Join us for a spiritually and intellectually nourishing weekend of learning, davening, and community for queer Jews and their allies. This unique event will be a joyous time to come together, have fun and socialize, learn with spiritual leaders in the LBGT Jewish community, and connect with your unique kehilla of queer Jews.

Last year's retreat was an amazing time. From 'Body Talmud' to traditional text learning, the mikva to the hot tub, the Nehirim retreat was an embodied, spiritual, social, fun, inspiring weekend. This year looks to be even better, with more people, more teachers, and, not least, warmer weather.

What can you expect at the Nehirim spiritual retreat?

- Whatever you want to bring to it, from a relaxing weekend in the Catskills to a life-transforming connection with your Source.
- A wide range of spiritual options, from traditional davening to meditation, yoga to shabbat zmirot.
- Connections with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and straight-allied Jews from around the United States. (And yes, all of those categories are represented!)
- Intelligent workshops and seminars.
- A diverse group of participants, including parents, students, Orthodox Jews, non-observant Jews, and people from many different walks of life.
- Opportunities to open your heart, be yourself, be in nature, and be supported by your community.
- Dancing, singing, kosher (mostly vegetarian) food, an eruv, tennis courts, a hot tub, a swimming pool, country roads, fresh air, retreat-center accommodations -- nu, it's the Catskills!


Abridged Retreat Schedule

Of course, this schedule is subject to change, and we're just including the highlights here. But it should give you a sense of what an amazing, diverse weekend this will be...

Friday, May 13 - 4 Iyar - 19th day of Omer
2:00 Bus leaves NYC
3:00 Arrival, registration begins
5:00 Welcome and opening program with Ken Page
6:00 Get ready for shabbat: optional mincha and mikvas for men and women
7:30 Candlelighting and shabbat services with musical accompaniment, davening & movement
8:45 Dinner
10:00 Evening Session: Meet your mishpacha/affinity groups
10:45 Drum circle, and tisch!

Shabbat, May 14 - 5 Iyar - 20th day of Omer
7:30 Morning spiritual practice: Yoga, meditation
8:45 Torah Study on the Parsha with Rabbi David Ingber
9:45 Davening and Torah Service: Traditional and Renewal versions
12:15 Lunch
1:30 Afternoon Session 1:
    Nature walk
    Text study: Are You Into Role-Playing? G-d's Roles in our Lives
2:45 Afternoon Session 2:
    Seminar: Intro to Queer Theory for Gay & Lesbian People
    Movement workshop: Using the Body to Inform the Soul
    Workshop: Learn to Read Torah
3:45 Free time: tennis, walks, naps, massage
5:30 Afternoon spiritual practice: Mincha, Yoga, Meditation
6:30 Seudah Shlishit (Third meal)
7:30 Mishpacha/Affinity groups
8:45 Maariv, Omer, Havdalah, Melave Malka
10:00 Evening Program: Sonic Mikva, or film

Sunday, May 15 - 6 Iyar - 21st day of Omer
7:45 Morning spiritual practice: Yoga, meditation, shacharit
9:00 Morning session:
    Text study: What is a Queer Text?
    Ritual: Secrets of Lag B'Omer
10:00 Mishpacha/Affinity groups
11:00 Morning session two:
    Workshop: Creating poetry & midrash to Explore our GLBT Jewish journeys
    Text study: Maimonides' Diet for Physical & Spiritual Wellness
12:00 Closing session
1:00 Lunch
2:30 Bus leaves - Tzeitchem L'shalom!



Teachers Scheduled to Appear

Gabriel Blau is the founder of The God & Sexuality Conference. He has spoken in the US and Israel to camp groups, yeshiva students, colleges and graduate schools and at open lectures. Both the general and gay Israeli media have covered his work as an activist. He is the author of “Two Truths: Living as a Religious Gay Jew” in Lawrence Schimmel’s book Found Tribe, (Sherman Asher Publishing, 2002.) Gabriel received his BA in Theology from Bard College. He is currently editing the upcoming book Homosexuality and the World Religions: Traditional Views and Modern Responses.

Marla Brettschneider is an activist and academic. She is a political philosopher with a joint appointment in Politics, Women's Studies, and Queer Studies at the University of New Hampshire. Marla has written extensively on queer theory and an array of Jewish diversity issues and politics. She lives in the Bronx and is here this weekend.

Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD, received a doctorate in social psychology from the University of Connecticut in 1995 and was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2001. She is currently a senior associate at Ma'yan: The Jewish Women's Project of the JCC in Manhattan, where she serves as the editor of Journey and as a teacher of creative ritual. She is a poet and author whose work has been published in many journals and anthologies, such as Lilith, Bridges, Response, The Jewish Spectator, Biblical Women in the Midrash, and The Women's Torah Commentary. She conducts workshops around the country on contemporary midrashic writing, bibliodrama, the Divine feminine, and creative ritual. Her first book (JPS 2001) is entitled Sisters at Sinai: New Tales of Biblical Women.

Jay Michaelson is the director of Nehirim: A Spiritual Initiative for GLBT Jews (www.nehirim.org). A teacher of Kabbalah, spirituality and Embodied Judaism, Jay is an adjunct professor at City College, and has taught at the Skirball Center, Yale University, the Burning Man festival, Makor, Elat Chayyim, the JCC in Manhattan, and many other institutions. He holds an M.A. in Religious Studies from Hebrew University, is in the Bayit Chadash rabbinic ordination program, and also holds a J.D. from Yale and B.A. from Columbia. In addition, Jay recently completed the Jewish Meditation Advanced Training program at Elat Chayyim, and sat a 40-day silent meditation retreat in the fall of 2004. A finalist for the 2003 Koret Young Writer on Jewish Themes Award, Jay's recent work includes "Da'at" published in Mentsh: On Being Jewish and Queer (2004), The Inflected Letters: Stories of Faith and Desire, and a collection of homoerotic mystical love poems entitled The Embrace (both forthcoming), as well as regular features in the Forward newspaper. He has lectured and written extensively on queer Jewish theology, halachic issues around homosexuality, and GLBT Jewish culture, and has led numerous workshops and seminars, including Nehirim's monthly Queer Theology Salon. He divides his time between Brooklyn and Putnam Valley, New York.

Judith Z. Miller, an artist, poet, and jewelry designer, was the Associate Director of Five Corners Music, an artist booking agency in Maryland. She co-founded The Fine Line Actors Theatre (formerly Earth Onion Women's Theatre), in Washington, DC, and created, produced, taught and performed in a series of special constituency projects addressing the needs of underserved populations, including its unique Prison Project.

Hayyim Obadyah is a typical gay Sephardic LeatherJew. He has been involved in the leather and s/m scene for nearly 20 years. Hayyim plays an active volunteer role in lesbian and gay programming of the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan. He belongs to an Orthodox synagogue and attended a Conservative school, but does not identify with any particular movement. The pride of his life is his gender neutral English translation of the traditional Sephardic Haggada. Hayyim has a Masters degree in Public Administration and works for a major non profit organization where he helps in the recovery of people most severely affected by the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Ken Page is a psychotherapist, workshop leader, and lecturer who offers groups and trainings on intimacy, spirituality, and sexuality. He believes that gay, bisexual, and transgender women and men hold unique gifts and that healing involves rediscovering and embracing these gifts that have often been shunned. He is also delighted to be a new father...and his 4 year old son David will be joining us on campus.

Rabbi Jacob Staub is Dean of Students at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and co-author of Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach.

Sponsoring organizations

The Nehirim Spiritual retreat is sponsored by a wide range of GLBT and allied Jewish organizations: Elat Chayyim, JQYouth, Beth Chayim Chadashim (L.A.), the Bnai Jeshurun Gay Men's Havurah, the God and Sexuality Conference, the JCC of Manhattan, Keshet-JTS, and Keshet-Boston.

Tachlis: What does it cost, where do I register

The basic cost of the retreat is $185. This includes full room & board, in quad rooms, for three days and two nights, as well as all the programming you can possibly go to during that time. There are also upgrades available for single rooms and double rooms, and - if there is demand (as there was last year) - a bus available for an additional fee. Generous financial aid is also available, especially for students. If there is sufficient demand, childcare will again be available.

The weekend lasts from about 5:00 on Friday until 1:00 on Sunday.

Registration is handled by Elat Chayyim. Please call 800-398-2630, or visit their website, and follow the instructions there to register by email or phone.

Questions?

If you would like more information, if you would like to volunteer to teach or lead services, or if your organization would like to cosponsor the retreat, you can always email us at info[at]nehirim.org.