The Hebrew word Ma’alot means “ascents” and is used in the Book of Psalms to invoke inspiration and spiritual heights. It is commonly paired with shir, song, for an obvious reason: music has always elevated Jewish ritual and sacred inspiration. Ma’alot is dedicated to the tradition of invigorating Judaism through our rich musical heritage and making an accessible, spiritual experience for those unfamiliar with Jewish liturgy or tradition.
Each year brings us rituals of celebration and remembrance directly tied to the cycles of the days and the seasons, and harkens back to the revelation our ancestors received journeying through the wilderness. Through outdoor education and rituals, Ma’alot offers a new way of experiencing Judaism that is vibrant and stretches far beyond the walls of any institution. In order to ascend, we must first develop a firm grounding on where we came from and who we are, and that begins with the connection of adam, the first earthling, and adamah, the earth.
You bring your own Torah to Jewish community. We discover so much when we explore the wisdom of our own experiences in tandem with our inherited wisdom of our ancestors. When we listen to each other, to our past, and to our innermost self, we transform the way we understand our world and our purpose in it. Through this process, we break the stigmas that many of us carry about what Judaism “should” look like, and instead discover what a tradition that speaks to our heart and soul.
