FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Debra Kolodny, Executive Director, ALEPH

DATE: November 28, 2006

Phone: 301-565-0719

Email: DebraRuth@mac.com

Dear Editor:

Enclosed is the November 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 Zalman Schachter-Shalomi Inspires in Australia

3. ALEPH’s Sacred Foods Project Brings Interfaith Efforts to Food and Agriculture Discussion

4. Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi Participates in Global On-line Conversation at Washingtonpost.Newsweek “OnFaith”

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

Join ALEPH in our first (non-Birthright) Israel trip for a magical experience of Passover from Sunday, March 25 through Thursday, April 5. Sign up now, before the trip is sold out!

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.

Fran Starr, a participant in a previous journey shepherded by the trip leaders said, “Seven years ago I went on a trip to Israel with Marcia Prager and Jack Kessler. It was amazing. It filled my head and heart with experiences I still treasure. We had such fun and every moment was precious. I thought to myself that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, but here we are blessed with another chance. Forget about the time or the money and go. You owe it to yourself! You'll return with the sweetest memories. Reb Marcia and Jack have so much to give. This will be an opportunity to truly grow spiritually.”

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/retreats.html

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi Inspires in Australia

Australian ALEPH affiliate Temple Emanuel welcomed Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and his wife, Eve Ilsen over Simchat Torah for an extraordinary eight days of learning and inspiration.

Visit co-organizer Edna Ross described the time as, “A rarely experienced spiritual feast, re-connecting us with our tradition in ways that make sense at the psychological, emotional and spiritual levels. There were brilliant teachings and services filled with meaning and feeling.  It was a total joy and blessing for our community to have two such wonderful human beings and teachers with us. I am so glad that Sue Fisher and I and our team of helpers were able to help make this happen.”

The visit began with an evening of Chassidic tales followed by a 7:00 am Hoshana Raba service, featuring a rain dance with an Australian willow, in bud because of the spring season. It did indeed rain! Simchat Torah was a night of dance and celebration, augmented by the talent of the Temple’s choir and musicians, led by Cantor Toltz. Reb Zalman led the hakafot (procession) to emulate the mystical kabbalistic teachings of the Tree of Life. Those who attended the morning service were rewarded with their own Torah reading for the year when the entire scroll was unrolled in the courtyard. Eve Ilsen led a workshop that explored our “dreamworld” and was a highlight, with many finding her approach powerful and helpful. A talk entitled “From Ageing to Sageing” was presented at the Jewish Center on Ageing to a capacity crowd, including local matriarch, Stella Cornelius. Reb Zalman’s commitment to environmental issues and socio-political matters took him to meet with Aboriginal elder, Uncle Max, as well as to wildlife parks and rural Australia.

One of Temple Emanuel’s Jewish Renewal leaders, Kim Gotlieb said, “It was extraordinary to learn from this man, so steeped in the Chassidic lineage yet able to weave a web wide enough to capture so many in the spirit of a vital and relevant Judaism for our time. That he also included an Australian perspective on the festivals and how we could address the “Northern hemisphere bias” of the Jewish calendar was remarkable. I believe their visit will have a long and enduring impact on our communal life. We may well look back at this time as a turning point in the ways we experience Jewish life and religious practice. More than anything, Reb Zalman modeled how a warm and personable attitude can influence people wherever they place themselves in the Jewish world: Progressive, Conservative, or Renewal and beyond.”

ALEPH’s Sacred Foods Project Brings Interfaith Efforts to Food and Agriculture Discussion

In November, the work of ALEPH’s Sacred Foods Project and the importance of interfaith efforts to promote sustainable, just and humane agriculture were highlighted at two national conferences hosted by the National Catholic Rural Life Conference and the American Academy of Religion.

On November 18, Debra Kolodny, Executive Director of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, addressed a special session at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion held in Washington DC and hosted by the Center for Respect of Life & Environment. Ms. Kolodny’s remarks were made during sessions concerning animal welfare, religion and ecology. She discussed the Jewish scriptural and theological foundations supporting sustainable agriculture and reviewed the work of the Sacred Foods Project before the world’s largest gathering of religious scholars.

According to Ms. Kolodny, "Twenty five years ago, the founder of the Jewish Renewal movement, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi coined the concept of eco-kashrut. In doing so he informed a generation about evaluating food and food production from a spiritual perspective for its healthfulness, its environmental impact, and its treatment of animals and workers. The Sacred Foods Project took this idea and expanded it to all faith traditions.” She detailed the Project’s work to collect and create a wide range of educational materials for congregations and religious institutions, including a tool to help people evaluate secular food certifications against the faith based 8 dimensions of Sacred Food.

Earlier in the month, on November 11, Arlin Wasserman, the Sacred Foods Project Director, provided lunchtime comments at the 83^rd annual meeting of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference on “Sustainable Food, Sustainable Business, Sustainable Agriculture,” held in Overland Park, Kansas.

Mr. Wasserman recognized the work of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference and its Executive Director Br. David Andrews, for launching and serving on the Advisory Council of the Sacred Foods Project. He joined speakers from the Bon Appetit Management Company and Niman Ranch in discussing common values that the Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions share regarding animal welfare and environmental stewardship.

The Sacred Foods Project, launched in July 2005, and housed in ALEPH, is an interfaith effort to incorporate religious and ethical principles in the production and distribution of food. The project brings together religious leaders, faith-based and civic institutions and members of the food industry to improve the quality of our land, air and water, to provide healthier and more sustainable food for our citizens and to improve the lives of agricultural workers. You can find out more about the project at www.sacred-foods.org.

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi participates in Global On-line Conversation at Washingtonpost.Newsweek “OnFaith”

On November 15, Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, an award-winning publisher of online news and information, introduced a new online conversation called “OnFaith.”  Moderated by Washington Post writer Sally Quinn and Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham, “OnFaith” is an unprecedented collaboration of diverse and prestigious thought leaders from around the world.

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, the founder of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal is participating along with religious luminaries Desmond Tutu, Anglican Archbishop and Nobel Prize winner, Mohammad Khatami, former president of Iran, Elie Wiesel, Jewish activist and Nobel Prize Winner, Sam Harris, atheist philosopher and Akbar Ahmed, professor and former Pakistani ambassador to the United Kingdom

The goal of the conversation is to encourage intelligent and respectful conversations on religion and faith. At least once a week, Quinn and Meacham pose questions to the panel of contributors.  The questions, and responses from contributors around the world, are posted at http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith. Topics range from the nature of evil to the morality of fetal stem-cell research to how to raise kids in multi-faith households.  

A full list of the more than 50 participants in “OnFaith” is available by visiting http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith