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!

October 8, 2007 AT PARDES LEVAVOT Thank You Events This Week NO Chant and Meditation Kabbalat Shabbat Service Events Coming Up New format for Shabbat Celebrations! CIP Thanksgiving Basket Donations Needed Getting Involved From the Shepherd of the Hills Bulletin 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 everyone who came to celebrate another magical Simchat Torah at Pardes Levavot. It was a great evening, with special thanks to our musicians Nalini Kaplan and Amitai Gross and all our Torah Oracle readers: Reb Nadya, Reb Victor, Ori Har and Donna Friedman. May the coming year be a blessing for us all. Thanks to Jim Wright for providing our Kiddush on Shabbat. Thanks to David Spiro for a generous donation. Events This Week NO Chant and Meditation Chant and meditation resumes Wednesday, October 17. Kabbalat Shabbat Service Friday, October 12, 7-9pm   Parashat Noach Noach 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.

PARDES CALENDAR October 2007 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 Artwork 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. 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! DOvid BOruch ben Rachel and Raphael HA Levi Magdalena Merovingia Gershom ben Leah v Avraham 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 man is out in the woods when he comes across a bear. Frightened for his life, he runs as fast as he can to escape the bear and hides in a cave.  He is horrified to find that the bear has run after him into the cave, and now the man is trapped. He closes his eyes and begins to recite "Sh'ma Yisrael" in anticipation of his final moments.  When he is finished, he opens his eyes and is surprised to see the bear in front of him with his eyes closed - also praying. The man thinks to himself "how lucky am I to be cornered by what must be the only Jewish bear! We're mishpocheh - I'm saved!" And then he listens more carefully to the bear's prayer... "hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz" 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.

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