Nehirim | Nehirim East 2008

The Nehirim spiritual retreat is a soulful, heartful gathering where you can connect with your community, relax and refresh, and explore your spiritual path, forming connections that last a lifetime. 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.

Nehirim East Retreat Schedule

Friday, May 30 - 25 Iyar - 40th day of Omer

2:00-4:00 Arrival, snacks, and registration
Theater 4:00 Welcome and opening program
Synagogue 5:00 Get ready for shabbat/ optional mikvas
5:15 Women’s mikva with Shoshana Jedwab
5:45 Men’s mikva with Corey Friedlander
6:15 Non-gendered mikva with Sasha T. Goldberg
6:30 Pre-shabbat session
- Mishpacha facilitators meet with Chani Getter
- Pre-shabbos movement with Daniel Max
- Jewish Spirituality for Beginners w/Zvi Bellin
7:15 Candlelighting and shabbat services w/Jay Michaelson, Shoshana Jedwab, and Storahtelling
8:30 Shabbos Dinner
10:00-10:50 Mishpacha groups
11:00-12:00 Midnight Zohar Study with Amichai Lau-Lavie

Shabbat, May 30 - 26 Iyar - 41st day of Omer

7:30-8:15 Cold breakfast available in dining hall
8:00-8:50 Morning spiritual practice
- Morning yoga (Daniel Max)
- Silent meditation with instruction (Ri Turner)
8:15-9:15 Breakfast
9:15-9:45 Pre-Shavuot Text Study (Prof. David Brodsky)
9:45-11:45 Shabbat Morning Davening
- Traditional-egalitarian davening & Torah reading
(Cantor David Berger)
- Storahtelling/Renewal davening (Amichai Lau-Lavie, Jake Goodman, Rabbi Jill Hammer & Shoshana Jedwab)
- Secular Study & Discussion (Sasha T. Goldberg)
12:00-1:20 Lunch
Student scholarship recipients please eat together
1:30-2:30 Afternoon Session 1 (choose one)
- David Brodsky, Vaginal God and Godlike Vaginas: The Encounter with the Mysterium Tremendum
- Chani Getter, The Not-Knowing Place
- Shoshana Jedwab, Moses as Medicine Man
- Zvi Bellin, The Meaning of Simply Being: Shabbat and Nature
2:40-3:40 Afternoon Session 2 (choose one)
- Rabbi Jill Hammer, Book of Ruth & the Journey of the Grain
- Paul Fischer, Out of Bounds: Re-imagining Our Bodies in Relation to the World
- Rafi Daugherty & Jase Schwartz, Trans 101
- Rabbi Dawn Rose, Opening the Book: An Intro to the Koran for Jews
4:00-6:00 A long, late-spring afternoon: naps, discussion groups, walks, free time, workshops, tennis, or nothing at all.
4:00-5:00 Yechidus w/ Rabbi Dawn Rose, Jay Michaelson, Zvi Bellin, and Daniel Max
4:00-4:50 Optional fun workshops (choose one)
- Jake Goodman, Telling Extremely True Stories
- David Berger, Sing Your Heart Out
- Amichai Lau Lavie, Open Space Discussion of a planned Nehirim program on Parenting
- Laura Yaros, Yiddish, Anyone?
5:00-5:50 Optional discussion groups (choose one - or convene your own)
- Terry Stinson, Relating to kids from “past lives”
- Rafi Daugherty, 12-Step meeting
- Zvi Bellin, Student Discussion Group
- Chasiah Haberman, Coming Out in Prayer
- Laura Evonne Steinman, Multifaith discussion group
6:00-6:50 Afternoon spiritual practice
- Traditional-egalitarian Mincha (5:50-6:10)
- Talmud study with David Brodsky (6:10-6:50)
- Yoga with Daniel Max & Zvi Bellin
- Guided meditation with Jay Michaelson
7:00-7:50 Seudah Shlishit (Third meal)
8:00-8:50 Mishpacha groups
9:00-9:15 Maariv/ Evening service
- Alternative Maariv with Jay Michaelson
- Traditional Maariv with Eli Kaplan-Wildmann
9:15-9:45 Omer & Havdalah w/ Zvi Bellin and Corey Friedlander
10:00-12:00 Night Program (choose one)
- Campfire with Cantor David Berger & Jake Goodman
- Contact Improv with Paul Fischer
Bookstore and hot tub will be open

Sunday, June 1 - 27 Iyar - 42nd day of Omer

7:30-8:00 Cold breakfast available in dining hall
8:00-8:50 Morning spiritual practice (choose one)
- Morning yoga with Daniel Max
- Guided Meditation with Zvi Bellin
- Shacharit (community-led)
8:00-9:10 Breakfast
9:15-10:15 Sunday session 1 (choose one)
- Prof. Marla Brettschneider, Living Families/Writing Families
- Ken Page, Passion and Prayer
- Jake Goodman, Queer Jewish Ritual
10:25-11:25 Sunday session 2 (choose one)
- Rabbi Dawn Rose, The Female as Cross-Gendered Religious Expression in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Rastafari
- Laura Steinman, Mandala making workshop
11:30-12:45 Closing session & final mishpacha group
1:00-2:30 Lunch
Bookstore and Farmer’s Market will be open

Tachlis: What does it cost, where do I register

The basic cost of the retreat is $245. 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. Generous financial aid is available, especially for students. Thanks to a generous grant we received, we can offer free registration to a limited number of students. For more information on financial aid, click here

For halachic information, click here.

Childcare is available free of charge — families come every year!

The weekend lasts from 2:00 on Friday until 2:00 on Sunday. We do ask that retreatants stay for the entire weekend.

Registration is handled by Elat Chayyim. You can register with them online here or by phone by calling 800-398-2630.

Transportation

Visit our Ride Board to offer or request a ride.

Teachers

We will be joined this year by the following Visiting Faculty members:

Amichai Lau-Lavie
Amichai Lau-Lavie is the founder, executive and artistic director of Storahtelling. An Israeli-born teacher of Judaic Literature and performance artist, he is described as ‘one of the most interesting thinkers in the Jewish world” by the NY Jewish Week, ‘iconoclastic mystic’ by Time OUT NY, and “a Judaic Pied Piper who spins gold out of the inherent drama of biblical legends and scripture’ by the Denver Westword. Amichai studied at various yeshivot, including the Shalom Hartman Institute and the Elul Center in Jerusalem. Between 1992 and 1996 he directed the summer programs at Melitz: the Jewish Zionist Centers in Jerusalem , focusing on the integration of Jewish education via the arts. His theatrical experience as a writer and performer includes the Theatre Company Jerusalem, The Acco Theatre Group in Israel and the Avodah Dance Ensemble in the U.S. Between 1997-2000 he served as Artist-in-Residence at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York City.

Rabbi Dawn Rose

Rabbi Dawn Rose is Rabbi of the Norwich Jewish Center. She she earned an MA in Rabbinic Studies and a Ph.D in Jewish Philosophy from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Having taught part time first at JTS and then at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, Rose became the Director of RRC’s Center for Jewish Ethics. As such, she taught a wide variety of classes in Jewish Ethics, Philosophy, Feminism, and Hermeneutics, as well as authored a number of articles and book chapters. She is widely known as an exciting, challenging, and highly innovative teacher. Preferring the pulpit to the seminary, however, Rose completed rabbinic studies and was ordained through the Academy for Jewish Religion. Norwich Jewish Center is her 4th pulpit, having served in an array of communities large and small, urban and rural.

Marla Brettschneider
Marla Brettschneider is Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of New Hampshire with a joint appointment in Political Science and Women’s Studies. She has just stepped down from her post for many years as Coordinator of Queer Studies to take on the Coordinatorship of Women’s Studies. Marla has written widely on Jewish politics, queer and other diversity matters; er most recent book The Family Flamboyant: Race Politics, Queer Families, Jewish Lives (SUNY 2006) won an IPPY (Independent Book Publishers Award) in the GLBT category.

David Brodsky, Ph.D.
David Brodsky is assistant professor and co-chair of the department of Rabbinic civilization at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He teaches courses on Talmud, Midrash and other aspects of rabbinic literature and civilization. Before coming to RRC, he was the Perlow Lecturer in Classical Judaism in the religious studies department at the University of Pittsburgh. He has also taught courses at New York University, the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Academy for Jewish Religion.

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.

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.

Chani Getter
Chani Getter is a Motivational Speaker as well as a Certified Holistic Life Coach. She holds a BA in Human Development from Empire State College. A single mother of 3 children she has led parenting workshops. She is currently facilitating a Single-Mother’s support group in her community as well as the Ma’agal Women’s Circle. 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. In her work, she strives to create a safe space for people to explore the paradoxes in their own lives. Website.

Ken Page
Ken Page is a psychotherapist, workshop leader, and lecturer who offers groups and trainings on intimacy, spirituality, and sexuality. He is also the founder of Deeper Dating ( Deeperdating.com) He believes that gay, bisexual, and transgender women and men hold unique gifts and that healing involves rediscovering and embracing these gifts. Ken is also delighted to be a dad. A single parent, he adopted his son David ( 7) as an infant. David will be joining him, and they both can’t wait for Nehirim 2008!

Jake Goodman
Jake Goodman is a storyteller, performer, Jewish educator and the Program Director for Storahtelling. Jake holds an MA in Informal Jewish Education from the Davidson School at the Jewish Theological Seminary and a BFA in Acting from Emerson College. Jake has worked increasingly to educate toward full inclusion of LGBTQs in everyday and ritual life—Jewish and otherwise. He has collaboratively designed and facilitated related workshops/trainings at JTS, Camp Ramah and the JCC of Manhattan, and worked with Keshet-Boston, Nehirim and Keshet-JTS. He was a 2005 recipient of The Spielberg Fellowship in Theatre Arts Education from the Foundation for Jewish Camping, served as Theatre Director at Camp Ramah Darom for the past three years and currently teaches 3 and 4 year olds at Kane Street Synagogue in Brooklyn.

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.

Paul Fischer
Paul Fischer is a New York based writer and filmmaker, who also happens to know a bit about dance. Shunned from studying ballet as a child, he finally donned a tutu in college and life hasn’t been the same ever since. He holds an M.A. from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University and a B.A. from Oberlin College, where he began dancing Contact Improvisation in 1990.

Laura Evonne Steinman
Laura Evonne Steinman is a Community Artist who creates arty/spiritual spaces with people of all ages in neighborhood backyards, schools, hospitals, and elsewhere. Laura 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.” She currently lives in Boston and works at Boston’s British School.She also teaches fabric collage for adults, makes prayer flags with community members of the Moishe/Kavod Jewish Social Justice House, and organizes women’s Rosh Chodesh gatherings. 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.

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.

And by these members of the Nehirim Staff and Faculty:

Jay Michaelson, Retreat Director
Jay Michaelson (www.metatronics.net) is the executive director of Nehirim: GLBT Jewish Culture and Spirituality (www.nehirim.org), 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, Zeek, American Jewish Life, Reality Sandwich, and Maariv Online, and his work has appeared in Slate, the Jerusalem Post, and other publications. His next book is Nondual Judaism (Shambhala, 2009).

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.

Sasha T. Goldberg
Sasha T. Goldberg is a professional Jewish educator who, in the past two years, has worked five different Jewish jobs, taught six different grades in Hebrew School, led eight Jewish teen retreats, served on a Jewish Board, davenned in at least seven different shuls, and spent four months living in Israel. Accordingly, Sasha is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Judaism at The Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. Out in the queer world, Sasha has organized conferences, presentations, and workshops, and she has spoken extensively on sexuality, gender and identity.

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.

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.

Upcoming Retreats

Upcoming Events

Nehirim in the News

Past Retreats

Past Events

Nehirim East 2008SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Nehirim East 2008", url: "http://www.nehirim.org/nehirim-east-2008" });

Nehirim East 2008