PunkTorah

Independent Jewish Spirituality Online

Patrick Beaulier

Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary: Online Rabbinical Program

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Unlock Your Rabbinical Journey with
Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary

Imagine embarking on your rabbinical education journey from anywhere in the world, with an amazing cohort of classmates, and being taught by gifted, experienced educators. If this speaks to you, then you should consider applying for Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary’s (PRS) upcoming cohort.

Why PRS Stands Out

🌈 Multi-Denominational Smicha

Break free from tradition! Our smicha program draws wisdom from Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and post-denominational rabbis, creating a vibrant, trans-denominational learning experience.

📚 High Learning Standards

This is no ordinary education—it’s a transformative experience! Immerse yourself in two years of rich text exploration, Hebrew language skill-building, and practical rabbinics. Expect extensive interaction with your extraordinary classmates and our MA and PhD-level educators, plus engaging podcasts, videos, and even an innovative capstone project.

🌍 Leaders in Jewish Pluralism

Join a movement! PRS isn’t just a school; it’s a commitment to shaping the future of Judaism. We’re not just ordaining rabbis; we’re incubating innovative projects that will change the face of Jewish communities worldwide.

For the Non-Traditional Trailblazers

At PunkTorah, we celebrate being a bit unconventional (okay, maybe a lot!). That’s why we’re all in with supporting non-traditional students who balance work and study. If you’re looking for a traditional path, no worries—there are plenty of schools out there. But if you crave a unique blend of tradition and innovation, PRS is your home.

What are our alumni saying?

Rabbi Heather Miller
Rabbi Zachary Jellson
Rabbi Debbie Hafetz

And read about what they’re doing out in the world on the PRS News & Events page

Ready to kickstart rabbinical your journey? 🚀

Explore PRS now and join the ranks of those redefining what it means to be a rabbi!

Filed Under: PRS

Now Hiring: Rabbis, Educators & Creatives

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Rabbis Sought
Want to work one-on-one as a rabbi, educator and mentor for an organization that is growing by leaps and bounds, utilizing new models of Jewish community as well as the latest learning technology?

Darshan Yeshiva is currently searching for rabbis to be part of our growing conversion program. In particular, we are seeking rabbis outside the USA and Canada, with an ideal focus on the UK.

As part of our conversion program, you would be responsible for mentoring students via phone, Skype or in-person, assisting students through their online educational process, providing a meaningful rabbi-student relationship, as well as facilitating the student’s mikvah and bet din. You get to choose how many of our students you work with and can add more students at any time. You will generally meet with students once per month for ten months and at the end of ten months they will come to you for their mikvah date. Rabbis can choose to work online entirely (working with students from all over the world who come to them for their bet din and mikvah) or with students in their area.

Send an email with your resume/cv to info (at) darshanyeshiva.org

Creatives Sought
We’re always on the lookout for creative people with amazing ideas. Want to pitch us an idea? Send an email to questions (at) punktorah.org

Become a Jewish Spiritual Leader

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Our online leadership school, Darshan Yeshiva, teaches you everything you need to know to become a Darshan, a lay Jewish spiritual leader serving unaffiliated communities all over the world. There are so many Jews out there who need community, but for whom there will never be a brick-and-mortar synagogue community. That’s where YOU come in!

The Darshan Yeshiva curricula includes:
  • Prayer Book Hebrew
  • Liturgy for Shacharit, Mincha, Maariv
  • Shabbat and Holiday Services
  • Jewish history, philosophy and literature
  • The Jewish calendar
  • Lay chaplaincy including hospital visits
  • Life cycle events including bar/bat mitzvah, baby naming, funerals and shiva minyanim
  • Practical halacha and Talmud
  • Maggid training

OneShul: Live Streaming Jewish Services

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OneShulAfternoonService

OneShul is the world’s only online chavurah: a synagogue not led by a rabbi, but by the community who makes OneShul happen. Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, holiday and special services are our regular monthly live streaming events, as well as classes on lots of Jewish topics and special chat sessions where people from all over the Internet can experience Judaism together. Join us by clicking here.

Hanukkah Watercolor Lantern – Jewish Crafts

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These lovely lanterns are sure to brighten up your house on a dark Winter night. They are easy for little ones to make and the result is beautiful.

You will need:

White paper
Glitter glue, sequins, markers and any other decorations you might like to use
Some olive oil
An iron
Watercolour paints
Paintbrushes
An empty glass jar
A battery operated tealight

Start by painting the whole piece of paper. We decided to paint our paper blue, but you can pick a different colour or even use multiple colours, too.

Let your paper dry. When it has dried use a cloth or paintbrush to paint the entire paper with olive oil. This will make your paper see-through.

Place your paper between two tea towels and iron it on a low setting to remove any excess oil. This is a step for the grown-ups, so please mind little fingers!

When you have ironed your paper you can decorate it any way you like. We decided [Read more…] about Hanukkah Watercolor Lantern – Jewish Crafts

Exciting News: G-d Talks To Non-Jews, Too! (Parshat Mikeitz)

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In this week’s Torah portion, Pharaoh dreams of seven healthy cows and seven sick cows…and so on…and so forth. Come to find out, our boy Joseph can interpret his dreams. This gives Joey a rise to power and even more family drama than he had before.

But the real lesson in this week’s Torah portion is that G-d can (and does) talk to non-Jews. But Pharaoh didn’t know what his dreams meant. It took Joseph’s interpretative skills to put two and two (or in this case, seven, seven, seven and seven) together to mean anything.

G-d, it seems, is Universal: talking to everyone, actively involved in humanity’s shared life on Earth. But the Jewish people have a special place, taking the visions that G-d puts into humanity, and interpreting them, guiding them, and bringing them to life.

So on this cold (for us) Hanukkah night, let the warmth of the menorah and G-d’s splendor shine on you and the world.