FW: ALEPH January 2010 News Releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Debra Kolodny, Executive Director, ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal
DATE: January 28, 2010
Phone: 301-565-0719
Email: DebraRuth@mac.com
Web site: www.aleph.org
Dear Editor:
Below is the January 2010 ALEPH News Service. We hope you run the following articles and look forward to hearing from you if you do. This release contains:
1. ALEPH Ordains Nine Rabbis and Two Hazzanim
2. Noa Baum, Rabbi Marcia Prager, David Friedman, Sarah Yehudit Schneider at ALEPH Affiliate Am Kolel
Sanctuary& Renewal Center
3. ALEPH Partners with Mayyim Hayyim on Mikveh Conference in October
Catch you when I am back from my retreat-February 8!
Till then, Shabbat Shalom, Have a sappy Tu B’shvat and Shavua tov!
Deb
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ALEPH Ordains Nine Rabbis and Two Hazzanim
This ritual has become an axis around which our hearts turn. Every year, on the first or second Sunday in January, Rabbis, Cantors, Rabbinic Pastors, seminary students, friends, family, teachers and congregants gather to witness the transmission of permission and welcome for another cadre of klei kodesh/holy vessels, to serve as clergy for the people Israel.
On January 10, Tevet 25, 5770, in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, ALEPH ordained nine Rabbis and two Hazzanim in the joyful, creative, passionate, inclusive, mystically sourced, progressively engaged tradition of Jewish Renewal.
Every year there are certain things we count on. Passionate prayer, chant or song opens the space. A procession of teachers enters the room. All who are gathered stand silently to honor the wisdom and brilliance of the heart/mind trust that guides this unique, rigorous and growing seminary. Led by the founder of the seminary and the ‘zaydee’ of Jewish Renewal, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, followed by the Director and Dean of the Ordination Programs, Rabbi Marcia Prager, the Dean of Students and ALEPH’s Director of Spiritual Resources, Rabbi Daniel Siegel, the Director of the Rabbinic Pastor Program, Rabbinic Pastor Shulamit Fagan, the Director of the Cantorial Program, Hazzan Jack Kessler, the Rosh Hashpa’ah and Director of the Spiritual Direction Program, Rabbi Shohama Weiner, the entrance of teachers is completed by seven other members of the academic VAAD.
Then the almost ordinees enter. The gravitas of the moment, the heart opening poignancy, the appreciation and respect for their individual and collective journeys vibrates in the room. This year the group is comprised of: Rabbi Elisheva Brenner from Pueblo, Colorado, co-leader of Bnai Or Pueblo and an attorney; Rabbi Lynn Claire Feinberg, the first woman Rabbi in Norway, founder and leader of Havurat Kol haLev; Hazzan Abbe Lyons, singer, songwriter, writer and cantor at Congregation Tikkun v’Or in Ithaca, NY; Rabbi D’vorah Rose, healthcare chaplain, educator, and lifecycle officiant in San Mateo, California; Hazzan Michal Rubin, psychotherapist and Hazzan at Beth Shalom Synagogue in Columbia, South Carolina; Rabbi Janet Salzman, Spiritual Director, teacher, dancer, songstress in Vermont; Rabbi Jeffrey Schulman, technology prognosticator, spiritual leader of Kavanat HaLev and Spiritual Director in Carmel, California; Rabbi Debrah Shenefelt, spiritual leader and founder of Congregation Or Ahava in Tampa, Florida; Rabbi Sunny Schnitzer, Hazzan and spiritual leader of Bethesda Jewish Congregation in Maryland, Rabbi Orna Irene Triguboff, yogini, meditation leader and PhD in the cosmology of the Ari, “Visions of the Heavenly Realms in 16th Century Safed”; and Rabbi Melissa J. Wenig, teacher, web designer and ritual maker in Cambridge, Massachusetts who is now the interim rabbi of Congregation Ahavas Achim, Newburyport MA.
Once settled into their seats on the bima, Rabbi Marcia Prager welcomed the witnesses and all of the ordinees shared divrei Torah. But this year the offering was like none other. After five wove their life stories into teachings, juxtaposing their impressive paths with one another in a way that highlighted the remarkable diversity and strength they will bring to their rabbinates, the six remaining forces of nature stood, shifted the microphones into place and offered a ‘spoken word chorus’ of story, insight and song filled with depth, wisdom, surprise and power. Lifting up the best that Jewish Renewal has to offer: collaborative elevation of Divine sparks, the entire class awed all who were gathered.
The semicha ceremony followed: teachers and mentors gathered under the chuppah to lay hands on our new leaders, articulating the formula for transmitting the power to serve. This year it rang with a power and truth that danced on the waves of the teachings, in a moment that none would ever forget.
Mazel tov to all of ALEPH’s musmachim. May your students, congregants, counselees, patients, families, communities and others whose lives you touch be as appreciative of your gifts as we are!
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NOA BAUM, MARCIA PRAGER, DAVID FRIEDMAN, SARAH YEHUDIT SCHNEIDER at ALEPH Affiliate Am Kolel Sanctuary & Renewal Center
Please join us March 12-13, 2010 at Am Kolel Sanctuary & Renewal Center near Washington DC, for an intimate weekend of sacred storytelling and community, with Noa Baum, acclaimed storyteller & creator of the award-winning “Land Twice Promised” – a performance piece of Israeli & Palestinian Women’s Stories.
Program $180. Lodging available. A flyer and registration form can be downloaded from our calendar page at www.sanctuaryretreatcenter.com
Save the dates for our upcoming retreats:
R. Marcia Prager: Director& Dean of ALEPH Ordination programs, Co-Director of the Davvenen Leadership Training Institute, teacher, therapist – June 11-12
David Friedman: Kabbalistic artist and teacher from Tsfat whose work is deeply influenced Rabbi Moshe Chayim Luzzatto and Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook – August 20-22
Sarah Yehudit Schneider: Teacher of Torah & Kabbalah from Jerusalem, creator of “A Still Small Voice” school & author of “Kabbalistic Writings on the Nature of Masculine & Feminine”, “Eating and Tikkun” & “You Are What You Hate” – November 12-14
Contact Gilah to register or for more information at 301.349.2799 or gilah@am-kolel.org
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ALEPH Partners with Mayyim Hayyim on Mikveh Conference in October
Mayyim Hayyim <http://www.mayyimhayyim.org/> Community Mikveh and Education Center is hosting the international Mikveh Conference, “Gathering the Waters” in Boston, October 10-12, 2010. ALEPH is a partner for this event, and we encourage you to attend this exciting program.
The conference will provide an in-depth exploration of the contemporary mikveh in theory and practice. Internationally renowned scholars, clergy, and educators will teach about immersion as a powerful tool for spiritual renewal, marking life transitions, and observing mitzvot.
Panels and workshops will provide skill development in the following areas:
* Honoring Conversion and Affirmation
* Exploring Contemporary Understanding of Niddah (Monthly Immersion)
* Marking Life Transitions with Ritual Immersion
* Facilitating Mikveh Guide (Attendant) Training
* Teaching About Mikveh for Students of All Ages
* Creating or Enhancing a Mikveh in Your Community
Get more information at: http://www.mayyimhayyim.org/Resources/Conference-2010 or contact Amy Chartock, National Programs Director at <mailto:amyc@mayyimhayyim.org> or 617-244-1836 x 203
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