About Lifnai Vlifnim

Our Mission

Lifnai Vlifnim promotes Jewish learning and living that centers on relationships and the inner world, helping students, teachers, and adults build connection and community through meaningful Torah study and its personal application to each individual’s lived experience.

Through our unique approach:

Authenticity & Personal Dialogue

By creating spaces for authenticity and open dialogue, learning and Jewish values are internalized, strengthening the inner commitment and passion of both individuals and the groups in which they learn

Educators Personal Growth

By supporting educators’ personal growth and inner development, we give them the tools and energy to do the same for their students at any age. This prevents burnout, encourages retention, and helps educators reconnect with the idealism that brought them into the field

Language that Transforms Culture

By introducing language that transforms culture in schools and communities, people can approach one another with ayin tova (trust, empathy, and curiosity), allowing a deeper partnership in the growth of children and adults around Jewish values

See core resources here

About Us

Learn more about our approach for

Shaar HaChinuch שער החינוך

For educators looking to engage in a process of personal and professional growth

For schools who want to build a culture of meaning and connection with Torah, God and Jewish values

Educators learning together in a Lifnai Vlifnim chaburah

Educators shape not only what students learn, but model how Jewish life feels. Lifnai Vlifnim focuses on educators as whole human beings, building an organic bridge between their personal inner world and professional teaching practice.

Its premise is simple and transformative: when educators and learners are supported in developing their inner lives, what they teach becomes more meaningful, resilient, and sustaining for students.

An educator smiling as she learns in the beit midrash

When educators develop presence and reflective capacity:

Classrooms become spaces of trust rather than compliance.

Torah is encountered as a living voice.

Students feel seen and taken seriously.

Learning builds community, deepens passion and commitment.

Schools and communities become places of continuous growth.

What does this look like in a school?

1

Experiential Learning for Educators

Through immersive seminars and workshops, teachers don't just learn about presence, listening, facilitation and spiritual connection, they experience it firsthand.

2

Ongoing Faculty Chaburot

School leaders are coached to run consistent groups where educators engage in their own spiritual work. Structured protocols and a growing library of resources allow them to experience for themselves what they will facilitate for others.

3

Learning with Students

Teachers apply new methods in class, sparking authentic connections and deep learning. The dedicated period of Lev Hashavua becomes a time intentionally focused on personal connection and growth.

The outcome

Culture Transformation

By working with entire school faculties and communities over multiple years, we do more than impact individual teachers: we transform school culture. When teachers model authentic connection and vulnerability, it creates a ripple effect throughout the institution and wider communal landscape.

The engine for teacher and school growth, Lev Hashavua includes three core components:

Component 1

Beracha Rishona

Activities that encourage greater presence and allow participants to move from the rush of the school day to a more contemplative, reflective learning.

Component 2

Limmud and Avodah Pinimit

Choosing a short Torah text or tefillah, participants learn to listen deeply to the Torah they are learning and, through powerful questions and activities, work to bring learning to their lives in personally meaningful ways.

Component 3

Parnasut

A participant shares a story or dilemma that gives the group insight into their personality, motivators, successes and challenges. Participants listen, empathize, appreciate and learn from others as they begin to recognize the holiness of another person’s tzelem elokim.

From Lev HaShavua, the language, modes of learning and connection become a part of other aspects of the school day: davening, classroom learning, religious guidance, chessed activities and even the way people talk to each other in the hallways!

Ongoing workshops, fellowship and coaching from Lifnai Vlifnim support this process beyond the initial Lev Hashavua School Cohort Program.

A teacher leading a high school classroom

What We Offer

School Cohort Program Events Virtual Courses Publications

At its core Lifnai Vlifnim is about relationships

With Yourself

בין אדם לעצמו

With Others

בין אדם לחבירו

With a Community

בין אדם לקהילה

With Torah and G-d

בין אדם להקב"ה