There are three “themes” to the program: Multi-Faith Foundations, Jewish Spiritual Foundations, Storytelling and Spiritual Direction. The first three themes alternate throughout the term and are held in small-group, online sessions; Spiritual Direction is one-to-one guidance with me.
Prerequisite
There is one “core” class which must be completed prior to admission. In that class, we cover:
- The stories of Abraham from a multi-faith perspective
- How and why storytelling works (incorporating the work of Bateson and neuroplasticity)
- An overview of Jewish scripture
You can register for this core class here.
Main Themes
In addition to the content below, classes are set aside for the practice of spiritual storytelling.
The three themes alternate from semester to semester, and cover these topics:
Jewish Spiritual Foundations
- Torah (deep dive into Bereshit)
- Talmud (particularly Aggadah from Ein Yaakov)
- Wrestling with Midrash
- Stories of the Ba’al Shem Tov
- Jewish Folklore
- Niggunim (spiritual melodies)
- Mysticism
- Mussar (personal ethical development)
- Teshuvah (embracing change)
- Modern Jewish Literature
Multi-Faith Foundations
Each stream is presented by a spiritual leader of that faith
- Muslim
- Christian
- Sikh
- Mormon
- Asatru
- Hindu
- “Kohenet”
Storytelling Foundations
- Finding and preparing stories
- Storytelling without notes
- Telling unfamiliar stories
- Telling transformational stories
- Persuasive storytelling
- Finding the story that pursues you
- Story creation
- Creating a story program
Order of the Classes
The dates are flexible to reflect students’ schedules.
At the end of each semester there will be a weekend onsite retreat, culminating in a public storytelling.
The details of the class schedule can be found here.