With the start of a new (civil) year, new proposals begin at Beit Chabad La Plata.
Our sages say that the Torah predates the world by two thousand years. The commentators explain that this is not a precedence in time (because otherwise the universe would actually be 7768 years old!) but a precedence in level.
The Torah is on a higher level than the world, which has different implications, among which is the fact that the Torah is not opposed to the world, that is, it is not something unnatural and added to the order in which the world works (as we know it) but quite the opposite, being created "before" the world, by transcending it, the universe ends up being created according to the mold of the Torah.
In simpler terms, the circumstances of life and the world in general could never be an obstacle to the observance of the Mitzvot of the Torah.
It follows from this that the Torah has always accompanied humanity since its very beginning. To such an extent that our sages say that Shem (son of Noah, the figure of the ark and the flood) had a yeshiva, an institute for Torah study where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and others studied.
Even if we consider the study of the Torah from its giving around 1312 BCE, we have been studying it for over three thousand years! And yet, there are always new proposals and ways of teaching it: how can that be?.
The simplest answer is that even after so many years of studying it and taking it to all the places where the Jewish people settled, there are still people who, due to "life's circumstances," have not yet had the opportunity to delve deeper into the study of the Torah or even to begin...
A slightly more elaborate answer, as the Talmud states, would be that not everyone is capable of learning from every teacher. This is clearly seen in educational settings, where the same teacher can be brilliant for some students while being terribly bad for others. Therefore, in our case, these new proposals are ways to reach people who haven't yet found their teacher or learning style.
Another answer, going a little deeper, is that every Jew is rooted in the Torah. Specifically, each person has a portion to which they are essentially connected, the portion that corresponds to their service to God, from which they can draw strength to overcome daily challenges, and upon which they are expected to delve deeper and uncover new insights. These new proposals, then, offer the opportunity to explore the different portions of the Torah.
In the spirit of these three answers (and others that could be formulated), with enormous joy, we prepared two new proposals: a Kabbalah course and a Hebrew course.
Each one has its own particularities, but they all share the general idea of bringing genuine Judaism to anyone who wants to know it.
This is just the beginning of a year that will bring several new offerings, for different audiences and in different formats. As the psalmist says, "Taste and see that God is good.".