FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Debra Kolodny, Executive Director, ALEPH
DATE: Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Phone: 301-565-0719
Email: DebraRuth@mac.com

Dear Editor:

Enclosed is the January 2006 ALEPH News Service. We hope you run one or more of the following articles, and look forward to hearing from you if you do. This release contains:

1. OHALAH Boulder Conference Focuses on "Relationships!" Over 180 attend the eighth annual conference of OHALAH, the Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal.
2. ALEPH Inaugurates New Ordination Program in Spiritual Guidance In January, the ALEPH Ordination Programs inaugurated a program unique in Jewish history, leading to Certification as Spiritual Director and Ordination as Mashpia.
3. ALEPH Ordains Five New Spiritual Leaders On January 8, ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal's Rabbbinic, Cantorial and Rabbinic Pastor Programs ordained a diverse graduating class from its remarkable seminary without walls.

About ALEPH: ALEPH acts as the headquarters of the Jewish Renewal movement by organizing and nurturing communities, developing spiritual leadership, ordaining rabbis, cantors and rabbinic pastors, creating liturgical and scholarly resources, holding retreats and festivals and working for social and environmental justice.

ALEPH has attracted and energized thousands of seekers returning to Judaism and thousands who are deeply engaged but looking to elevate their current practice. ALEPH has 42 affiliated communities and its projects include two biennial gatherings: the Kallah and Ruach HaAretz; the Sacred Foods Project, C-DEEP: The Center for Devotional, Energy, and Ecstatic Practice, the Bet Midrash (producing siddurim, publications, videos and CDs from our founder Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and other Jewish Renewal teachers) and Kesher (supporting twenty and early thirty year old leaders). In addition to its projects, ALEPH also produces one-day Jewish Renewal festivals in communities around the US and Canada called Caravans. It is home to Ohalah: The Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal and a Rabbinic Studies Program, educating future rabbis, cantors and rabbinic pastors.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like additional information. ALEPH looks forward to working with you,

Debra Kolodny /s/

OHALAH Boulder Conference Focuses on "Relationships!"

OHALAH, the Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal held its eighth annual conference in the second week of January. Over 180 rabbis, cantors, rabbinic pastors, clergy students and spouses from across the spectrum of the Jewish community gathered to explore the theme of "Relationships!" The unique conference model included dozens of davenen (prayer) experiences, presentations, breakout groups and musical sessions as well as opportunities for organizational visioning.

One conference highlight was an evening text study on Leviticus 15 accompanied by a ritual of personal awareness, tshuva (repentence) and healing from the unintentional mistakes we make as leaders.

A celebratory dinner honored dozens of OHALAH leaders who had donated time and effort during the past 8 1/2 years to found and nurture OHALAH to its current vitality and significance. In particular, the accomplishments of OHALAH past presidents Dennis Beck-Berman and Pam Frydman Baugh were featured.

The program doubled as OHALAH's annual membership meeting during which David Shneyer was elected President, and Harry Zeitlin, Howard A. Cohen and Yocheved Mintz were elected Vice Presidents of OHALAH to serve two-year terms. In addition, OHALAH's Secretary, Steve Fisdel, and Treasurer, Andrea Cohen-Kiener will continue their terms for another year.

During the dinner, OHALAH leaders paid tribute to the Yesod Fondation, which had provided the financial and logistical backbone for the annual OHALAH conference for seven years. They also recognized the contributions of the board and staff of ALEPH in founding and sustaining OHALAH as its professional branch over the past eight and one-half years.

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, the founder of the ALEPH Rabbinic Program and one who was involved in ordaining many OHALAH members, moved many to tears when he asked, "Do you ever ask yourself, how many minutes of my life have I spent in relationship with G*d? Has it been even a year?" He honored the efforts of many Jewish Renewal institutional leaders as well as the videography of Ayla Grafstein. He also affirmed the importance and integrity of the breadth of training required by the ALEPH Ordination Programs.

Bob Freedman has been named Chair of the OHALAH Program Committee and will oversee programming for the ninth annual OHALAH conference, scheduled for January 7-10, 2007.

ALEPH Inaugurates New Ordination Program in Spiritual Guidance

In January, the ALEPH Ordination Programs inaugurated a program unique in Jewish history, leading to Certification as Spiritual Director and Ordination as Mashpia. This program, called HASHPA'AH, offers a three-year concentration in Jewish Spiritual Counseling and Guidance that ALEPH students may take and earn credits for as part of their Rabbinic, Cantorial or Rabbinic Pastor Program. Hashpa'ah is the traditional term for the relationship with a spiritual director or mashpia who offers guidance and teaching on matters of Jewish faith and practice.

This program is also open to students and ordinees of other Jewish seminaries who feel a kinship with Jewish Renewal, and join OHALAH: The Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal. The requirements of the training program include six Intensives, three semesters of teleconference coursework, three semesters of supervised practice (two with individuals and one with groups), and supplemental learning in related areas. Each student trains individually and in group settings with mashpi'im who support the student's spiritual growth in relationship to G*d and sacred service, and train the students in diverse modalities of spiritual counseling and spiritual direction.

Under the direction of Rabbi Shohama Wiener, the program has been in the design stages for two years, with the guidance and blessing of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and leading Jewish Renewal mashpi'im who form the core faculty.

HASHPA'AH is multi-disciplinary, integrating diverse spiritual guidance approaches and skills, while emphasizing the legacy of hashpa'ah that can be found in the literature and praxis of Hasidism and the Jewish mystical tradition. The curriculum integrates the sacred arts of spiritual and pastoral counseling; personal, intercessory and communal prayer and ritual; the art of the magid (story teller); spiritual approaches to Torah and mitzvot; personal and communal ethical development/musar; exposure to contemporary issues of bio-ethics, and other areas of learning.

This new ALEPH Ordination Program held its first learning intensive January 3-6, immediately preceding the Annual Ohalah Conference in Boulder, Colorado. Six faculty members presented and demonstrated unique models of spiritual guidance as they engaged fourteen students in prayer, meditation, and probing dialogues intended to explore new possibilities of receiving guidance in the presence of the Divine. Teachers Sandra Cohen, DSW, Rabbi Nadya Gross, Rabbi Marcia Prager, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Rabbi Shohama Wiener, and Rabbi Shawn Zevit collaborated in this opening session. They will be joined by Barbara Breitman, MSW, Rabbi Ruth Gan Kagan, and Rabbi Goldie Milgram in future intensives.

"The dreams that I had for our inaugural session were fulfilled beyond my expectations," said Rabbi Shohama Wiener, D.Min., Founding Director. "The spiritual intimacy of the environment created by the faculty and students together nurtured a profound and loving holiness and an awe-inspiring number of spiritual openings and realizations. HASHPA'AH is the program I wish I could have taken when I was in seminary."

Inquiries may be sent to RebShohama@yahoo.com.

ALEPH Ordains Five New Spiritual Leaders

On January 8, ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal's Rabbbinic, Cantorial and Rabbinic Pastor Programs ordained a diverse graduating class from its remarkable seminary without walls. The ceremony opened the eighth annual conference of OHALAH, the Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal in Boulder, Colorado. Three rabbis, two rabbinic pastors, and one cantor joined over 100 spiritual professionals who have been ordained through ALEPH's formal Rabbinic Program or the private ordination of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi that preceded it.

Over 180 OHALAH members, fellow students, family, friends and ALEPH board members honored Rabbi Chaya Gusfield, J.D. (Oakland, CA), Rabbi Lori Klein, J.D. (Santa Cruz, CA), Rabbi Eyal Levinson (Jerusalem, Israel), Rabbinic Pastor Dr. Edwin Harris, Ph.D. (St. Louis, MO), Rabbinic Pastor Melissa Wenig, M.Ed. (Boston, MA), and Cantor Susan Wehle (Buffalo, NY).

Each of these gifted spiritual leaders gave moving d'vrei Torah about Parshat Vayehi, which tells of the deaths of Jacob and Joseph. In a beautiful illustration of the Renewal movement's commitment to bring Jewish practice to life, they spoke about the ways their own experiences of mourning helped them understand the text and its traditional commentaries.

ALEPH's commitment to progressive egalitarianism was highlighted at this ordination ceremony, as the three new rabbis are gay or lesbian. Each of them conducted groundbreaking halachic (Jewish legal) analysis for their senior project. Rabbis Lori Klein and Chaya Gusfeld both focused on funeral and mourning practices for suicides. Rabbi Eyal Levinson's work was on the language and ritual of same-sex weddings ceremonies, and was published in May of 2004 by the ALEPH Bet Midrash as Same-Sex Kidushin v-Nisu'in.

The ALEPH Rabbinic Program is a non-denominational, decentralized program of learning offering structured guidance and mentorship for rigorous studies and practica culminating in rabbinic ordination. Along with the program's supervisory committee, approximately 80 rabbis and scholars from across the denominational spectrum now participate in diverse aspects of training over 50 students.