An Introduction to Kabbalah for the 21st Century
What you'll learn
- understand the basic ideas of Kabbalah, its history, its literature, and major concepts. This course is an overview and is aimed at whetting the desire to learn more.
Requirements
- Download the extra readings before each part of the course. You do not need to be familiar with the course subject.
Description
Are you looking for answers to the big questions of life? Do you want to engage the world with meaning and purpose? Are you seeking more depth in your day to day routine? This course is for you! In this introductory course we will learn what mysticism is and how it is found in the Jewish religion. We will learn the history and development of Kabbalah, its major concepts and rituals, and its application in our real lives.
This course will consist of video lectures that contain music as well as spoken word. Texts in English, will be available as pdf files.
The course is in six sections and can be done slowly or quickly, at your pace. There are no quizzes.
One should take this course if you are curious about Kabbalah but don't want to practice orthodoxy or join a community to learn about it. This course should be taken if your are interested in the road to enlightenment and want to know the Jewish version of it.
Who this course is for:
- This course is intended for seekers, those who are looking for meaning in their lives, and anyone with a basic curiosity about Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism.
Instructor
- 4.3 Instructor Rating
- 31 Reviews
- 192 Students
- 1 Course
CANTOR JORDAN S. FRANZEL serves Congregation Or Ami in Lafayette Hill, PA. He received his Masters of Sacred Music from HUC - JIR - Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music and was ordained as a Cantor in 1996. Prior to his pulpit in Pennsylvania, Cantor Franzel served Central Synagogue in New York City and the Touro Synagogue in New Orleans, Louisiana. He has been on the faculty of the URJ east coast Kallah and was a guest faculty at the Hava Nashira Institute, a retreat for Jewish songleaders and musicians. Jordan has written numerous Torah commentaries for the Union for Reform Judaism, has served on the editorial board for the Union Songbook, Shireinu and the complete Shireinu. Cantor Franzel can be heard on CD's: "Soul On Fire," and "Labor of Love," the two CD's of Danny Maseng's liturgical music. Jordan can also be heard on his own CD's of liturgical music, The Music of Cantor Jordan S Franzel volumes 1 & 2.
Cantor Franzel is a serious devotee of meditation and Jewish mysticism, specifically Kabbalah and Chasidut, and has been studying the writings and spiritual systems of several Kabbalah masters, including Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, for the last 25 years. Like his Rebbe, Jordan loves to tell stories as a means of facillitating spiritual experiences and believes that his liturgical musical compositions, in a similar way, does the same. Cantor Franzel is a member of the American Conference of Cantors and is a fellow of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality.