Spirituality and Hasidism: Connecting to the Divine

Spirituality and Hasidism: Connecting to the Divine
Thursday at 12:00pm PST

Join Rabbi Ariel Mayse and explore Hasidic teachings on the commandments and the nature of spiritual practice. These sources approach halakhah not as "Jewish law," but as a dynamic life-path flush with meaning and personal significance. Hasidic teachings address the struggle to connect mind and body. Learn how rituals can spark spiritual illumination and connect us to the Divine as a community and on our personal Jewish journeys. We will examine how these teachings spotlight the values of living in God’s presence with courage, conviction, and love.

Rabbi Ariel Evan Mayse joined the faculty of Stanford University in 2017 as an assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies. He is a senior fellow at the Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies at UC Berkeley. Previously he served as the Director of Jewish Studies and Visiting Assistant Professor of Modern Jewish Thought at Hebrew College and was a research fellow at the Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies of the University of Michigan. Mayse holds a Ph.D. in Jewish Studies from Harvard University and rabbinic ordination from Beit Midrash Har’el in Israel. His current research examines language in Hasidism, the renaissance of Jewish mysticism, spirituality and law in Jewish legal writings, and Jewish thought and theology for contemporary environmental ethics.