talk: Archaeology as Source Material: with Amit Rozenblum
Semester 2:
The Behemoth in the Wild: Compassion, Uncertainty, and the Quest for Meaning in the Book of Job with Benjamin Hackman
Revisiting Israel from the Dawn of Modernity to Our Time with Dr. Meirav Jones
Semester 3:
Shabbat Lab Presented in partnership with Jewish& + OneTable
Are You There, God?: Exploring Theology through the lens of Torah and Commentary with Lara Rodin
2022/23:
Semester 1:
Tools for Ending Antisemitism: Understanding Ourselves and the Canadian Context of Antisemitism with Aaron Rotenberg
The Jewish View on Reproductive Rights with Cantor Cheryl Wunch
Semester 2:
Tikkun-ing this Shattered Olam: Kabbalah 101 with Izzy Waxman
Jewish Fabulous: Queer and Subversive Figures from Across Jewish Sacred Text with Toby King
Semester 3:
Controversy and the Jewish Tradition with Dr. Ori Werdiger
Tending the Jewish Garden with Elena Potter
Marking Time: Creating a Jewish Calendar Together with Leah Gold, A Printmaking Course for Artists of All Levels and Experience
2021/22:
Semester 1:
ONLINE
Shmita: Release, Rest, and Reset with Risa Alyson Cooper
Spoken Word Poetry: Resistance and Resilience with Ayla Lefkowitz
Semester 2:
ONLINE
North African Jewish Storytelling: Miracles, Folk Tales, and Histories with Chaim Grafstein
Diaspora Judaism & Reconciliation: Locating Ourselves in the Conversation with Sterling Stutz
Tackling Talmud: Leadership and Society with Rabbi Jordan Shaner
2020/21:
Summer mini-mester:
ONLINE
Learning and Unlearning: Exploring the Experiences of Jewish People of Colour and Inequality in Canada with Sara Yacobi-Harris
Semester 1:
ONLINE @ Beth Tzedec
Hands-On Track: Middle Eastern Cooking with Ronnie Abraham
Judaism +Modernity Track: Finding Our Place: Jews in the Struggle for Racial Equity with Tema Smith
Text and Context Track: Exploring Sephardi Jewry through Rabbinic Texts with Chaim Grafstein
Semester 2:
ONLINE @ Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre
Multigenerational Trauma and Resilience with Carmelle Wolfson, MSW, RSW and Adrianna LeBlanc, MSW
Punishment and Prisons: the Polemics and Politics with Dyanoosh Youssefi
Homesteading the Holidays with Rabbi Becca Walker
Semester 3:
ONLINE @ Holy Blossom
Klezmer Crash Course with Lorie Wolf, Toronto Klezmer Society
Hands-on History: The Early Years of the Toronto Jewish Community with Sharoni Sibony
The Illustrated Pirke Avot with Rabbi Zachary Goodman and special guest, Jessica Tamar Deutsch
2019/20:
Semester 1:
@ CSI Annex
Tzedakah (Hands-On Track): Dyeing & Doykheit: An exploration of natural dyeing, connection to land and Jewish diaspora with Sarit Cantor
T’shuvah (Judaism +Modernity Track): Returning, Repenting & Reconnecting with Yacov Fruchter
T’fillah (Text and Context Track): Learning to Live Whole-Heartedly with Rabbi Julia Appel
Semester 2:
@ Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre
Hands-On Track: Jewish Self-Care through the Arts with Or Har-Gil
Judaism + Modernity: Faith Based Social Justice with the Lishma Team
Text and Context: 6 Amazing Texts with Rabbi Zachary Goodman
Semester 3:
@ Holy Blossom Temple
Hands-On Track: New Jewish Film with Aaron Rotenberg
Judaism + Modernity: Bad@$$ Sheroes with Rabbi Becca Walker
Text and Context: Jewish Couplehood with Yacov Fruchter
Semester 4:
ONLINE @ Beth Tzedec
Hands-On Track: Creative Writing with Tikva Hecht
Judaism + Modernity: Medical Ethics with Rabbi Steven Wernick
Text and Context: Queer Apocalypse in the Jewish Imagination with Rabbi Andrea Myers
2018/19:
Semester 1:
@ Miles Nadal JCC
Hands-On Track: Hebrew Calligraphy as Jewish Art with Baruch Sienna
Judaism +Modernity Track: Harry Potter and the Sacred Text with Jenny Isaacs
Text and Context Track: Weekly Torah for Beginners with Rabbi Jordan Helfman
Semester 2:
@ Beth Tzedec
Hands-On Track: Tachles! Learning (Beginner) Conversational Hebrew with Lior Sagi
Judaism + Modernity: PJ Library/Melton Foundations of Jewish Living with Daniel Silverman
Text and Context: People of the Book, People of the Land with Risa Alyson Cooper
Semester 3:
@ CSI Annex
Hands-On Track: Mindfulness in Silence and Song with Aviva Chernick / Jewish Music for the Healing of the Soul with Aaron Lightstone (split course)
Judaism + Modernity: Jewish Couplehood with Yacov Fruchter
Text and Context: Feminist Torah with Rabbi Denise Handlarski
Semester 4:
@ Holy Blossom Temple
Hands-On Track: Starting an Indigenous/Jewish Conversation with Leah Mauer
Judaism + Modernity: Refugees, Judaism and Asylum with Howard Adelman
Text and Context: Judaism and Happiness with Rabbi Baruch Frydman-Kohl
