Luria's Foundation
Rabbi Issac Luria, also known as the Arizal, was a sixteenth-century mystic who lived in Safed, in the Galilee. Despite his short life, the Arizal played a seminal role in Jewish scholarship. He is credited with developing a new and highly creative system of Jewish spirituality. His teaching left an indelible impression on Jewish intellectual history. Although Ashkenazi by birth, his teachings were widely disseminated and adopted by Ashkenazim and Sephardim alike. Today, his system of thought, often called Lurianic Kabbalah, has become widespread, influencing all modes of traditional Jewish thought. Luria's teachings were highly influential in the founding of our school, the Luria Academy.
Luria's idea of God as "Infinite Light" is one that illuminates our educational philosophy. His mission of tikun olam, "repairing the world" through learning and good deeds is a mission that we share and hope to impart to our children. The Arizal's idea that all of creation contains sparks of holiness which are retrieved through human acts, an idea that was a major influence on Hasidic thought, infuses all of mankind's acts with significance and meaning. This notion argues for an orientation that is universalist and egalitarian since all of creation has significance. This idea informs our attitude towards the world and its inhabitants.
The Arizal is not our only influence. At the Luria Academy, we offer our students an environment that is eclectic and all-inclusive, drawing on a multitude of Jewish educational philosophies. Accordingly, we offer our students the rigor and intensity of learning that is often associated with traditional Lithuanian Yeshivot, the progressive philosophy frequently associated with Open Orthodoxy, and the passion and spiritual awareness that is found in many Hasidic and Sephardi learning institutions. By incorporating all of these elements into our curriculum we are enriching the traditional Torah Umada paradigm thereby bringing a higher level of spirituality and emotional involvement into the lives of our students.
Additionally, we believe that a Jewish school fosters Jewish pride through a dynamic Judaism that exists in the marketplace of ideas and does not resort to xenophobia or prejudice to demonstrate the unique character of our tradition. We strive to create an environment that is a microcosm of the world our students will inhabit when they graduate. Our students will not practice their Judaism in isolation; they will encounter people of different religions, ethnicity, race, and ways of life. They will also encounter people with values and philosophies different than their own. Our school environment reflects that reality. We, therefore, actively pursue the enrollment of students from across the Jewish spectrum.
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