Soul FULL: A Community of Practice for Spiritually Centered Judaism

Online

Cultivating a Pedagogy for Educators Deepening Spirituality in Judaism

In the 2025–2026 school year, members of the SoulFULL Community of Practice met to share and explore educational pedagogies and practices that place spirituality at the center of Judaism, while building on learnings from Dr. Lisa Miller’s keynote on the neuroprotective power of spirituality given at our SoulFULL gathering. As we learned together, we began to articulate a framework for how spirituality is experienced and cultivated.

This year we will continue to explore, and share educational practices that support this framework. We will also learn from experts in various areas of spiritual practice, and apply learnings to Jewish education.

We welcome new members! All Jewish educators who seek to nurture spirituality for their students are encouraged to join us.

  • Dates: From October 2026 to May 2027.
  • Format: Cohort-learning program. Gathers online.

Premises and Practices of the Spiritual in Jewish Education

Our online SoulFULL Community of Practice meets monthly to explore research and writings that support the premise of the centrality of spirituality in Judaism. Over the course of our sessions we will take turns sharing thinking and experiences to co-create pedagogical propositions for a spiritually-informed practice of Jewish education.

More About the Program

  • Aimed at: Jewish educators of learners of all ages who seek to deepen the ways spirituality is centered within their teaching practices.
  • Structure: Year-long cohort. Monthly online sessions.
  • Facilitated by: Jewish LearningWorks’ Senior Educator, Alisha Pedowitz.

Program Details

Dates: Meets the second Wednesday of every month (exceptions noted):

  • October 14, 2026
  • November 11, 2026
  • December 9, 2026
  • January 20, 2027*
  • February 17, 2027*
  • March 10, 2027
  • April 14, 2027
  • May 19, 2027*

Time: From 10:30 am to 12:00 pm (PT)

Location: Online. Zoom link provided upon registration.

*These meetings are scheduled for the third Wednesday of the month.

Reading Requirements

For the initial session on October 14, 2026, all new members are asked to read chapters 11-13 of The Awakened Brain By Dr. Lisa Miller.

By the second session on November 11, 2026, all members need to have read one of the following books:

  • “I Asked for Wonder” by Abraham Joshua Heschel
  • “How We Learn to Be Brave” by Mariann Edgar Budde
  • “A Spiritual Life” by Merle Feld
  • “Love to Learn: The Transformative Power of Care and Connection in Early Education” by Isabelle Hau

The books are included with your membership. We will send you hard copies or digital books.

My mind has been expanded by the variety of ways in which people are thinking about and implementing spiritual teaching in a range of Jewish educational settings. I really appreciate the way we linked that work to Jewish text and our own practices and experiences. Having more text tools in my pocket (that I’ve thought about more carefully) and wrestling with what we mean by spirituality has given me more language to work with in thinking about (and articulating to others) what, how and why I want to teach more directly to Jewish spirituality, with people of all ages.

The learning helped expand my thinking about spirituality and consider how it’s infused (or not) in different areas of the educational experience in my congregation. I considered the language I use when speaking about God and/or spiritual experiences and I started incorporating a ‘Hinei Mah Tov’ moment at the beginning of our weekly ‘Tefilah’ to focus on different aspects of gratitude and goodness in our lives (like a moment of mindfulness to start our day together).

Registration

Participant fee: The program fee is $180 per participant. After October 1, 2026 the fee rises to $198.

All trainings at Jewish LearningWorks are subsidized by our generous donors. If the cost is a barrier to your participation, do not hesitate to contact Alisha Pedowitz at alisha@jewishlearning.works to register with a fee adjustment.

Registration will close when the program is full.

Register Here

Questions

Please contact Alisha Pedowitz, Senior Educator, at alisha@jewishlearning.works for any questions or more information.