Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin Leads Shabbat Morning "Mystical" Torah Study at Shema Yisrael - The Open Synagogue

We are inaugurating a Shabbat Study Circle about The Mystical Torah led by the noted teacher, scholar, and author, Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin, beginning Saturday morning, August 9.

The series of Shabbat study sessions will be held twice each month in the Boardroom at Jewish Family and Career Services, 4549 Chamblee-Dunwoody Road from 10:15 am to 11:30 AM. A meditative Shabbat service precedes the study circle at 9:30 AM.

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The initial dates for Rabbi Salkin's Shabbat Study Circle at Shema Yisrael are August 9, August 23, September 13, September 27, October 4, October 18, November 1, November 29.

The emphasis of our new Torah study program is on how Jewish mystics have interpreted the Torah. "While we will study the Torah through all its diverse lenses," Rabbi Salkin said, "we will primarily be looking at the Hasidic commentators, especially the writings of Sefat Emet, who was the nineteenth century Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib. We will be looking at how the Torah speaks to our inner lives through a different perspective, especially Kabbalah."

Rabbi Salkin frequently lectures at synagogues around the nation. He served as the senior rabbi of The Temple in Atlanta where his Torah study program became legendary for its standing room only crowds. He is now the founding rabbi and executive director of Kol Echad: Making Judaism Matter, an innovative, adult Jewish learning community located in Smyrna, Georgia.

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Called "intellectually fearless" by his colleagues, Rabbi Salkin is one of American Judaism's most prolific and quoted rabbis. He is the author of several books on spirituality - most notably, the award-winning and best-selling Putting God on the Guest List: How to Reclaim The Spiritual Meaning of Your Child's Bar or Bat Mitzvah (Jewish Lights Publishing). His most recent book is A Dream of Zion: American Jews Reflect On Why Israel Matters To Them (Jewish Lights). His essays and op-eds have appeared in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Moment, Reform Judaism, The Forward, Wall Street Journal, Readers' Digest, and New York Newsday.

Information about Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin and Kol Echad is at www.judaismmatters.org

Shema Yisrael - The Open Synagogue

The Shema Yisrael Mission

The Shema Yisrael mission is to be a synagogue embracing all that is Jewish.

We seek to nurture an inclusive and caring spiritual community reflecting Klal Yisrael (The Peoplehood of Israel) and are dedicated to the premise that "we can worship G-D in holiness only as we serve one another in love."

Shema Yisrael is also committed to fostering cooperative efforts to bring together Atlanta Jewry through a wide range of educational, social, and cultural experiences.

Shema Yisrael believes that American Jewry is on the brink of an exciting era. The challenge, as we see it, is whether American Jews, living in the most accepting and generous society in Jewish history, can create dynamic compelling communities that are capable of welcoming everyone.

We seek to be an inclusive and welcoming community for singles, families, and senior adults: for the knowledgeable Jew or the Jew just beginning his or her Jewish journey.

Central to our commitment is the belief that it is possible to create a viable Jewish worship community out of the diverse strands of Jewish experience and that begins with the acceptance of one Jew for another.