Ruach Ha'Aretz 2010 - Bosch Baha'i Retreat and Conference Center

EXCITING PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN AND TEENS!

Ruach Ha’Aretz sets the standard for fabulously fun and creative programs for children. It’s an exciting, joyful, and nurturing Jewish renewal experience filled with music, play, sports, crafts and davvening as a deeply personal expression. An inclusive and participatory program for teens is also an integral part of the Ruach experience.

Older teens may also choose to attend any of the adult classes and workshops. Children and teens at Ruach Ha’Aretz enjoy a balance of their own activities, and opportunities to be fully integrated into the greater Ruach Community during mealtimes, recreation time, evening programs and Shabbat.

This year, Ruach Ha'Aretz is thrilled to have Mia Cohen directing the Ruach Kids Program. And we welcome back Skye Pelicrow as the Ruach Kids' Theater Director.

My name is Mia Cohen and I am delighted to be directing the Ruach Kids Program this summer. I have been working with children for many years as a B'nai Mitzvah guide, Hebrew teacher, camp counselor, Jewish Spirituality educator, Yoga teacher, wilderness awareness & animal tracking guide, and friend. I love discovering the magic of the world through children's eyes and creating and holding space for children and youth to discover their relationship with the natural world.

I served as the Elat Chayyim summer program co-director in 2005 and was the community coordinator for the 2004-2005 EC residential community. I am a certified Yoga teacher, a graduate of Kol Zimra with R. Shefa Gold, a student of Jewish Meditation and a lay leader for Jewish ritual, ceremony, and Holiday celebrations. I am currently studying Medical Herbalism at the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine in Asheville North Carolina. I am really looking forward to getting to know you & your children and having a wonderful week together!

My name is Skye Pelicrow, and I am delighted to return to Ruach Ha'Aretz, one of my favorite venues for composting myself in the Godfield of Love.

I have studied acting, voice, dance, martial arts & writing at many venues, including the prestigious North Carolina School of the Arts. I focus on communication skills as a means of Tikkun Olam and the Jungian idea of balancing flights of the Spirit with the needs of the embodied Soul.

My mentors include R. Zalman Shachter-Shalomi, Sufi meditation teacher Shams Ray, and Matthew Fox (a leader in Christianity’s Renewal Movement), with whom I created a one-person play about the medieval Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart. I've begun work on a piece about Epictetus, the 1st century Stoic philosopher.

I have been the theater director for Ruach Kids since 2006, and I look forward to bringing my love of the Art of Ritual to your children this summer.

Hi Skye

Before I let it go, I am responding to your call for feedback from the kids' show at Ruach. This is coming from a long time theater worker, who is turned off by feeble attempts to create theater with kids that neither respects the kids nor the audience.

I was genuinely moved to tears, laughter, joy, amazement, hope, and pride while I watched the tale of the 36 Lamed-Vavniks come to life. I am very familiar with the tale, and you and your delicious children brought the story to life with so much love, so much vitality, so much renewed energy that I was in seventh heaven for the entire length of the play. It was funny and tender. It made use of each individual kids' talents while you did your utmost to give the kids center stage. Bravo.

I wish you success in all your future work, and I look forward to seeing you this summer at Kallah.

Blessings,

Mark Novak
Washington DC
www.Jewishstorytelling.com

Ruach Ha'Aretz
1612 Holeman Dr.
Erie, CO 80516
415.339.8677
info@ruachhaaretz.com
Ruach Ha'Aretz is a Project of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal