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Pardes Levavot

Pardes Levavot, “Orchard of Hearts,” was formed in the spirit of creating conscious holy community. Our name expresses the spiritual blossoming of each individual heart within an inspiring and nurturing orchard.

For information on our congregation please call (303) 563-2110 and leave a message or send email to info@pardeslevavot.org. To join our congregation, please print a copy of our membership form, fill it out, and send it to our Synagogue.


Pardes Levavot gratefully acknowledges Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado for their support of our Circle of Family Education program. Thank you!

Dear Chevre:

Enclosed is the September 2007 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.      ALEPH Participates in Press Conference Announcing Fast for Peace on October 8
2.      ALEPH Ordained Rabbi Phyllis Berman to lead Auschwitz-Birkenau Bearing Witness Retreat
3.      ALEPH Joins The Shalom Center’s Green Menorah Covenant

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like additional information.  
Wishing you all a Chag Sukkot Sameach.

 
Debra Kolodny /s/
Executive Director
ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal

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ALEPH Participates in Press Conference Announcing Fast for Peace on October 8
 

On Wednesday, September 26, ALEPH Executive Director Debra Kolodny joined a diverse and impressive group of religious leaders to stand in prophetic witness for a policy that invites peace and nonviolence instead of death and destruction.

 

The group included Jim Winkler, United Methodist Board for Church and Society, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Director of The Shalom Center, Rabbi Gerald Serotta, Board Chair of Rabbis for Human Rights North America, Sister Marge Clark from Pax Christi, Reverand Stan Hastey from Alliance of Baptists and Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed, Director of the Office for Interfaith and Community Alliances at the Islamic Society of North America. The group announced a multi-faith fast from dawn to dusk on Monday, October 8 to call for an end to the Iraq War.

 

"This war must end!" say the religious leaders in their statement about the interfaith fast. "We must end the shattering of Iraqi and American lives by offering American generosity and support  – but not control – for international and nongovernmental efforts to assist Iraqis in making peace and rebuilding their country, while swiftly and safely bringing home all American troops."

 

"On this day, people of faith in local communities across our nation will act as catalysts to transform the meaning of the day from one of 'conquest to community and from violence to reverence,'" writes the Rev. Dr. Shanta Premawardhana, Associate General Secretary for Interfaith Relations, National Council of the Churches of Christ USA (NCC), who was a key organizer in the press conference.

 

"American culture, society, and policy are addicted to violence at home and overseas," says the organizing statement. "In our time, the hope of a decent future is endangered by an unnecessary, morally abhorrent, and disastrous war. Ending this war can become the first step toward a policy that embodies a deeper, broader sense of generosity and community at home and in the world."

 

The leaders of these many faith communities are inviting millions of Americans to organize joint interfaith events in local communities on October 8 to fast and break the fast together.  Groups may register their events at www.interfaithfast.org <http://www.interfaithfast.org/>  where groups may also find an organizing toolkit to assist in putting together such gatherings. A bulletin insert on fasting for use by Christians can also be found on the website.

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ALEPH Ordained Rabbi Phyllis Berman to lead Auschwitz-Birkenau Bearing Witness Retreat

 

The 12th Annual Auschwitz-Birkenau Bearing Witness Retreat will take place from November 5-10 in Oswiecim, Poland. A multi-faith, culturally diverse group of peacemakers will gather as a community to bear witness at Auschwitz I and Birkenau (Auschwitz II), places of unspeakable personal and universal human tragedy and suffering. Participants will be offered opportunities to experience the depths of their relationship to such suffering and explore the possibilities for personal, cultural, societal and global transformation.

 

The retreat will be guided by an experienced group of international leaders representing Jewish, Buddhist and Christian traditions who will lead participants through periods of silence and meditation, prayer, chanting the names of the dead, offering Kaddish and participating in optional religious services in various traditions. There will be facilitated small group Listening Circles, and special programs in the evenings for the whole group.  For the first time this year, we will follow four days of bearing witness in the camps with a fifth day of dialogue exploring the meaning and impact of our bearing witness experience for our own lives and our global community.

 

Since the early 1980s, Rabbi Phyllis Berman has been a leading Jewish-renewal retreat leader, liturgist, prayer leader, story-writer, and story-teller. She was Director of the Summer Program of the Elat Chayyim Center for Healing and Renewal and is the co-author of Tales of Tikkun: New Jewish Stories to Heal the Wounded World  (1996) and A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven: The Jewish Life-Spiral as a Spiritual Path  (2002). Her articles on new ceremonies for women and new midrash have appeared in Moment, Worlds of Jewish Prayer, Tikkun, and Good Housekeeping.  Rabbi Berman was ordained by the ALEPH ordination program in 2004, and was honored as an Eyshet Chazon (Woman of Vision) by the Jewish-renewal community in 1991.

 

For more information about the retreat, please see www.peacemakerinstitute.org/auschwitz.html <http://www.peacemakerinstitute.org/auschwitz.html> . You can contact Kate Crisp at 303-544-5923 or peacemaker@indra.com with questions or to register. A discounted registration fee is available until September 30 for those who mention Rabbi Berman.

 
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ALEPH Joins The Shalom Center’s Green Menorah Covenant

 

At its September Board meeting ALEPH agreed to encourage its communities and spiritual leadership to respond conscientiously to the global climate change crisis by becoming a partner in The Shalom Center’s Green Menorah Covenant.

 

By joining in this Coalition, ALEPH has agreed on to work for change in seven institutional, personal and policy arenas, all relating to minimizing the use of carbon-emitting fuels. These include: supporting low-carbon energy sources, greening our offices and events, minimizing the use of fuels for our personal and organizational transportation and working to end subsidies to transportation options like automobiles and airplanes that maximize the use of carbon-emitting fuels.

 

According to Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Director of The Shalom Center: “We face a stark choice between a future of world-wide misery and a breathtaking sense of new life-giving possibilities. On the one hand, the myriad ecosystems of our planet with all their inter-breathing species, as well as the well-being of whole societies of human beings -- our food and water, our coastlines, our physical health -- are all endangered by the climate crisis of global scorching. Yet we could create a joyful world far more integrated in our use of sustainable sources of energy, new kinds of health care, eco-kosher practice, new sorts of jobs, new approaches to our use of land, what we learn and how we celebrate.  The Shalom Center intends to help the Jewish community choose the life-giving alternative.”

 

You can find out more about the Green Menorah Covenant at:www.shalomctr.org <http://www.shalomctr.org/>  and click on campaigns. To inquire about it, write to:

Greernmenorah@shalomctr.org