Behind or underneath each biblical story, each prayer in the prayer book, each ritual, and every life cycle event and period in Jewish history is a fundamental human experience or set of experiences. If we can allow ourselves to enter into that experience, no matter how apparently different or foreign it might seem from our own, we can gain perspective and enrich our own lives by expanding our experiential vocabulary.

Whatever one’s spiritual upbringing, “experimental” entering into Jewish historical and spiritual experience can teach us much about ourselves. Centuries of rich and varied experience can become creative resources we can “try on” to discover or rediscover important aspects of ourselves or the significant others in our lives.

The goal of the Jewish Experience Workshop is to enable participants to expand their visual and experiential literacy – to ‘experimentally’ enter into the experience of spiritual texts and traditions without any pre-commitment to any ideology/theology. This workshop approach is based on the integration of Jewish Midrash techniques guiding the search for contemporary meaning in the ancient spiritual texts, as well as the insights and experiential methods of educational and therapeutic innovations.

Through the use of structured exercises and imagery, guided fantasy, and role play intermixed with traditional Midrashic principles, participants learn techniques to enhance their ability to enter into the vocabulary of Jewish experience, adding thereby to their own storehouse of spiritual resources.