2008
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Ruach
Ha'Aretz Summer Retreat 2008
Morning Offerings • Afternoon Offerings
The Aleph Sage-ing® Program is very happy to offer Part 1 of our exciting
new program, the Aleph Sage-ing® Mentorship Training. The course will introduce
some of the major concepts and exercises of the Mentoring Program. You will
gain experience with the transformations of consciousness that are the fruits
of our Spiritual ElderingTM. Building on the teachings of Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi,
this class offers powerful contemplative tools for gathering and giving expression
to the wisdom of our own ripening lives. Future training courses will explore
ways to take the Sage-ing work home, as a mentor.
This new vision of growing older empowers us to:
~ Harvest the wisdom of our life experience to enrich the present moment.
~ Face our mortality and learn from it.
~ Mature in our relationships and in our communities.
~ Develop a regenerative spirit.
~ Take active leadership roles in society.
While learning transformative Sage-ing ToolsTM based in Jewish practices, we
will also draw on the wisdom of other traditions as well as current transpersonal
and integral teachers and therapists. We view this as a deeply ecumenical process
which is one of the deep roots of Reb Zalman’s teaching and invite all
participants to connect their aging to their spiritual life.
Special skills and knowledge are needed to integrate the challenges of each
segment of our life cycle. Many traditional cultures, including Judaism, teach
that acquiring wisdom is the learning specific to sage-ing. The psalms sing
of “acquiring a heart of wisdom.” Now is the time to learn how to
transform your life experience into wisdom.
Think of it as spiritual alchemy!
The Torah commands that you must love God “with all your heart, with
all your soul and with all your might.” You are commanded to “love
the stranger” and “to love your neighbor as your self.” And
you are asked to receive God’s love in the form of Torah, community, history
and the wonders of Nature.
These commandments about love are at the heart of Torah. They constitute at
the same time, the most simple and the most complicated challenge of living
a holy life.
The Path of Love, of rising to the challenge of learning to love and be loved,
is the most rigorous spiritual path there is. Stepping onto the Path of Love,
I am faced with every resistance, every illusion, every obstacle to self-realization.
In this workshop of deep heart work, we will use text, voice, meditation, movement
and sacred conversation to explore the landscape of Love. How do we love God
through this world? How do we receive God’s love through this world? How
do we become intimate with the Mystery behind each moment of our lives?
The Jewish mystical tradition is an exquisite pathway to connect and communicate
with God; to delve into the mysteries of the universe and human existence.
In this highly participatory class, we return Kabbalah to its first and most
powerful purpose, by learning a gentle, holy, personal spiritual practice that
gives you the spheric channel to come into deep, intimate relationship with
God.
With authentic Tree of Life mysticism, sweet melodies, and meditative prayer,
“zoom” on your SoulJourney into God’s Holy Presence, talk
to God, listen while God responds, wrestle with the questions of eternity, fulfill
the yearnings of your heart, find deep soul-satisfaction, and inmost happiness.
Anytime. Anywhere. All in just 20 minutes a day!
This course is a voyage into the song of davennen: the blend of voice and modal
melody that combine into the art of Jewish prayer. You will use your voice and
your musical creativity to tap your sources of power and validation.
Employing traditional nusach, the musical language of prayer, you will explore
how the human voice functions as a channel for the inner Divine to resonate
with the external Divine.
This ‘master-class’ style course blends fun group vocal exercises
and singing with individualized vocal coaching. Whether you are an advanced
singer or a beginner who hopes to lead song and prayer with greater vocal clarity,
this course can give you the kind of coaching you need. Knowledge of basic liturgical
Hebrew required.
Jewish prayer is called the Divine Service of the heart, for our hearts are
the temples to which we bring the offering of our prayers. Prayer is a spiritual
practice of closeness-making with God; an opening of the self allowing divine
energy to fill us so heaven and earth are brought closer. In the Gospels Jesus
the rabbi regularly teaches Jewish prayer. In Mark 12:29 Jesus proclaims, “Shema
Yisrael—Know with every fiber of your being that God is All There Is.”
In the tradition of the great Rabbi Hillel, Jesus expounds, “v’ahavta
l’rayecha kamocha—love your neighbor as yourself!” What then
did it mean for Jesus to offer this prayer as a Jew? Christianity became a new
relgion about Jesus during the century after his death, and history has made
us legitimately defensive in the face of its hostility. But the religion of
Jesus was never anything but Judaism.
Come join an adventure into the ancient language of the “Lord’s
Prayer,” a uniquely Jewish celebration of the wholeness available to us
when we are able to receive God’s flowing love.
Together we will explore the Hebrew, Aramaic and English versions in a way that
opens new worlds of Jewish meaning in each word. Your relationship to what you
might have thought of as a Christian Prayer will never be the same!
This course can be expanded into one unit of credit for ALEPH Ordination
students with prior permission of the instructor.
Like the love of God in spirit, and the sacredness of Shabbat in time, so can
wilderness restore our wholeness in space.
“And you will then know that I am The Infinite One who dwells deep
within the earth” (Exodus 8:18).
Ahavat Olam—Eternal Love-—is present in creation. Join us to be
fully present to it in the natural world through silent hiking, breath meditations,
Hitbodedut practice, text study, blessings and joy making. We will follow the
Four Worlds, Four Elements and Four Winds...
Additional transportation fee: $30.
The Zohar teaches that other planets were created before ours but self-destructed because they were formed with Judgment. This earth emerged with the great love of God and is sustained by the continuous outpouring of love and compassion. During our week together we will focus on receiving that love to unify ourselves and the larger consciousness. While examining concepts from classical Kabbalah, we will look at the polarities in the system with eyes to the future. The role of the m’ kubal/m'kubelet (receiver of the mysteries) has always been to utilize our prayers and actions to unify masculine and feminine aspects of the Divine. In this class we will imagine ourselves already at that evolved level. In so doing, we hope to travel up the Middle Pillar of the Great Tree together—towards the Light.
Our living body of Jewish stories is a manifestation of Ahavat Olam when we allow the tales to guide us to deeper awareness of our journeys. Each participant in this workshop-format class will choose a story that calls to her/him, then explore the emotional and spiritual healing in the story as we learn to tell it. We will use visualization, drama, movement, and personal stories to infuse the old tales with new light. Recommended: Bring a short story to work on (or choose one at the class).
Come and celebrate the love that moves us to care for others and for ourselves.
We are all called to do bikur cholim in its broadest sense everyday. Bikur Cholim
is defined as the commandment to visit and help people with illness. It is closely
aligned with gemilut chasadim, acts of loving kindness, selflessness and benevolence.
I think of it as a way to live.
We will use chant, meditation techniques, Torah teachings, deep sharing, and
journaling practices to learn ways to listen more deeply to others and to ourselves.
We will practice ways to be fully present as we companion ourselves and others
through life’s ups and downs, and how to be present for the still small
voice of God in each of us.
The ancients knew that our bodies, ensouled by the Divine, are both artifacts and instruments of God’s love in the world. Through our very flesh and bones, we can experience and bear witness to Source Who births us. In this class we will enter the body deeply, finding our basic comfort, opening channels of flow, embodying our physical structure, and discovering personal and collective dances of Ahavat Olam. We will ground and inspire our movement practices through traditional Jewish music and texts. Open to all levels of movement experience; wear loose, comfortable clothing and come prepared to en-joy!
Ruach
Ha'Aretz
7077 Harvest Road
Boulder, CO 80301
415.339.8677
info@ruachhaaretz.com
Ruach Ha'Aretz is a Project of ALEPH:
Alliance for Jewish Renewal