Welcome to Dear Torah,

We're so excited to introduce Dear Torah, bringing the Ashreynu creativity & joy that you love to the weekly parsha. Sign up, or read more below!

We received a generous grant from UJA-Federation of NY to support creative, weekly Torah learning with Ashreynu as part of the global Simchat Torah Challenge. We pitched Dear Torah, to make Torah accessible and part of our everyday lives at Ashreynu through creativity, conversation, and community, and we're excited to explore this together. 

What's in it for me?

Have you ever wanted to feel more connected to Torah and Jewish identity? Do you want to better understand our own stories? Are you looking to find a meaningful practice in this era of digital overwhelm?

Dear Torah, is your way in. And Torah is its own reward. To recognize your commitment, we’ll recognize all participants at our siyyum (closing ceremony) with honorary mentions for outstanding participation of all sorts. 

How it works:

First, sign up to join the official challenge. Our weekly email will include a link to the parsha text and one guiding prompt with a creative way to connect to the parsha. We’ll also post these prompts on our website, Instagram, Facebook, and even Pinterest! 

Each week we’ll ask you to respond in different ways: a letter, a photo, a puzzle, a conversation, or an exciting adventure. We encourage you to share your responses by email, drop it here, or bring a hard copy to Ashreynu. Selected responses will be shared in the following Friday email and on social media.

Not ready to sign up? Follow along in our Friday email and join us at any pop-up.

Chevruta Learning:

We’ll match you with someone in the community to build learning, accountability, and creativity. Whether that's a quick message check-in, a chat in person or a longer conversation during the week, it's up to you. 

Join us in person:

Throughout the year, we'll gather for pop-up activities at Shabbat, trips into museums and neighborhoods, and a final siyyum (a celebration marking the end of our learning).

Can you do it?

Yes. It's a small commitment of just a few minutes a week, a dedicated moment in time for something that has been precious to us for thousands of years. This is the moment you've been waiting for to get into a real relationship with Torah. 

An extra word of encouragement from Rabbi Pearl

Getting to know Torah is at the heart of Jewish life and living.  We do this in various ways, including study and mindful good daily living.  In embracing and engaging in this project together, we hope to all be inspired to enhance these in our personal and Ashreynu community lives.

Dear Torah, represents the relationship we are building with Torah throughout this endeavor. Torah is dear and precious to us, as conveyed in the Book of Mishlei (Proverbs): “She [Torah] is more precious than rubies; and all the things you desire cannot be compared to her.”

Part of nurturing a relationship with Torah is communicating with Torah, which, as part of our creative project, you will have many creative opportunities to do!

As we engage Torah over the next months through Dear Torah, we look forward to more learning, absorbing, understanding, and living Torah with great Jewish pride and joy!