Robby Adler Peckerar · Holy Spirits: Ecstatic Joy and the Wine of Torah

There's a curious bit of mystical arithmetic: the Hebrew word for wine, יין [yayin], adds up to 70. And Torah, according to the rabbis, has 70 faces: 70 ways of reading, arguing, and turning the text inside out. Like wine, interpretation reveals new flavors with every pour.

The Hasidic masters, especially the restless, often grief-stricken Nachman of Bratslav, took this a step further. They insisted that holiness wasn't confined to the study hall. Drinking, singing, dancing: these acts of earthly joy could become genuine divine communion. It's a paradox that transformed spirituality in Eastern Europe and still resonates today.

This program explores how joy became a spiritual practice in Hasidic thought. Drawing from Adler Peckerar's new translation of Nachman's tales (born in the multicultural tumult of early 19th-century Podolia), the evening features readings, Hasidic melodies, and wine—plenty of it.

Come discover what those Hasidic revolutionaries knew: sometimes the most direct route to the sacred runs through song, story, and a well-filled glass.