In the small western town of Lehi, Utah, ten Jews prepped their water bottles, grabbed their student handbooks, and began their journey into The World of Kabbalah on Wednesday, November 1. Twenty-eight Jews in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, did the same. So did forty in Sydney, Australia, and over a dozen in Ville S. Pierre, Canada, just outside Montreal.
These communities are among the over five-hundred towns and cities worldwide where JLI’s latest course, The World of Kabbalah, is now attracting record crowds.
The World of Kabbalah is JLI’s fifty-ninth full-length course and the first of three courses for the academic year 5784. A groundbreaking exploration of Kabbalah’s core ideas, the course invites students on a journey through Seder Hishtalshelus, with lessons exploring everything from Asiya to Atzilus, Tohu, the Tzimtzum, and Atzmus.
“It’s amazing,” says Rabbi Bery Schmukler of Las Cruces, New Mexico, “JLI managed to explain hardcore Chassidus and bring it down to earth without watering it down; not an easy feat.” His community’s reaction was no less enthusiastic. “It was the first time I got a round of applause after a class,” he says.
In Commack, New York, Rabbi Mendy Teldon has turned his Kabbalah classes into a mini-rally for our brothers and sisters in Israel. “There’s no substitute for giving people deep Torah and a deep connection with Hashem, especially in these times,” he says. His community starts every lesson with a kapital Tehillim, tzedakah, and bagels.
After wrapping up his second lesson, Rabbi Teldon was impressed with the content’s depth. “It’s really powerful stuff,” he says. “Real Chassidus, real Kabbalah; this is the real deal.”
