Raising Sparks of Torah with Azara

This Chanukah, we are fundraising to raise sparks of Torah, cultivating a culture of Jewish learning in the UK. Reaching our goal of £10,000 will allow us to provide a profound, week-long (plus weekend Shabbaton) programme of beit midrash (traditional and open) Jewish learning at Sadeh Farm outside London in the UK. Your donation will be used to fund teaching on the programme, and to make it as financially accessible to participants as possible. People of all backgrounds and genders will gather to create community to live and learn together.

If you don’t know us already, we are Azara Opening the Beit Midrash. Azara aims to open the complex world of Torah to everyone, and build the skills to unlock our texts and traditions. We were born from two grassroots cross-communal learning projects, Pop-Up Beit Midrash and Open Talmud Project.

‘Azara’ is the Hebrew word for courtyard. The Temple had an azara in which all Jews could gather, regardless of gender or priestly status. We aim to be a space where Jews of all denominations, backgrounds, and genders can gather to learn and to make religious meaning.

Azara alumni use their skills to contribute to the wider Jewish community: to run regular Talmud sessions at their JSocs, become more involved as leaders in their communities, create zines and workshops on Talmud, and develop a uniquely British Jewish perspective on text that’s suited for our community.

Intellectually open, questioning learning is transformative. By engaging with deep, nuanced Jewish texts and each other, we gain the skills to think deeply about moral problems. We become better equipped to navigate the critical issues facing us today.

Our last Chanukah fundraising campaign allowed us to run a month-long yeshiva programme in Edinburgh in summer 2023! Please give to make our summer 2025 programme as much of a success.