Who We Are
We are a growing community of people, in their 20’s and 30’s, who are interested in coming together around the centuries-old tradition of a Beit Midrash (house of study). We believe that study is a meaningful experience in and of itself and also instrumental in the creation of a vibrant Jewish community that has the confidence and ability to provide a meaningful way of life for our generation. We believe that by connecting with our own cultural roots (Jewish and Western) we are creating a platform which can answer the need of a generation bombarded by too many messages about how to live. We aim to provide a grounded approach to sifting and sorting through these ideas and an opportunity to use their own heritage as starting point for building a personal and collective path forward.
As a pluralistic project it is important to us to say up front that there is no religious end-game. In fact, there is no end-game at all other than to continue building Base in the direction its participants’ choose. We are not in it to create and then answer a demand, rather, we strive to engage all Base participants and future participants, whether they have come to every session or none, in sharing their voices to collaboratively create a space that is meaningful and enriching. We strive to create a space where people with a variety of backgrounds and comfort levels with text, Judaism, or anything else, can comfortably come together and benefit from the diversity of our backgrounds. Someone who has read the text before will have insights and context they bring to the conversation. Someone who has never heard of the text will bring a fresh set of eyes and questions. We value both (and everything in between) equally.
What We Do
We gather in intimate group, which began around one table, and continues to grow. Together, we begin discovering our text and then we sink back into paired study – chavruta – and pour over the texts, while getting to know our partner's style and insights. Full of newly inspired questions, we reconvene, throw our ideas into the middle and gain even more by taking a look at each other's unique perspectives.
Our Pluralistic Approach
At Base, we’re open to anyone sitting around the table; all are welcome in the discussion. Base is decidedly pluralistic and our most vibrant discussions come from the diversity of understandings and approaches a plurality of Jewish voices brings, and from encouraging each other’s differing views. Inspired by the approach approach of our sages, we openly delve into disagreements, engendering creative thinking, constructing a strong conversation, and ultimately, a stronger community.
This is why we cherish the voices of canonical Jewish texts and our inherited tradition, and also deeply value the voices of other cultural wisdom -- those that have been in conversation with Jewish wisdom through the ages, like Aristotle and the Greek philosophers whose wisdom our sages new and spoke of, and those who we're inviting into that conversation today, like The Little Prince and a host of contemporary scholars.
Our Goals
We're not interested in favouring one viewpoint –– or lifestyle –– over another. We’re not interested in altering anyone's religious-ritual practice.
Our goal here is one mirrored upon Torah l'Shma, learning together for it's own sake, which is to say, because it enriches our lives. We're trying to answer those same old existential questions that our grandchildren will have to answer for themselves too, doing it with their repolished Jewish lenses too, with voices and texts, old and new, in the spotlight, as the foundation of building our community together – with and for ourselves.
We are a growing community of people, in their 20’s and 30’s, who are interested in coming together around the centuries-old tradition of a Beit Midrash (house of study). We believe that study is a meaningful experience in and of itself and also instrumental in the creation of a vibrant Jewish community that has the confidence and ability to provide a meaningful way of life for our generation. We believe that by connecting with our own cultural roots (Jewish and Western) we are creating a platform which can answer the need of a generation bombarded by too many messages about how to live. We aim to provide a grounded approach to sifting and sorting through these ideas and an opportunity to use their own heritage as starting point for building a personal and collective path forward.
As a pluralistic project it is important to us to say up front that there is no religious end-game. In fact, there is no end-game at all other than to continue building Base in the direction its participants’ choose. We are not in it to create and then answer a demand, rather, we strive to engage all Base participants and future participants, whether they have come to every session or none, in sharing their voices to collaboratively create a space that is meaningful and enriching. We strive to create a space where people with a variety of backgrounds and comfort levels with text, Judaism, or anything else, can comfortably come together and benefit from the diversity of our backgrounds. Someone who has read the text before will have insights and context they bring to the conversation. Someone who has never heard of the text will bring a fresh set of eyes and questions. We value both (and everything in between) equally.
What We Do
We gather in intimate group, which began around one table, and continues to grow. Together, we begin discovering our text and then we sink back into paired study – chavruta – and pour over the texts, while getting to know our partner's style and insights. Full of newly inspired questions, we reconvene, throw our ideas into the middle and gain even more by taking a look at each other's unique perspectives.
Our Pluralistic Approach
At Base, we’re open to anyone sitting around the table; all are welcome in the discussion. Base is decidedly pluralistic and our most vibrant discussions come from the diversity of understandings and approaches a plurality of Jewish voices brings, and from encouraging each other’s differing views. Inspired by the approach approach of our sages, we openly delve into disagreements, engendering creative thinking, constructing a strong conversation, and ultimately, a stronger community.
This is why we cherish the voices of canonical Jewish texts and our inherited tradition, and also deeply value the voices of other cultural wisdom -- those that have been in conversation with Jewish wisdom through the ages, like Aristotle and the Greek philosophers whose wisdom our sages new and spoke of, and those who we're inviting into that conversation today, like The Little Prince and a host of contemporary scholars.
Our Goals
We're not interested in favouring one viewpoint –– or lifestyle –– over another. We’re not interested in altering anyone's religious-ritual practice.
Our goal here is one mirrored upon Torah l'Shma, learning together for it's own sake, which is to say, because it enriches our lives. We're trying to answer those same old existential questions that our grandchildren will have to answer for themselves too, doing it with their repolished Jewish lenses too, with voices and texts, old and new, in the spotlight, as the foundation of building our community together – with and for ourselves.