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 1
In-person @ Miles Nadal JCC
Nov 6 - Dec 11, 2024
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
In-person @ Miles Nadal JCC
Nov 6 - Dec 11, 2024
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Gender and Judaism with Simon Hart
This course will examine the theme of gender in Judaism through a broad exploration of textual and cultural sources, spanning from antiquity (including the Hebrew Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, Rabbinic and Kabbalistic literature) to the modern era (feminism, the reform movement, Zionism and Israeli society, queer Jewish practice, and more).
Simon Hart is a Jewish community professional, educator, and researcher. Holding two M.A. degrees in Jewish studies, Simon has a variety of teaching experience at all levels: as an educator for youth at Toronto's Danforth Jewish Circle; at the undergraduate level as both a teaching assistant (Boston University, McMaster University) and a sessional lecturer (Carleton University, University of Toronto); as well as for adults and seniors (Carleton University's Lifelong Learning program, formerly Learning in Retirement). Currently, Simon serves as the inaugural Toronto Field Manager for OneTable, overseeing the organization's first launch north of the US border, in partnership with the UJA Federation. OneTable's mission is to empower Jewish young adults to build their own enduring Shabbat practice as the foundation of a Jewish life informed by joy, meaning, and connection.
This course will examine the theme of gender in Judaism through a broad exploration of textual and cultural sources, spanning from antiquity (including the Hebrew Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, Rabbinic and Kabbalistic literature) to the modern era (feminism, the reform movement, Zionism and Israeli society, queer Jewish practice, and more).
Simon Hart is a Jewish community professional, educator, and researcher. Holding two M.A. degrees in Jewish studies, Simon has a variety of teaching experience at all levels: as an educator for youth at Toronto's Danforth Jewish Circle; at the undergraduate level as both a teaching assistant (Boston University, McMaster University) and a sessional lecturer (Carleton University, University of Toronto); as well as for adults and seniors (Carleton University's Lifelong Learning program, formerly Learning in Retirement). Currently, Simon serves as the inaugural Toronto Field Manager for OneTable, overseeing the organization's first launch north of the US border, in partnership with the UJA Federation. OneTable's mission is to empower Jewish young adults to build their own enduring Shabbat practice as the foundation of a Jewish life informed by joy, meaning, and connection.
When You Get What You Pray For with Rabbi Ryan Leszner
Let's dive into the world of Talmud with Tractate Ta'anit, focusing on the prayers for rain and the diverse experiences of those who pray. Through the lens of these ancient narratives, we will explore what prayer meant for different individuals in the past and reflect on how we can understand and define prayer in our own lives today. Whether you view prayer as a ritual, a personal dialogue, or a community practice, this course invites participants to deepen their connection to prayer and its meaning in times of need and gratitude. No previous text skills required, though they are helpful.
Rabbi Ryan Leszner is honoured and proud to serve as the Assistant Rabbi and Director of Jewish Living and Learning at Congregation Darchei Noam. Born in Thornhill, Ontario, Rabbi Leszner is thrilled to be returning home after years studying at the Rabbinical Student at Hebrew College, with Specializations in Pastoral Care and Spirituality & Social Justice Leadership. An advocate for lifelong learning, Rabbi Leszner pursued a Certificate in Jewish Education for Adolescents and Emerging Adults at Hebrew Union College in 2015. His educational journey also includes a Bachelor of Arts in Jewish Studies from York University in 2013.
Rabbi Leszner has a passion for teaching, learning, building bridges, and sharing the beauty of our Jewish tradition. He could not be more thrilled to be back home, serving a vibrant Jewish community that helped shape him into the person he is today. He joyfully shares his life with his partner, Dalia, and his son, Asher.
Let's dive into the world of Talmud with Tractate Ta'anit, focusing on the prayers for rain and the diverse experiences of those who pray. Through the lens of these ancient narratives, we will explore what prayer meant for different individuals in the past and reflect on how we can understand and define prayer in our own lives today. Whether you view prayer as a ritual, a personal dialogue, or a community practice, this course invites participants to deepen their connection to prayer and its meaning in times of need and gratitude. No previous text skills required, though they are helpful.
Rabbi Ryan Leszner is honoured and proud to serve as the Assistant Rabbi and Director of Jewish Living and Learning at Congregation Darchei Noam. Born in Thornhill, Ontario, Rabbi Leszner is thrilled to be returning home after years studying at the Rabbinical Student at Hebrew College, with Specializations in Pastoral Care and Spirituality & Social Justice Leadership. An advocate for lifelong learning, Rabbi Leszner pursued a Certificate in Jewish Education for Adolescents and Emerging Adults at Hebrew Union College in 2015. His educational journey also includes a Bachelor of Arts in Jewish Studies from York University in 2013.
Rabbi Leszner has a passion for teaching, learning, building bridges, and sharing the beauty of our Jewish tradition. He could not be more thrilled to be back home, serving a vibrant Jewish community that helped shape him into the person he is today. He joyfully shares his life with his partner, Dalia, and his son, Asher.
Stay in Your Leyn: Torah Chanting with the Jewla with Sabrina Friedman
After being deeply discouraged from going anywhere near the bima for her own bat mitzvah, Sabrina gave up and dropped the thread. In that time, she has lived many lives! Sabrina has been a camp director, social worker, music teacher and a synagogue family & youth engagement director, among other things. In her other life she is a voice actor, singer, musician, writer and comedian. And now, she calls herself the Jewla.
Through one random coincidence and opportunity after another, Sabrina was gifted the chance to train in chanting Torah. Through a lot of hard work and dedication, she is now a highly sought-after expert instructor in Torah and Haftarah chanting. As the Jewla, Sabrina’s here to make the Torah chanting process easier, smoother, and more accessible to YOU. She gets to bring her passion for chanting to all of her students of all ages and genders, helping them each feel comfortable, confident, and ready to get on that bima.
Sabrina Friedman, The Jewla
Connect:
Web - academy.chantingwithsabrina.com
Insta - @chantingwithsabrina
After being deeply discouraged from going anywhere near the bima for her own bat mitzvah, Sabrina gave up and dropped the thread. In that time, she has lived many lives! Sabrina has been a camp director, social worker, music teacher and a synagogue family & youth engagement director, among other things. In her other life she is a voice actor, singer, musician, writer and comedian. And now, she calls herself the Jewla.
Through one random coincidence and opportunity after another, Sabrina was gifted the chance to train in chanting Torah. Through a lot of hard work and dedication, she is now a highly sought-after expert instructor in Torah and Haftarah chanting. As the Jewla, Sabrina’s here to make the Torah chanting process easier, smoother, and more accessible to YOU. She gets to bring her passion for chanting to all of her students of all ages and genders, helping them each feel comfortable, confident, and ready to get on that bima.
Sabrina Friedman, The Jewla
Connect:
Web - academy.chantingwithsabrina.com
Insta - @chantingwithsabrina
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
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:
Deeper Time: Ancestral Altars and Connections Beyond the Moment with Robbie Solway
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:
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:
Deeper Time: Ancestral Altars and Connections Beyond the Moment with Robbie Solway
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
