A Hilulah!Celebrating the Joys of Jewishing

July 11-17 Colorado State University • Fort Collins, Colorado

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INSTRUCTIONSKALLAH CLASS & WORKSHOP SELECTIONThis year we are offering 4-day morning and afternoon classes as we have in the past. Or you can mix and match a singe class with a series of workshops.

This year there are three possible ways to enjoy learning at the Kallah:

1. One four-day class plus four workshops - Take a morning class that runs for four days, and choose a track of four different afternoon workshop offerings. Or, four morning workshop offerings and a four-day afternoon class. Either way, you’ll experience five different offerings.

2. Eight workshops - Choose a track of four morning workshops, and four afternoon workshops; experience eight different offerings.

3. Two four-day classes - One morning class, one afternoon class; experience two different offerings.

USING THIS DOCUMENTYou are able to click on the title of a course or workshop in either the Table of Contents or within the Class and Workshop tables found on pages 1-4 to jump to the full description of that course.

Clicking on the header of each page will take you back to the corresponding Class or Workshop table.

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TABLE OF CONTENTSAll programs are subject to change.Click on a Class or Workshop title to be directed to the full description.

4-Day Morning Classes ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1Morning Workshops ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 24-Day Afternoon Classes ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3Afternoon Workshops ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4Courses by Track ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5Morning Workshops by Track ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 8Afternoon Workshops by Track ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 9

4-DAY MORNING CLASSESAM101 Celebrating Life-Times: Putting New Life into Old Markers & Communal

Affirmation into Our Own Sacred Moments ........................................................................................................................10AM102 We Are the Stories We Tell ................................................................................................................................................................................10AM103 Delving into the Mysteries of the Zohar ..................................................................................................................................................11AM104 Serving in Joy: Embodying the Path of the Ba’al Shem Tov .......................................................................................................11AM105 Gender and the Non-Binary in Jewish Sacred Thought and Experience: Reading Kabbalah and Jewish

Textual Imagery with Queer and Feminist Theory............................................................................................................12AM106 Jewish Ancestral Healing ..................................................................................................................................................................................12AM107 Cultivating Spiritual Intimacy: The Senses as Pathways to the Divine ..................................................................................13AM108 The Power and Purpose of Ecstatic Practice .........................................................................................................................................13AM109 Aish Kodesh - Encountering Judaism's Sacred Fire ..........................................................................................................................13AM110 The Quest for Nondual Consciousness in Jewish Body-based Practice ...............................................................................15AM111 Creative Spirit Journeys in Colorado's Beautiful Landscape .......................................................................................................15AM112 The Joys and Oys of Sage-ing®.  ....................................................................................................................................................................16AM113 Deep Ecology – The Torah of Oneness .....................................................................................................................................................16AM114 Spiritual Protection for Leaders, Teachers, Therapists, Healers et. al. .....................................................................................17AM115 Dreams of the Apocalypse: Oracles of the Prophet Zechariah ...................................................................................................17AM116 The Art of the Hazzan: Jewish Spiritual Singing ..................................................................................................................................18AM117 Integrating (Or Not) ..............................................................................................................................................................................................18AM118 Hilulah through the Four Worlds: Celebrating and Exploring the

Depths of Our Souls through the Expressive Arts.............................................................................................................19AM119 Davvenen' through the Worlds: A Master Class in Making Prayer Come Alive ...............................................................19AM120 Awakening to the Divine Presence through Contemplative Practice ..................................................................................20AM121 Book of Exodus Peak Experiences: From Inner Slavery to Personal &

Communal Freedom – Experiential Class ..............................................................................................................................20AM122 Big Sky Judaism: The Everyday Beliefs of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z"l .............................................................21AM123 Celebrating Hanukah with B’ney Yisaskhar ............................................................................................................................................21

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MORNING WORKSHOPSAMWS201 Visions in the Night: Judaism and Dreams......................................................................................................................................22AMWS202 Embracing Diversity Within: The End of the Intermarriage

Debate and the New Era of Creative Jewish Adaptation .............................................................................................22AMWS203 The Mystical Teachings of the Hebrew Letters and YOU ........................................................................................................23AMWS204 Joyful Entrances to Jewish Parenting: Designing a Family Plan

to Deepen an Integrated Jewish Life ........................................................................................................................................23AMWS205 Ecu-Drama: Performing Your Faith Journey in Community .................................................................................................24AMWS206 Healing Ancestral Wounds .......................................................................................................................................................................24AMWS207 Enhance Your Spirituality – By Participating In Tahara of the Deceased ......................................................................24AMWS208 Uncovering the Dark Side: Jewish Demonology Through the Ages ..............................................................................25AMWS209 Spiritual Practices to Support Activism .............................................................................................................................................25AMWS210 New Paradigms of Love and Relating: A Kabbalistically Informed Perspective .......................................................26AMWS211 Mending Hearts, Making Peace .............................................................................................................................................................26AMWS212 The Nachas of Grandparenting: Creating Your Legacy ...........................................................................................................27AMWS213 Sex in Pirke Avot ..............................................................................................................................................................................................27AMWS214 Overlapping Worlds of Moshe Feldenkrais and Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi .................................................28AMWS215 Happy Jews: Judaism Through the Looking Glass of Positive Psychology .................................................................28AMWS216 Shekhinah’s Healing Hands ......................................................................................................................................................................29

4-DAY AFTERNOON CLASSESPM301 Turn it and Turn it (The Midrashic Process) .............................................................................................................................................301PM302 Turning the Key: Tzelem Elohim (God’s Likeness) As A Lens To Explore So-Called “Disabilities” –

And What True Inclusion Might Mean ....................................................................................................................................30PM303 Demonizing the Divine, Divinizing the Demonic: Kabbalistic Encounters with the

“Other Side” of the Soul, the Cosmos, and the Divine ....................................................................................................31PM304 Hearing Shofar: The Still Small Voice of the Ram’s Horn .................................................................................................................31PM305 Kallah Klezmer Orkestar: Makhn Freylekhs .............................................................................................................................................32PM306 Learning and Teaching the Art of Prayer .................................................................................................................................................32PM307 Deepening our Meditation Practices .........................................................................................................................................................33PM308 Five Easy Ways to Get Over Your Fear of Bikur Cholim! ...................................................................................................................33PM309 Teshuvah in the Aquarian Age .......................................................................................................................................................................34PM310 Altars, Dreams, Chants, and Journeys: Ancient Hebrew Practices for Post-Moderns ...................................................34PM311 An Afternoon In The Garden ...........................................................................................................................................................................35PM312 Dreams InBetween ................................................................................................................................................................................................35PM313 Torah as a Guide to Global Healing and Transformation:

A Liberation Theology Reading of Our Holy Text ..............................................................................................................36

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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PM314 The Rav Kook Revolution - The Path To Personal and Planetary Bliss and Enlightenment .......................................36PM315 The Politics of Power in the Book of Genesis .........................................................................................................................................37PM316 Introduction to Sociocracy: Become More Effective – and Joyful – Together .................................................................37PM317 From Womb To Tomb To The World Beyond:  The Life Journey of the Soul through

Birth, Death, Afterlife and Reincarnation in Kabbalah and Midrash ......................................................................38PM318 Body As Beloved: Union .....................................................................................................................................................................................38PM319 Creating Our Soul Thoughts via Judaic Artmaking ...........................................................................................................................39PM320 Midrash Into Theology Into Ethics: Nurturing An Abundant World .......................................................................................39PM321 Educating for Spirituality – Summer Institute ......................................................................................................................................40PM322 God is in This Place, and Now I Know: Tools for Jewish Spiritual Guidance .......................................................................40PM323 Roots and Branches: The Jewish Roots of Christianity .....................................................................................................................41

AFTERNOON WORKSHOPSPMWS401 Life on the Shady Side of the Street ....................................................................................................................................................42PMWS402 Black Fire On White Fire: Chanting Torah by Reading Aloud Both the Black

(Hebrew Letters) and the White (English “Translation”) .................................................................................................42PMWS403 Beyond Pink and Blue: How Spiritual Communities Can Support Families

Raising Gender Non-Conforming Children ...........................................................................................................................43PMWS404 Holy Storytelling: The Art of the Maggid From the Inside Out ..........................................................................................43PMWS405 For the Sake of Unification (L’Shem Yichud) –Embodied Judaism..................................................................................44PMWS406 Technology in Spiritual Practice: Reflections on Shefa’s iPhone App, and Future Projects ...............................44PMWS407 The Drum of our DNA and Redemption (think Miriam!) – Doumbek & Jewish Music ........................................43PMWS408 Transformational Transactional Torah: An Integrative

Approach to Dealing with the Challenges Torah Poses ................................................................................................43PMWS409 Jewish Sustainability Teachings and the Natural Step Framework: Save Money, Time,

Health and the Earth While Greening Your Home, Workplace, Synagogue and Community ...............46PMWS410 Baseball Kabbalah ...........................................................................................................................................................................................46PMWS411 Shleimut: Moving Toward Inner Peace ..............................................................................................................................................47PMWS412 Shofars, Cymbals and Singing Bowls–Sound Healing Jewish Style ................................................................................47PMWS413 Your Portion in the Torah ............................................................................................................................................................................48PMWS414 Jews Working Together with the NAACP .........................................................................................................................................48PMWS415 Having a Viable Conception of God in an Insane World.........................................................................................................49PMWS416 Offerings: Bread ................................................................................................................................................................................................49

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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4-DAY MORNING CLASSESClass Number

Class Title Teacher Co-Teacher

AM101 Celebrating Life-Times: Putting New Life into Old Markers & Communal Affirmation into Our Own Sacred Moments

Rabbi Phyllis Berman Rabbi Arthur Waskow

AM102 We Are the Stories We Tell Renée BrachfeldAM103 Delving into the Mysteries of the Zohar Rabbi Lavey DerbyAM104 Serving in Joy: Embodying the Path of the Ba’al Shem

TovRabbi Diane Elliot

AM105 Gender and the Non-Binary in Jewish Sacred Thought and Experience: Reading Kabbalah and Jewish Textual Imagery with Queer and Feminist Theory

Rabbi Fern Feldman Karen Barad

AM106 Jewish Ancestral Healing Rabbi Tirzah FirestoneAM107 Cultivating Spiritual Intimacy: The Senses as Pathways

to the DivineRabbi Elliot K. Ginsburg

AM108 The Power and Purpose of Ecstatic Practice Rabbi Shefa GoldAM109 Aish Kodesh - Encountering Judaism's Sacred Fire Maggid Zelig Golden Shir Yaakov FeitAM110 The Quest for Nondual Consciousness in Jewish

Body-based PracticeRabbi Andrew Hahn Shoshana Jedwab

AM111 Creative Spirit Journeys in Colorado's Beautiful Landscape

Rabbi Yitz Husbands-Hankin

ShonnaHusbands-Hankin

AM112 The Joys and Oys of Sage-ing®  Rabbi Shaya Isenberg Reb Bahira SugarmanAM113 Deep Ecology – The Torah of Oneness Dr. Michael KaganAM114 Spiritual Protection for Leaders, Teachers, Therapists,

Healers et. al. Rabbi Ruth Gan Kagan

AM115 Dreams of the Apocalypse: Oracles of the Prophet Zechariah

Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan

AM116 The Art of the Hazzan: Jewish Spiritual Singing Hazzan Jack KesslerAM117 Integrating (Or Not) Rabbi Dr. Jay MichaelsonAM118 Hilulah through the Four Worlds: Celebrating and

Exploring the Depths of our Souls through the Expressive Arts

Rabbi Eva Sax-Bolder R.P. Sandra Wortzel

AM119 Davvenen' through the Worlds: A Master Class in Making Prayer Come Alive

Rabbi Marcia Prager Rabbi Shawn Zevit

AM120 Awakening to the Divine Presence through Contemplative Practice

Rabbi Jeff Roth

AM121 Book of Exodus Peak Experiences: From Inner Slavery to Personal & Communal Freedom – Experiential Class

Steve Schechter Rhonda Mason

AM122 Big Sky Judaism: The Everyday Beliefs of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z"l

Joel Segel

AM 123 Celebrating Hanukah with B’ney Yisaskhar Rabbi Steven Silvern Rabbi Bob Freedman

Classes run daily from 9:00AM - 11:30AM, Tuesday – Friday

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MORNING WORKSHOPSWeekday Workshop

NumberWorkshop Title Teacher

Tues AMWS201 Visions in the Night: Judaism and Dreams Rabbi Avruhm Addison

Tues AMWS202 Embracing Diversity Within: The End of the Intermarriage Debate and the New Era of Creative Jewish Adaptation

Rabbi Ari Moffic

Tues AMWS203 The Mystical Teachings of the Hebrew Letters and YOU Richard SeidmanTues AMWS204 Joyful Entrances to Jewish Parenting: Designing a Family Plan

to Deepen an Integrated Jewish LifeElissa Weindling

Wed AMWS205 Ecu-Drama: Performing Your Faith Journey in Community Binah BlockWed AMWS206 Healing Ancestral Wounds Joalie DavieWed AMWS207 Enhance Your Spirituality –

By Participating In Tahara of the DeceasedHal Miller-Jacobs

Wed AMWS208 Uncovering the Dark Side: Jewish Demonology Through the Ages

Rabbi Ben Newman

Thurs AMWS209 Spiritual Practices to Support Activism Rachel BrownThurs AMWS210 New Paradigms of Love and Relating: A Kabbalistically

Informed PerspectiveAlice Frank

Thurs AMWS211 Mending Hearts, Making Peace Cantor Lisa LevineThurs AMWS212 The Nachas of Grandparenting: Creating Your Legacy Minalee Saks

Dr. Laurie SanfordDr. Alice Wahl Lachman

Fri AMWS213 Sex in Pirke Avot Rabbi Dennis Beck-BermanFri AMWS214 Overlapping Worlds of Moshe Feldenkrais and Reb Zalman

Schachter-ShalomiRabbi Ya'acov GabrielPaulette Vida Dolin

Fri AMWS215 Happy Jews: Judaism Through the Looking Glass of Positive Psychology

Rabbi Shoshana Mitrani Knapp

Fri AMWS216 Shekhinah's Healing Hands Robert Skeist

Workshops run daily from 9:00AM - 11:30AM, Tuesday – FridayChoose one per day, only if you are not taking a 4-day Morning Class.

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4-DAY AFTERNOON CLASSESClass Number

Class Title Teacher Co-Teacher

PM301 Turn it and Turn it (The Midrashic Process) Rabbi Rachel BarenblatPM302 Turning The Key: Tzelem Elohim (God’s Likeness) as A

Lens To Explore So-Called “Disabilities” – and What True Inclusion Might Mean

Rabbi Sami Barth Yishai Barth

PM303 Demonizing the Divine, Divinizing the Demonic: Kabbalistic Encounters with the “Other Side” of the Soul, the Cosmos, and the Divine

Nathaniel Berman

PM304 Hearing Shofar: The Still Small Voice of the Ram's Horn Michael Chusid Paco KahnPM305 Kallah Klezmer Orkestar: Makhn Freylekhs Beth CohenPM306 Learning and Teaching the Art of Prayer Rabbi Mike CominsPM307 Deepening our Meditation Practices Rabbi David Cooper Shoshana CooperPM308 Five Easy Ways to Get Over Your Fear of Bikur Cholim! R.P. Shulamit Kate FaganPM309 Teshuvah in the Aquarian Age Seth FishmanPM310 Altars, Dreams, Chants, and Journeys: Ancient Hebrew

Practices for Post-ModernsRabbi Jill Hammer Taya Shere

Shoshana JedwabPM311 An Afternoon In The Garden Rabbinic Pastor Eve IlsenPM312 Dreams Inbetween Rodger Kamenetz Keren Vishny PM313 Torah as a Guide to Global Healing and Transformation:

A Liberation Theology Reading of Our Holy TextRabbi Michael Lerner

PM314 The Rav Kook Revolution - The Path To Personal and Planetary Bliss and Enlightenment

Rabbi Itzchak Marmorstein

PM315 The Politics of Power in the Book of Genesis Rabbi Vivie MayerPM316 Introduction to Sociocracy: Become More Effective –

and Joyful – TogetherSheella Mierson

PM317 From Womb To Tomb To The World Beyond:  The Life Journey of the Soul through Birth, Death, Afterlife and Reincarnation in Kabbalah and Midrash

R.P. Simcha Raphael

PM318 Body As Beloved: Union Rachael ReschPM319 Creating Our Soul Thoughts via Judaic Artmaking Jackie OlenickPM320 Midrash Into Theology Into Ethics: Nurturing An

Abundant WorldRabbi David Seidenberg

PM321 Educating for Spirituality – Summer Institute Rabbi Lori Shaller Rabbi Rain Zohav

PM322 God is in This Place, and Now I Know: Tools for Jewish Spiritual Guidance

Rabbi Shohama Wiener

PM323 Roots and Branches: The Jewish Roots of Christianity Rabbi David Zaslow

Classes run daily from 3:00PM-5:30PM, Tuesday – Thursday; 1:30PM-3:15PM, Friday

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AFTERNOON WORKSHOPSWeekday Workshop

NumberWorkshop Title Teacher

Tues PMWS401 Life on the Shady Side of the Street R.P. David Daniel KlipperTues PMWS402 Black Fire On White Fire: Chanting Torah by Reading Aloud Both

the Black (Hebrew Letters) and the White (English "Translation")Matt Levitt

Tues PMWS403 Beyond Pink and Blue: How Spiritual Communities Can Support Families Raising Gender Non-Conforming Children

Rabbi Ari Moffic

Tues PMWS404 Holy Storytelling: The Art of the Maggid From the Inside Out Debra ZaslowWed PMWS405 For the Sake of Unification (L'Shem Yichud) –Embodied Judaism Simona AronowWed PMWS406 Technology in Spiritual Practice: Reflections on Shefa's iPhone

App, and Future ProjectsAndrew AshRabbi Shefa Gold

Wed PMWS407 The Drum of our DNA and Redemption (think Miriam!) – Doumbek & Jewish Music

Alan Scott Bachman

Wed PMWS408 Transformational Transactional Torah: An Integrative Approach to Dealing with the Challenges Torah Poses

Terry Gips

Thurs PMWS409 Jewish Sustainability Teachings and the Natural Step Framework: Save Money, Time, Health and the Earth While Greening Your Home, Workplace, Synagogue and Community

Terry Gips

Thurs PMWS410 Baseball Kabbalah Reuven GoldfarbThurs PMWS411 Shleimut: Moving Toward Inner Peace Amy Grossblatt PessahThurs PMWS412 Shofars, Cymbals and Singing Bowls. Sound Healing Jewish Style Toni WhitmontFri PMWS413 Your Portion in the Torah Reuven Goldfarb

Fri PMWS414 Jews Working Together with the NAACP Rabbi Fred GuttmanFri PMWS415 Having a Viable Conception of God in an Insane World R.P. David Daniel KlipperFri PMWS416 Offerings: Bread Emily Stern

Workshops run daily 3:00PM-5:30PM, Tuesday – Thursday; 1:30PM-3:15PM, FridayChoose one per day, only if you are not taking a 4-day Afternoon Class.

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CLASS TITLE PRESENTER(S) AM PMARTS & RITUALKallah Klezmer Orkestar: Makhn Freylekhs Beth Cohen ✓

Hilulah through the Four Worlds: Celebrating and Exploring the Depths of our Souls through the Expressive Arts

Eva Sax-Bolder & Sandra Wortzel

✓

Altars, Dreams, Chants, and Journeys: Ancient Hebrew Practices for Post-Moderns

Rabbi Jill Hammer & Taya Shere & Shoshana Jedwab

✓

Creating Our Soul Thoughts via Judaic Artmaking Jackie Olenick ✓

Celebrating Life-Times: Putting New Life into Old Markers & Communal Affirmation into Our Own Sacred Moments

Phyllis Berman & Arthur Waskow

✓

Hearing Shofar: The Still Small Voice of the Ram's Horn Michael Chusid & Paco Kahn ✓

MYSTICISMDemonizing the Divine, Divinizing the Demonic: Kabbalistic Encounters with the “Other Side” of the Soul, the Cosmos, and the Divine

Nathaniel Berman ✓

Delving into the Mysteries of the Zohar Lavey Derby ✓

The Rav Kook Revolution -The Path To Personal and Planetary Bliss and Enlightenment

Itzchak Marmorstein ✓

From Womb to Tomb to the World Beyond: The Life Journey of the Soul through Birth, Death, Afterlife and Reincarnation in Kabbalah and Midrash

Simcha Raphael ✓

FAMILY, COMMUNITY & IDENTITYThe Joys and Oys of Sage-ing®.  Rabbi Shaya Isenberg & Reb

Bahira Sugarman – ALEPH Sage-ing® Program

✓

Jewish Ancestral Healing Rabbi Tirzah Firestone ✓

Turning The Key: Tzelem Elohim (God’s Likeness) As A Lens To Explore So-Called “Disabilities” – And What True Inclusion Might Mean

Sami & Yishai Barth ✓

Roots and Branches: The Jewish Roots of Christianity David Zaslow ✓

We Are the Stories We Tell Renee Brachfeld ✓

Integrating (or Not) Rabbi Dr. Jay Michaelson ✓

Spiritual Protection for Leaders, Teachers, Therapists, Healers et. al. Ruth Gan Kagan ✓

Introduction to Sociocracy: Become More Effective – and Joyful – Together

Sheella Mierson ✓

An Afternoon in the Garden Eve Ilsen ✓

COURSES BY TRACK

continued on next page

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CLASS TITLE PRESENTER(S) AM PMSPIRITUALITY & SPIRITUAL PRACTICEThe Power and Purpose of Ecstatic Practice Rabbi Shefa Gold – C-DEEP ✓

God is in This Place, and Now I Know: Tools for Jewish Spiritual Guidance

Rabbi Shohama Wiener ✓

Serving in Joy: Embodying the Path of the Ba’al Shem Tov Rabbi Diane Elliot – Embodying Spirit, En-spiriting Body

✓

The Quest for Nondual Consciousness in Jewish Body-based Practice

Rabbi Andrew Hahn & Shoshana Jedwab

✓

Body As Beloved: Union Rachael Resch ✓

Dreams Inbetween Rodger Kamenetz ✓

Educating for Spirituality – Summer Institute Rabbi Lori Shaller & Rabbi Rain Zohav - EfS

✓

PRAYER & LITURGYDavvenen' Through the Worlds: A Master Class in Making Prayer Come Alive

Rabbi Marcia Prager & Rabbi Shawn Zevit

✓

Five Easy Ways to Get Over Your Fear of Bikur Cholim! Shulamit Kate Fagan ✓

Learning and Teaching the Art of Prayer Mike Comins ✓

Deepening our meditation practices David & Shoshana Cooper ✓

Awakening to the Divine Presence Through Contemplative Practice

Jeff Roth ✓

Teshuvah in the Aquarian Age Seth Fishman ✓

The Art of the Hazzan: Jewish Spiritual Singing Hazzan Jack Kessler ✓

DEEP ECOLOGYCreative Spirit Journeys In Colorado's Beautiful Landscape Yitz & Shonna

Husbands-Hankin✓

Deep Ecology – The Torah of Oneness Michael Kagan ✓

Aish Kodesh - Encountering Judaism's Sacred Fire Zelig Golden & Shir Yaakov Feit ✓

COURSES BY TRACK

continued on next page

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CLASS TITLE PRESENTER(S) AM PMTEXT & CREATIVE MIDRASHCultivating Spiritual Intimacy: The Senses as Pathways to the Divine

Rabbi Elliot K. Ginsburg ✓

Celebrating Channukah with B’ney Yisaskhar Rabbi Steven Silvern & Rabbi Bob Freedman

✓

The Politics of Power in the Book of Genesis Rabbi Vivie Mayer ✓

Midrash Into Theology Into Ethics: Nurturing An Abundant World Rabbi David Seidenberg ✓

Dreams of the Apocalypse: Oracles of the Prophet Zechariah Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan ✓

Torah as a Guide to Global Healing and Transformation: A Liberation Theology Reading of our Holy Text

Michael Lerner ✓

Turn it and Turn it (The Midrashic Process) Rachel Barenblat ✓

Book of Exodus Peak Experiences: From Inner Slavery to Personal & Communal Freedom – Experiential Class

Steve Schechter & Rhonda Mason

✓

Gender and the Non-Binary in Jewish Sacred Thought and Experience: Reading Kabbalah and Jewish textual imagery with Queer and Feminist theory

Fern Feldman & Karen Barad ✓

Big Sky Judaism: The Everyday Beliefs of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

Joel Segel ✓

ChoirsIntergenerational Family Chorus: Always Room For More - — Gesher Tsar - Le Dor va-Dor

Fran Avni After Lunch

2016 Shir Ecstasy Kallah Jospel Choir Sharon Alexander & Steve Moos

After Lunch

Sing Your Heart Out in the Kallahrado Choir Linda Hirschhorn After Dinner

COURSES BY TRACK

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DAY MORNING WORKSHOPS DIVIDED INTO TRACKSGENERATIONS TRACK

Tuesday Embracing Diversity Within: The End of the Intermarriage Debate and the New Era of Creative Jewish Adaptation

Wednesday Healing Ancestral Wounds Thursday The Nachas of Grandparenting: Creating Your Legacy Friday Shekhinah's Healing Hands

INTEGRATION TRACKTuesday Joyful Entrances to Jewish Parenting: Designing a Family Plan to Deepen an Integrated

4Jewish LifeWednesday Ecu-Drama: Performing Your Faith Journey in Community Thursday Spiritual Practices to Support ActivismFriday Overlapping Worlds of Moshe Feldenkrais and Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

MYSTICAL TRACKTuesday The Mystical Teachings of the Hebrew Letters and YOU Wednesday Uncovering the Dark Side: Jewish Demonology Through The AgesThursday New Paradigms of Love and Relating: A Kabbalistically Informed PerspectiveFriday Sex in Pirke Avot

SPIRIT TRACKTuesday Visions in the Night: Judaism and Dreams Wednesday Enhance Your Spirituality – By Participating In Tahara of The DeceasedThursday Mending Hearts, Making Peace

Friday Happy Jews: Judaism Through the Looking Glass of Positive Psychology

MORNING WORKSHOPS BY TRACK

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DAY AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS DIVIDED INTO TRACKSSPIRIT TRACK

Tuesday Life on the Shady Side of the Street Wednesday The Drum of our DNA and Redemption (think Miriam!) – Doumbek & Jewish Music

Thursday Shleimut: Moving Toward Inner Peace Friday Having a Viable Conception of God in an Insane World

TEXT TRACKTuesday Black Fire On White Fire: Chanting Torah by Reading Aloud Both the Black (Hebrew Letters)

and the White (English "Translation") Wednesday Transformational Transactional Torah: An Integrative Approach to Dealing with the

Challenges Torah Poses

Thursday Baseball Kabbalah

Friday Your Portion in the Torah SPIRITUAL NOURISHMENT TRACK

Tuesday Holy Storytelling: The Art of the Maggid From the Inside Out

Wednesday For the Sake of Unification (L'Shem Yichud) –Embodied Judaism

Thursday Shofars, Cymbals and Singing Bowls. Sound Healing Jewish Style

Friday Offerings: Bread

TIKKUN OLAM TRACKTuesday Beyond Pink and Blue: How Spiritual Communities Can Support Families Raising Gender

Non-Conforming Children

Wednesday Technology in Spiritual Practice: Reflections on Shefa's iPhone App, and Future Projects

Thursday Jewish Sustainability Teachings and the Natural Step Framework: Save Money, Time, Health and the Earth While Greening Your Home, Workplace, Synagogue and Community

Friday Jews Working Together with the NAACP

AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS BY TRACK

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MORNING CLASSESAM101 CELEBRATING LIFE-TIMES: PUTTING NEW LIFE INTO OLD MARKERS & COMMUNAL AFFIRMATION INTO OUR OWN SACRED MOMENTS This class will assess how new life-cycle markers like Brit Bat, Bat Mitzvah, Same-sex Marriage, Ben & Bat Yovel have been absorbed into the classic Jewish life-cycle and festival cycle. How do new rituals embody the Four Worlds, focus prayer & meditation in new directions, draw on old texts for new purposes, create new songs and ritual actions/objects to embody the new? How can participants create communal ritual for unofficial sacred moments in their own lives: kids leaving home, retirement, menopause, etc? How are festivals becoming used as public-action events: e.g. the Freedom Seder, Tisha B¹Av on Capitol Hill, Hoshana Rabbah at the Hudson River. Participants in pairs will create and share proposals/blueprints either for shaping a traditional ritual to new purpose, or for celebrating moments for which there currently is not any agreed ritual, and for which they would like to have communal rituals.

Rabbi Phyllis Ocean Berman and Rabbi Arthur Ocean Waskow are co-authors of A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven: The Jewish Life-Spiral as a Spiritual Path. For 36 years Rabbi Berman directed the Riverside Language Program, and for 12 years she directed the Summer Program of the Elat Chayyim Center for Healing and Renewal. She has been resident spiritual director for the Kol Zimra trainings led by Rabbi Shefa Gold. Rabbi Waskow founded (1983) and directs The Shalom Center. In 1993, he co-founded ALEPH with Reb Zalman. Among his

many seminal works in Jewish Renewal is Seasons of Our Joy.

AM102 WE ARE THE STORIES WE TELL We are a storytelling people. Through stories we transmit heritage, share values, and introduce ourselves to each other and the world.

This class - geared towards experienced tellers and novices alike - will provide a safe and supportive atmosphere in which to explore the creative process of learning and telling stories. Using well-known (and not so well known) Jewish folktales, you will come away with increased confidence and skills to lift a story off the written page and make it your own. Rabbi Shefa Gold shared this: “My work with Renée sent me to a powerful breakthrough in my storytelling abilities. I was able to make the leap from merely telling a story in words to letting the story live inside me and pour out effortlessly, joyously, and easily.” (Warning: This class is a LOT of fun!)

Renée Brachfeld has been a professional storyteller and teacher since 1987. Together with her husband, Rabbi Mark Novak, Renee has served as Scholar in Residence at over 140 synagogues throughout North America. She has been a featured teller at The Kennedy Center, LimmudFest in England, The International Storytelling Festival in Seattle, and on NPR.

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AM103 DELVING INTO THE MYSTERIES OF THE ZOHARThe Zohar is the great compendium of Jewish mysticism, myth esoteric teaching and is one of the most important religious texts of all time. In this class we will explore the world of the sefirot – the transcendent structures that are the foundation of all reality – as we delve deeply into texts of the Zohar, which, as Daniel Matt, the great scholar of the Zohar has written we discover, are “a challenge to the normal workings of consciousness that dare to examine one’s assumptions about tradition, God and self.” Each class will open with a period of chanting and meditation and students will spend time studying in hevruta as well. It will be helpful to bring a Tanakh to class with you.

Rabbi Lavey Derby is Director of Jewish Life at the Peninsula Jewish Community Center, served on the Wexner Heritage Foundation faculty, and is a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. He is the eighth generation direct descendent of R’ Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev.

AM104 SERVING IN JOY: EMBODYING THE PATH OF THE BA’AL SHEM TOVSponsored by ALEPH Program: Embodying Spirit, En-spiriting Body

Among the core teachings of Israel ben Eliezer, Ba’al Shem Tov, the revolutionary spiritual master and founder of Hasidism, who lived in Poland from 1700-1760, is the astounding mandate to serve the Holy Oneness through joy. This teaching lies at the very heart of contemporary Jewish Renewal. What is the essence of joy? What does it feel like in the body? How can we cultivate and spread it in a world that often seems soaked in sorrow and violence? In this experiential class we’ll explore some of the Ba’al Shem Tov’s most essential teachings on joy. Moving, chanting, meditating, connecting with one another and with nature, we’ll tenderly open the channels of flow within and amongst ourselves, to expand the possibilities of joyfulness in our Jewishing and in our lives.This class is for embodied souls of all levels of movement experience. Wear loose, comfortable layers and bring socks and flexible shoes for moving indoors and out.

Rabbi Diane Elliot, based in the Bay Area, is a spiritual teacher, ritual leader, dancer and somatic therapist who inspires her students to become clearer channels for Presence through awareness and movement practices, chant, and nuanced interpretation of Jewish sacred text. She directs ALEPH’s Embodying Spirit, En-spiriting Body leadership training program. To learn more about her and her work, visit www.whollypresent.org

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AM105 GENDER AND THE NON-BINARY IN JEWISH SACRED THOUGHT AND EXPERIENCE: READING KABBALAH AND JEWISH TEXTUAL IMAGERY WITH QUEER AND FEMINIST THEORY

Trans*, queer and feminist studies have raised awareness that gender is not a binary system. Binaries of all sorts are reified in much popular imagery. The male is imagined as giver, the female as receiver, in an intra-divine heterosexual coupling. But Jewish mysticism contains diverse images for the divine interplay that go beyond the stereotypical missionary position. We will read Tanakh, Midrash, Zohar, and Lurianic Kabbalah, the writings of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l, and other modern Jewish thinkers, along with Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity, Karen Barad’s theory of agential realism, and quantum physicist Niels Bohr’s concept of indeterminacy. We will explore queer and genderqueer imagery in Jewish text, examining how aspects of identity, and of divine flow, shift gender, gender role, and orientation in a rich multivalent interplay to create life, nourish and transform the world. We will also explore these endlessly shifting dynamics in our own lives.

Rabbi Fern Feldman is a freelance rabbi, scholar, spiritual director, and nurse practitioner. She also has a degree in French Literature. Her interests include exploring the sacred dark in Jewish tradition, gender queer imagery in Kabbalah, and non-dual approaches to the ongoing mystical processes of creation. Her website is www.rabbifernfeldman.com

Karen Barad is Professor of Feminist Studies, Philosophy, and History of Consciousness at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Barad is the author of Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning, and numerous articles in physics, philosophy, and feminist, queer, and trans theories.

AM106 JEWISH ANCESTRAL HEALINGTraumatic wounds don’t simply disappear over time. The difficult circumstances that our ancestors endured over generations ripple across time, often causing painful patterns that become stuck in the unconscious field of our family, affecting us and our children. We can alleviate these traumas and dissolve their negative influences by facing and honoring our ancestors and deceased family members. When we restore our avot v’imahot to their rightful roles as those who bless and guide our lives from beyond, the family body is healed and energy flows again. Ritual, Hebrew chant, and family constellation work compose the elements of this class.

Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, Ph.D., is a Jungian psychotherapist, author, and Rabbi Emerita of Congregation Nevei Kodesh in Boulder. She was ordained by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l in 1992. Her publications include With Roots in Heaven, The Receiving, The Woman’s Kabbalah, and a forthcoming book: Trauma and the Jewish Soul.

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AM107 THE SENSES AS PATHWAYS TO THE DIVINE (Mi-besari ehezeh eloha) Sponsored by the ALEPH Ordination Program

What happens when we behold the face of a beloved? When we glimpse the divine in an enemy? What happens as we breathe and feel ourselves being breathed by the divine? Or when we cradle the Torah: what unfolds in that touching and being touched? In this course we will explore how the sensorium—and our neuro-sensory imagination—serve as gateway to and metaphor for spiritual practice, and the embodied cultivation of joy.Drawing on Jewish mystical and midrashic-rabbinic sources, as well as cross-cultural examples, we’ll spend each day exploring a particular sense modality. In the final session, we will activate the synesthetic imagination, weaving together the senses as we prepare to joyously enter Shabbat. This class will combine close text study, hevruta learning, niggun, and spiritual practices that engage and modulate the senses, so that we might, in Job’s words, “encounter the divine from our very flesh.”

Open to intermediate to advanced level learners.

This class meets for 3 hours each day and can be taken for one unit of ALEPH Ordination Program (AOP) credit, with additional fee, post-Kallah video-conference sessions, and final assignment. AOP students must indicate that choice in their registrations.

NOTE: This Kallah class is open to everyone. If you are not an AOP student but interested in participating in the additional sessions, please contact the ALEPH office at (215) 247-9700 x21.

Rabbi Elliot Ginsburg is professor of Jewish Thought and Mysticism at the University of Michigan, rabbi of the Pardes Hannah minyan, and a member of the ALEPH Ordination Program VAAD, the author of studies on Jewish mysticism, the kabbalistic Shabbat, and spiritual practice, R’ Elliot seeks to combine intellectual engagement with a devotional stance.

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AM108 THE POWER AND PURPOSE OF ECSTATIC PRACTICESponsored by ALEPH Program: C-DEEP/Kol Zimra

The experience of ecstasy fulfills a basic human need for the expansion of consciousness beyond the bounds of cultural conditioning. Ecstatic practice, when engaged in responsibly, purposefully, methodically, and with a heightened awareness, can give us valuable glimpses into the truth of Unity Consciousness. What makes true ecstatic practice different than “getting high" is that, through awareness, the impact of our practice can be integrated into the fabric of our lives. Our practice can be infused with the question: How do I live in the light of this truth that I have glimpsed? Through experience, reflection, and inquiry, we will explore the power and purpose of ecstatic practice, both its dangers and gifts, and its role in our journey of transformation.

Rabbi Shefa Gold is a leader in ALEPH and received her ordination both from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z’l. She is the director of C-DEEP, The Center for Devotional, Energy and Ecstatic Practice in Jemez Springs, New Mexico. She teaches workshops and retreats on the theory and art of Chanting, Devotional Healing, Spiritual Community-Building and Meditation.

AM109 AISH KODESH - ENCOUNTERING JUDAISM’S SACRED FIREOur Hebrew ancestors continuously tended a Temple altar fire for centuries; the Torah is written in black and white fire; Nadav and Avihu are extinguished by their strange fire; We are lead out of Egypt by a pillar of fire. Fire is central to ceremonies across all cultures. Join Zelig and Shir Yaakov to encounter and rediscover our ancient and living relationship to fire through a 4-worlds journey that includes building and tending a real fire, primary text study illuminating ancient fire connections, deep sharing in council, and music and ceremony around this. Come prepared for a direct encounter outdoors with fire, ancient text, each other, and the Living Spirit.

Maggid Zelig Golden is the Wilderness Torah Founding Director. Zelig’s vision for a thriving, earth-based Jewish tradition developed out of a lifetime of nature connection, Jewish leadership, and commitment to environmental advocacy. Zelig invokes mentorship, facilitation, and ceremonial tools to guide an annual cycle of land-based festivals, nature-based rites of passage, and mentorship for emerging young leaders.

Shir Yaakov Feit engages Jewish, multi-faith, and non-affiliated people around the world, building spiritual communities, facilitating and inspiring communal music, and helping people connect with their inner wisdom and truth. He works in formal and informal educational settings as a spiritual leader, teacher, and musician. Shir Yaakov has recorded and released four albums of original music and performs with The Epichorus and Darshan.

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AM110 THE QUEST FOR NONDUAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN JEWISH BODY-BASED PRACTICE As long as we find ourselves in these bodies, we apparently exist in a state of separation and duality: Life and death; health and sickness; you there, me here. Yet we hear it all the time, ein od milvado: All is One, God is all there is. And, in fact, it is at the pinnacle of every spiritual tradition’s practice that we can discover an ability to transcend separation, to get glimpses of the Unity of all things, while still here. In this weeklong course, we will chant deeply, meditate, move our bodies and learn from indigenous, Jewish nondual teachings, all with the goal of basking in the Nondual perspective. The take-away: You will return home with simple, repeatable exercises which you can easily apply to your ongoing spiritual work. Culminates in a community-wide, evening Kirtan.

Rabbi Andrew Hahn, Ph.D., is known as both the Kirtan Rabbi and — depending upon which phone booth he exits — also as the Tai Chi Rabbi. He has pioneered Kirtan in the Jewish world, criss-crossing the country to offer communal call-and-response chant concerts and meditation seminars. Rabbi Hahn earned a Ph.D. from the Jewish Theological Seminary and holds ordination from HUC-JIR. KirtanRabbi.com

Shoshana Jedwab is an award-winning Jewish educator, hand drummer and emerging singer-songwriter. She is the A.J. Heschel Middle School Jewish Life Coordinator and a founding faculty member of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute. Shoshana Jedwab drums for Romemu and Kirtan Rabbi and leads the JCC Drum Circle. Check out: http://shoshanajedwab.bandcamp.com/ and shoshanajedwab.com

AM111 CREATIVE SPIRIT JOURNEYS IN COLORADO’S BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE There will be a $45 travel fee assessed per person. Please note, this course is limited to the first 20 participants who register.

Within each person lives a wondrous creative seed, joined at its source to the Creator of All. Our course will awaken this inner treasure of creativity, as we journey to magnificent sites in Colorado’s wilderness. Stirred by the awe of nature, we will reflect her beauty through our music, meditation, words and art.

Jewish text, prayers and song, as well as indigenous wisdom teachings, will usher us on daily spiritual outings. This gentle hiking and creativity class will open you to experience the awesome beauty of Colorado’s mountains, sky and rivers, and inspire your creative responses. You will go home with a deeper knowing of your creative capabilities, and a journal filled with memories of your soul journey in nature.

Morning half-day field trips will depart at 8:30 with boxed lunches, returning before afternoon classes. We will visit places of great natural beauty, and witness the power and fragility of the natural world, deepening our sense of responsibility for her caretaking.

Rabbi Yitz and Shonna Husbands-Hankin are an accomplished musician and artist team who offer a shared approach to their mystical sense of creativity. Oregonians, they love to walk the sacred paths of ancient forests and sing with the flowing streams. Shonna is a Judaic artist, Spiritual Director, Eshet Chazon (Woman of Vision) and community organizer. R’ Yitz is a musician, composer, hazzan, cellist and guitarist. They offer classes, workshops and parlor concerts to open the heart and stir the soul through music, art, storytelling, prayer and meditation. www.wingsofshechinah.com and www.treasureeachday.com

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AM112 THE JOYS AND OYS OF SAGE-ING®. Sponsored by ALEPH Program: Sage-ing® Mentorship

There will be a materials fee of $20 per person.

Join us as we work with Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l paradigm-shifting vision of growing up as we grow older. Passing through the gateway from “age-ing” to “sage-ing,” we learn to turn our life’s oys into joys. Harvesting the wisdom of our life experience, we learn to face our mortality, repair our relationships, develop a regenerative spirit, and take an active leadership role in society.

Our transformative Sage-ing® Tools are rooted in Jewish practices and draw on the wisdom of other traditions, and transpersonal and integral teachers and therapists. We invite people of all ages who want to live their sage-ing as a spiritual practice.

This course may serve as Part One of the ALEPH Sage-ing® Mentorship Program.

Rabbi Shaya Isenberg and Reb Bahira Sugarman have been leading life transforming Sage-ing® Workshops for almost 3 decades. They are co-founders and co-directors of the ALEPH Sage-ing® Mentorship Program and have been celebrated as pioneers in the international Sage-ing® movement. R’ Shaya serves on the faculty of the ALEPH Ordination Program and as a faculty Mashpia (Spiritual Director). Reb Bahira, Reiki Master, Spiritual Guide and celebrated as an Eshet Hazon (Woman of Vision), is known for her transpersonal healing work.

AM113 DEEP ECOLOGY – THE TORAH OF ONENESS “The organs of the body argue about which was most important. They are forced to agree that it’s the ass-hole.” So in the world that we live, which aspect of creation is most important? Deep ecology postulates that humans are no more or less significant than any other life form. A normative Torah view has Adam as the pinnacle of creation and that the entire creation is for human use. But is such a utilitarian view the only one? Reb Zalman was fond of the organism model to explain our position on the planet. We will examine an alternative Torah way of being that emphasizes non-hierarchical relationships from a non-duality perspective. Alignment with self, nature, and God. We will gain a deeper meaning of what is Judaism’s role in history and its message to the world. There will be textual studies, Gaia theory, story-telling and meditative exercises.

Dr. Michael Kagan has been teaching holistic Judaism for over twenty years. He is the author of The Holistic Haggadah. He edited Reb Zalman’s collection of sacred Jewish poetry All Breathing Life. His holistic approach to the cycle of the Jewish year is highlighted in the film Seasons of the Soul. He recently published God’s Prayer, which is a call from the Creator to mend our ecological ways. He is also a film-maker and Israeli hi-tech inventor and entrepreneur.

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AM114 SPIRITUAL PROTECTION FOR LEADERS, TEACHERS, THERAPISTS, HEALERS ET AL. How do we stay safe during intense spiritual relationships? How can we dare be on the cutting edge if we are concerned about staying safe? What does the learning of Torah have to do with Eros, and what are we supposed to do about that? How do I foster sacred leadership? What do I need to concern myself with when I become a disciple or a teacher? And how do we deal with spiritual attacks? In this class I will share with you essential practices for the spiritual practitioner that I have been taught by my rebbes and teachers, and that are my constant companions. These tools are all rooted in Jewish sources and oral transmissions, as well as being cross-pollinated by other wisdom traditions. Some of the issues we will touch upon are: doubt & self-doubt, charisma, the love and fire of Torah, boundaries, people-pleasing, surrender, and joy. Come ready to pray, play and be honest.

Rabbi Ruth Gan Kagan is the spiritual leader of Nava Tehila Jerusalem, where she co-creates music for ecstatic prayer. She co- authored, with Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z'l the book Kirvat Elohim, teaches internationally and mentors as a spiritual director rabbis, rabbinical students and seekers from all denominations. She received her smicha from ALEPH. www.NavaTehila.org

AM115 DREAMS OF THE APOCALYPSE: ORACLES OF THE PROPHET ZECHARIAHSponsored by the ALEPH Ordination Program

Zechariah’s prophetic dreams, night visions and universal messianic hopes have challenged even the most learned commentators. Class discussion of dreams about the divine, radical universalism, apocalyptic visions, and war and peace will open us to his ideas. Teachings of critical scholars will help us understand historical events that upset and inspired him. Writings of rabbinic commentators will show us how to integrate his visions with other Jewish teachings. Finally, we will let Zechariah’s words guide us in our search for personal and collective transformation and renewal, as we take some time to explore them through personalized learning modalities, such as drama, freewriting, arts and crafts, and music. Hebrew is helpful, but not required.

Open to intermediate to advanced level learners.

This class meets for 3 hours each day and can be taken for one unit of ALEPH Ordination Program (AOP) credit, with additional fee, post-Kallah video-conference sessions, and final assignment. AOP students must indicate that choice in their registrations.

NOTE: This Kallah class is open to everyone. If you are not an AOP student but interested in participating in the additional sessions, please contact the ALEPH office at (215) 247-9700 x21.

Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan a member of the ALEPH Ordination Program VAAD, is Director of Inter-religious Studies at the Vancouver School of Theology; Rabbi Emerita of Or Shalom Synagogue, Vancouver; and Professor Emerita of Philosophy at UNC Charlotte. Rabbi Laura, an award-winning educator, is also, mother of young adults, blogger and musical partner to her spouse Charles. sophiastreet.com

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AM116 THE ART OF THE HAZZAN: JEWISH SPIRITUAL SINGINGSponsored by the ALEPH Ordination Program

A hazzan (cantor) is much more than a performer of music. We are artists, healers, and teachers. Our tools are the liturgy, the musical tradition, our voices, our imaginations, and our souls. Come explore the high art of the hazzan. Employing traditional nusach – the musical language of prayer –we’ll allow our voices to open to the Divine in new ways. This ‘master-class’ style course blends group singing with individualized coaching. Whether you are an advanced singer or someone hoping to lead song and prayer with greater vocal clarity, this course offers the coaching and skill-building you seek.

Hazzan Jack Kessler one of the most innovative Jewish musicians of our time, directs the ALEPH Cantorial Program, teaching Jewish song as a spiritual process. He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and received a Master’s degree in voice from Boston Conservatory. Jack directs Atzilut: Concerts for Peace (Arab and Jewish musicians together) and Klingon Klezmer (intergalactic Jewish music).

AM117 INTEGRATING (or NOT) Most of us move in many worlds; we may be mom, lawyer, meditator, wine aficionado, lover – all in the same day. Is it worth trying to integrate these different selves we wear, or just swim in the contradictions? This week, we’ll engage in eight distinct modes of conversation – some heart-based, others political; some embodied, others intellectual. Subjects will include polytheism and nonduality, Kim Davis and the “religious exemptions” campaign, the history of mindfulness, heretical Frankist texts, the spiritual practice of ‘authentic movement’, 20thcentury queer poetry, and the gifts of sadness. The goal? To surf these waves with both ever-present luminous awareness and full-on immersion in different ways of being. We will create new synergies together -- or at least enjoy a rich and varied buffet.

Rabbi Dr. Jay Michaelson: columnist for Daily Beast and Forward. Author of six books, including The Gate of Tears: Sadness and the Spiritual Path. Ph.D., Hebrew University; JD, Yale; smicha from Rabbi David Cooper. Teaches at Chicago Theological Seminary, jhana meditation in Theravadan Buddhist lineage, and at Elat Chayyim Meditation Retreat.

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AM118 HILULAH THROUGH THE FOUR WORLDS: CELEBRATING AND EXPLORING THE DEPTHS OF OUR SOULS THROUGH THE EXPRESSIVE ARTSThere will be an art supply fee of $18 per person.

Expressive Arts exploration has the power to take us from everyday reality through challenging thresholds into the liminal space of our souls and back out again. We will weave the essence of the Four Worlds through each day using various arts modalities, exploring joy and lament, where they meet and intersect. We will be nourished and inspired by one another through experiential play and spontaneous art-making. The depth and essence of who we are as spiritual beings will be plumbed through contemplative practices, movement, visual art, sound, writing and collective creativity. Be prepared to indulge in both irreverent and holy play with your whole selves in a safe communal context.

Rabbi Eva Sax-Bolder designs transformative learning and ritual opportunities providing spiritual seekers with joyful and creative approaches to Judaism by integrating the expressive arts into her rabbinate. She is certified as a spiritual director, Kol Zimra chant leader, and teacher of Jewish Mindfulness Meditation, Wise Eldering and Jewish Yoga.

Rabbinic Pastor & Mashpi’ah Ruchanit Sandra Wortzel enjoys integrating the things she knows and loves: Expressive Arts, Jewish Renewal, Hashpa’ah, and soul-evolving experiences through art-making. She encourages others to express their spirituality and yearnings through arts exploration in spiritual direction, creative ceremonies, workshops & retreats uniting spirituality, arts and nature.

AM119 DAVVENEN’ THROUGH THE WORLDS: A MASTER CLASS IN MAKING PRAYER COME ALIVESponsored by the ALEPH Ordination Program

Join an adventure in Jewish prayer leadership: a taste of “DLTI,” the acclaimed two-year training program in the high art of Jewish prayer. Our class becomes a living laboratory for you to discover the deep structure of prayer and a range of leadership styles that that tap the potential of your own personal presence. Learn to use voice, body and gesture with comfort; to let melody create mood; and to shape phrasing so that your teaching also becomes prayer. Come explore how the practice of Jewish communal prayer can activate the body, touch the heart, engage the mind and nourish spiritual growth.

Rabbi Marcia Prager, is Director and Dean of the ALEPH Ordination Program, and rabbi of the P’nai Or Jewish Renewal Congregation of Philadelphia PA. She is the author of The Path of Blessing and creator of the P’nai Or Siddurim for Shabbat, the new P’nai Or Rosh HaShanah Machzor, and other innovative approaches to prayer and liturgy. She and R’ Shawn Zevit are the founding co-directors of the Davvenen’ Leadership Training Institute (DLTI).

Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit is the rabbi of Mishkan Shalom, in Philadelphia, PA. A member of the ALEPH Ordination Program VAAD, he is co-founder of the Davennen’ Leadership Training Institute, Associate Director for the ALEPH Hashpa’ah Training, recording and performing artist, a founder of www.jewishmensretreat.org; co-editor of “Brother Keepers: New Perspectives in Jewish Masculinity”; and author of “Offerings of the Heart: Money and Values in Faith Community”.

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AM120 AWAKENING TO THE DIVINE PRESENCE THROUGH CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICEOne of the biggest obstacles to a compassionate heart and direct experience of the Divine Presence is naiveté about the workings of our minds. This can result in a small sense of self whose functioning is protective, greedy and aggressive. Through Jewish meditation practices of loving attention, to the truth of each moment, wisdom and clarity arises. This allows an opening of the heart and propels us into acting with more kindness. Participants will have ample time to experience the various core practices of this approach. These include meditating on bodily sensations, recognizing and working with emotional states, and a blessing practice that directly cultivates a loving state of heart/mind.Awakening to the Divine Presence through Contemplative Practice. Class will be a mix of practice, teaching and discussion.

Rabbi Jeff Roth, D.Min., M.S.W., founder and Director of The Awakened Heart Project for Contemplative Judaism, has led 160 meditation retreats. The co-founder of Elat Chayyim, he was ordained by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and is currently on the staff of the Jewish Mindfulness Teacher Training Program.

AM121 BOOK OF EXODUS PEAK EXPERIENCES: FROM INNER SLAVERY TO PERSONAL & COMMUNAL FREEDOM – EXPERIENTIAL CLASSThere will be a $22 travel fee assessed per person. Please note, this course is limited to the first 20 participants who register.

In this class we embody the transformative stories of Exodus. Every Pesach we are commanded to re-member the communal liberation story of Exodus. Following the tradition of the Baal Shem Tov, we walk on nearby trails to hear our inner prophet(ess). We begin the journey with a reading from Exodus followed by sharing to enrich our insights. We deepen and embody these insights through group and “soul-o” meditations, chanting, movement, and journaling. By “re-membering,” we integrate our body, mind and spirit becoming more whole (holy).

Daily walks make this story of Exodus our healing journey by experiencing and internalizing the burning bush–(Ha-Shem), confronting our inner pharaohs, leaving our narrow places and, with faith, crossing the sea (our blocks) to receive (embrace) our personal “torah.” As we journey to the promised land we create a healing story for ourselves and our families, renew our lineage and create “sanctuary” for our joyful community.

Rhonda Mason MSW, LCSW has been working in private practice for 30 years. She uses techniques including hypnosis, energy psychology and Soul Memory Discovery. As lay leader of Shir ha Yam she leads Shabbat meditation and services and has facilitated experiential workshops at Kallah and at Ruach Ha Aretz.

Steve Schechter N.P., H.H.P. is an internationally respected naturopath, holistic health practitioner, consultant, instructor, and best-selling author. He founded and directs the Natural Healing Institute a state-licensed college and clinic of Naturopathy in Encinitas, CA providing 18 Distance Learning and Residential Programs for License and Certification. He teaches many different classes including: generating mystical experiences and re-discovering awe in nature. Steve has long been involved in

Jewish mysticism and Renewal.

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AM122 BIG-SKY JUDAISM: THE EVERYDAY BELIEFS OF RABBI ZALMAN SCHACHTER-SHALOMIRabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l (1924–2014) was one of the most creative and fascinating religious thinkers of our time. Brought up a deeply observant hasid, Reb Zalman came to believe that we as Jews needed to listen to the future as well as honor the past. What deep questions do Jews and Judaism face today? What Torah is broadcasting from Sinai now? What will those insights mean for us, as individuals and as a faith?

This class will explore some of the foundation stones of Reb Zalman’s unique accomplishment: leading a movement that modernized a religion without sacrificing its depth and mystery. Each class will immerse us in different topics, from planetary strife to daily life. We’ll unpack metaphors and stories that Reb Zalman used in updating a Torah of today and imagining a Torah of tomorrow. As Reb Zalman recommended, we’ll seek a many-layered understanding through conversation, text, song, contemplation, and prayer.

Joel Segel is co-author, with Reb Zalman, of Jewish with Feeling: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Practice (Best Religion Books 2005, Publishers Weekly) and Davening: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Prayer (National Jewish Book Award). He is a former editor at Shambhala Publications, which publishes books on many faith traditions.

AM123 CELEBRATING HANUKAH WITH B’NEI YISASKHARSponsored by the ALEPH Ordination ProgramVav – yud – heh- heh is the form of the divine name assigned to the month of Kislev, the month of Hanukah. They are also the first letters of words in the Torah’s story of the burial of father Ya-akov, which, according to the Kabbalah, happened on the first day of Hanukah. So begins the investigation of Kislev by Ts’vi Elimelech Shapira of Dinov in his sefer, B’nei Yisas-khar. The tribe of Yisas-khar knew the mystical roots of times and seasons and how Israel could conform to those deep spiritual chronologies. From Talmud, Midrash, Kabbalah, and Gematria, Harav Ts’vi Elimelech weaves a fascinating, complex, and continually surprising exploration of the history, halakhah, and liturgy of Hanukah. Our selections, taught in Hebrew with English translation, will illuminate what you know about the Festival of Lights and deepen your entry into its shining message of hope in periods of darkness.

Open to intermediate to advanced level learners.

This class meets for 3 hours each day and can be taken for one unit of ALEPH Ordination Program (AOP) credit, with additional fee, post-Kallah video-conference sessions, and final assignment. AOP students must indicate that choice in their registrations.

NOTE: This Kallah class is open to everyone. If you are not an AOP student but interested in participating in the additional sessions, please contact the ALEPH office at (215) 247-9700 x21.

Rabbi Steven Silvern, professor emeritus, rabbi, author, and teacher - served on and was chair of the ALEPH board. He is Rosh Tachlis/Dean of Administration of the ALEPH Ordination Program and serves on its Academic Vaad. He is a member of OHALAH, Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal and worked for two years on the OHALAH conference planning committee.

Rabbi/Cantor Bob Freedman has rabbinic ordination from both ALEPH and the Academy for Jewish Religion. Over the past thirty years he has actively served ALEPH, teaching at Elat Chayyim and Kallot, and conducting courses in Hasidut and Classical Hebrew for the ALEPH Ordination Program.

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MORNING WORKSHOPSAMWS201 THE PARDES OF DREAMS: REVELATION, SCRIPTURAL INTERPRETATION AND GROUP DREAM WORKJudaism has long believed in a connection between revelation and dreams. The Talmud asserts that dreams are 1\60th of prophecy. In turn, twentieth century scholars have demonstrated that several rabbinic techniques used to interpret Torah were actually derived from ancient dream practice.

This workshop will examine the continuing interplay between interpretation, revelation and dreams. We will study Rabbinic and Kabbalistic texts, including the prescription of a group ritual to help dreamers find healing and wholeness latent within troubling dreams. We will then model and observe a contemporary spiritual expression of this practice, Projective dream group sharing, whose steps correspond to the fourfold PaRDes method of interpreting scripture.

The Book of Job indicates that God still speaks to us through visions of the night. Together we’ll explore an accessible, yet spiritually profound method to reveal the Torah embedded in our dreams

Rabbi Howard Avruhm Addison, Director of the Jewish Spirituality DMin program at the Graduate Theological Foundation, teaches Humanities at Temple University. Avruhm, a founding teacher of the Lev Shomea Institute for training Spiritual Directors, trained in Dream Group Leadership at the Haden Institute. He conducts ongoing Dream Groups and Seminars throughout the US.

AMWS202 EMBRACING DIVERSITY WITHIN: THE END OF THE INTERMARRIAGE DEBATE AND THE NEW ERA OF CREATIVE JEWISH ADAPTATIONWe will examine how liturgy, ritual and life cycle events can be adapted and changed to celebrate our diverse community. When we go beyond the “welcome” and do the deep work of engagement, we realize that a community made up of those who are Jewish and not Jewish, those who are secular, cultural, questioning, seeking and with different faith traditions dictate that we adapt the Jewish experience to embrace, learn from and allow access to these friends. Rabbi Moffic will share practical ways this can be done and conversation will take place around adaption, retention and continuity.

Rabbi Ari Moffic was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2007. A graduate of Indiana University, she received Master’s Degrees in Jewish Education and Jewish Studies from Baltimore Hebrew University. She has a special interest in working with interfaith couples and families.

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AMWS203 THE MYSTICAL TEACHINGS OF THE HEBREW LETTERS AND YOUThe Hebrew word for letter, ot, also means “wonder” or “miracle.” This interactive workshop provides an introduction to the Jewish mystical tradition of the Hebrew letters as elements of creation. You will learn about the profound powers embodied in each of the Hebrew letters and how these wondrous letters can offer perspective and layers of possibility to consider regarding the questions we bring before them. The workshop will incorporate music, storytelling, questions and answers, and personal engagement with the letters’ role as an “oracle.” The workshop is based on Richard Seidman’s book, A New Oracle of Kabbalah: Mystical Teachings of the Hebrew Letters.

“Jewish sages teach that each letter of the Hebrew alphabet is an awesome universe. Richard Seidman gently guides readers to explore the use of these letters to open mysterious gates of wisdom hidden within each one of us.” – Rabbi David Cooper

Richard Seidman is a long-time student of Jewish mysticism, Zen Buddhism and indigenous traditions. His teachers include Rabbi Aryeh Hirschfield, Robert Aitken, and Martín Prechtel. A children’s book author and screenwriter, and a personal and business coach, Richard lives in in Ashland, Oregon, with his wife, Rachael Resch.

AMWS204 JOYFUL ENTRANCES TO JEWISH PARENTING: DESIGNING A FAMILY PLAN TO DEEPEN AN INTEGRATED JEWISH LIFEJudaism has many traditions that beautifully bring families together, however not all of them are right for every family. With this in mind, we will begin by exploring what we can learn from Jewish texts that are not typically associated with parenting. We will see how middot (character traits) can make it easier to create limits for our children. We will explore how we can elevate our families’ levels of spirituality and joy through traditions and rituals. We will look at less commonly known brachot (blessings) and create our own, helping us to find the spiritual aspects in mundane moments. Participants will begin to discern what does, and does not, work for their own families, and get ideas of how to adapt these things to work better for their particular situations.

Elissa Weindling is a Parenting and Teaching Consultant who has taught children in general, special, and Hebrew school settings. Elissa has led workshops at national education conferences and Limmud, NY, and her teaching was cited in the book, The Soul of Education. Elissa loves guiding parents toward joyful entrances to Jewish parenting.

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AMWS205 ECU-DRAMA: A GROUP THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE OF YOUR JEWISH JOURNEYThis workshop gives each participant the opportunity to play with music, movement, language, art and their own diverse stories to create for themselves and for each other the unique story of their Jewish lives. Any spiritual journey is honored in this group, although we are emphasizing our relationship with Judaism. It might be one moment in that journey. It might be a sad time or a hilarious one. It might be anything that is true about your experience.

This is a chance to “act out;” to play with exercises that will be offered, from relaxation to ‘authentic movement,’ from Shel Silverstein poems to art journaling, drumming and story telling. We will share what we have found with each other in a safe space, discovering in the process an essential experience. No acting required

Binah Block began her acting and singing career at the age of nine. She has worked in regional theaters, in New York and Los Angeles, in television and on the stage. Her commitment to the Renewal Movement started at Kallah in Albuquerque and now she looks forward to the ALEPH Hashpa’ah program starting next year.

AMWS206 HEALING ANCESTRAL WOUNDS If you have parents, grandparents or relatives who experienced or perished in the Holocaust, or escaped from their homeland, chances are you are carrying ancestral wounds. Epigenetics have shown that traumas are inherited even if PTSD is not. If at times you felt pain, vulnerability, anger, guilt, shame, depression or fear that seemed to haunt you out of nowhere, then you may be carrying traumas from your ancestors. This workshop will help you release some of those wounds and lighten your heart and soul.

Joalie Davie is a wholistic physician who uses mind body medicine to heal body and soul. Born in Egypt, her ancestral home, her family moved to the US when she was 14. Previously an emergency medical doctor and member of the clinical faculty of Harvard Medical School, she now dedicates her practice to healing body and mind through healing the soul.

AMWS207 ENHANCE YOUR SPIRITUALITY – BY PARTICIPATING IN TAHARA OF THE DECEASEDConsidered to be one of the holiest mitzvot that one can perform, Tahara, has usually been left to a select group of individuals who meet very strict religious criteria. What is Tahara? Can you participate in this Mitzvah? The Community Hevra Kadisha of Greater Boston has established a pluralistic Hevra that enables all Jewish people to learn about the beauty of Tahara, select it for their loved ones, and train and participate in this Mitzvah. If you are personally seeking enhanced spirituality, learning about Tahara and participating in this ritual in your home community is a sure-fire way of reaching a higher level of spirituality.

Hal Miller-Jacobs spent his working life making technology usable to people, as an Engineering Psychologist.  He now does this with Torah, Tefilah and Tahara (ritual washing of the deceased).  A graduate of the Davvening Training Leadership Institute, he is a co-founder of the Community Hevra Kadisha of Greater Boston.

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AMWS208 UNCOVERING THE DARK SIDE: JEWISH DEMONOLOGY THROUGH THE AGES Though not widely known, there is a rich tradition of Jewish demonology going back to the Rabbinic period. From Lillith to Ashmodai, from Samael to Baal Zevuv, demonic figures have been dancing through the Jewish imagination for ages. Join Ph.D. candidate Rabbi Ben Newman, as he leads us through the “dark side” of Jewish folklore. Our journey will take us through rabbinic texts, medieval and early modern practical kabbalah literature, folk tales, and more, as we uncover the dark side of Judaism.

Rabbi Ben Newman, along with his wife Rabbi Shoshana Leis, is the rabbi of Congregation Har Shalom in Fort Collins, CO. He enjoys reading (his favorite genre is science fiction), playing music, and writing. He is the author of The Enchanted Sukkah books one and two, and is currently working on book three.

AMWS209 SPIRITUAL PRACTICES TO SUPPORT ACTIVISMMany of us want to engage as activists, but something holds us back. We might get caught up in fear, denial, or simply feel burned out from the last time we got involved. In this workshop we’ll address common blocks that keep us from taking action and explore how our connection to the Divine can support us as we step up to the plate. Through movement and vocal exercises, chant, silence, and ritual, we’ll connect with our vision for a better world, make space for our grief, and practice turning towards joy as a community so that we can show up as our most vibrant, creative selves. Participants will leave with a mix of tools that can be used in both Jewish and secular organizing spaces.

Rachel Brown completed the Kol Zimra training program with Rabbi Shefa Gold in 2014, and has studied Theatre of the Oppressed facilitation techniques with Lisa Jo Epstein of Just Act. Rachel was instrumental in re-establishing a Philadelphia chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace in 2011, where she currently serves on the Ritual Committee.

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AMWS210 NEW PARADIGMS OF LOVE AND RELATING: A KABBALISTICALLY INFORMED PERSPECTIVEUsing the foundation of a primary teaching of Kabbalah, we will explore the maximum potential of human relationship on the planet, including how it relates to partnership. Investigating the premise that there is enough grain to feed the world 6 times over yet people are starving, we will examine Love as a similar resource on the planet and how prevalent its starvation in the forms of loneliness and suicide have become. We will get to the root of this, tracking Kabbalah’s clues. We will navigate thoughts on community and explore what partnership is for in the context of the larger society. Within partnership, what is the role of monogamy, open relationship, polyamory? This will be a talk interspersed with practical exercises, then together, an envisioning of what the newest paradigm for love might look like based on our findings.

Alice Frank is a teacher of Mystical Judaism. Founder of Shal(om) Yoga: Yoga in a Kabbalistic context. Softly obsessed with optimizing relationship, she is making the film “Open- Uniamory for All,” exploring them. Named a top creative making change in the world (Origin magazine) as poet, filmmaker and spiritual ‘actorvist.’ A teacher of communication. HeartPrintCess.com

AMWS211 MENDING HEARTS, MAKING PEACELisa’s most recent work with hand drumming and sacred chant is a spiritual journey through heart opening, healing and awakening. The practice includes Kirtan chant, call and response, guided mediation and lyrical melodies meant to sooth and inspire, mend and repair the sometimes frayed edges of our hectic lives. No drumming experience necessary, only a deep desire to hear the beat of your own heart!

Cantor Lisa Levine is a widely respected composer, author, worship & recording artist. She received her BA from UCI and went on to HUC-JIR DFSSM, where she received her Ordination in 1989. Lisa teaches & shares her prayer embodiment book “Yoga Shalom” and serves Temple Shalom, Chevy Chase, MD. www.cantorlisalevine.com

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AMWS212 THE NACHAS OF GRANDPARENTING: CREATING YOUR LEGACYAs we age, one of our most meaningful and spiritual roles can be that of grandparent. While parenting can become overwhelming, with competing priorities of work, home, and day-to-day life, grandparenting is often very different. We can bring the perspectives and riches of our life experiences to our grandchildren in a thoughtful, joyful way.

This workshop will provide a warm, supportive environment where grandparents can reflect upon and share what is most meaningful to them; the legacy they wish to give to their grandchildren based on their values, traditions, skills, and history.

Through meditation, visualization, writing, and singing niggunim, participants will envision their grandchild as they grow from infancy to adulthood and on the meaningful gifts they can contribute to the life of this child. Reflection, discussion, and artistic expression will guide participants in making symbolic hope chests, and to more fully experience the nachas of grandparenting.

Minalee Saks, MS, is a founder of Parenting Now! formerly Birth To Three in Eugene, Oregon. She has authored parenting curricula and worked in Romania, Ukraine and India to help prevent child abandonment and abuse. Her experiences as grandmother add depth, perspective and nachas to her world.

Dr. Laurie Sanford has been a psychologist since 1999. She has been ‘Jewing,’ in the tradition of Jewish Renewal, since 1980 when she first met Reb Zalman. Becoming a grandmother has sparked for Laurie, an exploration about what is the most essential part of Judaism to pass onto grandchildren.

Alice Wahl Lachman, Ph.D., is a Jewish educator. She earned her Ph.D. in Education from the University of Oregon and has taught extensively in the USA and abroad for more than 50 years. She lived in Kibbutz in Israel for 11 years, raised her 3 children in children’s houses there, and she is now blessed with 5 grandchildren, her greatest teachers.

AMWS213 SEX IN PIRKE AVOTShmuley Boteach once told me, “There is no sex in Pirke Avot.” I told him to wait a few more years for my book. But you don’t have to wait. Explore a very different version of Pirke Avot based on my forthcoming critical edition in which I recover the original texts dealing with sex. Avot’s teachings are actually a coherent series of witty, often paradoxical, epigrams which form an ethical-philosophical treatise on the spiritually transformative power of observance combined with Torah study in which a scholar becomes the embodiment of divine Torah.

Rabbi Dennis Beck-Berman Congregational Rabbi for over 23 years; Founding President of OHALAH; Instructor at University of Pennsylvania, U.S. Military Academy, and Virginia Commonwealth University; conducted Eco-Kosher workshops at ALEPH Kallah; lectured at many colleges and institutions; led religious retreats in Israel and Europe; active in interfaith organizations.

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AMWS214 OVERLAPPING WORLDS OF MOSHE FELDENKRAIS AND REB ZALMAN SCHACHTER-SHALOMITwo of the great teachers of our times had strong Hasidic roots. Moshe was a scientist, the first western judo black belt, and a childhood classmate of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. He is most known for creating a healing method of somatic education.

Reb Zalman is the grandfather of the Jewish Renewal movement, a peer of the Dalai Lama, and a mystic explorer of world religions.

They both worked to bring their wisdom into everyday life. This workshop/class will be an experiential journey of song, prayer, movement and meditation to honor these masters.

Reb Ya’acov Gabriel has written many songs for 13 Aleph Kallot. Born of the Holocaust, he has a klezmer heart and a rebbe soul. He’s taught about the mystics of Zvat; Torah and Gematria; and Bob Marley as Rebbe. He loves teaching and has been blessed to do so in Cape Town, Negril, and Kailua-Kona. He is a proud student, in the footsteps of Reb Zalman Schacter-Shalomi, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, Debbie Friedman, and Lionel Bart. He currently lives in Fort Collins with his vinyl and cd collections.

Paulette Vida Dolin graduated from her Feldenkrais training in 1998. During her training, she studied with Reb Ya’acov and reconnected with Reb Zalman’s teachings. These influences continue to inspire her practice, bringing movement into prayer, and spirituality into daily life. She was honored to work at Stanford Integrative Medicine with cancer patients, and continues to facilitate positive growth and transformation in group and private sessions. A Fort Collins resident, she loves to dance, bike around town, and laugh.

AMWS215 HAPPY JEWS: JUDAISM THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY The science of positive psychology proves that we have influence over 40% of our happiness quotient. Many of the pathways to this happiness overlap with key elements of Judaism. The values and importance of community, spiritual practice, and directing ourselves to “hakarat hatov” recognition of what’s good in our lives- aka gratitude, as well as the concept of mindset or kavannah. This workshop will introduce some key concepts in Positive Psychology and illustrate how following the pathway of our Jewish ancestors can help us be happier Jews.

Rav Shoshana Mitrani Knapp offers a heart-centered, joyful Judaism and teaches Torah which is relevant, user friendly and easily accessed. She received her rabbinic ordination from JTS and is CLAL RWB fellow, Kol Zimra Chant Leader, and recently got her certificate in Applied Positive Psychology.

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AMWS216 SHEKHINAH’S HEALING HANDSThrough story, chant, and direct experience of Shekhinah’s soothing presence, we will explore a system of meditation and hands-on healing passed down by shtetl mystics and midwives. As individuals, in dyads, and as a group, we will open our hearts to the love and light flowing from Shekhinah, sometimes described as the feminine or imminent presence of HaShem.

We will consider the healing and protective powers of the Hebrew letter Shin as expressed through a sequence of holy words and hand positions. The message: to “listen, be grateful, feel loved, protected, at peace.”

This workshop may interest those drawn to personal healing as well as those interested in adding a new dimension to their work as counselors and health care professionals. Practitioners of other approaches to energy healing may experience familiar sensations, enriched though Jewish cultural and spirituality.

Robert Skeist, RN has promoted healing by convening a conference on aging with HIV, founding Chicago Friends of Peace Now, and facilitating ties between Jews in New Jersey and Uganda. His grandmother called him Shulem and shared stories in Yiddish about shtetl healers. He teaches Reiki and Shekhinah’s Healing Hands.

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AFTERNOON CLASSESPM301 TURN IT AND TURN IT (THE MIDRASHIC PROCESS)Midrash are interpretive stories (the name comes from the Hebrew לדרוש, to interpret). Midrash speak in a multiplicity of voices as they open new facets of Torah... and diving deep into Torah is one of the most perennial “Joys of Jewishing!” In this class we’ll begin by exploring classical midrash to examine how they work, then we’ll delve into contemporary midrash (in a variety of forms: poetry, music, film), then learn the midrashic process from the inside out as we write our own midrashic texts, embroidering our voices onto the ongoing tapestry of interpretation.

Rabbi Rachel Barenblat was ordained by ALEPH as a rabbi and spiritual director. She holds an MFA in Writing & Literature from Bennington and is author of 70 faces: Torah Poems (Phoenicia, 2011), Waiting to Unfold (Phoenicia, 2013), and Open My Lips (Ben Yehuda Press, 2016). Rachel is co-chair of ALEPH.

PM302 TURNING THE KEY: TZELEM ELOHIM (GOD’S LIKENESS) AS A LENS TO EXPLORE SO-CALLED “DISABILITIES” – AND WHAT TRUE INCLUSION MIGHT MEANWe look to see the world, especially our world of Jewish Renewal as welcoming, diverse and accessible – yet challenges abound. A developing “Theory of Everyone” suggests that we are all multiply-abled, and that it is in partnership, groups and community that we achieve the greatest manifestation of our humanity – our Divine Likeness. This class will invite us all to develop a new understanding of ourselves through personal narrative and text study, using especially the lens of music and image. Through sharing our own hurts and joys we will become partners in constructing a deep vision of a community that embraces, includes and supports us all. This class is open to everyone, no background or experience with “dis/abilties” is needed; all texts will be available in English.

Rabbi Sami Barth has long taught for ALEPH, also AJR and JTS. He explores intersections of liturgy, ritual and halakhah. R’ Sami repeatedly encountered barriers that exclude people of varying abilities - leading to activism and text research about human diversity. He enjoys white-water rafting, Scottish music – and martial arts.

Yishai Barth a sophomore at U. Mass has taught widely on disabilities/inclusion. Living with cerebral palsy Yishai has a life-long engagement with accessibility, encountering beautiful welcomes and devastating exclusions. His essay “Theory of Everyone” develops an original approach. A loving follower of Reb Zalman, Yishai attended Kallah since he was 3 years old.

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PM303 DEMONIZING THE DIVINE, DIVINIZING THE DEMONIC: KABBALISTIC ENCOUNTERS WITH THE “OTHER SIDE” OF THE SOUL, THE COSMOS, AND THE DIVINE The "Sitra Ahra" the “Other Side,” is the key kabbalistic name for the demonic – the “Other Side” of the soul, the cosmos, and the divine. In kabbalistic mythology, the two “Sides” are always both inextricably linked and absolutely opposed, twins and enemies – Light and Darkness, Jacob and Esau, Shekhinah and Lilith. Concrete human experiences of Self and Other embody this metaphysical ambivalence – whether that “Other” be other individuals, genders, nations, races … or our own unconscious. Kabbalistic texts teach that engagement with our “Others” is indispensable for spiritual growth, cosmic redemption, and divine knowledge. This class seeks to bring participants closer to the “highest” experiential and intellectual planes by journeying to that “Other Side” often described as the “lowest” level – embodying the often misunderstood Hasidic dictum: “descent for the sake of ascent.” We will combine intense textual study with meditational practice. No prior background necessary.

Nathaniel Berman is a professor at Brown University’s Cogut Center for the Humanities. He teaches kabbalah in academic, religious, and undefinable settings, combining text and meditation. He is fascinated by kabbalistic ruminations on the demonic, the "Sitra Ahra". Nathaniel holds a Harvard JD and a Jewish Studies Ph.D. from UCL.

PM304 HEARING SHOFAR: THE STILL SMALL VOICE OF THE RAM’S HORNThis class requires a $40 per person materials fee.

In a noisy world, how can we hear the still small voice described by the prophets and liturgy? Shofar blew with the breath of creation and will announce messiah. Between these milestones, shofar forms a chain of tradition throughout Torah. Midrash about women in Bible, for example, deepens our ability to hear and heed the “ewe’s horn.”

Learn meditations and techniques to spiritually prepare for Days of Awe. Prepare to serve community by learning shofar kavanah and choreography for Rosh Hashanah and the mitzvah of sounding shofar for those confined at home or in institutions. Explore rituals for personal transformation, life cycle events, and holy days from Sukkot to Shavuot.

Reconnect with nature and ancestors by handcrafting your own shofar, then master an awesome tekiah gedolah. Together, we’ll devise performance pieces to share with Kallah.

Michael Chusid: Rabbi Zalman Schachtar-Shalomi, z”l, wrote: “Through his commitment to shofar, his profound teachings about its spiritual meanings, and his enthusiasm for helping others awaken and hear the voice of shofar, Michael has earned his title as Ba’al Tekiah – Master Blaster of the shofar.”

Jeffrey Paco Cahn will help create a “shofar symphony” for Kallah. Paco is Development Director for the Zionist movement, Young Judaea, and a founding board member of NYC Renewal congregation, Romemu, where he sounds shofar. He also served on the Aleph Board, and is a Davennen Leaders Training Institute graduate.

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PM305 KALLAH KLEZMER ORKESTAR – MAKHN FREYLEKHSMake joy with the music of our Ashkenazic oves v’imos: KLEZMER! The soulful and beautiful melodies of klezmer are rooted in ancient hasidic nigunim (spiritual wordless melodies) which combine emotionally charged modes and scales with earthy rhythmic patterns. If you know the basics of your instrument (vocalists and percussionists are welcome), you can join in the freylakh-makhn. Professional instruction will be provided as well as sheet music for treble and bass clefs with lyrics (in concert key), and in Bb & Eb instruments-please indicate instrument on your registration.

The Orkestar will learn klezmer dance music including Freylekhs, Khosidls and danceable songs and prayers in Yiddish and Ashkenazic Hebrew. The ensemble will also learn traditional klezmer modes (scales) and rhythms used in traditional improvisatory techniques of doina, vorshpiel and taxim. Basic klezmer dances may also be taught-time permitting. The Kallah Klezmer Orkestar class will culminate in a performance.

Beth Cohen is the cantorial soloist at New Mexico’s Renewal Congregation Nahalat Shalom where she teaches the klezmer ensembles and coordinates the festival KlezmerQuerque. A violinist and performer of Eastern European music, with over 30 years’ experience as a music teacher, Beth holds a Bachelor of Music degree in voice.

PM306 LEARNING AND TEACHING THE ART OF PRAYERRabbi Mike Comins will share his “spiritual dynamics” approach to deepening one’s prayer life, developed after interviewing 50 leading spiritual voices for his book, Making Prayer Real. The approach treats prayer as a practice and focuses on the attitudes and skills employed for fruitful davening rather than theology or the history of the liturgy. In addition, Rabbi Comins created a curriculum that has been taught at numerous synagogues. In this skills-based workshop, students will experience the curriculum first hand (which includes video interviews with leading rabbis on prayer), and hear the pedagogic wisdom gathered to date from teachers and students. Topics include: Connecting the heart to words of prayer; awakening the senses to enliven prayer; the emotional foundations of prayer; the essential characteristics of sincere prayer and how to realize them; keys to praying from the Siddur; and discerning a response to our prayers. Learn more at www.MakingPrayerReal.com/pedagogic-strategies.

A yeshiva-trained, Israeli-ordained Reform Rabbi and a licensed Israeli desert guide, Rabbi Mike Comins’ spiritual journey includes extensive training in meditation, Hebrew chant, and spiritual practice in the natural world. Rabbi Comins directs the Making Prayer Real Course (MakingPrayerReal.com) and The TorahTrek Center for Jewish Wilderness Spirituality (TorahTrek.org). He is author of Making Prayer Real and A Wild Faith.

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PM307 DEEPENING OUR MEDITATION PRACTICESTwenty years ago Rabbi David and Shoshana Cooper taught the first full Jewish Meditation class offering at the 1995 Ft. Collins Kallah. This year they are offering deepening forms of meditation for committed practitioners. These teachings can enhance one’s daily practice and are geared to growing one’s experiences living in awareness.

We have been graced with a life that has allowed us the time to learn and to integrate many deeper meditation methods. Our most recent growth practice has been in opening to a calm steadiness and open heartedness surrounding R’ David’s diagnosis 2 1/2 years ago with Lewy Body Disease. The day-to-day happiness and love that keeps growing arises from insights gleaned from uninterrupted years of daily practice and moving to a very simple life style. We would like to share what we have learned and sincerely welcome others to share what they have discovered from their years of meditative and contemplative practices. Half of each class session will be devoted to meditation.

Rabbi David A. Cooper is an author, lecturer, teacher and meditation guide. His most notable book is God is a Verb. Shoshana is a retired nurse, artist, teacher and meditation guide. They have led and continue to lead meditation retreats across the nation and various parts of the world for over 25 years. They lived many years in Israel and Mexico and most recently moved to Uplands Village in Pleasant Hill, TN.

PM308 FIVE EASY WAYS TO GET OVER YOUR FEAR OF BIKUR CHOLIM!Sponsored by the ALEPH Ordination Rabbinic Pastor Program

Bikkur Cholim? What is that? It is the Jewish way to say “Visiting the Sick.” Why learn how to do that? Have you ever visited someone who was sick and realized you had no clue what to say? Or just didn’t visit. If you worry about what to say; if you wonder whether to ask hard questions or welcome a dialogue about real fears; or if you ask yourself, “What should I do if he cries?” “Do I bring a gift, a snack, a book? Should I offer to pray?” join our group.

Come learn the five approaches and ten top skills you need to make your visit meaningful, useful, compassionate, and welcome. Learn what to listen for, how to engage your senses, what to say and how to say it, and how to be helpful without doing harm. Bikkur Cholim is a mitzvah! Come and learn the insider “how-to’s” from a Bikkur Cholim pro!

Rabbinic Pastor Shulamit Kate Fagan has smicha from ALEPH as a Rabbinic Pastor, Chaplain, Maggid and Mashpi’ah Ruchanit. She serves as founding and continuing Director of ALEPH’s Rabbinic Pastor Program, is a member of the ALEPH Ordination Program VAAD, as well as a spiritual director in private practice. She worked as a chaplain in a major trauma hospital for a dozen years. R.P. Shulamit is a master storyteller, and teaches widely on pastoral care and end-of-life issues. See www.spiritualwell.com.

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PM309 TESHUVAH IN THE AQUARIAN AGEI learned from Reb Zalman, that “the dark rays of the moon” in a person are something that we all have which drive our inner work. Teshuvah (return, repentance) is the process of dealing with this but, as renewalists, Jewish or otherwise, we do Teshuvah differently now than we ever did before. So we will look at Reb Zalman’s teachings on Teshuvah in the Aquarian Age (i.e. since the Shoah, Hiroshima and going forward), and during the time of the other paradigms too, sing his niggunim (melodies), and spend some time exploring how his teachings touch us so we can give God a good run for Her having given us this gift of life.

Gabbai Seth Fishman grew up in a secular Jewish home though always felt spiritual. He was shaped by the social and political forces of the late 1960s and 70s. He received a B.A. from Yale in Music in 1976 and an MBA from Wharton School of Business in 1986. In 1989, he met Reb Zalman and began working for him as a gabbai the following year. He is active in the Jewish Ritual life of Bucks County, Pennsylvania where he davvens, studies and teaches hasidus.

PM310 ALTARS, DREAMS, CHANTS, AND JOURNEYS: ANCIENT HEBREW PRACTICES FOR POST-MODERNS Ancient Hebrew spirit workers—priestesses, priests, prophets, wise women, and shamans—used a variety of spiritual technologies to awaken to the presence of the sacred. These practices have been adapted in contemporary ways by the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute. For a decade, the faculty of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute have been training women in sacred leadership in an earth-based, embodied mode that emphasizes transformative ritual, drawing on biblical and mystical traditions of women spiritual leaders and the divine feminine. With these experienced teachers, discover the spirit workers of ancient times, and encounter the tools they used for healing and transformation. Distill four practices for awakening the spirit: altarcraft, sacred chant, dreamwork and spirit journey. Each of these practices invites us to deepen our awareness of the workings of the holy in our lives and supports spiritual encounter with the divine presence and the sacred earth.

Rabbi Jill Hammer Ph.D., is the co-founder of Kohenet: The Hebrew Priestess Institute, and the Director of Spiritual Education at the Academy for Jewish Religion. She is the author of Sisters at Sinai: New Tales of Biblical Women, The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons, and the co-author of The Hebrew Priestess: Ancient and New Visions of Jewish Women’s Spiritual Leadership.

Taya Shere co-founder of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, plays passionately in the realms of transformative ritual and embodied vocalization. Her chant albums Wild Earth Shebrew, Halleluyah All Night and Torah Tantrika have been heralded as “cutting-edge mystic medicine music” and rock devotional tribe worldwide. Taya is co-author of The Hebrew Priestess: Ancient and New Paths of Jewish Women’s Spiritual Leadership.

Shoshana Jedwab is an award-winning Jewish educator, hand drummer and emerging singer-songwriter. She is the A.J. Heschel Middle School Jewish Life Coordinator and a founding faculty member of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute. Shoshana Jedwab drums for Romemu and Kirtan Rabbi and leads the JCC Drum Circle. Check out: http://shoshanajedwab.bandcamp.com/ and shoshanajedwab.com.

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PM311 AN AFTERNOON IN THE GARDENShare the afternoons with Rebbetzin Eve Ilsen, who at the time of this writing is still emerging from a state of mourning. By Kallah, Eve expects to be further along on her journey, and will teach to the collective need of the students arising in the moment. It is likely Eve will lead imaginal exercises in the tradition of her teacher, Mme. Colette Aboulker-Muscat, of Jerusalem, and she will most probably tell stories from the 27 years she spent at the side of her beloved Reb Zalman. Kallah will be one of her first national public appearances since Reb Zalman’s death.

Eve Ilsen is a Rabbinic Pastor, teacher, storyteller, singer, writer, artist and psychotherapist. She has engaged in her work from Israel to Alaska. Eve now lives in Boulder, CO with two cats, Mazal & Brachah, surrounded by blessings and memories of her Beloved everywhere.

PM312 DREAMS INBETWEENThis workshop is for people who want to learn how to learn from their dreams. Dreams mediate between the sensory world of the body and the spiritual world of first creation. They open to the realm of feeling. They get at and under our resistances and offer experiences of awe and sacred encounter. They expose our well practiced dodges for hiding from our angels. In dreams, metaphors become lived experiences. In that sense there are no symbols in dreams: a lion in a dream is not a symbol of a lion, but a bristling breathing presence, invoking awe and fear. We will work with your dreams in-group sessions. This is not a class about clever text or dream interpretation. This is an immersion in how to make dreams come alive.

Rodger Kamenetz’s 11 books include The History of Last Night’s Dream,The Jew in the Lotus and The Lowercase Jew. Stalking Elijah received the National Jewish Book Award in Jewish Thought. He’s Professor Emeritus of English Religious Studies at LSU, working with dream clients since 2003. In 2006, Reb Zalman recognized him as a Maggid for his work in dreams and poetry.

W. Keren Vishny MD MA is a physician and a psychotherapist. Her practice focus is Dreamwork, Mind-Body Medicine and Psychotherapy. Keren is a Dreamwork student of Rodger Kamenetz and has worked closely with Jungian Analyst Marion Woodman. She is affiliated with Rush Medical College, the Center for Mind-Body Medicine and the CG Jung Center, Evanston.

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PM313 TORAH AS A GUIDE TO GLOBAL HEALING AND TRANSFORMATION: A LIBERATION THEOLOGY READING OF OUR HOLY TEXTThe Torah was and remains today one of the most revolutionary texts in human history. In this course, we will unpack what it means to have YHVH as the central reality of the universe through considering the Torah and Midrash on Abraham, Moses’ revelation at Sinai and how we might hear those ten “speech acts” (asseret ha’dibrot) today, the revelation in Parshat Kedoshim and Behar, and the re-telling of Torah in Devarim (Deuteronomy). Among the themes we will discuss: Cruelty is Not Destiny, the 2 Voices of God in Torah, Love Judaism vs. Settler Judaism, and the Radical Economics of the Sabbatical Year and Jubilee and how they might be applied in the contemporary world as keys to developing a new environmental consciousness. An excellent opportunity to refresh your understanding of YHVH and Her/His/Its continuing relevance to unpacking traditional theological and contemporary social theory issues.

Rabbi Michael Lerner mentored by A.J. Heschel at Jewish Theological Seminary, received Ph.D.s in philosophy and psychology. He is editor of Tikkun magazine, author of 11 books including Jewish Renewal: A Path to Healing and Transformation, Embracing Israel and Palestine, and The Left Hand of God: Taking Back our Country from the Religious Right.

PM314 THE RAV KOOK REVOLUTION -THE PATH TO PERSONAL AND PLANETARY BLISS AND ENLIGHTENMENT Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook (1865-1935) is generally acknowledged to be the leading spiritual light in modern Jewish history. His extensive writings offer an extraordinary vision of the process of enlightenment and the blissful return to the Garden of Eden. Our class will be a focused and directed journey through some of his most illuminated writings that offer a guide to ‘personal and planetary bliss and enlightenment’. The four class sessions will be based on the 5 Foundational Principles of Rav Kook as explained by Rav Kook’s main disciple-HaRav David Cohen, HaRav HaNazir (1887-1872). These foundational principles offer us a deeply profound and illuminated view of what we need to realize and do if we are to experience enlightenment and return to the Edenic experience. We will explore ways of integrating these principles into our personal, social, political and spiritual lives.

Rabbi Itzchak Marmorstein is a passionate student of the teachings of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook. R’ Itzchak is doing pioneering work in bringing Rav Kook to the public through music and learning. He teaches the Torah of Rav Kook widely, most notably at Beit HaRav Kook-Rav Kook’s historical home in downtown Jerusalem. R’ Itzchak was ordained by Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, Shlita, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l.

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PM315 THE POLITICS OF POWER IN THE BOOK OF GENESISSponsored by the ALEPH Ordination Program

Every interaction described in Sefer Bereishit can be read as a study in power dynamics. In the Book of Genesis brothers, sisters, handmaids, and kings struggle with each other for their place in the world. We will examine these origin stories of “one against another” to learn how we as humans reach for what we want when we are limited by our status. Starting with the midrashic tale of the sun and the moon, we will conclude with the Jacob saga.

Texts will be available in Hebrew and English. Bring a Tanakh if you can! There will be guided hevrutah study in small groups as well as frontal group learning. As these stories inevitably call forth deep emotional reactions, there will be designated time and space for expressing our feelings in contained and thoughtful ways which will complement our intellectual inquiries.

Open to intermediate to advanced level learners.

This class meets for 3 hours each day and can be taken for one unit of ALEPH Ordination Program (AOP) credit, with additional fee, post-Kallah video-conference sessions, and final assignment. AOP students must indicate that choice in their registrations.

NOTE: This Kallah class is open to everyone. If you are not an AOP student but interested in participating in the additional sessions, please contact the ALEPH office at (215) 247-9700 x21.

Rabbi Vivie Mayer is an instructor at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and teaches in the ALEPH Ordination Program. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College,  she served as a congregational rabbi in Connecticut for ten years.  She completed R’ Shefa Gold’s Kol Zimra Chant Training. She hails from NYC, and has also lived in Israel.

PM316 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOCRACY: BECOME MORE EFFECTIVE – AND JOYFUL – TOGETHERDo meetings of your community or organization leave you feeling joyous, connected, and energized, and with a clear productive path to accomplish your mission? Do all participants know they have been heard? Imagine meetings where everyone candidly shares their opinions and ideas, potentially heated arguments turn into totally new understanding, and there is respectful listening and movement!

Sociocracy is a new governance design system where people at all organizational levels make policy decisions that govern their own work, and communication flows bottom-up as well as top-down. Some Jewish Renewal organizations have begun to adopt it because it is aligned with our values – everyone’s perspective is respected, every voice matters, and we collaborate to make a difference in the world. Come learn how this groundbreaking way to run organizations and meetings can help you have more effective, enjoyable meetings; free up individual creativity and initiative throughout the organization; and streamline decision-making.

Sheella Mierson, Ph.D., Senior Consultant with The Sociocracy Consulting Group, helps companies and organizations implement sociocracy to create adaptive and effective organizations where all members’ voices matter. She works on multiple levels, from organizational to interpersonal. She has worked with clients in business, education, healthcare, and nonprofit sectors.

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PM317 FROM WOMB TO TOMB TO THE WORLD BEYOND: THE LIFE JOURNEY OF THE SOUL THROUGH BIRTH, DEATH, AFTERLIFE AND REINCARNATION IN KABBALAH AND MIDRASH Judaism presents a fascinating panorama of teachings that describe the ever-changing journey of the soul from birth to death, into the world beyond and reincarnation. In the spirit of Jewish renewal, we shall explore these texts as transformational maps of consciousness that provide insight and wisdom for joyfully living a spiritual life today. Examining little-known texts from both Midrash and Kabbalah we shall continually ask the question how do these texts help us celebrate and live more fully, joyously and consciously - given the inevitability of human mortality and end-of-life transformation? Course will include textual study, hevruta, discussion and experiential exercises all of which are designed to help participants look more fully at the ever-changing journey of their own lives.

Rabbinic Pastor Simcha Raphael, Ph.D. is Founding Director of the DA’AT Institute for Death Awareness, Advocacy and Training. Ordained as a Rabbinic Pastor by Reb Zalman, he teaches Jewish mysticism at Temple University, and works as a psychotherapist and spiritual director in Philadelphia. He is author of Jewish Views of the Afterlife.

PM318 BODY AS BELOVED: UNIONAni l’dodi, l’dodi li. “I am my beloved  and my beloved is ME.” What if the “beloved” referred to in the Song of Songs is actually your very own body - the one to whom you were “married” when you first came to this life, and the one to whom you will be married, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, until the end of your days?

Bring tikkun to the sacred marriage with your body, and thereby the Earth and the Holy, using simple movement, music, poetry, sacred text, visual arts, and scientific, somatic and spiritual inquiry. Each day ends with 45 minutes of Nia movement to integrate the material. The class culminates with creating a Ketubah to renew your vows with your body.

All ages and physical conditions are welcome. No previous science or movement background needed. Healthcare CEUs available.

Rachael Resch is a physical therapist and dancer devoted to healing the sacred body. She is a movement-as-prayer leader at Havurah Shir Hadash in Ashland, Oregon. Rachael has studied with leading teachers in somatics, energetics, spirituality and the arts - including Robert Bly, Martín Prechtel and Rabbi Aryeh Hirschfield.

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PM319 CREATING OUR SOUL THOUGHTS VIA JUDAIC ARTMAKINGThere will be an art supply fee of $18 per person.

Artmaking, by its nature, takes us through the four worlds. In our creative workshop, we will play with a treasure chest of unique and fun art supplies that I will provide to enliven each of your creations. I will offer a daily short meditation to awaken your imagination, some text and the art materials for you to create a mixed media gem: small canvases, gorgeous handmade paper, glue, blank cards to make mini-creations, markers and small fun tchatchkes to enliven each piece. I will guide you as you journey the four worlds: you will make art to bless your home, feel the creative process in your heart, use your intuition and discover a connection to the Holy One to create the work of your hands. Do you believe yourself to be artistically challenged – let your neshama do the work! All skill levels are welcome. In “Creating our soul thoughts...”

Jackie Olenick is a full-time working Judaic artist. She markets her artwork and spiritual jewelry via her website, at galleries, shops and juried art fairs. She created the OHALAH banner and the memorial banner for Reb Zalman. Jackie received a smicha from Reb Zalman, recognizing her as a “Ba’alat Brakhot, Master of Blessings” and has been active in the ALEPH community for over 35 years. www.jackieolenickart.com

PM320 MIDRASH INTO THEOLOGY INTO ETHICS: NURTURING AN ABUNDANT WORLDSponsored by the ALEPH Ordination Program

This class will look at the process by which midrash was turned into theology, and then theology was turned into ethics, over the course of many generations of thinkers. We will focus on specific examples related to ecology focusing on the process that led to establishing a less anthropocentric or non-anthropocentric version of Judaism in the face of an anthropocentric tradition. Grounding ourselves in some of the basic midrashim on the human place and mission in the universe, we will look closely at four figures, Maimonides, Yosef Ashkenazi, Moshe Cordovero, and Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, and see how they creatively betrayed the tradition and renewed it, preparing for us the foundations for a healthy and sustainable Judaism in a healthy and sustainable world. We will use material drawn from Kabbalah and Ecology: God’s Image in the More-Than-Human World, supplemented by the texts in Hebrew as well as by some readings from non-Jewish ecotheologians.

Open to intermediate to advanced level learners.

This class meets for 3 hours each day and can be taken for one unit of ALEPH Ordination Program (AOP) credit, with additional fee, post-Kallah video-conference sessions, and final assignment. AOP students must indicate that choice in their registrations.

NOTE: This Kallah class is open to everyone. If you are not an AOP student but interested in participating in the additional sessions, please contact the ALEPH office at (215) 247-9700 x21.

Rabbi David Seidenberg is the creator of neohasid.org and the author of Kabbalah and Ecology: God’s Image in the More-Than-Human World. He has ordination from Reb Zalman and from the Jewish Theological Seminary. David researches spirituality and ecology, Maimonides and Kabbalah, writes liturgy and teaches nigunim. David lives in Northampton MA, where he dances contra and sometimes fiddles.

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PM321 EDUCATING FOR SPIRITUALITY – SUMMER INSTITUTESponsored by ALEPH Program: Educating for Spirituality

Educating for Spirituality teaches clergy, teachers, education directors and seminarians how to en-spirit their curricula by having students connect with the Divine, each other and the “still small voice” within themselves. In this week-long Institute, participants will

• Explore concepts of spiritual development• Participate in arts-based spiritual learning• Deepen their own prayer experience while learning ways to deepen their students’ prayer experiences• Discover ways to imbue the curriculum they are already teaching with spirituality

Rabbis Lori and Rain are the co-founding Directors of Educating for Spirituality: teaching teachers how to light up the souls of their students, a program of ALEPH. Rabbis Lori and Rain were ordained by ALEPH in 2015.

Rabbi and Mashpi’ah (Spiritual Director) Lori D. Shaller has been teaching curriculum design and alternative assessment to teachers for 20 years. She serves as guest clergy, life cycle events rabbi, and leads interfaith clergy spiritual direction groups.

Rabbi Rain Zohav has directed a variety of religious schools for thirty years. She creates curriculum and programming and teaches teachers. She is the Rabbi of the Interfaith Families Project in Washington, D.C.

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PM322 GOD IS IN THIS PLACE, AND NOW I KNOW: TOOLS FOR JEWISH SPIRITUAL GUIDANCESponsored by the ALEPH Ordination Program

When our ancestor Jacob dreamed of angels ascending and descending he said, “Wow, God is in this place and I, I did not know.” Our experiences also may be full of messages from Spirit, although perhaps not as dramatic. How do we know when God has manifested in our lives, and how can that knowing bring us closer to our sacred path? Using tools of spiritual guidance (hashpa’ah) and spiritual healing, we will explore personal narratives for signs and wonders, and learn ways to make our lives more spiritually alive and whole. Tools will include prayer and meditation, text study, music, energy work, psycho-spiritual processes, and journaling.

Open to intermediate to advanced level learners.

This class meets for 3 hours each day and can be taken for one unit of ALEPH Ordination Program (AOP) credit, with additional fee, post-Kallah video-conference sessions, and final assignment. AOP students must indicate that choice in their registrations.

NOTE: This Kallah class is open to everyone. If you are not an AOP student but interested in participating in the additional sessions, please contact the ALEPH office at (215) 247-9700 x21.

Rabbi Shohama Wiener, D. Min, Rosh Hashpa’ah (Head of Spiritual Direction) for ALEPH and Founding Director of ALEPH’s Training Program for Jewish Spiritual Directors; Co-Rabbi at Temple Beth-El of City Island, NY; co-editor of Seeking and Soaring: Jewish Approaches to Spiritual Guidance and Development and the forthcoming Tales of Reb Zalman.

PM323 ROOTS AND BRANCHES: THE JEWISH ROOTS OF CHRISTIANITY Judaism and Christianity share many of the same Biblical texts, yet the members of each faith know little of each other’s beliefs and spiritual practices. This course focuses on the essential theological ideas that both differentiate and join these two sister-faiths together. Participants will gain insight into the first-century world of Judaism, and the thoroughly Jewish roots of Rabbi Jesus’ teachings. Scholars have proven beyond a doubt that Jesus was a religious Jew, devoted to his Jewish practices, and part of the movement of early rabbis that would eventually create what we call “rabbinic Judaism”. We will thoroughly explore theological ideas such as salvation, messiah, and the afterlife from a Jewish perspective. The roots of anti-Semitism will be explored in depth, as well as ways that these two great religions can find common ground today

Rabbi David Zaslow leads Havurah Shir Hadash in Oregon. Along with Devorah Zaslow, he directs the Maggidic Training Program. He is the author of the Jewish Renewal siddur “Ivdu et Hashem B’simcha.” His book “Jesus: First-Century Rabbi” was awarded “book of the year” by the Church-Synagogue Library Association. www.rabbidavidzaslow.org

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AFTERNOON WORKSHOPSPMWS401 LIFE ON THE SHADY SIDE OF THE STREETNot all of us are able to live on the ‘sunny side of the street.’ Many of us struggle with darkness, depression, shame, and even despair at times. This workshop is for those of us who find themselves on the shady side of the street. We will use Jewish texts, writing, and discussion in chevruta to examine how the spiritual path can still be walked on the shadow side of life and examine ways to support ourselves and others who are similar.

Rabbinic Pastor David Daniel Klipper recently retired CPE Supervisor, is on the hashpa’ah (spiritual direction) faculty and co-teaches a class in pastoral counseling for the ALEPH Ordination Program. He serves on the boards of ALEPH, OHALAH and R.P.A. He recently moved to Provincetown, MA, and loves the quiet of the small town and living by the water.

PMWS402 BLACK FIRE ON WHITE FIRE: CHANTING TORAH BY READING ALOUD BOTH THE BLACK (HEBREW LETTERS) AND THE WHITE (ENGLISH “TRANSLATION”)For the last 15 years, Matt Levitt has been chanting Torah in a style inspired by Rabbi David Wolfe-Blank. This is based on the concept from the Talmud, Zohar, and other sources that our Torah is not black letters written on white parchment; rather the Torah is written in black fire on white fire.

This style entails chanting each Hebrew verse, followed by the chanted English “Translation” (chanting the “white fire”). In the centuries old Meturgeman tradition, past “translations” have included the words and ideas of David Wolfe-Blank, Bob Dylan, Menachem Mendl of Kotzk, and many others; and have included references to Instagram, the 1975 NFC championship football game, and airport delays.

This workshop will address receiving the divine wisdom of the white fire – both practical sources and spiritual practices; and how to incorporate that meaning into the Torah chanting.

Matt Levitt has been chanting Torah (frequently off-key) in reform and conservative congregations for nearly 40 years; the last 15 years, he has been chanting in a style inspired by Rabbi David Wolfe-Blank. He lives in Austin, Texas, is father to Rebecca and Gabriela, and works in educational consulting.

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PMWS403 BEYOND PINK AND BLUE: HOW SPIRITUAL COMMUNITIES CAN SUPPORT FAMILIES RAISING GENDER NON-CONFORMING CHILDRENRabbi Moffic is a rabbi married to a rabbi with two young children, one of whom is gender non-conforming. She will lead a session about her experience in Jewish community around issues of gender. She will share resources, which are helpful for teachers and clergy as well as ideas for how community members can take on the sacred and vital role of being allies for LGBTQ children and teens. Terms, information and texts will be discussed in an interactive and participatory workshop.

Rabbi Ari Moffic was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2007. A graduate of Indiana University, she received Master’s Degrees in Jewish Education and Jewish Studies from Baltimore Hebrew University. She has a special interest in working with interfaith couples and families.

PMWS404 HOLY STORYTELLING: THE ART OF THE MAGGID FROM THE INSIDE OUTWhen a story calls to us, we can allow it to be a spirit guide, leading us to our next phase of spiritual growth.A teller of a sacred tales must not only connect to the heart and soul of the story, but also hone the skills to become a vessel for conveying it. In this workshop we will practice Maggidic techniques for enhancing voice, pacing, gesture and movement as we explore our relationship to the powerful stories of our tradition. We will also discover how to incorporate four-world interpretation, create new stories from traditional lore, and expand the feminine as we allow the ancient stories to illuminate our journeys. The combination of group, partner and individual activities culminates in storytelling on the last day of class. Participants may either bring a short story to work on, or use one provided by the instructor.

Debra Gordon Zaslow travels nationwide leading workshops in storytelling and writing. Her CD “Return Again” features Jewish healing stories. Her acclaimed memoir, “Bringing Bubbe Home” chronicles midwifing her grandmother through the passage of death. She teaches storytelling at Southern Oregon University and leads a Maggid program with her husband, Rabbi David Zaslow.

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PMWS405 EMBODIED JUDAISM: THE HARMONIC DANCE OF THE THREE MOTHER LETTERSJudaism’s roots hold the relationship of body and soul as integral and sacred. In this workshop we will learn about the Hebrew letters of Aleph, Mem and Shin, through our direct embodied knowing in body and soul. Using somatic awareness and movement, we will explore each of these three Mother Letters, their shape and meaning, and play with the corresponding elements of Air (Aleph), Water (Mem), and Fire (Shin). Traditional and Kabbalistic teachings in relationship to these letters and the Tree of Life, will enhance your understanding and embodied learning. You will hopefully leave this workshop with an expanded and more personally meaningful relationship to each of these three letters, and their particular energetic power within creation. All welcome. No movement or Hebrew background necessary.

Simona Aronow, Dance/Movement and Somatic Therapist, and long time student of Kabbalah. She is empowered by Reb Zalman, as Reverend and Sacred Minister, Sacred Movement and Spiritual Embodiment Guide, Morat Torah, and Ritualist. Faculty with Rabbi Diane Elliot’s/ Aleph’s Embodying Spirit, En-spiriting Body Training, and Laban/ Bartenieff Institute for Movement Studies

PMWS406 TECHNOLOGY IN SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: REFLECTIONS ON SHEFA’S IPHONE APP, AND FUTURE PROJECTSCome hear about the role of technology as a “growing edge” of Jewish practice! This workshop will examine the opportunities and challenges of integrating technology, particularly phone and tablet apps, into our spiritual practice. In a world where our lives are immersed in technology more and more every day, how might technology support, rather than hinder, our aspirations for spiritual connection?

The workshop will include a demo of Shefa Gold’s “Flavors of Gratefulness” iPhone app as an example of technology-integrated spiritual practice, along with Shefa’s reflections on the design and implementation process. We’ll share our hopes and fears for technology’s role in our spiritual lives in chavrutot, and come together as a group in conversation about what we could build next.

Andrew Ash founded Emotive Apps, a high-tech startup focused on creating experiences on our iPhones, iPads, and computers through which we can ascend in spiritual practice. His first app, Shefa Gold’s “Flavors of Gratefulness”, debuted in the top 50 on Apple’s App Store. His second app will teach tweens about the meaning of tefillah, and help them practice reciting prayers.

Rabbi Shefa Gold is a leader in ALEPH and received her ordination both from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l. She is the director of C-DEEP, The Center for Devotional, Energy and Ecstatic Practice in Jemez Springs, New Mexico. She teaches workshops and retreats on the theory and art of Chanting, Devotional Healing, Spiritual Community-Building and Meditation.

AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS

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PMWS407 THE DRUM OF OUR DNA AND REDEMPTION (THINK MIRIAM!) – DOUMBEK & JEWISH MUSICDrums are the heartbeat of the community. It is the first sound we hear in the womb.Miriam and the women prepared drums to celebrate the redemption at the Sea of Reeds.1. We will have numerous middle eastern drums that will be with me for people. People can also

bring their own.2. Andalin will have Indigenous and orchestral flutes for accompaniment. 3. You will learn to play drums for ritual, Shul, Aleph, New Moon. 4. We will focus on Middle Eastern rhythms, including Beladi, Chiftitelli, Ayoub, etc. We will learn Jewish Music

that relates to these rhythms. There will be handouts in order that more can be learned after the workshop. 5. Learning these rhythms creates a listening paradigm shift and one will hear all music in a new way.

Alan Bachman is co-founder of Desert Wind with wife, Andalin Shekhinah Bachman. Over 11 CDs sold Internationally – Desert Wind, Aashish Khan and Rabbi Leah Novick “On Wings of Shekhinah.” Andalin is an award winning flutist. They have performed music for events that included Deepok Chopra, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Jean Huston, Joan Borysenko, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Gary Zukav, etc. More information can be found at: http://desertwindmusic.com Alan Learned Middle Eastern drum and rhythms from Polly Ferber in 1981 and thereafter from Ahmed Mohammed.

PMWS408 TRANSFORMATIONAL TRANSACTIONAL TORAH: AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH TO DEALING WITH THE CHALLENGES TORAH POSESMost of us have struggled with various aspects of the Torah and its teachings that may directly conflict with our values and worldview. How do we reconcile them? We’ll examine a number of these and explore a creative approach to dealing with these struggles and turning them into opportunities for growth and engagement, something I call Transformational Transactional Torah. It allows us to both embrace the Torah and our contemporary perspectives by focusing on our current experiences. I believe this was the Creator’s intention so that we can learn from the past and create a new future. It opens up the possibilities for a fresh relationship with the Tree of Life.

Terry Gips is CEO of Sustainability Associates, President of the Alliance for Sustainability, Board member of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, Board member of the Jewish Community Relations Council of MN and the Dakotas and co-founder and leader of the Twin Cities Jewish Renewal Community.

AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS

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PMWS409 JEWISH SUSTAINABILITY TEACHINGS AND THE NATURAL STEP FRAMEWORK: SAVE MONEY, TIME, HEALTH AND THE EARTH WHILE GREENING YOUR HOME, WORKPLACE, SYNAGOGUE AND COMMUNITYCome discover a life-changing, inspiring approach to sustainability in an interactive workshop combining Jewish teachings and the Natural Step Framework, a powerful tool developed in Sweden and now used globally and in the United States where it has been part of the sustainability effort by congregations, Fortune 500, medium and small businesses, schools, government, and communities to save money and become environmentally and socially responsible. This approach has been successfully with the leadership of every major national Jewish institution to develop a commitment to sustainability.

It gives hope, overcomes polarization, creates a shared vision, empowers people and opens up a whole new world where our dreams can become a reality. You’ll never be the same.

Terry Gips is CEO of Sustainability Associates, President of the Alliance for Sustainability, Board member of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, Board member of the Jewish Community Relations Council of MN and the Dakotas and co-founder and leader of the Twin Cities Jewish Renewal Community.

PMWS410 BASEBALL KABBALAHBack in 1990, I wrote an essay describing the correspondences between baseball, known as “The American Game” and “The National Pastime,” and the arrangement of the 10 Sefirot on the Tree of Life. I published it in the Aquarian Minyan newsletter that summer and later it appeared in Worlds of Jewish Prayer: A Festschrift in Honor of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l. But it didn’t stop there. The ideas that the comparison engendered kept coming and haven’t stopped yet. By the time it appeared in What is Jewish About America’s “Favorite Pastime”? Essays and Sermons on Jews, Judaism and Baseball, it had doubled in size, and now it’s three times as long. None of this is padding, though naturally it won’t interest everyone equally. Join me on this journey as we oscillate between esoteric spirituality and popular culture.

Visit Reuven Goldfarb on YouTube, soundcloud.com/reuven-goldfarb, and LinkedIn. Evidence shows that he writes and publishes poetry, stories, essays, articles, and Divrei Torah, lives in Tzfat, and received s’michah as rabbinic deputy from Reb Zalman in 1993.

AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS

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PMWS411 SHLEIMUT: MOVING TOWARD INNER PEACE The word shalom is so often translated “peace” But the real meaning is deeper: wholeness, completion, perfection, fulfillment. “Shleimut,” in Hebrew, is the condition that we might call “inner peace.” But what do we mean by inner peace? How can the simple Hebrew word, with its depth of nuance, help us better understand what peace is? What could inner peace/sheleimut mean for you? Is it attainable? If so, how? (If not, why not?) Lets explore some key Jewish sources that can inform our inquiry. Then we will learn two useful techniques engaging breath work and chant to experience how they might help bring us closer to “inner peace.”

Amy Grossblatt Pessah, MAJE, has been involved with Jewish education for over 25 years. She is trained as a Spiritual Director and an IET Practitioner (Integrated Energy Therapy). Amy has recorded a CD of originally composed Jewish Meditative Chants. Currently, she is a student in the ALEPH AOP. Her hobbies include ceramics, travel, cooking, and reading. She is married to Aryeh Pessah and they are the proud parents of three amazing teenagers.

PMWS412 SHOFAR, CYMBALS AND … SINGING BOWLS – SOUND HEALING JEWISH STYLEResonance and sound have always been at the heart of Jewish spiritual, personal, and ritual practice. In Shofars, cymbals ... and Singing Bowls– Sound healing Jewish Style, Toni presents a contemporary take on the ageless tradition of connecting to the sacred through an encounter with vibration.

In this gathering, participants will have the chance to immerse themselves in the energy of an orchestra of fourteen Crystal Tones quartz and alchemy singing owls, each of which tones with the purest of vibrations. This will be a hands-on workshop with plenty of opportunity to receive and embody sound.

Toni will introduce the bowls as multi-disciplinary instruments for personal and planetary healing. With her offerings deeply embedded in our most ancient of stories, participants are invited to open to an experience which is transformative, expansive and authentically Jewish. This workshop is all about expressing the inexpressible - encountering Torah through sound.

With her orchestra of quartz crystal singing bowls, Toni Whitmont creates unique Torah and Kabbalah centred sacred sound experiences. Through her Sacred Vessels Sound Healing practice, Toni presents teachings, meditations and sound healings at retreats, services and workshops. An accredited crystal sound therapist, she is based in Sydney, Australia.

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PMWS413 YOUR PORTION IN THE TORAHDo you know your Hebrew birthday? Good. No? Do you want to find out? That part is easy. Do you want to explore further? With a little effort you may discover how your soul essence is connected to the weekly parashah—or nearest Holy Days Torah reading—and that section of the parashah that corresponds to the day of your entry into this plane of existence. Gain new understanding of life cycle events and crucial turning points in your spiritual journey. This will require further work on your part. I will provide the tools and a comprehensive framework rooted in the living Torah.

Visit Reuven Goldfarb on YouTube, soundcloud.com/reuven-goldfarb, and LinkedIn. Evidence shows that he writes and publishes poetry, stories, essays, articles, and Divrei Torah, lives in Tzfat, and received s’michah as rabbinic deputy from Reb Zalman in 1993.

PMWS414 JEWS WORKING TOGETHER WITH THE NAACPRecently, there’s been a significant amount of coalition building by the NAACP. The NC NAACP has been at the forefront of these efforts.

The North Carolina NAACP’s “Moral Monday” movement seeks to fight legislation that was against public education, against a woman’s right to choose, anti-labor, pro wealthy in terms of taxation and much more.

We will describe the Moral Monday movement and the coalition that Jews in North Carolina in made with the NAACP. On a national level, we will also discuss the Jewish commemoration of the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma and last summer’s “America’s Journey for Justice.”

We are also hoping to arrange a Skype interview with one of the leaders one of the leading civil rights leaders from the NAACP. Finally, we will understand the idea logical underpinnings of what is called “fusion politics” and how fusion politics is an excellent way to make broad coalitions for justice within our country.

Fred Guttman fought for the defeat the LGBT-discriminatory “Amendment One.” He has been recognized as one of the “50 Voices for Justice” by the URJ and “America’s Most Inspiring Rabbis” by the Forward. In 2015, he organized the National Jewish commemoration in Selma of the 50th Anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday” march.

AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS

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PMWS415 HAVING A VIABLE CONCEPTION OF GOD IN AN INSANE WORLDMany of us struggle with the contrast between the state of the world and the amount of pain and suffering it contains, particularly of innocents, and our conception of God. How can God allow this? Where is God in this? What possible spiritual purpose could be served by children or adults being abused, hurt or killed? At the same time, many of us have an experience of God that is loving and supportive. Some of us believe in a non-dualistic God, such that God is in everything and everyone. How do we reconcile our conception of God with the reality of the world? In this workshop, we will look at Jewish and other texts, journal and engage in class and chevruta discussion to explore this issue. A particular emphasis will be looking at this issue through the lens of the four worlds.

Rabbinic Pastor David Daniel Klipper recently retired CPE Supervisor, is on the hashpa’ah (spiritual direction) faculty and co-teaches a class in pastoral counseling for the ALEPH Ordination Program. He serves on the boards of ALEPH, OHALAH and R.P.A. He recently moved to Provincetown, MA, and loves the quiet of the small town and living by the water.

PMWS416 OFFERINGS: BREADThis workshop will focus on archetypal energies used for temple service. The first eleven energies used in temple work, as listed in mishna shabbat 7:2, are used in making the bread offering. Through movement and imagination, we will embody and usher the seed within us on its journey to become an offering of bread. Wear loose clothing.

Emily Stern is in the ALEPH Ordination Program. She weaves song and poetry in her album “Birth Day” and is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in Theater. Emily’s love for creative interactions with Torah led her to become a DRISHA Arts Fellow and to Nishmat in Jerusalem.

AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS