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Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary: Online Rabbinical Program

January 3, 2019 by Patrick Beaulier

Imagine this being your rabbinical school! Rabbinical education from anywhere, anytime

Through our relationship with Darshan Yeshiva, we are supporting the launch of Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary (PRS), what we hope to be the very best in practical, distance learning based rabbinical education.

What do we love about this project? PRS is the only rabbinical school with a focus on helping students launch innovative Jewish projects around the world. It’s both a rabbinical smicha program and a Jewish communal incubator.

PRS has three goals:

  • To train and ordain future rabbis for the future of Judaism
  • To provide the absolute best distance education rabbinical education possible
  • To be a leader in Jewish pluralism

Three reasons you’ll LOVE LOVE LOVE Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary

Multi-Denominational Smicha

Rabbinical education comes from Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and post-denominational rabbis. Smicha, ordination, is through this trans-denominational bet din.

High Learning Standards

This is not quickie smicha. This is not private ordination in the back room of a deli. This is 100% legitimate education from MA and Ph.D. educators. PRS’s rabbinical education program includes two years of studying text, history, language, and practical rabbinics using distance learning tools that create as much interaction between students and educators as possible.

Students also must do elective learning through a system of podcasts and videos, homework and quizzes.

Finally, students also must present at the end of two years a thesis in the form of a program, product or project launch that will make Jewish life better.

PRS goes to great lengths to stress the intensity of the program. The academic calendar provides a one-week break per quarter, which is filled with the independent elective learning.

Seeking Non-Traditional Students

At PunkTorah, we’re proud to be non-traditional (even if by non-traditional we mean being super traditional in a non-traditional way). In supporting PRS by way of Darshan Yeshiva, we’re helping find non-traditional rabbinical students who continue to work full time while studying with Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary.

So what if you want a more traditional career? As PRS puts it…

There are many options for rabbinical education and we would encourage students seeking more traditional careers to attend more traditional rabbinical schools.

https://jewishpluralism.org/about/

What is the relationship between PRS, Darshan Yeshiva and PunkTorah?

PunkTorah Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, which began as this blog. This blog went into archive mode (no longer updated) many years ago.

PunkTorah now runs Darshan Yeshiva, a distance learning-based “yeshiva for beginners” including a popular conversion to Judaism program.

A team from Darshan Yeshiva including technologists, marketing people and educators has put together PRS. PRS is ran separately from PunkTorah and Darshan Yeshiva, though some educators work at both Darshan Yeshiva and Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary.

Learn more about Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary’s online rabbinical smicha program here.

Filed Under: Rants

Become a Jewish Spiritual Leader

February 27, 2016 by Patrick Beaulier

Screen Shot 2013-04-17 at 5.23.21 PM

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
Click here to learn more

Filed Under: Premium Content, Rants Tagged With: becoming a rabbi, Darshan, darshan yeshiva, rabbi

OneShul: Live Streaming Jewish Services

January 9, 2016 by Patrick Beaulier

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.

Filed Under: Premium Content, Rants Tagged With: ketzirah, online synagogue

Parshat Vayeishev: The Courage of Joseph by Russell McAlmond

December 3, 2015 by Patrick Beaulier

imagesThe parsha of Vayeishev has one of the most well-known stories in the Torah. Most Jews, and many Christians, are very familiar with the story of Joseph’s coat of many colors given to him by his loving father Jacob. We are told that Jacob favored Joseph over his other sons because he was a son “of his old age.” The consequences of this favoritism starts out tragically, but by the end of the story it is revealed to be a triumph for the will of G-d. So how does an ancient Jewish story have any guidance for us in the 21st Century – the age of social media?

The first lesson is that although technology may change rapidly, human nature does not. The reason this story resonates with us today is because we recognize the human nature involved. We comprehend that a parent who favors one child over another will most likely cause problems with the other children. We are aware that a child seemingly boasting of this relationship with his siblings in the family will only exacerbate the tensions between them. In short, we can identify dysfunctional families because they also exist today. Human nature has not changed over thousands of years even if we have computers, Twitter, and the internet. Technology does not replace the need to be cognizant of human nature.

The second lesson is a story of courage, one of the finest parts of human nature. Joseph was almost murdered because of his dream interpretations – and yet he persisted. He recognized the truth of his gift from G-d and continued to use it even if it caused others to be envious of him. It was this same gift which drew the attention of Pharaoh who elevated him to the lofty position of administering the Pharaoh’s kingdom. If he had not used the gift due to the trouble it brought upon him, he would not have achieved the status he did. He also would have been unable to use his gift to save his family and hundreds of thousands of human lives (Egyptians).

So how are we to be courageous today? By using our own G-d given gifts to make the world a better place regardless of the risk. Like Joseph we may have to ignore the danger of being out of step with our families, and even our society, in order to persist with the truth. It is very difficult to be the one light shining in a sea of darkness, but we also know that only if we use our gifts will we know the true reason for our existence. With courage, we can be like Joseph and have a very positive impact on perfecting our families and our world.

Filed Under: Jewish Text (Torah/Haftarah/Talmud), Judaism & Belief, Random (Feelin' Lucky?), Rants Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, Haftarah Vayeishev, online conversion, Parshat Vayeishev, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, Russel McAlmond

Walgreens Brought Me Closer To G-d: Healthcare Reform and Jewish Innovation

October 27, 2015 by Patrick Beaulier

PT-Nurse Walgreens blog

For almost three months, I have had a sinus infection. Finally I went to my doctor, a nice older guy that my family has seen for years, to see if he could help. I had just changed insurance companies, and did not have my insurance card yet. The doctor’s staff said, “don’t worry, we’ll take you now and deal with the insurance paperwork later.”

I was so happy: a doctor who cares about his patients and doesn’t worry about seeing proof of insurance first.

Unfortunately, the medicine did not work, and I had to go back to the doctor. And this time, things were different. Really different.

The insurance company never sent my paperwork to the doctor, or so my paper file said. The receptionist at the doctor’s office said that they would not treat me if I did not show my insurance card or was willing to pay out of pocket. I refused and asked them to get the insurance company on the phone and sort it out while I wait. They wouldn’t. It was on me to solve this problem, even though I felt like I was going to die.

So I left. Not knowing what to do, I went to the Walgreens down the street and hoped into the Take Care Clinic, a sort of “nurse in a box” operation that does minor medical treatment.

This experience was amazing. Instead of dealing with a receptionist, I simply input my info on a touch screen. After five minutes of waiting, a nurse came out, greeted me by name, and brought me into the room. She asked what my insurance situation was, and I told her the story about my screwball doctor.

She replied, “Oh, this is no problem. I have my computer here. Let’s go on the insurance company website and get all your info.”

Within minutes, she was on the company’s website, printing my card! No haggling, no nagging. After the exam, she put in all my info into her computer, printed my prescription, and  said, “OK, your prescription will be filled in about ten minutes.”

This was the best health care I had ever gotten. And the best part: it was so cheap that my insurance company paid for the entire visit. No co-pay.

A few nights later, I got a phone call from a random number. To my surprise, it was the nurse from Walgreens. “Hey Patrick, just wanted to call and see how you are feeling.” In the twenty years my family has been with my old doctor, I never once got a phone call follow up. I was impressed.

I began to think about this in a Jewish context. In a lot of ways, negative experiences with Judaism are like negative experience with doctors. Doctors, like rabbis, are perceived to have the easy life. Nice car, nice house, and a lot of authority to back it all up. Doctors and rabbis have support staff that seem to make everything possible. And if you have a bad experience with a doctor or rabbi, it’s probably your fault in some way, since we assume that either of these professions can do no harm.

And both Judaism and medical care cost a lot. While there’s no such thing as “Jewish insurance”, there is certainly a price to pay for all the kosher food, challah, Jewish daycare, tzedakah, synagogue membership, adult education classes, and other events. And just like the insurance companies and doctor’s staff, there is a bureaucracy in Judaism that keeps some people out, whether it’s the convert getting turned away, the LGBT couple who feels unwelcome, or the Jew of color who doesn’t care about labels like Ashkenazic/Sephardic.

A lot of people want a “top down” solution to the health care dilemma. So is the same with Judaism: looking for a “movement” to unite us all.

Perhaps the solution is neither of these. Perhaps it’s simply a change of mindset. And I can think of a few possible ways.

Less Emphasis on Rabbis. My “doctor” at the clinic was not a doctor at all. But I didn’t care. I needed someone who could tend to my immediate needs, not someone who knew brain surgery. It takes just as long to become a rabbi as a medical doctor. I don’t know about you, but when I need a shoulder to cry on during a funeral or someone to celebrate Shabbat with, I really don’t care what my rabbi thinks about European Jewish Settlements From 1910-1925 or Modern Hebrew Grammer.

Think of the Obvious. A clinic in a pharmacy is a no-brainer. There’s medicine, there’s sick people, get a doctor in there and you’re all set! Sometimes, the most obvious answers are the ones that don’t completely reinvent the wheel: they just put two-and-two together. The best I have seen of this, Jewishly, was an independent minyan that had a lay leader, who happened to live in a local retirement community. Every Shabbat, he picked up other Jewish folks from his community and drove them to “shul”. The retirement home had a great lobby, and he would use it to tutor B’nai Mitzvah kids.

Think Like A Business. I’m the CEO of PunkTorah, so I’m a non-profit guy. But I can see where the profit motive could do great things for the Jewish tradition. Example: Sarah’s Matzah. This Matzah company modeled themselves after Tom’s Shoes, selling “designer” matzah. For every box they sell, they give a box away to a community food bank. It’s capitalism, it’s socialism, it’s Judaism. And it works.

A Little Less Talk, A Little More Action. The talking heads online, on TV and in places of power love to wax poetic about how to “fix” healthcare in this country. And all streams of Judaism are neurotically obsessed with making Judaism relevant for the “new” generation. Perhaps this is a good bottom line: a little less talk, a little more action. PunkTorah started with a YouTube page and is now a non-profit organization with two full time staff members.

What can you start?

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Rants Tagged With: Counterculture, darshan yeshiva, doctors, health, healthcare, Jewish, Jews, Judaism, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, Punk, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, rebel, Religion, Torah, walgreens

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