What do not only Pesach and Sukkot but Tisha B’Av and Hanukkah and becoming bar/ bat mitzvah have to do with healing the relationship between adam (earthy humanity) and adamah (earth) so that the web of life on our planet can survive?  Already parts of our world are under enormous pressure from the early stages of global scorching: unprecedented droughts in Australia and Africa; polar bears and Inuit suffering in the North; two billion people in India and Pakistan facing the loss of their water supply as the Himalayan snows vanish; the oceans nibbling at the people of low-lying Bangla Desh; dengue fever and other diseases spreading from their tropical  enclaves into much wider regions. Even in comfortable Jewish communities in comfortable North America, our children and grandchildren will face wrenching life-change. UNLESS — the rainbow of human cultures comes together to save us all from this new Planetary Flood of Heat and Water. What is the place of the Jewish people in this healing effort? How can we draw on our ancient ceremonials of an indigenous people in close touch with earth to make a difference today?

Rabbi Arthur Waskow has been one of the creators and leaders of Jewish renewal since writing the original Freedom Seder in 1969. He founded (1983) and is director of The Shalom Center www.theshalomcenter.org; co-founded ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal in 1993; pioneered in shaping Eco-Judaism; and is the author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books on Jewish thought and practice and on US public policy, including Seasons of Our Joy; A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven (with Rabbi Phyllis Berman, on the Jewish life-spiral); Down-to-Earth Judaism: Food, Money, Sex, & the Rest of Life; Torah of the Earth (2 vols); Trees, Earth, & Torah: A Tu B’Shvat Anthology; and the Interfaith Freedom Seder for the Earth. He taught the first course on eco-Judaism at any rabbinical seminary, at the (Reform) Hebrew Union College in New York.

Ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1989, Reb Leila Gal Berner more recently received semikha from Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. She has a Ph.D. in medieval Jewish History from UCLA. Reb Leila serves on the Aleph Ordination Vaad and is director of its Biblical Studies Program.. She has taught biblical and medieval Jewish history, midrash, Jewish ethics and liturgy at Reed, Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr Colleges and the George Washington and Emory University. Reb Leila serves as spiritual leader of Kol Ami: The Northern Virginia Reconstructionist Community and is ongoing Scholar-in-Residence in the Philosophy/Religion Dept. at The American University in Washington D.C. She lives in Rockville, Maryland with her life-partner, Franna Ruddell and their daughter, Kayla Moriya Gal.

Perek Shirah is an ancient Jewish text that is a celebration of Praise for The Creator. All of Creation has a voice in this celebration. The Heavens, the Earth and all the creatures large and small are quoted. Fruits, vegetables, all kinds of birds, clouds, rivers, fish, frogs, insects, lizards, snails and all the animals of the Wild join in with their song of Praise.
 
Together we will study Perek Shirah and be swept up into this holy chorus.

What can we learn from the Creatures that abound in our world?

How can we listen to the Song of Creation and let it instruct us in the Art of Praise?
 
We will attempt to unlock the secrets of Perek Shira through the practices of Chant, Silence, Imagination, Study, Movement and Stillness. 

Rabbi Shefa Gold is a leader in Aleph: the Alliance for Jewish Renewal and received her ordination both from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. She is the director of C-DEEP , The Center for Devotional, Energy and Ecstatic Practice in Jemez Springs, New Mexico. Shefa composes and performs spiritual music, has produced ten albums, and her liturgies have been published in several new prayerbooks. She teaches workshops and retreats on the theory and art of Chanting, Devotional Healing, Spiritual Community Building, Meditation, and trains Chant Leaders in Kol Zimra, a two year program for rabbis, cantors and lay leaders. She is also on the faculty of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Shefa combines her grounding in Judaism with a background in Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, and Native American spiritual traditions to make her uniquely qualified as a spiritual bridge celebrating the shared path of devotion. She is the author of two books: Torah Journeys: The Inner Path to the Promised Land, and In the Fever of Love: An Illumination of the Song of Songs,  published by Ben Yehuda Press.

Rabbis Nadya and Victor Gross, co-Project Directors of Ruach Ha’Aretz and co-rabbis of Pardes Levavot: a Jewish Renewal congregaton in Boulder, CO., received Joint Rabbinic Ordination from Rabbi Zalman Shachter-Shalomi in recognition of their unique paradigm of spiritual partnering. Living and working together for over 36 years, they have learned to use the tools and rich wisdom of our tradition to inform their relationships with one another, community, this earthly realm and God.

The artist within us waits for inspiration, a call to partner with The Creator.  In sacred community we’ll journey inward to The God Field transported by a blend of practices including Hebrew chant, meditation and creative writing exercises. This particular alchemy will encourage our inner artist to merge with The Beloved, culminating in the holy creation of a recycled mixed media book. Using acrylic paints, recycled print media, artist materials, photographs, writings, various new and previously used embellishments and adornments, we will each birth our own unique Soul Story Books.  No previous artistic experience is necessary. *Art materials and recycled books will be supplied for an additional $20 fee.  

Judith Dack builds Jewish renewal community through her service to ALEPH, Elat Chayyim and other programs in Jewish spirituality.  She has studied and taught yoga and meditation for many years. Judith completed the first cohorts of  both DLTI:  Davven Leadership Training and Kol Zimra: Chant Leaders Training Institutes.  She currently assists in Rabbi Shefa Gold's Kol Zimra trainings. Judith resides in the Washington, DC area  and Woodstock, NY.  She has a BS in Design and continues to study and create art.

Rabbi Shaya Isenberg, licensed Massage Therapist, is Rabbi for P’nai Or Gainesville, Florida, serves on the faculties of the ALEPH Rabbinic Program and the ALEPH Spiritual Direction Program. He is past Chair of the Department of Religion at the University of Florida and is now retired.  He is co-founder and co-director of UF’s Center for Spirituality and Health and also of the ALEPH Sage-ing® Program.

Bahira Sugarman, licensed as Massage Therapist, Clinical Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist, is a Traditional Reiki Master Teacher, ordained as a Spiritual Guide and has been celebrated as an Eyshet Hazon (Woman of Vision).  She combines psychotherapy and transpersonal healing work in private practice and teaches T’ai Chi Chuan. She is co-founder and co-director of the ALEPH Sage-ing® Program.

In this class we will look to the roots of Jewish ecology – an organic system of people in their place on the land and in the cosmos.  We will explore how our celebrations, theology and rituals evolved in the context of the natural order. We will see how our ancestors in faith balanced the needs of the environment and the evolving economy in the time of the Talmud.  From there we will look to our time – a time of exile and return, challenge and hope. How can the tools of our tradition guide us through the challenges of climate change, habitat depletion, environmental health epidemics and all the rest?  Humanity is at a turning point.  What tools can we draw from the past to inform our vision of the future? 

Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener is the director of the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network and spiritual leader of Congregation P’nai Or of Central CT. Andrea has worked for decades to bring the tools of creativity, vision, rituals and consensus building to environmental challenges. She is the author of several books including Claiming Earth as Common Ground: The Environmental Crisis Through the Lens of Faith, Skylight Paths Publishing.

Hazzan Jack Kessler has been described as a one-man force of nature in Jewish music (he has also been called the Jewish Sun Ra). He was ordained as a Hazzan at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and has a Master's degree in voice from Boston Conservatory  He directs the Cantorial department of the professional training program of Aleph: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, and teaches singing as a spiritual process. In addition to directing the ensembles ATZILUT: CONCERTS FOR PEACE and  KLINGON KLEZ (klezmer from the future) he is Marcia Prager's chauffeur.

Rabbi Marcia Prager is the co-recipient of the 2009 Mintz Prize in Creative Jewish Education for her work with Rabbi Shawn Zevit in creating and leading the Davvenen Leadership Training Institute. Now you can experience this caliber of prize-winning master-class coaching for leading weddings, funerals, baby-naming/covenant ceremonies and more.. 

Interested in the Davvenen' Leadership Training? Visit www.davvenenleadership.com

Rabbinic Chaplain Kate Shulamit Fagan is a dynamic teacher, vibrant storyteller, a mother and a grandmother, a hospital chaplain, the director of ALEPH’s Rabbinic Pastor program and a spiritual director.  She teaches nationally and locally on ethical wills, decisions at the end of life and the art of compassionate listening. She is well known for her creative Jewish life cycle celebrations.