Fulfilling Isaiah’s vision: New online course teaching the nations ‘Biblical wisdom from Zion’
A new learning series beginning on Sunday is fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah by sending out the “light of Biblical Wisdom to the Nations.” The 12-week learning series is divided into four sections consisting of three lessons each, which the teachers say present a “Jewish paradigm of human relationships”:
- The relationship between an individual and God
- The relationship between an individual and themselves
- The relationship between an individual and his fellow man
- The relationship between an individual and society
The lessons are meant to allow people who are not Jewish to access “Biblical wisdom” as it is brought in Jewish tradition.
The staff will include Rabbi Amichai Cohen and Miriam his wife, as well as Dr. Rivkah Lambert Adler and her husband Rabbi Elan Adler, all recognized and respected Orthodox Torah teachers.
Dr. Rivkah Lambert Adler, the editor of Ten From The Nations: Torah Awakening Among Non-Jews, explained how the course came about.
“Live Kabbalah, an online school, began to notice an unprecedented interest from non-Jewish people,” Dr. Adler said. “We realized that as Orthodox Jews in Israel, we need to function as conduits of Torah to the world.”
“The course does not delve into Kabbalah but it is tailored for non-Jews,” Dr. Adler said. “We are sensitive about respecting the spiritual paths of others.”
For many Jews, the idea of acting as a conduit for the Torah, spreading its light to the nations, is a foreign concept. But Dr. Adler explained that not only is it an explicit Biblical mandate for the Jews, but there is a growing demand from the nations for Jews to take on this mission
“For at least two thousand years, Jews have largely regarded the Torah as belonging exclusively to the Nation of Israel,” Dr. Adler explained. “But in the past decade or so, interest in learning about the Bible from Jews has been growing exponentially among current and former Christians. This interest has caused Torah teachers, especially English-speaking Torah teachers in Israel, to look into the Torah itself to see how to respond to this burgeoning interest coming from non-Jews. And once we start looking, we discover that the Torah does, indeed, have messages for all of humanity, not just the Jews. In addition, it becomes quite obvious that the Bible itself charges the Jews with the mandate to share the universal wisdom of the Torah with the Nations.”
For Dr. Adler, this mission is multi-faceted.
“I’m finishing a book about this exact topic,” Dr.Adler said. “When it’s done, the book will help Jews shift their paradigm about teaching universal Biblical wisdom to non-Jews and to step up to our role as a light to the nations, as the Bible demands of us. The book is called Lighting Up The Nations and, with God’s help, should be available by the early fall.”
Rabbi Cohen agreed, noting that acting as a conduit is the real function of the Jews.
“The Jewish people are called a ‘light upon the nations’,” Rabbi Cohen said. “Our real job in this world as proven through our history is to be trailblazers of truth and compassion despite great obstacles and persecution. The Torah is the timeless wisdom of the Jewish people. It has safeguarded us while revolutionizing the world with universal lessons of morality and kindness.”
“Now is the time for this wisdom to be shared with the nations. We are pleased to invite you to this life-changing course and community of non-Jewish seekers wishing to connect with the timeless wisdom of Zion.”
The course will include a community chat that will run the entire 12 weeks of the course. This chat feature will be open to all enrolled students, allowing them to interact with one another, and with each faculty member, outside of class time. This will create a like-minded community of people with a Christian background, an ancillary goal of the course.
There will also be journaling exercises, additional resources and meditations offered to help students integrate these Jewish ideas into their spiritual lives.
More information is available on the course’s website.
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