FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Debra Kolodny, Executive Director, ALEPH

DATE: October 31, 2006

Phone: 301-565-0719

Email: DebraRuth@mac.com

Dear Editor:

Enclosed is the October 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. Liberate your Soul and Free your Heart: A Jewish Renewal Passover Journey in the Land of Israel

2. Rabbi Shefa Gold publishes: Torah Journeys: The Inner Path to the Promised Land

3. ALEPH Kallah in Albuquerque is Taking Shape

4. Abraham’s Tent, a St. Louis Peace Initiative

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 just as many who are deeply engaged but looking to elevate their current practice. ALEPH has 40 affiliated communities and its projects include two biennial gatherings: the Kallah and Ruach HaAretz. It also houses as 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/

Liberate your Soul and Free your Heart: A Jewish Renewal Passover Journey in the Land of Israel

Have you been yearning for an experience of Israel that speaks to your body, heart, mind and soul? Have you been longing to participate in a community of travelers who are open to an honest encounter with the timeless teachings of a living Torah? Have you been planning on going to Israel when the time is right, but haven’t yet found it?

The time is now! Sunday, March 25-Thursday April 5

Join Rabbi Marcia Prager and Hazan Jack Kessler for this masterfully guided adventure in the Eretz Yisrael. Follow Nachshon Da-vid Mahanymi, an Israeli-American peace activist and teacher, to places off the beaten path that tell the less known stories of Israel past, present and future. Take a spiritual peace pilgrimage and study and celebrate with some of the foremost peacemakers in the world. Experience the seder like you've never experienced it before. Learn with some of the finest Jewish Renewal teachers in Israel.

Those exploring Israel for the first time will experience the country deeply and meaningfully. This is not a typical frantic-paced tourist experience rushing through sights seen and cities visited. Our group will travel gently with time for prayer, celebration, meditation, learning and sharing. Together we will grow an enduring spiritual connection to the land and to the inner meaning of Passover as a time for liberation into new possibilities. We will meet with Israeli and Palestinian grassroots peace builders, artists, musicians and teachers, as we cultivate hope, and nourish relationships through joyful prayer, dialogue and reflection. Join us to an extraordinary spiritual pilgrimage of heart and soul. We will visit the landscapes where our ancestors lived, studied, dreamt and wrestled. We will experience the heat of the Judean desert, the depth of the Dead Sea, the refreshing waters of Ein-Gedi oasis. We will go up to the spiritual heights of Tzfat in the heart of the Galilee Mountains, enjoy the cool breeze of the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret) and the hot springs of Hamat Gader. Our Aliyah la'regel (pilgrimage) will culminate in 6 extraordinary days in Jerusalem including the Passover Seder.

For details on the itinerary, fees and registration, visit: www.aleph.org after November 3.

Rabbi Shefa Gold publishes Torah Journeys: The Inner Path to the Promised Land

Torah Journeys promises to turn the year-long cycle of Torah reading into a journey of personal spiritual growth. The first book by Rabbi Shefa Gold, it is meaningful for those at any spiritual level.

In Torah Journeys, Rabbi Gold reveals a blessing and a challenge hidden in each weekly Torah portion, based on her principle that the Torah is happening now, and that its stories – from the Creation in Genesis through the death of Moses at the end of Deuteronomy – are about each individual’s life journey. Drawing from her spiritual search as an adept in an array of practices, Rabbi Gold offers transformative practices for each week, ranging from meditation to visualization to chant.

Torah Journeys is the fruit of the religious journey of an engaging teacher with an impressive grasp of the texts and liturgy. Experiencing other traditions inspired Rabbi Gold to search out similar tools in Judaism to expand consciousness, become fully human and know God. Torah Journeys guides the reader through this profound exploration.

Rabbi Gold shares her insightful approach to Bible study and personal growth. The result is poetry for the soul. Torah Journeys is not merely about Jewish Renewal, it is a framework for renewing the Spirit, whatever your faith tradition.

Shefa Gold is a leader in ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal and is the Director of C-DEEP-Center for Devotional, Energy and Ecstatic Practice. Renowned for her teachings, particularly in the realms of chanting, meditation, and connecting to the sacred, she received rabbinical ordinations from both the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. She will be appearing in twelve states across America this fall, promoting Torah Journeys and leading workshops.

Torah Journeys, which is published by Ben Yehuda Press, can be ordered through www.rabbishefagold.com.

Advance Praise

"If you dare be addressed by God -- read it. If you dare be transformed by God -- practice it." Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Author of The Divine Feminine

"Deep study and contemplation went into the writing of this work. Reb Shefa takes you into the House of Study of the heart and the soul and in this way engages the sacred creativity of the spirit." Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi co-author of Jewish With Feeling and Credo Of A Modern Kabbalist

"Torah Journeys is a remarkable book of profound depth. It has taught me much, drawing as the author does from the wells of different faith traditions in her life. Rabbi Shefa Gold is adept at teaching us how to grow spiritually using the Torah as the inexhaustible source. Please read this book if you too want to grow." Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

ALEPH Kallah in Albuquerque is Taking Shape

 
Kallah Coordinator Sally Plone just returned from a planning tour in New Mexico, establishing the local foundation of what promises to be another extraordinary event. She met with leaders and congregant’s from ALEPH’s local affiliate in New Mexico, Nahalat Shalom as well as rabbis, cantors and Jewish leaders from the greater Albuquerque and Santa Fe communities. 

ALEPH is delighted to announce that Sally has filled some key Kallah positions:
 
*Joanie Levine, Children's Coordinator from 2006 Ruach Ha'aretz will be co-coordinating the 2007 Kids Kallah. Joanie received rave reviews about her work with the children and the parents and we are lucky to have her on board.
 
*David Fainsilber, Director of Programs at Or Shalom in Vancouver will be leading our teen program.  David comes very highly recommended and we're excited about building an excellent program with him.
 
*Judith Kate Friedman, who has produced our past two Cabarets will be joining the planning committee as Cultural Events Producer. She will be overseeing production of all our major events and continuing to help the Kallah realize its potential as a top-notch professional venue for performers.
  
*Eliezer Froehlich will return as our Bookstore/Gift Store Manager.  He brings several years of experience with him as well a warm, caring personality and extraordinary skills. We are looking forward to some great shopping!
 
*Lynda Danzig, acupuncturist and massage therapist will take advantage of the fact that the Albuquerque/Santa Fe area is a virtual mecca for the healing arts. She will be creating a vibrant Healing Center offering all kinds of services for the body & soul.
  
*Linda Friedman, Vice President of the Jewish Federation of Greater Albuquerque, will be spearheading this year's Tikkun Olam project, an element of the Kallah which in years passed has helped to transform local communities.
 
The Kallah program will be finalized in January and promotional materials will be out in February. Visit the ALEPH website at www.aleph.org <http://www.aleph.org/> to keep yourself updated.
 

Abraham’s Tent, a St. Louis Peace Initiative

Several weeks after the cessation of hostilities in Lebanon, Congregation Neve Shalom met with Muslim Christian, Persian, Lebanese and Palestinian friends for the first time on September 3^rd, 2006, in an event called The Opening of Abraham’s Tent. Rabbi James Stone Goodman of Neve Shalom, Rabbi Susan Talve of the Central Reform Congregation and Father Andre Mhanna of St. Raymond’s Maronite Cathedral planned the evening of poetry and music and dedicated it to peace.

Inspired to action on August 11, when the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a proposal to end the conflict in Lebanon and Israel, the event was designed to demonstrate solidarity in the pursuit of peace through non-political or ideological action. Father Andre Mhanna had just returned from Lebanon after having been caught in the spiral of the conflict for much of the summer. The evening provided an opportunity to decompress from the tensions of months filled with the horrors of war.

The participants spoke poetry and played the shared music of the eastern Mediterranean. Rabbi Goodman played several tunes familiar throughout the Jewish, Arab, and Christian Middle East on the oud, a popular instrument of the Middle East. The music, along with the language of poetry and peace, effectively brought the room together in common purpose and shared identity, even among the different traditions and languages.

In 1998, St. Raymond's Church celebrated 100 years of its Maronite community in St. Louis. The prominent Lebanese community in St. Louis dates its presence in St. Louis to 1856, with thousands more immigrants settling there just after the Civil War. Congregation Neve Shalom was founded in 1989 in St. Louis, Missouri as an intentional community celebrating Judaism in an imaginative, heartfelt way. It is an ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal affiliated community.

Continuing events are being planned. For more information, you may contact Rabbi James Stone Goodman, Congregation Neve Shalom, St. Louis, Missouri, rabbi@neveshalom.org, or visit www.neveshalom.org.