Nehirim East 2010
Save the Date:
Nehirim East Spiritual Retreat, June 4-6, 2010
Isabella Freedman Retreat Center, Falls Village, CT
Information about Nehirim East 2010 will be posted in January, 2010. In the meantime, below is the page describing Nehirim East2009, for informational purposes. See you soon!
May 15-17
Isabella Freedman Retreat Center, Falls Village, CT
Register Now!
135 registrations so far - only 10 spots left
The Nehirim spiritual retreat is a warm, fun, and diverse gathering where you can connect with your community, relax and refresh, and explore your spiritual path. Register soon — as of May 5, 2009, we are almost completely sold out..
Our retreats feature:
- A wide range of spiritual options, from traditional shabbat davening to meditation, yoga, and dance.
- Connections with GLBT Jews of all ages, religious affiliations, and walks of life.
- Workshops and seminars featuring a wide range of teachers (see below for list)
- Opportunities to open your heart, participate and lead ritual, or just be yourself, be in nature, and be with a diverse, welcoming community.
- Dancing, singing, kosher (mostly vegetarian) food, an eruv, tennis courts, hot tub, a lake, and country roads.
Click one of these links for more info:
-Tachlis/Logistics
-Financial Aid
-Tentative Schedule
-Halachic Information
-This Year’s Teachers and Presenters
-Testimonials from Nehirim Retreat Participants
-Questions
Tachlis: Costs, Registration, Transportation
Click Here to register online now!
Location and Transportation
-The retreat will be held at Isabella Freedman Retreat Center in Falls Village, CT. For directions and transportation information, please visit the Isabella Freedman website. To offer or request a ride to the retreat, visit our Ride Board.
-If you need to be picked up or dropped off at the Wassaic train station (for MetroNorth service from New York City), you must email info[at]nehirim.org and let us know by close of business on Tuesday, May 12. There will be a $15 charge per person each way (non-refundable after May 12). Pickup is available on Friday, May 15 for the 2 PM train. Dropoff is available on Sunday, May 17 for the 2:30 PM train.
-For other pickup times or locations, Lakeville Taxi, (860) 435-8000, is available. Lakeville Taxi is a reservation service. Voicemails for the purpose of reserving rides must be left before 5pm and at least 24 hours in advance. Credit card information must be provided with your reservation. Your card will be charged if you cancel a ride with less than 24 hours notice.
Click here to apply.
Also, thanks to the generosity of Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston Young Adult Community Grant program, we are able to offer the CJP Boston Young Adult Scholarship for people aged 22-40 from the Boston metropolitan area. This scholarship pays between 50-100% of your registration costs for Nehirim East. Use the application link above, and indicate CJP-Boston when you apply.
Prices
| Room Type | Price |
| Student Rate | $200 |
| Triple with Private Bath (price per person) | SOLD OUT |
| Economy Double (price per person) | SOLD OUT |
| Deluxe Triple (price per person) | $290 |
| Standard Double (price per person) | $300 |
| Economy Single (price per person) | SOLD OUT |
| Double Room with Private Bath (price per person) | SOLD OUT |
| Deluxe Double (price per person) | $390 |
| Standard Single (price per person) | $410 |
| Single Room with Private Bath (price per person) | $470 |
| Deluxe Single (price per person) | $580 |
| Child (price per person) | $30 |
Other Logistical Information
-The weekend lasts from midday on Friday until midday on Sunday. We do ask that retreatants stay for the entire weekend.
-Childcare and a childrens’ program is available free of charge — families come every year! Please see the schedule below for details. As of April 15 2009, we already have five children registered.
- Questions? email us at info[at]nehirim.org.
Friday, May 15 - 21st Iyar
2:00-4:00 Arrival, snacks, and registration
4:00 Welcome and opening program
* Welcome for Kids! Name Games & Jewish Geography
5:15 Optional mikvas
Women’s mikva (Jill Hammer)
Men’s mikva (Jonathan Vatner)
Alternative to Mikva (Becky Emet)
6:00 Get ready for shabbat/ more mikvas
Non-gendered mikva (Ri Turner)
12-step meeting (Rafi Daugherty)
Pre-Shabbat Four-Direction Meditation (Lizzie Kurtz)
Dinner available for Kids
*6:15 Kids’ Scented Candle-Lighting
6:45 Candlelighting and shabbat services (Jay Michaelson, Jill Hammer, and friends)
8:30 Shabbos Dinner
Dvar Torah by Rabbi Joel Alter
10:00-10:50 Mishpacha groups
* Bedtime Storytelling
11:00-12:00 Night session
Tisch (Zvi Bellin)
Being Present for Each Other (John Stasio)
Shabbat, May 16 - 22nd Iyar
7:30-8:00 Coffee, fruit, and pastry available
8:00-8:50 Morning spiritual practice
Morning yoga (Daniel Max)
Silent meditation with instruction (Ri Turner)
8:15-9:15 Breakfast
9:15-11:30 Shabbat Morning Davening (Services)
Traditional-egalitarian davening & Torah reading
(Cantor David Berger)
Renewal davening (Jill Hammer & Chani Getter)
* Kids’ Davening and Parsha Play Practice
11:30-11:45 Parsha Play starring the Nehirim Childrens Players
11:45-1:00 Kiddush and Lunch
Student scholarship recipients please eat together
1:10-2:10 Afternoon Session 1 (choose one)
John Stasio & Jay Michaelson, Gay Catholic/Gay Jew: Comparative Perspectives
Aaron Weininger, Torah Study on the Parsha
Chani Getter, Being with the Mystery
Jase Schwartz, Sexual Health & Communication
* Nature Walk for kids & grownups
2:20-3:20 Afternoon Session 2 (choose one)
Rebecca Alpert, Coming Out: Personal & Spiritual Dimensions of Telling Our Stories
Eli Kaplan-Wildmann, Bible at Play: Drama & Improv
Jacob Staub, Cultivating a Sense of God’s Presence: Advice from the Words of Hasidic Rebbes
Rafi Daugherty, Trans 101
* Kids’ “Fabrengen”: Learning Hasidic Melodies
3:30-4:20 Afternoon Session 3: Discussion Groups (choose one)
Jay Michaelson, Nehirim “Town Meeting”
Becky Emet, Exploring the Queer Jewish Body
Karen & Moss Stern, Being Bisexual and Jewish
Ellie Barbarash, Passing or Shining? Workshop on Class
Create-your-own discussion group
* Kids’ Gaga ball game
4:30-5:30 Afternoon Session 4 (choose one)
Naps, free time, hikes, frisbee, tennis, or nothing at all
Learn Some New Jewish Songs (Cantor David Berger)
Trust Games (Jase Schwartz)
Hike (Alyssa Finn)
Yechidus w/ Chani Getter, Jacob Staub, Rebecca Alpert, Jay Michaelson or Zvi Bellin (signup on bulletin board)
Snacks available near coffee machines
5:40-6:30 Afternoon spiritual practice (choose one)
Traditional-egalitarian Mincha (Rabbi Joel Alter)
Yoga (Daniel Max & Zvi Bellin)
How and Why to Meditate (Jay Michaelson)
More napping (this counts as spiritual practice)
* Kids Playtime: Board Games
6:40-7:50 Seudah Shlishit (Dinner/Third meal)
CJP Boston Scholarship people please sit together
Shalshelet Participants & Prospectives please sit together
8:00-9:00 Mishpacha groups
* Kids’ Brachot Competition and Jewish Jeopardy
9:10-9:25 Maariv/ Evening service
Alternative/Interfaith Maariv (John Stasio)
Traditional Maariv (Aaron Weininger)
(shabbat ends at 8:50)
9:30-10:00 Havdalah (Shoshana Jedwab)
10:00-10:45 Israeli Dancing (Eli Kaplan-Wildmann)
11:00-12:00 Night Program (choose one)
Heart Circle and music w/Zvi Bellin
Wine Bar w/Live Music and Performances by David Berger, Jay Michaelson, & more
Bookstore and hot tub will be open
Sunday, May 17 - 23 Iyar
7:30-8:00 Coffee, fruit, and pastry available at the coffee machines
8:00-8:50 Morning spiritual practice (choose one)
Yoga (Daniel Max & Zvi Bellin)
Shacharit (community-led)
8:00-9:10 Breakfast
9:15-10:30 Sunday session 1 (choose one)
Rebecca Alpert, Welcoming but not Affirming: the state of LGBT inclusion in the Jewish community
Jacob Staub, Creating a Personal Spiritual Practice
John Stasio, Introduction to Breathwork
* Kids’ Challah-Cover Making Workshop (til 1145)
10:45-11:30 Sunday session 2
Nehirim Networking: Make the Gay Jewish Mafia Work for You
11:45-1:00 Closing session & final mishpacha group
1:00-2:00 Lunch
2:00-4:00 Be interviewed for the Nehirim promotional video
Bookstore and Farmer’s Market will be open
Tzeitchem l’shalom!
Our teachers and presenters include:
Rabbi Rebecca T. Alpert
Rabbi Rebecca T. Alpert is Associate Professor of Religion and Women’s Studies at Temple University. She is the co-author of Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach, author of Like Bread on the Seder Plate: Jewish Lesbians and the Transformation of Tradition and Whose Torah? A Concise Guide to Progressive Judaism and editor of Voices of the Religious Left: A Contemporary Sourcebook and Lesbian Rabbis: The First Generation as well as numerous articles. She teaches in the areas of religion and contemporary social issues: sexuality, the politics of race and gender, and medical ethics. She is currently at work on a book on Jews in Black Baseball. Click here to visit her website.
Rabbi Jill Hammer, Ph.D.
Rabbi Jill Hammer is the director and co-founder of Tel Shemesh, a website celebrating and creating Jewish earth-based traditions, and the author of The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons (forthcoming September 2006). She is a poet, writer, myth-maker, and midrashist who has been published in many journals and anthologies, and is the author of Sisters at Sinai: New Tales of Biblical Women, a collection of modern midrash. Rabbi Hammer teaches in Manhattan and around the country on ancient and contemporary midrash, bibliodrama, ritual-making, and the cycles of Jewish time, and is currently an instructor at the Academy for Jewish Religion. She received a doctorate in social psychology from the University of Connecticut in 1996 and was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2001.
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.
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 in 2000.
John Stasio
John Stasio is the founder of Easton Mountain, a retreat center and residential community in upstate New York. A former Catholic seminarian, he has worked as a bodywork therapist, retreat facilitator and teacher. He has worked for over fifteen years assisting people in realizing their dreams and connecting with their inner source of wisdom, well-being and joy.
Eli Kaplan-Wildmann
Eli Kaplan-Wildmann made a trans-Atlantic leap from Israel to design scenery and puppetry for theater in New York. Eli teaches Family Education at Rodeph Sholom Religious School, as well as graphic design courses at NYU. As a designer, Eli has created scenery and/or lighting for numerous productions in New York and he has worked on projects for NBC, Live from Lincholn Center, and the 2010 Winter Olympics. His most theatrical and schtick-filled job, however, was being a drill sergeant in the Israeli Navy.
Becky Emet
Having worked as a therapist with at-risk youth and families, Becky is currently pursuing an MBA in hopes of starting her own social enterprise one day. Committed to social justice and community building, and striving for an ever-compassionate, present-focused perspective, Becky brings her passion and warmth to the Nehirim community.
Cantor David Berger
David Berger is the first full time cantor of CBST. He received cantorial investiture at the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, School of Sacred Music in May of 2007. Already an integral part of the musical life of CBST, Cantor Berger served as cantorial intern for two years (2005-2007), working in close partnership with Music Director Joyce Rosenzweig. Today he serves as CBST’s cantor, working to inspire both listeners and worshippers with music that speaks to their hearts and to reach out to the wider GLBT Jewish community.
Zelig Kay, Childrens Program Director
Zelig Kay was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and immigrated to the US as a young child. He studied in yeshivot in Jerusalem and Tzfat for four years, as well as at Yeshiva University. Currently in his last year of graduate school for speech and language pathology, Zelig is a full time single dad living in Queens, NY with my five year old child. He ran the children’s program at Davidman’s Homowack, a resort hotel in the Catskills. In addition, he worked as a tour guide at the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, for 2 years, mainly working with public school students, and is a trained counselor for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, where he volunteers with parents of abducted children. Last year, he launched CHUTZAH (chutzah.org), which aims at bringing Judaism to GLBT Jews, via mitzvah campaigns and weekly farbrengens.
Shoshana Jedwab
Shoshana Jedwab is a musician, performer, and prize-winning Jewish educator. She is founding facilitator of the JCC Drum Circle, Sonic Mikva, an interactive program of music, movement, and spirituality, and Tel Shemesh, a website creating and celebrating earth-based traditions within Judaism.
Rafi Daugherty
Rafi is a queer transman living in what the Jews call Flatbush. He describes himself as a non-practicing orthodox Jew with strong spiritual leanings. He’s been a 12th step enthusaist since 2002 and enjoys the color orange and curly hair. He is honored to be a teacher for Nehirim East and hopes to learn a little something from everyone he meets.
Laura Evonne Steinman
Laura Evonne Steinman is a Community Artist who creates arty/spiritual spaces with people of all ages. She believes: “In each of our hands we hold gifts to share with others; let our hands be open wide to all the experiences we encounter in our world community.” Laura lives in Somerville, MA and is the Art Teacher atThe Gifford School (a school for kids with emotional, learning and behavioral challenges) in Weston, MA. In the evening and weekend hours she teaches fabric collage, makes prayer flags with community members of theMoishe/Kavod Jewish Social Justice House, organizes women’s Rosh Chodesh gatherings, and sews a bunch of Colorful Matters. Laura’s spiritual journey is informed by her mixed-faith background. Raised in the Unitarian Universalist tradition, she is nurtured by both her father’s Jewish family with Russian roots, and her mother’s Polish-Catholic experience.
Also teaching this year will be these members of the Nehirim Staff and Faculty:
Jay Michaelson, Retreat Director and Executive Director
Jay Michaelson (www.metatronics.net) is the founder and executive director of Nehirim. He is also the founding editor of Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture (www.zeek.net), a Ph. D candidate in Jewish Thought at Hebrew University and a recent Visiting Professor at Boston University Law School. He is the author of God in Your Body: Kabbalah, Mindfulness, and Embodied Spiritual Practice(Jewish Lights, 2006) and Another Word for Sky: Poems (Lethe Press, 2007). He is presently a columnist for the Forward, the Huffington Post, Zeek, Reality Sandwich, and Maariv Online, and his work has appeared in Slate, the Jerusalem Post, and other publications. His next book is Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism (Shambhala, 2009).
Chani Getter, Bookkeeper
Chani Getter is a Motivational Speaker as well as a Certified Holistic Life Coach. As a single parent she leads informational and support groups in parenting, single-motherhood, domestic violence, cross cultural integration, issues of sexuality and identity. In addition she coaches individuals and offers workshops in the areas of life-balance, self-acceptance, transition, spirituality and living your dreams. Chani has spoken on numerous panels to tell her story of growing up Ultra-Chasidic and her eventual acceptance of her identity. Chani follows an eclectic spiritual path that allows her to connect to the source of life within. She crafts rituals and brings people together for prayer service. In her work, she creates safe space for individuals to explore the paradoxes in their own lives. Click here to visit her website.
Zvi Bellin, Engagement Associate
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.
Ri J. Turner, Operations Manager
Ri J. Turner holds a bachelor of arts in anthropology from Cornell University, and has been involved with LGBTQ organizing since her/zir junior year of high school. She/ze has always felt deeply pulled by Jewish learning and community, and alongside her/zir work with Nehirim, she/ze is currently engaged with the Kohenetprogram, a Jewish women’s spiritual leadership training institute, and is on the board of NUJLS, the National Union of Jewish LGBTIQQ Students. Ri is also profoundly committed to intersectional anti-oppression work-anti-racism in particular-and believes in the potential of education, both formal and informal, to transform society.
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.