Foundations of Jewish Life is a six-session virtual learning series exclusively for Togethering alumni. The program offers a judgment-free introduction to Jewish history, values, and culture, paired with relevant practices you can bring into your everyday life and relationship. No prior knowledge is assumed, and no single "right way" to be Jewish is required. Choose from three available times to fit your schedule, and join fellow Togethering couples on a path toward the Jew-ish home and life that's authentically yours.
DATES: October 11-November 19
The same six classes, taught at three different times.
Pick the day that works best for you:
Tuition:
Tuition for this course is offered on a sliding scale because we never want cost to be a barrier. That said, we're asking everyone to pay something. A financial stake, even a small one, tends to deepen commitment to the material and to actually showing up. Choose the amount that reflects your means and the investment you can make, and if none of the tiers below fit, tell us what does. All tuition fees will support future alumni programming like microgrants, helping you help everyone to gather and learn in ways that match their unique Jewish dreams and needs.
sliding scale per person:
full tuition: $180 shared rate: $90 community rate: $54
other: For those seeking financial support to attend the class, please fill out this short form before registering.
Foundations of Jewish Life is a six-session virtual learning series exclusively for Togethering alumni. The program offers a judgment-free introduction to Jewish history, values, and culture, paired with relevant practices you can bring into your everyday life and relationship. No prior knowledge assumed and no single "right way" to be Jewish required. Choose from three available times to fit your schedule, and join fellow Togethering alumni on a path toward the Jew-ish home and life that's authentically yours.
Tuition for this course is offered on a sliding scale because we never want cost to be a barrier. That said, we're asking everyone to pay something. A financial stake, even a small one, tends to deepen commitment to the material and to actually showing up. Choose the amount that reflects your means and the investment you can make, and if none of the tiers below fit, tell us what does by fillin in this short form. All tuition fees will support alumni programming like microgrants, helping you help everyone to gather and learn in ways that match their unique Jewish dreams and needs.
Please complete one registration per person.
Tuesdays
8 pm- 9:30 pm ET/ 5-7:30 pm PT
Foundations of Jewish Life is a six-session virtual learning series exclusively for Togethering alumni. The program offers a judgment-free introduction to Jewish history, values, and culture, paired with relevant practices you can bring into your everyday life and relationship. No prior knowledge assumed and no single "right way" to be Jewish required. Choose from three available times to fit your schedule, and join fellow Togethering alumni on a path toward the Jew-ish home and life that's authentically yours.
Tuition for this course is offered on a sliding scale because we never want cost to be a barrier. That said, we're asking everyone to pay something. A financial stake, even a small one, tends to deepen commitment to the material and to actually showing up. Choose the amount that reflects your means and the investment you can make, and if none of the tiers below fit, tell us what does by fillin in this short form. All tuition fees will support alumni programming like microgrants, helping you help everyone to gather and learn in ways that match their unique Jewish dreams and needs.
Please complete one registration per person.
Thursdays
12:00pm -1:30pm ET/ 9:00am-10:30am PT
Foundations of Jewish Life is a six-session virtual learning series exclusively for Togethering alumni. The program offers a judgment-free introduction to Jewish history, values, and culture, paired with relevant practices you can bring into your everyday life and relationship. No prior knowledge assumed and no single "right way" to be Jewish required. Choose from three available times to fit your schedule, and join fellow Togethering alumni on a path toward the Jew-ish home and life that's authentically yours.
Tuition for this course is offered on a sliding scale because we never want cost to be a barrier. That said, we're asking everyone to pay something. A financial stake, even a small one, tends to deepen commitment to the material and to actually showing up. Choose the amount that reflects your means and the investment you can make, and if none of the tiers below fit, tell us what does by fillin in this short form. All tuition fees will support alumni programming like microgrants, helping you help everyone to gather and learn in ways that match their unique Jewish dreams and needs.Please complete one registration per person.
Please complete one registration per person.
Who This Is For
This course is for Togethering alumni who left the trip wanting more. Maybe it was the Shabbat dinner, or making challah, or a conversation that's stayed with you since, and made you curious to learn more. You might be coming to Judaism from another tradition entirely, from a secular upbringing, or from Jewish heritage you want to reimagine. Wherever you're starting from, you're not a blank slate. You are someone in the middle of real life, trying to figure out where Judaism fits into it: your relationship, your wider family circle, your holidays, your home. This virtual learning course allows you to lean deep into your questions with fellow Togethering alumni, and leave with practical Jewish tools for your own life.
What You'll Walk Away With
By the end of six sessions, you'll have a foundation of Jewish literacy, the vocabulary, history, and context to navigate Jewish spaces and make informed choices, not just follow along. You'll have tried on core Jewish practices in a low-stakes group setting, so the first time you light Shabbat candles or hear a Torah blessing it isn't in front of your in-laws. And you'll leave having named at least one practice you're ready to build into your own relationship and home, something that's already yours, not borrowed.
Every session includes a hands-on practice component, a follow-up email with a recording and further-reading list, and access to a 30-minute one-on-one with the rabbi as a space to ask the questions that don't come up in a group. As an optional add-on - many students choose to be paired with a chevruta (study partner) for five additional 45-minute sessions, which is where a lot of the real processing happens. We help match you, provide support learning materials, and you engage with a learning buddy on your own time.
The Six Sessions
1. Calendar, Cycles, and Holidays: Learn how the Jewish calendar actually works, its origins and an overview of Jewish holidays and practices. We will take a close look into the closest holiday, which for this season is Chanukah. You'll leave ready to light the menorah, say the blessing, and host your own Chanukkah with intention.
2. Community, Practice and Shabbat: Jewish practice was never meant to be a solo project. This session explores why so much of Jewish life is built around community. Revisit some of the elements of Sabbath practice from the Togethering trip, and then dig into the mechanics of what a meaningful Shabbat practice can look like for you.
3. Story, Text and Torah: Every Jewish practice carries a story underneath it. This session digs into what "the Torah" actually is, how the Jewish story has stayed alive and evolving rather than fixed in place, and meaningful learning about all the items and symbols that are part of Jewish ritual practice.
4. Personal Practice: Brachot (Blessings) Not every Jewish practice has to be new. This session is about noticing what you're already doing — a phone-free dinner, a habit of gratitude, a pattern of giving — and claiming it, Jewishly, as something to build on rather than something to add from scratch. We will focus on the Jewish connection to brachot, blessings, and how a life tuned towards blessings affects everything.
5. Jewish Lifecycles: Death and Dying From birth to b-mitzvah to marriage to death, Judaism has rituals for the moments that matter most. This session focuses on Jewish mourning practices — shiva, kaddish, and the range of Jewish beliefs about what comes after death. So that when grief arrives, in your life or someone else's, you're not guessing at what's expected of you.
6. Jewish Values: Tzedakah (Charity) The final session zooms in to focus on the Jewish practice of Tzedakah, giving and how that connects to justice, social action, and Jewish numerology. We will end with reflection about your own values and what a next step in Jewish life may look like for you.
Six sessions won't make you an expert — nine hours can only scratch the surface of a four-thousand-year tradition. But they'll leave you with a compass instead of a checklist: enough to orient, enough to practice, and enough to want more.Six sessions won't make you an expert — nine hours can only scratch the surface of a four-thousand-year tradition. But they'll leave you with a compass instead of a checklist: enough to orient, enough to practice, and enough to want more.
About Your Teacher
Miriam's career spans two worlds: the sanctuary and the start-up. After 13 years as Senior Rabbi at Temple Sholom in Cincinnati, she now serves as Executive Director of Judaism Unbound, a Jewish nonprofit known for its innovative podcasts, the UnYeshiva digital learning center, and original educational content. Miriam helps people find and tell their own stories through Jewish wisdom — exactly what her podcasts do: "Tales of the Unbound," "Door to Door," “Shabbat Unbound,” and "Everyday Mystics." She's also the author of "Beyond the Bindings," a guide for people who learn by doing. Miriam was ordained at HUC-JIR and has spent two decades showing that Jewish tradition and innovation aren't opposites — they're co-conspirators. She loves leading retreats for Togethering, ever inspired by couples seeking to grow their love together. She lives in Cincinnati with her daughters, spouse, and dog, always somewhere between writing, painting, and dreaming up the next big idea.