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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

Rabbis Are Like Auto Mechanics (Parshat Nitzavim Vayelech)

August 26, 2013 by Patrick Beaulier

Auto-Mechanic-School

PunkTorah is anti-authoritarian.

This is what the young rabbi said about us. Now, he was actually defending us. We had been criticized for being a secret Jews For Jesus conspiracy (which we aren’t) and this rabbi was trying to set the record straight. His critique of us was, “oh, well everything PunkTorah does is weird, or silly, and the leadership and volunteers have no idea what they are doing — but at least they aren’t Christians!”

I wasn’t sure whether to say thank you or not. With friends like these, who needs enemies?

The issue of “who knows best” is an all too common one. I would argue that Jews suffer from Rebbe-itis…we have yet to discover that the internet is the best tool for Jewish learning. We still look to the person who went to a brand name Jewish school to tell us how to be Jewish. This stems originally, I believe, from the Temple period. Modern Jews today are still looking for the Levite Priest to offer us a kosher sacrifice.

But this week’s portion goes against this logic entirely.

For this commandment which I command you this day, is not concealed from you, nor is it far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up to heaven for us and fetch it for us, to tell [it] to us, so that we can fulfill it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us and fetch it for us, to tell [it] to us, so that we can fulfill it?” Rather, [this] thing is very close to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can fulfill it. (Deut. 30:11-14)

Do we need rabbis? Yes. We need rabbis like we need auto mechanics.

When my car needs an oil change, I could probably do it myself. Is there a chance I could screw it up? Probably. So I take it to the mechanic. But in reality, I’m smart enough to do it. I could go to school, but all the tools I need, practice on cars and get all the training to fix anything I want. But I’m not going to. I’m just not fully engaged in doing all the work myself, and I’d rather focus on what I’m really good at instead of auto repair.

Besides, the mechanic isn’t the end all, be all, of my life. Perhaps there is something I can offer the mechanic in return (and as a side note, as a rabbi, I’d really love it if people would donate $1 every time they ask for advice. It really goes a long way to help our online community.)

Rabbi Patrick Aleph is the director of PunkTorah and OneShul. In his spare time, he enjoys not working on cars. The auto mechanic metaphor is brought to you by Rabbi Menachem Cohen, a kilt wearing badass rabbi in Chicago.

Filed Under: Jewish Text (Torah/Haftarah/Talmud) Tagged With: ask a rabbi, convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, jewish auto mechanic, online conversion, parshat nitzavim, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, rabbinical school, rabbis, this week's torah portion

Rabbi Teitelbaum: “What is G-d?”

May 10, 2012 by Patrick Beaulier

Rabbi Teitelbaum, an educator in the Washington DC area talks about what G-d is and, in some ways, more importantly – who are we? G-d is the source of reality? By striving to know G-d we are striving to tap into that reality. If G-d creates reality then it’s our role to bring that presence into the world. That’s our role as a people.

Watch more videos at www.theg-dproject.org

Brought to you by PunkTorah.org

Filed Under: Judaism & Belief, Podcasts & Videos, The G-d Project Videos Tagged With: belief, creation, faith, God, hashem, Jewish, jewish god, jewish learning, Judaism, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punk torah, punktorah, rabbi, Rabbi Teitelbaum, spirituality, the god project, theg-dproject, Washington DC JCC

OneShul Shacharit Fundraiser – Help Us Do A Mitzvah!

April 16, 2012 by Patrick Beaulier

Success! We have raised $1201.97! Thank you to everyone who helped. You can still donate to this fundraiser by clicking below. However, we are sold out of siddurim.

OneShul, the world’s only online, lay led independent minyan, is fundraising $1,200.00 to pay for one year of live streaming Shabbat services, classes, holiday events and prayer services. Please help us to do a mitzvah by connecting Jews and non-Jews alike with God, prayer and open, diverse spiritual community.

We have three great ways to donate, each with a fun gift…

Shacharit Service  – for a $10.00 donation, you will receive one printed copy of Shachrit Limmud, the morning prayer service co-written by the OneShul community and Rabbi Judy Chessin, featuring Hebrew and English prayer, transliteration, meditation and Hasidic text. Click here to donate.

Shacharit/Kabbalat Shabbat Set – for an additional $8.00, you can receive the printed Shacharit Limmud in addition to a printed copy of the original Kabbalat Shabbat service from the Indie Yeshiva Pocket Siddur. Click here to donate.

Want to give a larger amount? Click here to donate.

Shipping on all of these products is free, so please act now!

More comfortable donating with snail mail? Send your check to:

PunkTorah
3530 Piedmont Rd
#2B
Atlanta, GA 30305

Please make the check payable to PunkTorah, the financial sponsor of OneShul.org

Filed Under: Jewish Media Reviews, Judaism & Belief Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, judy chessin, limmud, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, punktorah fundraiser, rabbi, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, shacharit

Rabbi Without A Cause – Rabbinical School Update From Patrick Aleph

January 13, 2012 by Patrick Beaulier

I’m thinking about calling this blog Rabbi Without A Cause instead of Tattooed Rabbi. You’ll see why in the video. In any case, this is where I am right now in my rabbinical school journey. Enjoy.

httpv://youtu.be/ByVqQa218AU

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, newkosher, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, patrick aleph Rabbi Yeshiva, punktorah, rabbi, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, rabbinical school, rabbinical seminary international, yeshiva

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