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 3
In-person @ Miles Nadal JCC
Apr 29 - Jun 3
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
In-person @ Miles Nadal JCC
Apr 29 - Jun 3
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Jewish Futurism with Nelia Teixeira
Jewish Futurism will draw on Strategic Foresight methodologies to explore how Jewish thought, tradition and communal life may evolve in response to rapid technological, cultural, and societal change. The course seeks to examine how signals and trends present challenges and opportunities for Jewish institutions, ritual, identity, and leadership in the 21st century and beyond. Students will engage Jewish ideas alongside Futures tools to imagine innovative, meaningful possibilities for Jewish life in the centuries ahead.
Nelia is a lawyer, strategic, foresight practitioner, and systems thinker whose work explores how we can navigate complexity and long-term change. Currently on sabbatical, she is fascinated by wisdom traditions and the contemporary “meaning crisis,” with a particular interest in Judaism and the evolving role of faith, institutions, and ritual in a rapidly changing world. She previously worked for the Canadian federal government, major financial institutions, tech start-ups and non-profits, experiences that inform her interdisciplinary approach. She holds a J.D. from the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law, a B.A. in International Studies from York University, a M.Des from OCAD University, and is currently pursuing a LL.M from Osgoode Hall Law School.
Jewish Futurism will draw on Strategic Foresight methodologies to explore how Jewish thought, tradition and communal life may evolve in response to rapid technological, cultural, and societal change. The course seeks to examine how signals and trends present challenges and opportunities for Jewish institutions, ritual, identity, and leadership in the 21st century and beyond. Students will engage Jewish ideas alongside Futures tools to imagine innovative, meaningful possibilities for Jewish life in the centuries ahead.
Nelia is a lawyer, strategic, foresight practitioner, and systems thinker whose work explores how we can navigate complexity and long-term change. Currently on sabbatical, she is fascinated by wisdom traditions and the contemporary “meaning crisis,” with a particular interest in Judaism and the evolving role of faith, institutions, and ritual in a rapidly changing world. She previously worked for the Canadian federal government, major financial institutions, tech start-ups and non-profits, experiences that inform her interdisciplinary approach. She holds a J.D. from the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law, a B.A. in International Studies from York University, a M.Des from OCAD University, and is currently pursuing a LL.M from Osgoode Hall Law School.
Sacred Story, Calculated Power: A Critical Reading of King David's Rise to Power with Assaf Gamzou
King David is one of the most complex and influential figures in the Bible, Jewish Civilization and world culture - and also one of the most politically sophisticated. This course offers a close, critical reading of the biblical story of David’s rise to power as told mainly in the books of Samuel, situating David firmly in the political, cultural, and military realities of the ancient Near East.
Through biblical scholarship, historical context, and literary analysis, we will explore how David emerges as a leader, skillfully combining symbolism, religion, story and relationships to establish and legitimize his rule. We will examine how David negotiates a volatile and chaotic world, how he acquires power, neutralizes rivals, manages internal dissent, and - perhaps most importantly - structures power in new ways that allow his dynasty to endure for centuries.
Assaf Gamzou is an educator, researcher, and curator specializing in Jewish thought and popular culture. He has served as Director of Education at the ANU – Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv and has taught courses in Jewish education, Museum pedagogy and philosophy at Tel Aviv University, Shenkar and Seminar HaKibutzim. He currently works as VP of Engagement at UJA Toronto.
King David is one of the most complex and influential figures in the Bible, Jewish Civilization and world culture - and also one of the most politically sophisticated. This course offers a close, critical reading of the biblical story of David’s rise to power as told mainly in the books of Samuel, situating David firmly in the political, cultural, and military realities of the ancient Near East.
Through biblical scholarship, historical context, and literary analysis, we will explore how David emerges as a leader, skillfully combining symbolism, religion, story and relationships to establish and legitimize his rule. We will examine how David negotiates a volatile and chaotic world, how he acquires power, neutralizes rivals, manages internal dissent, and - perhaps most importantly - structures power in new ways that allow his dynasty to endure for centuries.
Assaf Gamzou is an educator, researcher, and curator specializing in Jewish thought and popular culture. He has served as Director of Education at the ANU – Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv and has taught courses in Jewish education, Museum pedagogy and philosophy at Tel Aviv University, Shenkar and Seminar HaKibutzim. He currently works as VP of Engagement at UJA Toronto.
Holding What Holds Us: Creative Explorations with Treasured Objects with Sharoni Siboni
A family ring. A faded recipe card. A well-worn concert t-shirt. An old pair of candlesticks. The objects in our lives are rarely just things — they might carry stories of ancestry, migration, rupture, and resilience. They might be explicit or implicit Jewish objects, somehow connected to the stories we tell ourselves about our relationship to Jewish community(ies). What stories live inside the objects we hold dear? What happens when we claim an object as part of our story? Using Jewish texts, creative process (creative writing and mixed-media art), and structured witnessing, we'll transform our ordinary and inherited objects into works of art that surface hidden narratives and soulful meaning. Together, we'll consider how objects root us in lineage and we'll contemplate what else could they be and what other stories we could write them into. No previous art experience required, but please bring a couple of treasured objects to class.
Sharoni Sibony is a lover of metaphor, an educator, artist, creative facilitator, and Jewish community organizer. She has been a lecturer for over 15 years in various venues across the Toronto community and beyond and has worked and volunteered in Jewish adult educational programming and event management through organizations that include Kolel at the Prosserman Jewish Community Centre, the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre, Ashkenaz Festival, Holy Blossom Temple, Limmud Toronto, and the Ontario Jewish Archives: Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre. Following her fellowship in the ATIQ: Jewish Makers' Kollel in 2021, she trained for two years as a Creative Facilitator with the Jewish Studio Project out of Berkeley, CA. Her artistic explorations most recently explore the relationship between chronic illness, ritual, and rest.
A family ring. A faded recipe card. A well-worn concert t-shirt. An old pair of candlesticks. The objects in our lives are rarely just things — they might carry stories of ancestry, migration, rupture, and resilience. They might be explicit or implicit Jewish objects, somehow connected to the stories we tell ourselves about our relationship to Jewish community(ies). What stories live inside the objects we hold dear? What happens when we claim an object as part of our story? Using Jewish texts, creative process (creative writing and mixed-media art), and structured witnessing, we'll transform our ordinary and inherited objects into works of art that surface hidden narratives and soulful meaning. Together, we'll consider how objects root us in lineage and we'll contemplate what else could they be and what other stories we could write them into. No previous art experience required, but please bring a couple of treasured objects to class.
Sharoni Sibony is a lover of metaphor, an educator, artist, creative facilitator, and Jewish community organizer. She has been a lecturer for over 15 years in various venues across the Toronto community and beyond and has worked and volunteered in Jewish adult educational programming and event management through organizations that include Kolel at the Prosserman Jewish Community Centre, the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre, Ashkenaz Festival, Holy Blossom Temple, Limmud Toronto, and the Ontario Jewish Archives: Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre. Following her fellowship in the ATIQ: Jewish Makers' Kollel in 2021, she trained for two years as a Creative Facilitator with the Jewish Studio Project out of Berkeley, CA. Her artistic explorations most recently explore the relationship between chronic illness, ritual, and rest.
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 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 Rabbi Aaron Rotenberg 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 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 Rabbi Aaron Rotenberg at [email protected]
Previous Classes
2025/26:
Semester 1:
Pirkei Avot: Words to Live By with Ellie Bass
Excavating the Jewish Imaginal with Avi Craimer
Toratah: The Regendered Bible with Daphna Jackson
Semester 2:
Jewish Dreamwork with Rabbi Yerach Meirsdorf
Jewish Wisdom and Intuition using Tarot with Rae Szereszewski
Creative Kehilah: Connecting to Jewishness through Abstract Art Making with Jay Ginsherman
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
Semester 3:
Riding the Chariot: Psychedelic Jewish Mysticism and the Fringes of Consciousness with Izzy Waxman
Colourful Kabbalah of Sefirat Ha'Omer with Rabbi Jordan Shaner
Blasphemy in Jewish Poetry After Catastrophe with Jordan Paul
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:
Pirkei Avot: Words to Live By with Ellie Bass
Excavating the Jewish Imaginal with Avi Craimer
Toratah: The Regendered Bible with Daphna Jackson
Semester 2:
Jewish Dreamwork with Rabbi Yerach Meirsdorf
Jewish Wisdom and Intuition using Tarot with Rae Szereszewski
Creative Kehilah: Connecting to Jewishness through Abstract Art Making with Jay Ginsherman
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
Semester 3:
Riding the Chariot: Psychedelic Jewish Mysticism and the Fringes of Consciousness with Izzy Waxman
Colourful Kabbalah of Sefirat Ha'Omer with Rabbi Jordan Shaner
Blasphemy in Jewish Poetry After Catastrophe with Jordan Paul
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
