A modern day learning approach to ancient Jewish traditions
Welcome to Wilderness Torah’s school of online courses!
Explore key aspects of Jewish tradition that have been forgotten. Transform your understanding of Judaism into a living tradition, one that is deeply rooted in a connection to the earth and community. We believe that our rich heritage can be a source for connection and healing.
From 90-minute sessions on the Jewish holidays, to six-week classes on deepening your earth-based Jewish practices, these courses offer a new, flexible pathway for anyone to reconnect with Judaism in a way that is relevant to your life. (Access to previous course recordings and materials are available for purchase; please contact us!)
Beyond the Scroll
Finding Real Connection in a Disconnected World
For young adults ages 18-25
Sunday June 15, 2025 | 5:30 pm PST on Zoom
Do you ever feel like your phone and social media are making you feel lonelier, anxious or even stressed out?
You’re not alone…and the problem is not you.
Join two Wilderness Torah mentors, Becca Heisler and Sam Balka, for this one-hour online gathering designed for young adults (ages 18–25). Together we’ll:
- Share real talk about life online
- Introduce practices to unplug + reconnect to yourself
- Create space to be heard, seen, and supported
The Torah of Mountains
Neshama Quest, Shavuot and the Ancient Wisdom of High Places
Thursday, May 29, 2025 | 5:00–6:00 pm PT | Online
With Rabbi SaraLeya Schley and Daniel Schindelman Schoel
Thank you to everyone who joined us last year! Stay tuned to find out if we will run this program again in the future.
Medicine of the Jewish Holidays
Cultivating wholeness in sacred cycles
The Hebrew calendar is a profound cultural operating system. Guided by the cycles of the moon and attuned to the sun and its seasons, the calendar provides a mythic map for Jewish life that deeply connects us to the natural world and the cycles of our lives. The Jewish holidays, taken together, are a veritable medicine chest for the soul and for cohesive community life.
On the cusp of spring, we tell and retell Esther’s spiritual story – you know, the one that does not mention God once! In this class, we explore Purim themes like revealing the hidden, transcending notions of good and bad, and why we party when we should be indignant, and their relationship to the season’s turning.
Spring has sprung and a people is born – every year at Passover we are reborn. In this two part series, we explore the fractilic mythos of Passover’s liberation theology that works on the personal, communal, and ecological levels; apply Passover’s ritual trajectory (including sacred fire!) to enact our own freedom journey; embody the mystical pathways that Passover sets in motion with the first barley harvest and the counting of the Omer.
What do Bonfires, bows and arrows, agricultural angst, the plague, and mystical holy fire have in common? Come find out as we explore the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer – known in Hebrew as Lag Ba’Omer. We examine the relationship between cultural history and the seasonal cycle, how the rabbis made it relevant for their time, and how we can make it relevant for ours.
Shavuot is our annual, early summer B’Mitzvah! We explore the intertwining themes of honoring First Fruits, receiving Torah, and coming of age in the wilderness. Come ready for revelation and the ultimate rite of passage!
In late summer the Hebrew calendar places grief in our path with two commemorations – 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av – and three weeks of deep reflection, Ben HaMetzarim, the 3 weeks ‘between the straits.’ We explore the layered history of ancient Sumerian ceremony, destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, the Holocaust, and how this season calls us to consciously encounter grief and trauma.
In the Hebrew month of Elul, we spiritually prepare for the Jewish New Year. Elul invites us to return into right relationship with ourselves, friends and family, the earth and the Divine. Join Wilderness Torah community leaders in Elul to hear the shofar, and engage in spiritual topics to prepare us for renewal and repair.
Sukkot is called Ha Chag, “The Festival.” It’s the ultimate Jewish holiday, culminating the agriculture cycle that began at Passover. Sukkot Instructs us to dwell outside, wave medicine plants in six directions and to dwell with our ancestors and our neighbors. Ultimately Sukkot teaches us to pray for rain as caretakers of our previous planet. We explore the layers of Sukkot’s history and embodied ritual opportunity to remember the centrality of Sukkot as the crescendo of the Jewish year and of Jewish communal life.
Hanukkah instructs us to cultivate light when it’s darkest, remember miracles when that seems impossible, and to rededicate ourselves to a sacred life. Hanukkah means “dedication” and invokes the hidden light of Creation. We explore the historical, cultural, and mystical dimensions of this beloved winter holiday to more deeply understand how Jewish tradition helps us balance the energies of Creation and become agents of change in difficult times.
Judaism & the Four Elements with Rabbi Zelig Golden
4-Part Series
STAY TUNED FOR NEXT COURSE DATES
Earth, air, fire and water make the foundation of our world. Jewish tradition contains treasure troves elucidating our relationship to the elements as building blocks of Creation, aspects of our human nature, and personified portals of God. We explore this treasure trove to more deeply understand, embody, and ritually relate to the elements of Creation, and ultimately ourselves.
