Organic Torah, 81 Brookside Avenue, Newtonville, MA (2026)

08/17/2023

Check out my fall class which goes deeply into my book The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking.

05/22/2023

This Wednesday night! If you are in Portland, OR on May 24 please join Rabbi Natan at Eastside Jewish Commons for a presentation and discussion that will offer pathways toward healing our most critical issues of climate change, addiction and social and political fragmentation. When Jewish wisdom and ecological or systems thinking come together we integrate the best of modern thought with ancient Jewish wisdom. Rabbi Margalit will explore how in Jewish wisdom, relationships are primary and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts—the same qualities that we find in an eco-system. Based on Rabbi Margalit’s new book The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking.

Doors 6:30 PM, Presentation at 7:00 PM
Suggested Donation $3-$18, Registration Required

More info via the link below!

https://buff.ly/3HZ0T7Z

05/19/2023

If you find yourself in Portland Oregon on May 21st, Rabbi Natan will be hosting two in person sessions at the upcoming Good/Food Gathering. Join us for a day dedicated to learning, exploring and, of course, eating Jewish food. Through talks, panels, breakout groups, and presentations on localJewish cuisine, food justice, lessons in making, and Kabbalistic takes on food, we’ll delve into Jewish food and Portland’s food scene.

Mainstage Talk:“Challah, Compost and Caring for the Earth”Is there a Jewish way to eat? Not just bagels and lox or kugel and latkes. And not just keeping kosher. But does Judaism have anything to say about the decisions we make about our food – how it is grown, prepared, distributed, enjoyed and shared? In this presentation we’ll explore how core Jewish ways of thinking are themselves organic. When we tap into this organic, Jewish mode of thought it can transform not just our eating but our whole relationship to the earth, to our health and our communities. Ideas in this talk are based on Rabbi Margalit’s recent book The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking.

Breakout:The Shabbat Meal: What’s the Secret Spice?In this session we’ll talk about what can make a Shabbat meal feel special. This isn’t a recipe that includes ingredients like flour, eggs, sugar or vegetables. It’s about what makes a meal amazing, something that revives us and enlivens us. What is that special spice that we’ve sometimes experienced which makes us remember certain meals as tasting so good—even if the food itself wasn’t even that good? Ideas in this session are based on Rabbi Margalit’s recent book The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking.

More info via the link below!https://buff.ly/3BisMUJ

05/12/2023

If you find yourself in Portland Oregon on May 21st, Rabbi Natan will be hosting two in person sessions at the upcoming Good/Food Gathering. Join us for a day dedicated to learning, exploring and, of course, eating Jewish food. Through talks, panels, breakout groups, and presentations on localJewish cuisine, food justice, lessons in making, and Kabbalistic takes on food, we’ll delve into Jewish food and Portland’s food scene.

Mainstage Talk:“Challah, Compost and Caring for the Earth”Is there a Jewish way to eat? Not just bagels and lox or kugel and latkes. And not just keeping kosher. But does Judaism have anything to say about the decisions we make about our food – how it is grown, prepared, distributed, enjoyed and shared? In this presentation we’ll explore how core Jewish ways of thinking are themselves organic. When we tap into this organic, Jewish mode of thought it can transform not just our eating but our whole relationship to the earth, to our health and our communities. Ideas in this talk are based on Rabbi Margalit’s recent book The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking.

Breakout:The Shabbat Meal: What’s the Secret Spice?In this session we’ll talk about what can make a Shabbat meal feel special. This isn’t a recipe that includes ingredients like flour, eggs, sugar or vegetables. It’s about what makes a meal amazing, something that revives us and enlivens us. What is that special spice that we’ve sometimes experienced which makes us remember certain meals as tasting so good—even if the food itself wasn’t even that good? Ideas in this session are based on Rabbi Margalit’s recent book The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking.

More info via the link below!

https://buff.ly/3BisMUJ

05/10/2023

Tomorrow at Noon!

Please join Rev. Allen Ewing-Merrill, Executive Director of The BTS Center, for a lunchtime “Let’s Talk!” conversation with Rabbi Natan Margalit, author of The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking and founder of the non-profit Organic Torah. Rabbi Margalit chairs the Rabbinic Texts Department and directs the Earth-Based Judaism track of the Aleph Ordination Program, and in his book, published in 2022 by Albion-Andalus Books, he asks important questions: How can we find wholeness in a world that is fragmenting? What are the ways forward in the face of the climate crisis, epidemics of addiction, and political and social upheaval? Can we reconnect to our spiritual traditions differently and at the same time harmonize these traditions with new trends in science? Rabbi Margalit believes that Judaism, along with other Indigenous and traditional wisdom, has the potential to offer the healing, integration, connection, and meaning we most need in this moment.

As The BTS Center seeks to cultivate and nurture spiritual leadership for a climate-changed world, we look forward to this conversation with Rabbi Margalit — an opportunity to explore Jewish wisdom and ecological thinking and to consider the role of religious teaching and practice in a time of crisis and transformation.Join us for this online public conversation, either in the Zoom room or on Facebook Live.

Visit this link to learn more and join the live event online:
https://buff.ly/3LTlRGv

04/26/2023

If you have some Hebrew knowledge but have been wishing that you could “break the Sefer barrier” and learn to read classic Jewish texts such as the Mishnah and rabbinic commentaries on your own, this online class is for you!

Rabbi Natan Margalit Ph.D. will be teaching the online course “Reading the Rabbis” through Zoom on Wednesdays beginning 06/07/23 from 3.30-5:00 p.m. EST.The course will be taught through Hebrew College with partner organizations Organic Torah and Aleph: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. Generous Financial Scholarships are available. We strike a balance between focus on Hebrew reading skills and commenting and discussing the fascinating ideas and content of one of the most beloved of rabbinic texts: Pirkei Avot. Pirkei Avot is a unique collection of ethics sayings and wisdom of the ancient rabbis. In this class we will focus on Chapter Three. We’ll mostly rely on the commentary of Ovadia Bartenura (1445-1515) as well as other classic commentaries and an occasional Hasidic commentary .

Click the link below to learn more and register!

https://buff.ly/3LwYofb

04/04/2023

Last year I came up with this whimsical idea for counting the Omer.

Here is my “Omer Counting Doodle” template!

I made these doodles in the form of the 7 sefirot which we use in the Kabbalistic counting of the Ormer: Hesed (Kindness) in the upper right side, Gevurah (Strength, Discipline) in the upper left side, Tiferet )Harmony, Beauty) in middle just below them; Netzach (Victory, Endurance) in the middle right, Hod (Gratitude, Acceptance) opposite it on the left side; Yesod (Action, Initiative) in the middle below that and Malchut (Manifestation) at the bottom. I chose colors for each sefirah, and each day I filled in one color in the appropriate swirl: starting with Hesed ‘she’b’Hesed (Hesded within Hesed) and working my way through the sefirot, the seven sefirot in Hesed, then the seven sefirot in Gevurah, and so on.Last year I just chose colors by intuition.

Visit our link below to learn more and download a blank doodle template for coloring!

https://buff.ly/3UbZpvG

04/03/2023

Rabbi Natan shares a new blog post - "Passover: Miracles and Things" on the Organic Torah Website.

"What is the connection between cleaning our things and miracles? A miracle is something that happens beyond our understanding, awesome and unexpected, unexplained, a gift from beyond, a new chance and a new perspective. I get a little hint of that when I clear out my house. I do something to my space, the room where I sit or sleep or read, and somehow I am changed. It feels joyful and renewing and a bit miraculous. "

You can read the full post on our website here:
https://buff.ly/3KtlSRO

03/23/2023

This Sunday!

Join Rabbi Natan and the congregation of Congregation B’nai Jacob in Woodbridge, CT for a special book talk discussion of his recent book “The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking.”

More information on our website and through Congregation B'nai Jacob

https://buff.ly/3RburCp

03/06/2023

Happy Purim!
Click the link below for Rabbi Natan's new essay "Purim and Gift"

"Purim is about the miracles that can happen in our daily lives."

https://buff.ly/3YkdCaA

02/13/2023

Tomorrow!
12:30 PM PST / 3:30 PM EST

Please join us for a special Virtual and In-Person CJS event on Judaism & Ecology, featuring Rabbi Natan Margalit in conversation with CJS student Rebecca Schisler. A light lunch will be provided to those attending in person.Please note: The entrance to the GTU Library has moved; please go around the corner on Scenic Ave. and enter through the first floor.

Natan Margalit is a rabbi and scholar with 30 years of experience in teaching, writing, organizing and congregational leadership. Raised in Honolulu, as a young adult he spent 12 years in Israel where he received rabbinic ordination. He returned to the U.S. and earned his Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies at U.C. Berkeley with focus areas in Talmud, Literary Theory, and Anthropology. He has taught at Bard College, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Hebrew College Rabbinical School, and now is chair of the Rabbinic Texts Department at the Aleph Ordination Program. He is also Director of the Earth-Based Judaism track of the A.O.P., and is founder of the non-profit Organic Torah. He is the author of The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking (Albion Andalus, 2022). He lives in Newton, Massachusetts with his wife and two sons.

Rebecca Schisler is a meditation teacher, artist, and Jewish educator. A devoted mindfulness practitioner, she is a core faculty member at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality and a faculty member at Or HaLev, and currently teaches mindfulness at Stanford School of Medicine. Rebecca is a masters student at GTU’s Center for Jewish Studies and a rabbinical student at ALEPH. She is passionate about integrating ancestral wisdom traditions with innovative approaches to personal and collective healing and liberation, and teaches Jewish spirituality as an embodied, transformational, and accessible path, with relevant and timely wisdom for all.

Follow this link for registration and zoom links:

https://buff.ly/3DiSz0x

02/13/2023

Tomorrow!

Join Rabbi Natan and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA for a special event for his recent book “The Pearl and the Flame: A Journey into Jewish Wisdom and Ecological Thinking.”

More information on our website, and through the Graduate Theological Union.

https://buff.ly/3DiSz0x

Organic Torah

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