Our Philosophy

Spiritual education addresses the three primary voices of the soul – the Nefesh, the Ruach, and the Neshama.  

According to both the revealed (Talmud) and hidden (Kabbalah) traditions in Judaism, God speaks to each individual through three channels – the mind, the heart, and the body. Spiritual education accesses and harmonizes all three of these voices, allowing for a full engagement of the soul with the subject at hand.

If these three voices of the soul are not fully engaged, the students will inevitably suffer some level of disconnection from the material. The students may understand the material, they may successfully be tested on the content, but they will not become personally engaged with it.

Spiritual education is a new paradigm of learning in which:

• The three voices of the soul- the nefesh, ruach, and neshama – are engaged.
• The learning is personalized. It is not exclusively intellectual, rather also emotional and experiential.
• The goal is not the conveying of material, rather the developing of a personal connection to the material.
• The goal is not only using one’s mind, rather using one’s mind to affect one’s heart.

I. The Challenge

For the past 20 years, I have been teaching full-time. I have taught Jewish Studies to adults, ranging in age from 18 to 75. I have taught Torah, Mishnah, Talmud, Jewish Thought, Prayer, Ethics, and more. I have taught in Israel, the U.S. and England. As a measure of success, I have received letters years later from students telling me of their positive experiences.

The students had certainly absorbed a tremendous amount of information over the years, and for the most part, seemed to derive satisfaction, and even enjoyment, from their learning. However, at the end of each year, I still found myself struggling with an unsettling feeling. It was hard for me to put my finger on it, but something had missed the mark. Something was missing. After spending countless hours in the classroom attempting to convey significant and profound ideas, what had gone wrong? Recently, it has become clearer to me in what area I have regretfully failed my students.

It was a problem of connection, or rather of disconnection.

This problem did not simply appear out of nowhere.

The problem is a result of an approach where education is viewed as a mind-to-mind experience. It is a result of an approach where the ultimate goal is to convey an endless amount of information to the student. This approach does not take into account whether or not the student connects on an emotional level to what is being taught and integrates the ideas into his or her life. It is an approach which is often void of personal meaning and sufficient personal relevance. This approach does not aim to touch the hearts of the students or inspire them.

This is what I sensed was missing in my classroom. The learning had not penetrated into the students’ inner life. Their newfound knowledge had not translated itself into a meaningful transformation in their being or behavior. The information had remained just that, information, and had failed to enter into their lives, hearts and souls.

Together with other educators, I have reflected on this dilemma of disconnection.

It seems that almost everyone I speak to is aware of this problem, though I can’t recall the last time it was discussed at a faculty meeting. I ask,

*”Has the learning in your classroom engendered passion in your students?”

*”Do you sense that your students are internalizing what they have learned?”

*”Has their learning become a transformative experience? Or has it remained disconnected?”

My questions are often met with a nod of recognition. Followed by a shrug of the shoulders, as if to say, “What do you want? What can you expect? It’s school, after all.”

In retrospect, I realize that as a student I also felt a sense of disconnection. Now, as a teacher, I find myself perpetuating it.

Disconnection is not a problem that can be solved by the introduction of additional content into the classroom. It is not a problem that can be solved by better-educated teachers or by introducing more interesting lesson plans.

There is another approach to this problem. An approach that does not detract in any way from the intellectual rigor and intensity of serious learning.

We need to make a shift in the present paradigm so that we no longer focus on what is being learned, but rather concentrate on what the learner is doing with the information.

And we are not only interested in the mind of the learner, but his or her whole being.

Is the goal of Jewish education to transmit knowledge? Or is the goal to transmit knowledge in order to affect and transform identity?

Is Torah really only information?! Or is Torah the vehicle for transformation?!

The goal is to create a connection.

It is my belief that a purely mind-focused approach to education will inevitably lead to states of disconnection for most people. How can we transform education so that it is more than just an intellectual experience? How can we convey the information in a way that it is meaningful and relevant to the students?

II) The Solution – Three Voices of the Soul

There is another approach.

An approach that was, in fact, favored by the Hassidic masters, Rav Kook, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and others.

It is an approach that is based on the wisdom of the Kabbalah, on the understanding that there are three primary voices of the soul – the nefesh, the ruach and the neshama.

These voices are expressed through the powers of the mind (neshama), the heart (ruach), and the body (nefesh).

In order for education to be truly effective, it has to access and harmonize these three voices of the soul of the student.

It is an approach of one whole person to another whole person, of mind and heart and body to mind and heart and body.

The mind needs to be engaged.

The Neshama voice expresses the mind, channeling content and direction of thinking. It continually impels us to elevate and sanctify our thoughts. In our studying, critical and rigorous thinking is involved.

The heart needs to be engaged.

The Ruach voice channels the meditations of the “heart,” the emotional world. It urges the uplifting of emotions and character traits. It is the voice that impels deeper relationships of love, compassion and personal meaning.

A safe and supportive environment is created in which the student can personally relate to the material studied. An environment free of cynicism, sarcasm or judgment. The Talmud states, “A person only learns from the place that his (or her) heart desires.” This safe environment opens one’s heart to learning, and encourages the participant to actively listen to him or herself as well as to others. The students are invited to find partners and express how they connect to what has been learned.

The body also needs to be engaged.

The Nefesh voice deals with the physical self, the physical world, and the natural drives. It urges humans not to act animalistically, but rather to take all physical drives and to elevate them, refine them, and express a meaningful life through them. An experiential workshop enables the student to take this mind and heart experience and express it through various media, including: art, creative writing, drama or movement. The goal here is not the performance. Rather the aim is to physically actualize what has heretofore been abstract. This tangible experience serves to concretize what the mind and heart have experienced internally.

Mind, heart and body. In an ideal educational setting, all three of these elements are accessed and harmonized. Each dimension interacts with the others. No aspect of the individual is ignored or denied.

Education needs to respond to, and embrace, all of these levels. The student is not just a mind, but a whole being.