Nehirim | Community Gathering 2008

If you’ve been to Nehirim Retreats, you know they are unique, joyous, and full weekends of community, workshops, spiritual practice, and a whole lot more. In fact, sometimes too much more. This gathering is intended to be a low-key gathering for people who have come to Nehirim retreats (including the Queer Shabbaton) before, and who want to spend time in loving community with one another. We will have some workshops, but we expect a smaller group (40 people maximum) and will spend more time relaxing, connecting, and hanging out. The gathering will be directed by Zvi Bellin, and co-facilitated by Jay Michaelson, Shoshana Jedwab, Rabbi Jacob J. Staub, and other longtime Nehirim staff and faculty members.

If you have not come to a Nehirim retreat before, we warmly invite you to join us either in California from March 7-9, or in Connecticut from May 30-June 1. This gathering is not a full-on retreat, and we are limiting it to people who have joined us before.

Extremely Tentative Schedule for the 2008 Gathering

Friday, March 14
3:00 Arrival, registration, snacks
4:30 Opening program
5:15 Mikva #1
5:45 Mikva #2
6:30 Candle lighting & services (actual start of shabbat: 6:41pm)
8:00 Dinner, singing, hanging out
9:30 Heart circle
11:00 Night-time spontaneous activities, hot tub, sauna, sleep

Shabbat, March 15
8:00 Yoga
9:00 Breakfast
9:45 Semi-traditional davening
12:00 Lunch
2:00 Afternoon workshop 1 (60 mins)
3:15 Afternoon workshop 2 (60 mins)/ Nature walk
4:30 Yoga or Mincha
5:30 Heart circle
6:15 Seudah shlishit
8:00 Maariv and Havdalah
9:00 Saturday Night Music Jam & Dancing by the fire
10:30 Maybe a late night massage workshop or movie

Sunday, March 16
8:00 Yoga
9:00 Breakfast
10:00 Sunday morning workshop
11:15 Closing Heart Circle / Visioning for the Future
12:30 Lunch
Bookstore will be open
Tzeitchem l’shalom!

Tachlis: What does it cost, where do I register

All prices include full room and board. We are sorry but only very limited financial aid is available for the gathering; please come to our Spring retreats, when full financial aid is available. (To apply for financial aid, please email [email protected]).
Quad: $190
Double: $300 (per person)
Single: $480

Registration is handled by Easton Mountain, an multifaith retreat center run by men who love men, located three hours from Boston, New York, and Montreal. Phone: 800-553-8235. Email: [email protected].

Other notes:
Unlike Elat Chayyim, Easton Mountain is not a kosher facility. All food will be vegetarian/fish, with salad options at every meal. If there is sufficient demand, we will provide hechshered kosher food at an additional fee. There is not an eruv at Easton Mountain. Due to the size of the retreat, we will have only one set of services, which will follow the traditional form but not contain all the traditional content. All services will be egalitarian. If these options do not meet your needs, you may contact us, or we invite you to our Spring 2008 retreats, which have a variety of traditional and non-traditional options, kosher food, the works.

Our Teachers

Zvi Bellin
Zvi Bellin has, for the past six years, led a variety of workshops on Jewish spirituality and mysticism. He holds an M.A. in Counseling and Guidance from NYU, and is studying for his PhD in Pastoral Counseling at Loyola College, Maryland. He has worked as a therapist in a number of mental health settings, and has interned as a Psychiatric Chaplain. Zvi’s most recent interests include the spirituality of “dark places” and the formation of meaning outside the “normal and acceptable.” He is a co-founder of the Silver Spring Moishe House, a Jewish community house sponsored by the Forest Foundation.

Rabbi Jacob J. Staub
Rabbi Jacob J. Staub is Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Spirituality at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, where he served as Academic Vice President for 17 years and where he was ordained. He served as editor of the Reconstructionist magazine. He is the founder and director of the first program in Jewish Spiritual Direction at a rabbinical seminary. He teaches medieval Jewish studies, Jewish meditation, and Jewish spirituality. He is the author of The Creation of the World According to Gersonides and the co-author of Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach. He came out as a gay man five years ago.

Rabbi Jill Hammer, Ph.D.
Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD, is an author, educator, midrashist, myth-weaver, and ritualist. She is the director of Tel Shemesh, a website and community celebrating and creating Jewish earth-based traditions, and the co-founder of Kohenet: The Hebrew Priestess Institute. She is the author of two books: Sisters at Sinai: New Tales of Biblical Women (Jewish Publication Society, 2001) and The Jewish Book of Days (Jewish Publication Society, forthcoming 2006). She is a poet and essayist whose work has been published in many journals and anthologies such as Lilith, Bridges, Response, Natural Bridge, Zeek, The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion,The Jewish Spectator, Biblical Women in the Midrash, and The Womens Torah Commentary. Rabbi Hammer is a celebrated adult educator who has taught in many venues including retreats, conferences, synagogues, Jewish community centers, new moon gatherings, and on-going adult education classes. She conducts workshops around the country on ancient and contemporary midrash, bibliodrama, creative ritual, and Jewish cycles of time. She is also currently serving as an adjunct at the Academy for Jewish Religion in Riverdale, NY.

Shoshana Jedwab
Shoshana Jedwab is a prize winning Jewish educator and the Jewish Studies Coordinator at the A.J. Heschel Middle School in NYC. She is the founding facilitator of the Makom Drum Circle at the JCC in Manhattan and is a percussionist and performance artist who has trained in bibliodrama and psychodrama. Shoshana has provided empowering drum circles to singles, student, training, and bereavement groups. Shoshana has performed with: Storahtelling, Chana Rothman, Debbie Friedman, Akiva Wharton, A Song of Solomon, Hebrew Mystical Chant with the Kirtan Rabbi, Andrew Hahn, and Tel Shemesh seasonal events.

Jay Michaelson
The founder and executive director of Nehirim is Jay Michaelson , a well-known writer and teacher of spirituality and contemplative practice. In addition to being the director of Nehirim, Jay is the chief editor of Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture, a columnist for the Forward, a Ph.D. candidate in Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the author of God in Your Body: Kabbalah, Mindfulness, and Embodied Spiritual Practice (Jewish Lights, 2006).

Daniel Max
Daniel Max is the founder and director of Max Sense of Self. Daniel is a Nutrition and Health Counselor, Shiatsu Practitioner, and Yoga Instructor.

Questions?
If you would like more information, email us at info[at]nehirim.org.