Organic Torah

Check out my fall class which goes deeply into my book The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking.

hebrewcollege.edu

This Wednesday night! If you are in Portland, OR on May 24 please join Rabbi Natan at Eastside Jewish Commons for a presentation and discussion that will offer pathways toward healing our most critical issues of climate change, addiction and social and political fragmentation. When Jewish wisdom and ecological or systems thinking come together we integrate the best of modern thought with ancient Jewish wisdom. Rabbi Margalit will explore how in Jewish wisdom, relationships are primary and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts—the same qualities that we find in an eco-system. Based on Rabbi Margalit’s new book The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking.

Doors 6:30 PM, Presentation at 7:00 PM
Suggested Donation $3-$18, Registration Required

More info via the link below!

https://buff.ly/3HZ0T7Z

If you find yourself in Portland Oregon on May 21st, Rabbi Natan will be hosting two in person sessions at the upcoming Good/Food Gathering. Join us for a day dedicated to learning, exploring and, of course, eating Jewish food. Through talks, panels, breakout groups, and presentations on localJewish cuisine, food justice, lessons in making, and Kabbalistic takes on food, we’ll delve into Jewish food and Portland’s food scene.

Mainstage Talk:“Challah, Compost and Caring for the Earth”Is there a Jewish way to eat? Not just bagels and lox or kugel and latkes. And not just keeping kosher. But does Judaism have anything to say about the decisions we make about our food – how it is grown, prepared, distributed, enjoyed and shared? In this presentation we’ll explore how core Jewish ways of thinking are themselves organic. When we tap into this organic, Jewish mode of thought it can transform not just our eating but our whole relationship to the earth, to our health and our communities. Ideas in this talk are based on Rabbi Margalit’s recent book The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking.

Breakout:The Shabbat Meal: What’s the Secret Spice?In this session we’ll talk about what can make a Shabbat meal feel special. This isn’t a recipe that includes ingredients like flour, eggs, sugar or vegetables. It’s about what makes a meal amazing, something that revives us and enlivens us. What is that special spice that we’ve sometimes experienced which makes us remember certain meals as tasting so good—even if the food itself wasn’t even that good? Ideas in this session are based on Rabbi Margalit’s recent book The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking.

More info via the link below!https://buff.ly/3BisMUJ

If you find yourself in Portland Oregon on May 21st, Rabbi Natan will be hosting two in person sessions at the upcoming Good/Food Gathering. Join us for a day dedicated to learning, exploring and, of course, eating Jewish food. Through talks, panels, breakout groups, and presentations on localJewish cuisine, food justice, lessons in making, and Kabbalistic takes on food, we’ll delve into Jewish food and Portland’s food scene.

Mainstage Talk:“Challah, Compost and Caring for the Earth”Is there a Jewish way to eat? Not just bagels and lox or kugel and latkes. And not just keeping kosher. But does Judaism have anything to say about the decisions we make about our food – how it is grown, prepared, distributed, enjoyed and shared? In this presentation we’ll explore how core Jewish ways of thinking are themselves organic. When we tap into this organic, Jewish mode of thought it can transform not just our eating but our whole relationship to the earth, to our health and our communities. Ideas in this talk are based on Rabbi Margalit’s recent book The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking.

Breakout:The Shabbat Meal: What’s the Secret Spice?In this session we’ll talk about what can make a Shabbat meal feel special. This isn’t a recipe that includes ingredients like flour, eggs, sugar or vegetables. It’s about what makes a meal amazing, something that revives us and enlivens us. What is that special spice that we’ve sometimes experienced which makes us remember certain meals as tasting so good—even if the food itself wasn’t even that good? Ideas in this session are based on Rabbi Margalit’s recent book The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking.

More info via the link below!

https://buff.ly/3BisMUJ

Tomorrow at Noon!

Please join Rev. Allen Ewing-Merrill, Executive Director of The BTS Center, for a lunchtime “Let’s Talk!” conversation with Rabbi Natan Margalit, author of The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking and founder of the non-profit Organic Torah. Rabbi Margalit chairs the Rabbinic Texts Department and directs the Earth-Based Judaism track of the Aleph Ordination Program, and in his book, published in 2022 by Albion-Andalus Books, he asks important questions: How can we find wholeness in a world that is fragmenting? What are the ways forward in the face of the climate crisis, epidemics of addiction, and political and social upheaval? Can we reconnect to our spiritual traditions differently and at the same time harmonize these traditions with new trends in science? Rabbi Margalit believes that Judaism, along with other Indigenous and traditional wisdom, has the potential to offer the healing, integration, connection, and meaning we most need in this moment.

As The BTS Center seeks to cultivate and nurture spiritual leadership for a climate-changed world, we look forward to this conversation with Rabbi Margalit — an opportunity to explore Jewish wisdom and ecological thinking and to consider the role of religious teaching and practice in a time of crisis and transformation.Join us for this online public conversation, either in the Zoom room or on Facebook Live.

Visit this link to learn more and join the live event online:
https://buff.ly/3LTlRGv

If you have some Hebrew knowledge but have been wishing that you could “break the Sefer barrier” and learn to read classic Jewish texts such as the Mishnah and rabbinic commentaries on your own, this online class is for you!

Rabbi Natan Margalit Ph.D. will be teaching the online course “Reading the Rabbis” through Zoom on Wednesdays beginning 06/07/23 from 3.30-5:00 p.m. EST.The course will be taught through Hebrew College with partner organizations Organic Torah and Aleph: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. Generous Financial Scholarships are available. We strike a balance between focus on Hebrew reading skills and commenting and discussing the fascinating ideas and content of one of the most beloved of rabbinic texts: Pirkei Avot. Pirkei Avot is a unique collection of ethics sayings and wisdom of the ancient rabbis. In this class we will focus on Chapter Three. We’ll mostly rely on the commentary of Ovadia Bartenura (1445-1515) as well as other classic commentaries and an occasional Hasidic commentary .

Click the link below to learn more and register!

https://buff.ly/3LwYofb

Last year I came up with this whimsical idea for counting the Omer.

Here is my “Omer Counting Doodle” template!

I made these doodles in the form of the 7 sefirot which we use in the Kabbalistic counting of the Ormer: Hesed (Kindness) in the upper right side, Gevurah (Strength, Discipline) in the upper left side, Tiferet )Harmony, Beauty) in middle just below them; Netzach (Victory, Endurance) in the middle right, Hod (Gratitude, Acceptance) opposite it on the left side; Yesod (Action, Initiative) in the middle below that and Malchut (Manifestation) at the bottom. I chose colors for each sefirah, and each day I filled in one color in the appropriate swirl: starting with Hesed ‘she’b’Hesed (Hesded within Hesed) and working my way through the sefirot, the seven sefirot in Hesed, then the seven sefirot in Gevurah, and so on.Last year I just chose colors by intuition.

Visit our link below to learn more and download a blank doodle template for coloring!

https://buff.ly/3UbZpvG

Rabbi Natan shares a new blog post - "Passover: Miracles and Things" on the Organic Torah Website.

"What is the connection between cleaning our things and miracles? A miracle is something that happens beyond our understanding, awesome and unexpected, unexplained, a gift from beyond, a new chance and a new perspective. I get a little hint of that when I clear out my house. I do something to my space, the room where I sit or sleep or read, and somehow I am changed. It feels joyful and renewing and a bit miraculous. "

You can read the full post on our website here:
https://buff.ly/3KtlSRO

This Sunday!

Join Rabbi Natan and the congregation of Congregation B’nai Jacob in Woodbridge, CT for a special book talk discussion of his recent book “The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking.”

More information on our website and through Congregation B'nai Jacob

https://buff.ly/3RburCp

Happy Purim!
Click the link below for Rabbi Natan's new essay "Purim and Gift"

"Purim is about the miracles that can happen in our daily lives."



https://buff.ly/3YkdCaA