The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute has unveiled three new adult education courses for the coming year, set to run across more than 500 Chabad Houses worldwide. The program aims to attract record enrollment through expanded marketing efforts and new recruitment tools.
The fall course, Kabbalah and the Hidden Architecture of You, is a six-lesson program exploring kabbalistic factors that shape daily life. According to course author Rabbi Mordechai Dinerman, "The course does give us a glimpse into the higher, spiritual realms, but every topic it explores directly helps us understand our lives and the world we live in."
The winter offering, The Missing Piece, examines the significance of Israel within Judaism across six lessons. The course addresses theological questions about the land's importance rather than contemporary political debates, drawing on Torah teachings about governance and land. Course author Rabbi Naftali Silberberg states: "Without Eretz Yisroel, the Torah's ideas remain abstract. It's when we have to wrestle with all the dilemmas that come with tilling land and governing a country that the Torah fully comes to life."
A spring course titled Chew on This takes a four-lesson approach to Jewish food traditions. It covers the history of traditional Jewish foods, the philosophy of kosher law, and food certification practices. Course author Rabbi Shmuel Super notes that "under the nostalgia, Jewish food is also a remarkably serious subject, rich with Halachic significance and layers of spiritual meaning."
The institute partnered with three leading marketing agencies to develop this year's campaigns and is creating new tools to help community leaders manage recruitment efforts.