Jewish tradition embraces a continuum of experience, from the internal and intimate to the external and overpowering. While these have often been presented as oppositional (example: the "cathedral synagogue" vs. the living-room havura), they can also be approached as complementary.

We will explore the dynamics of awe and intimacy in Jewish ritual and liturgical practice; in Jewish spiritual tradition, including conceptions of God; and in the realm of Jewish moral-ethical imperatives, with attention to the collective demands of the prophets and the interior cultivation of the mussar tradition.