Toward a Meaningful Life

The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute will present Toward a Meaningful Life: A Soul-Searching Journey for Every Jew, the institute’s new six-session winter 2011 course.

Rabbi Mendel Rubashkin of Chabad of Brandon will conduct the six-course sessions at 11 a.m. on Mondays and 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, beginning the week of Feb. 6, at Chabad Jewish Center 3005 Waylon Lane in Valrico. 

“The objective of this course is to teach and empower individuals of all backgrounds with new life skills based on traditional Torah thought, thereby enabling them to transform the way they view their daily lives,” said Rabbi Zalman Abraham of JLI’s headquarters in Brooklyn. “The course offers an antidote to the monotony and grind of unchanging routines. It provides newfound energy and exhilaration in taking on challenges, and it offers practical strategies for developing a deeper sense of joy and satisfaction.”

Through the examination of the spectrum of life, personal growth, relationships, home, work, special challenges, and the role of God and faith in daily existence, each session will also examine the Torah’s perspective, and students will be invited to challenge their current views and consider more meaningful approaches to these topical subjects.

In addition, each lesson will conclude with a toolbox of exercises and guidelines to help students make full use of the ideas and strategies that will be discussed.

Although the course is prepared by Rabbi Simon Jacobson, head of the Meaningful Life Center in New York City and author of the best-selling book "Toward a Meaningful Life," the sessions are freestanding and no prior familiarity with the book is assumed.

“Day after day, life can be a treadmill, as we go through the motions without asking why or seeking what really matters to us,” said Abraham. “This course offers recipes, tips, and techniques for not only discovering where your true meaning lies, but in actually making it a part of your daily existence. These sessions will help you see life as the mysterious, challenging, and satisfying wonder that it really is.”

Like all previous JLI programs, Toward a Meaningful Life is designed to appeal to people at all levels of Jewish knowledge, including those without any prior experience or background in Jewish learning. All JLI courses are open to the public, and attendees need not be affiliated with a particular synagogue, temple, or other house of worship.

Interested students may call (813) 657-9393 or visit www.myJLI.com for registration and other course-related information. JLI courses are presented in Brandon in conjunction with Chabad of Brandon