| 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) 530-4422 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!
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Debra Kolodny, Executive Director, ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal DATE: November 21, 2007 Phone: 301-565-0719 Email: DebraRuth@mac.com Web site: www.aleph.org Below is the November 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 Birthright/Taglit Israel participant April Rosenblum named one of the Forward 50 2. New Book Profiles Jewish Renewal Leaders 3. ALEPH’s Rodef Shalom Co-Director, Eliyahu McLean headlines Tucson Celebration of Peace Making Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Deb ********************************************* ALEPH Birthright/Taglit Israel participant April Rosenblum named one of the Forward 50! On November 9, the Forward named Jewish activist and educator April Rosenblum to be one of the 50 Jews who are leaving their mark on American Jewry. Eighteen months ago April was one of 39 adventurers on ALEPH’s inaugural Birthright/Taglit Israel trip. She made her mark in that community as a peer educator on the very same topic for which the Forward recognized her this month-challenging anti-semitism. The Forward recognized her for her publication, “THE PAST DIDN'T GO ANYWHERE: Making Resistance to Anti-Semitism Part of All of Our Movements.” April wrote this 32-page pamphlet for progressives and radicals, to support social justice movements in combating anti-Jewish oppression from the perspective of liberating all people. Chris Crass, an organizer from the Catalyst Project, a center for political education and movement building said of her work: "In order to build powerful movements we must take on antisemitism as what it is: a divide-and-rule strategy that has served to maintain ruling classes, conceal who actually has power, and confuse us about the real systems of oppression that pit us against one another...Rosenblum's pamphlet needs to be studied and the lessons applied." April says, "My work to create 'The Past' was inspired by noticing how afraid I was to speak up when I noticed instances of anti-Jewish oppression in the movements I called home. I realized that my activist friends were, like me, staying silent not out of anti-semitism, but because they needed basic tools to confront it. I hope it will be a resource for Jewish and non-Jewish organizers, activists, and other people passionate about building movements that can win." Now 27, April was born and raised in activist movements in Philadelphia. She became politicized in 1995 by government attempts to execute U.S. political prisoner and Philadelphia journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal. Since then she has worked on police brutality, political prisoners and prisoners' rights, women’s reproductive freedom, immigrants' rights, poverty, anti-racist education and Palestinian self-determination. She graduated with a B.A. in History from Temple University. April can be reached at reachpast@gmail.com. All are invited to use and share the pamphlet that can be found at: www.thepast.info. Permission is given to copy freely. *********************************************** New Book Profiles Jewish Renewal Leaders JOURNEYS TO A JEWISH LIFE by Paula Amann traces the paths of just over sixty men and women, secular or nominal Jews who blazed a spiritual trail toward a vibrant modern Judaism. Included in this refreshing look at a journey that many Jewish Renewalists have taken are several ALEPH leaders, including Executive Director and rabbinic student Debra Kolodny and Board members David Blumenstein and Judith Dack. Also found in this remarkable chronicle of the return and embrace of what for many became a life of Jewish service are ALEPH ordained rabbi Shafir Lobb, now serving congregation Ner Tamid in Tucson, Seattle based ALEPH Rabbinic Pastor Pinchas Zohav and Pnai Or Philadelphia leader Melvin Metilitz. “In recent years, many American Jews have stumbled upon spiritual wealth in the heart of their own tradition,” writes Paula Amann. Unnumbered seekers, she says, “have wandered far in search of a spiritual life that feeds their soul, only to discover it in their own heritage.” Stirring and provocative, the book tracks spiritual adventures from alienation to connection, detailing religious detours and guides who point the way. The story of ba'alei teshuvah, the tens of thousands of once-disaffected Jews who have found a home in Orthodoxy over the last several decades is well documented, but Paula Amann was visionary enough to realize that " the quiet return of secular and liberal Jews to a more eclectic, yet equally committed Judaism has taken place largely out of the limelight." >From November 2005 until this year Paula conducted 70 interviews that formed the foundation of Journeys to a Jewish Life. Deb Kolodny said of the work: “Paula’s seven years at the Washington Jewish Week as an award winning news editor and reporter stood her in good stead as she asked thoughtful, probing questions with wonderfully insightful follow ups. But the proof is in the pudding, as they say. As someone who has been interviewed dozens of times I can safely say that her brilliance for accurately reporting the essence of an individual story while weaving the interview into a larger written tapestry, is unparalleled.” Jewish Journeys is published by Jewish Lights (Woodstock, VT); www.jewishlights.com; 800-962-4544 ******************************************** ALEPH’s Rodef Shalom Co-Director, Eliyahu McLean headlines Tucson Celebration of Peace Making Marge Eiseman >From November 7-11th, Eliyahu McLean, founder of Jerusalem Peacemakers and Sheikh Ghassan Manasra, founder of the Anwar il-Salaam School of Peace in Nazareth, spoke to captivated audiences in Tucson about their peace building work in Israel and Palestine. Organized by Planet Coexist, the week-long series brought these powerful speakers to the University of Arizona, the Islamic Center of Tucson, and the Jewish Renewal service at Ner Tamid Congregation on Shabbat evening. One of their presentations was a hands-on peace-building workshop to help the community work on its own peacemaking skills on local issues. Inspired by the line up, Tucson mayor Robert Walkup declared it the “Week of the Peacemakers.” The Saturday night Sparks of Peace Gala featured a variety of musical performances, speeches and a moving encounter between the Jerusalem Peacemakers and leaders of local Israeli and Palestinian communities and agencies. Efforts to bridge the divide between the children of Abraham in Israel and Palestine clearly inspired local community leaders to do the same. The events of the week were bracketed by “Comfort Shawl” workshops led by Marge Eiseman. Two beautiful shawls were sent back to Jerusalem and Nazareth with the peacemakers, and a third stayed with the Planet Coexist High School Club in Tucson. The teens in the club added some real flavor to the week by cooking the organic, Kosher, ethnic foods served at the Saturday gala. The sponsor of the event, Planet Coexist, also held its first international council retreat during the week. Its mission is to help facilitate the process toward integrated planetary wellness by serving as a hub, think-tank, organizer and advocate of eco-spiritual ventures world-wide. For more information about this young organization and the council members (four of whom attended the recent ALEPH Kallah), go to www.planetcoexist.com <http://www.planetcoexist.com> . If your community is interested in hosting a series like this, contact Planet Coexist’s founder, Tzadik, at peacemaker@planetcoexist.com. |