A class for those considering conversion, brushing up on their basics, re-establishing Jewish heritage and the curious! All classes are online, save the Hanukah Party, and we will have some additional readings to guide us.

For this class you need to be a member of YLJC – Please contact for further information

Using the Shma in our first session and the Amidah in the second session as base texts, we will look at letter recognition and position in words, tips to help you manage syllables, and some basic grammar. You are guaranteed to get a great start on your Hebrew reading abilities or to sharpen your current skills.

Yeshivat Hanefesh is an opportunity to connect with friends old and new, to learn, to be surprised, to become more curious, and to add and reject and mould the Judaism of the past into the Judaism that is yours and ours. Each topic is designed to challenge, delight, and fill a corner of your spiritual possibilities. Class opens with interesting texts, then goes on to a round table discussion that sets us on a deeper path to understanding. Each session will be self-contained, recorded, and is designed to develop tools for spiritual connection.

Yeshivat Hanefesh: Preparation for the High Holy Days – 13 attributes of the Divine and the nature of creation

As we take out the Torah on the holidays, we recite the description that Moses gets when he asks to understand the nature of the Divine . The answer seems to be “1) GOD! 2) GOD! 3) a Deity 4) compassionate and 5) gracious, 6) slow to anger, 7) abounding in kindness and 8) faithfulness,  9) extending kindness to the thousandth generation, 10) forgiving iniquity, 11) forgiving mistakes, 12) forgiving transgression, and 13) cleansing. This has been separated into 13 attributes, and some of them seem weird. Come discuss as we invoke physics, biology and ecology to begin to understand what these words might mean for us today.

This is a different sort of Yeshiva class – if you are curious about the Talmud, come and spend 20 minutes a week learning in a fun way – we will watch a short animated film each session, then have some discussion and look at a relevant text. Twenty minutes, and you are off to your own evening!

We often think of meditation in non-Jewish contexts, but Jews have been editating for centuries, too! Grab a comfy spot on a Sunday morning, and come learn from June Wainwright about the history and hows!

Join Rabbi Elisheva for a hands-on workshop to create a filling and sweet traditional Ashkenazi meal, and go over our blessing formulas so you will feel most comfortable in prayer at home and in the synagogue.

Yeshivat Hanefesh is an opportunity to connect with friends old and new, to learn, to be surprised, to become more curious, and to add and reject and mould the Judaism of the past into the Judaism that is yours and ours. Each topic is designed to challenge, delight, and fill a corner of your spiritual possibilities. Class opens with interesting texts, then goes on to a round table discussion that sets us on a deeper path to understanding. Each session will be self-contained, recorded, and is designed to develop tools for spiritual connection.

Looking at the works of Rabbi Harold Kushner, Melissa Raphael, Rabbi Isaac Luria, Hélène Cixous Maimonides, Elie Wiesel, Judith Plaskow and Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, we will explore Jewish responses to the question of how the Divine can be good and yet all sorts of ills beset us and the world around us. Be prepared for makhloket leshem shamayim – holy disagreements!

Using sources from Kabbalistic literature, we will uncover another layer of spiritual meaning in the story of freedom that stands at the centre of our devotion, theology, and human hope for a better world. You will be looking at the seder in a new way! All texts will be in English and provided on a shared document.

Yeshivat Hanefesh is an opportunity to connect with friends old and new, to learn, to be surprised, to become more curious, and to add and reject and mould the Judaism of the past into the Judaism that is yours and ours. Each topic is designed to challenge, delight, and fill a corner of your spiritual possibilities. Class opens with interesting texts, then goes on to a round table discussion that sets us on a deeper path to understanding. Each session will be self-contained, recorded, and is designed to develop tools for spiritual connection.

In this class, we explore the complex figure of King David by looking at his romances with Jonathan, Michal, Avigail, and Batsheva. Through the  triumphs, failures, poetry, and repentance, we consider how spiritual brilliance can coexist with human vulnerability. We will touch on issues of leadership, desire, accountability, and the possibility of growth after moral failure as well as reading some of the wildest stories in the Tanakh.

Join Rabbi Elisheva for a hands-on workshop to create a filling and sweet traditional Sephardi meal, and go over our blessing formulas so you will feel most comfortable in prayer at home and in the synagogue.