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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!

October 1, 2007

AT PARDES LEVAVOT PARDES CALENDAR

SPECIAL MEMBER NEEDS/OFFERINGS
  • High Holy Days Music
  • High Holy Days Artwork
AROUND TOWN AND BEYOND

PRAYERS

AT PARDES LEVAVOT

Thank You

Thank you to Jim Wright and David Kirsh for building our Sukkah - and to Fred Berkelhammer for providing our S'chach (tree branches). Thanks to all who brought food to share and joined in our Erev Sukkot dinner and chanting.

Thanks to Myra Tuckerman for providing our Oneg on Erev Shabbat.

Events This Week

NO Chant and Meditation

Chant and meditation resumes Wednesday, October 17.

Simchat Torah

Thursday, October 4, 6:30 pm

Don't miss your Torah Oracle for the year 5768! Join Pardes Levavot and our great musicians as we dance the new Torah Cycle into being. Then take your place around the Torah as it is completely unrolled to reveal the secrets of the year to come, and YOUR OWN special blessing.

Learners' Shabbat Morning Service for All Ages

Saturday, October 5, 9am-12:15pm
 
Parashat Bereshit
 
Bereshit Torah Journey

Events Coming Up

New format for Shabbat Celebrations!

We're making changes in our Shabbat morning format to include more opportunities for interactive learning and special attention to families with small children. We plan to introduce our new format beginning Saturday, October 6. In addition to the new format, also please note the NEW STARTING TIMES. Visit our web site at the link above for more information on what we are planning.

CIP Thanksgiving Basket Donations Needed

It's that time again! Shepherd of the Hills and Pardes Levavot have begun collecting food and monetary donations for the annual CIP Thanksgiving Baskets. Our goal is to feed 120 families. Please bring your donations to the display table in the narthex. Food donations can be placed under or around the table – monetary donations can be placed in the turkey basket on the table or mailed to the shul. This is a synagogue-wide and church-wide service project, everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate. Shepherd's students will be counting food, updating the donation chart, and building boxes. Everyone is invited to pack the food boxes on Sunday, November 18th at noon.

Getting Involved

From the Shepherd of the Hills Bulletin

This past week the CIP room filled with water after a heavy rain. This misfortune has resulted in closure of the CIP room further notice. Thank you to Pam Sunderland, Pastor Ken, Martha Ann Chinault, Karen Johnson, Gay Rohrer, Lesley Buss, and Kay Werpy for helping to clear everything out of the room and prepare it for mold excavation. Thank you as well to Wendall Borchert, Bob Soltwedel, and Dick Werpy for putting so much of their time towards the building this week - particularly this situation.

PARDES CALENDAR

October 2007

3, Wednesday - NO Chant and Meditation

4, Thursday - Simchat Torah, 6:30pm

6, Saturday - Learners' Shabbat Morning Service for All Ages, 9am-12:15pm

10, Wednesday - NO Chant and Meditation

12, Friday - Kabbalat Shabbat Service, 7-9pm

17, Wednesday - Chant and Meditation, 7-9pm

20, Saturday - Torah Study, Davenen and Torah Service, 9:30am-noon

24, Wednesday - Chant and Meditation, 7-9pm

26, Friday - Kabbalat Shabbat Service, 7-9pm

31, Wednesday - Chant and Meditation, 7-9pm

SPECIAL MEMBER NEEDS/OFFERINGS

High Holy Days Music

If you enjoyed the music at this year's High Holy Days observances, and you or  someone you know is looking to hire someone to play live music for an upcoming bar or bat mitzvah, a holiday party, or any other event, please consider Pardes Levavot's piano player Sam Yulsman. Among his many musical engagements, Sam plays with the Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts big band, called "The Jazz Arts Messengers." (www.jazzarts.org) These high school and middle school students were recently selected to perform this coming January at the world's largest jazz gathering, the International Association of Jazz Educators convention in Toronto. (www.iaje.org) This is quite an honor, considering that only a few student bands from around the world are selected each year. The students now have to finance their journey to Toronto. So they are kicking off a major fund-raising effort. But they're not looking for donations (although I'm sure they'd accept them). They're looking for paying gigs.

Sam is the band's piano player, and one of the top jazz pianists of his age
in the country. He is available to play solo, in a small or medium-sized ensemble, or with the entire Jazz Messengers band. (Sam can also play classical music.) So if you know anyone who is looking to hire one or more musicians for an upcoming event and would like to consider these incredible musicians, please let me know: 303-652-8875 or tom.yulsman@colorado.edu. You can also go to Sam's website, where you'll find audio and video clips of him playing solo and with various ensembles: www.samyulsman.com.

Many thanks! And hope to see you soon at our upcoming Pardes events and
services. -- Tom Yulsman

High Holy Days ArtworkTree of Life

Did you enjoy the paintings decorating the sanctuary during the High Holy Days? Lael Har painted the beautiful art and will show more of her brilliant work during Boulder Open Studios.

Showings will be on Saturday October 6, Sunday October 7, Saturday October 13 and Sunday October 14. Visit from noon to 6:00 pm on all dates. Lael's studio is located at 1025 Rosewood Avenue #108. This is west of Broadway, just North of Violet Avenue in Boulder. You can also view and purchase works at Lael's web site: www.LaelDesigns.com.

AROUND TOWN AND BEYOND

View additional information from the local community on our web site by following the links below.

ALEPH Newsletter, September 2007

ALEPH Endorses Green Menorah Covenant

Jewish Renewal Videos on YouTube

Coming Home - Danya and Eyal

New Year's Message from Reb Zalman

Fair Trade Judaica

Auschwitz-Birkenau Bearing Witness Retreat with Rabbi Phyllis Berman

Chevra Kadisha

The Boulder Chevra Kadisha is looking for a few amazing people to help us out with an incredible mitzvah.  The Chevra Kadisha, or Holy Society, is a group of Jewish volunteers who help purify a body for burial by washing and preparing the body while reciting psalms and prayers. This is called "tahara".  Next, we sit "shmira" – or watch over the body until burial, while reciting psalms, meditating, or praying.  This allows for the soul of the person to leave his or her body in a gentle way by still having a connection to someone here. Participating in the tahara or sitting shmira is considered one of the highest mitzvot a person can do, as the deceased cannot express their thanks.

Shmira is generally done in 2-hour shifts, but the late night hours have been particularly hard to fill.  We are looking for a few "night owls" who would be willing to sit shmira from midnight to 6 AM and be paid by the family of the deceased.  If you feel that you possess the kavanah for this, or are interested in the Chevra Kadisha in general, please contact Carol Navsky at 303-499-4432 for more information.

Exploring Devekut

A Seven-Day Jewish Meditation Retreat. December 2-9, 2007 with Rabbis Diane Elliot, Burt Jacobson, and Jeff Roth at the Ralston L White Retreat in Mill Valley, Marin County, California. Sponsored by The Awakened Heart Project and Ruach Ha'Aretz.

PRAYERS

Each newsletter contains names of people in our community, or friends of our community, who need prayers for healing, support, et cetera. Please send names in Hebrew and/or English, with other details as desired, to info@pardesleavavot.org. And remember to let us know when our prayers have been effective!

Yehoshua Mishulim ben Sarah Leah
Shoshana Nejman
Alter Shoresh ben Zion v'Shoshana
HaRav Devorah Rut bat Tamar (Rabbi Deborah Ruth Bronstein)
Rut bat Miriam
Lior bat Esther Masha
Dov Baer Ben Yehuda ha Kohen v'Devorah
John Silverman
Mimi Ito
 

A Texan is visiting Israel, and feeling thirsty, he stops at a house along  the road. "Can you give me a drink of water?" asks the Texan.

"Of course," says the Israeli, and invites the Texan to come in.

"What do you do?" says the Texan.

"I raise a few chickens," says the Israeli.

"Really?" says the Texan. "I'm also a farmer. How much land do you have?"

"Well", says the Israeli, "out front it's fifty meters, as you can see, and in the back we have close to a hundred meters of property. And what about your place?"

"Well", says the Texan, "on my ranch, I have breakfast and get into the car, and I drive and drive... and I don't reach the end of the ranch until dinnertime."

"Really?" replies the Israeli. "I used to have a car like that."

For information about Pardes Levavot or our events please visit our website at www.pardeslevavot.org or write info@pardeslevavot.org. To contact Rabbis Nadya and Victor Gross write rabbis@pardeslevavot.org. If you would like to post something on our Pardes Levavot mailing lists, or if you have questions about our mailings, lists, communications, etc., contact info@pardeslevavot.org.