Nehirim West 2010
Nehirim West, April 16-18, 2010
Walker Creek Ranch, Petaluma, CA
Nehirim West is a weekend of community-building, spirituality, culture, relaxation and fun for GLBT Jews, partners, and allies. Check out some of the pictures on this page, all from Nehirim West 2009.
If you’re just finding us for the first time, check out our video on the home page, or some of the testimonials from Nehirim participants. Take their word for it — this is not your bubbe’s queer Jewish retreat! Join us for…
…a diverse community of 100 LGBT Jews, partners, & families. We are nice Jewish boys, bad Jewish girls, & all the rest of us; secular & religious; non-Jewish partners and straight allies. Nehirim is nondenominational, noncoercive, and inclusive of all ages, gender identities, and political persuasions. Whoever you are, there are people like you at Nehirim!
…workshops on everything from Israel/Palestine dialogue to drag performance. We are committed to a wide range of programs — some are spiritual, some are just good fun; you can stretch your mind or stretch your body; and of course there’s plenty of free time to relax and connect.
…teachers from a broad range of religious & secular backgrounds (see below for list). Rabbis, drag queens, professors, queer activists — our faculty includes the most innovative and interesting queer Jewish teachers in the world.
Registration and Costs
We are committed to enabling everyone to attend Nehirim West, and recognize that times are tough for all of us right now. So we have slashed our prices in order to enable as many people to attend as possible. As with all Nehirim retreats financial aid is available for students and other people in need. There are still a few scholarships left-Click here to review our financial aid policy and to apply. Also, if you “bring a friend to Nehirim,” you’ll get a $50 check for each new person you bring; just tell us at registration on April 16th.
Note: On April 10, the price goes up! Due to increased costs, we are forced to assess a $75 “late bird” fee for registrations received after April 9. Please don’t wait!
| Accommodation | Until April 9 | After April 9 |
| Dorm-Style Room (price per person) | $200 | $275 |
| Triple Room (price per person) | $275 | $350 |
| Double Room (price per person) | $350 | $425 |
| Single Room (price per person) | $450 | $525 |
| Child (age 4-11) | $50 | $50 |
| Child (age 0-3) | Free |
Transportation
Walker Creek Ranch is in Petaluma, CA. For driving directions, please visit the Walker Creek Ranch website. To offer or request a ride to the retreat, visit our Ride Board. If you are flying into SFO, the Marin Airporter is another option.
BAY AREA PEOPLE: We want to make sure out-of-towners have transportation to the retreat-so if you offer a ride to an out-of-towner, we will give you a $25 rebate for each out-of-towner you bring. Simply post your ride on the ride board, and let us know at the retreat that you brought an out-of-towner with you. We’ll cut you a check. (This offer does not apply to carpools — though please do carpool!)
Logistical Questions? Ask us at info[at]nehirim.org.
2010 Retreat Schedule
Friday, April 16
2:00 Arrival & Registration - Please come on time!
Time to Unpack & Change for Shabbat
4:00 – 4:45 Pre-Shabbat Warmup (Zvi Bellin)
5:00 – 5:45 Welcome, Mixer & Opening Program
5:45 – 7:15 Candlelighting & Kabbalat Shabbat Services (Jay Michaelson, Rabbi Camille Angel, Rabbi Dev Noily, Cantor Juval Porat)
7:30 – 9:00 Shabbat Dinner & Orientation to Walker Creek Ranch
9:15 – 10:15 Mishpacha Groups
10:15 – 11:30 Evening Activity (Choose One)
Shabbos Tisch (Zvi Bellin)
(alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks served)
12-Step Meeting (Participant-led)
Walking through the Sha’ar Zahav Siddur (Andrew Ramer)
Saturday, April 17
7:30 – 8:30 Morning Yoga (Zvi Bellin)
8:00 – 9:15 Breakfast (food service until 9)
9:30 – 11:45 Shabbat Morning Services, Part 1 (choose one)
Traditional Service (D’ror Chankin Gould)
Meditative Service & Torah (Zvi Bellin, Shoshana Dembitz)
at 10:00: Nature Walk Service (Natan Meir)
12:00 – 1:15 Lunch
1:30 – 2:30 Workshop Session I (please choose one)
Class and Classism in the Jewish Community (Davey Shlasko & Toby Kramer)
Climbing Up & Down Sinai with Moses (Rabbi Lisa Edwards)
Romeo and Julio: Star-Crossed Male Lovers in the Talmud (D’ror Chankin-Gould)
2:45 – 3:45 Workshop Session II (choose one)
Marginal Jews in Eastern Europe (Natan Meir)
Solidarity Forever: Community Organizing, Alliance Building, and Social Justice in Jewish Life (Sasha T. Goldberg)
Queer Midrash for Everyone (Reba Connell)
Israel-Palestinian Conflict Dialogue Group (Rabbi Dev Noily)
4:00 – 4:45 Free time or Conversation Circles
Men’s Group: Not Your Father’s Minyan! (Kevin Johnson)
Queer on Campus; Queer in the Classroom: A Discussion Group for Students and Teachers (D’ror Chankin Gould)
The Only Queers in Shul (Natan Meir)
Gaga (Jesse Felder Noily)
Nature Hike (Sam Goldman)
Mincha (Participant-led)
Naps, snacks, time to relax and enjoy
5:00 – 6:25 Workshop Session III (choose one)
Welcome to Planet Creativia! (Eric Glaser)
Torah Study (Rabbi Camille Angel)
Israel-Palestinian Conflict Dialogue Group (Dev Noily)
6:30 – 7:40 Dinner/Seudah Shlishit
7:45 – 8:45 Mishpacha Groups
9:00 – 9:30 Ma’ariv & Havdalah (Jay Michaelson & friends) (Shabbat ends 830)
10:00 – 10:30 Performance by Eric Glaser & Co.
10:45 – 12:00 Campfire Songs, stories and ruach by the Campfire
Film screening of “V’Ahavta
Sunday, April 18
8:00 – 9:00 Breakfast
9:10 – 10:10 Sunday Session #1 (choose one)
Traditional/Egalitarian Minyan (participant-led)
Multicultural Judaism (Sandra Lawson)
Torah Queeries: Reading Torah through a Bent Lens (Rabbi Lisa Edwards, Rabbi Camille Angel, Jay Michaelson)
10:20 – 11:20 Sunday Session #2 (choose one)
Nonduality and Meditation (Jay Michaelson)
Community Building in the Bay Area (Sasha T. Goldberg & Lisa Finkelstein)
11:30 – 12:30 Mishpacha Groups and Closing Program
12:30 – 2:00 Lunch & Departure
Our Teachers for 2010
Jay Michaelson is the founder and executive director of Nehirim. For the last ten years, Jay has been a leading advocate for the inclusion of sexual minorities in religious communities, and writes and teaches frequently on issues of sexuality and religion. His work on the subject has appeared on NPR, and in Tikkun, the Jerusalem Post, the Duke Law Review, the Michigan Journal of Gender & Law, and anthologies including Mentsh: On Being Jewish and Queer (2004), Righteous Indignation: A Jewish Call for Justice(2007) and Jews and Sex (2008). Jay is a columnist for the Forward newspaper and Reality Sandwich magazine, a featured contributor to the Huffington Post. 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). His next book is Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism (Shambhala, 2009).
Rabbi Lisa Edwards
Rabbi Lisa Edwards is the rabbi of Beth Chayim Chadashim in Los Angeles, the world’s first gay and lesbian synagogue. She came to BCC in 1994, the year of her ordination by Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR). Known as a Rabbi’s rabbi, Rabbi Edwards brings a profound love of study and the written word to her rabbinate. She holds a Ph.D. in literature, and has taught on an adjunct basis at HUC in the rabbinical school, and at USC in the Jewish Studies program. Her writing appears in a half-dozen books, including Kulanu : All of Us (a URJ handbook for congregational inclusion of gay and lesbian Jews); The Women’s Torah Commentary: New Insights from Women Rabbis on the 54 Weekly Torah Portions; Lesbian Rabbis: The First Generation; and Mentsh: On Being Jewish and Queer.
Rabbi Camille Angel
Rabbi Camille Angel was ordained at the Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in New York. In 2000, she became the rabbi of Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, a prominent LGBT synagogue in San Francisco, after serving as Associate Rabbi at Congregation Rodeph Sholom on the Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Rabbi Angel has been a guest lecturer at the HUC-JIR in Practical Rabbinics and a Scholar-in-Residence for Women of Reform Judaism. She has written widely on creative liturgy, Judaism, and women. Her work has been published in the Journal of Psychology and Judaism, Walt Disney/Ideal Books, and other magazines as well as academic journals and books.
Lisa Finkelstein
As the Director of the LGBT Alliance, Lisa Finkelstein works as a community organizer at the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties. She worked as a close advisor with the now United States Congressman Jared Polis, the first openly gay male elected to Congress as a freshman. She received her Masters in Nonprofit Management at Regis University in 2004 where she was able to study leadership as well as social enterprise on the Navajo Nation. She was raised in Saint Louis, Missouri and later Summit County, Colorado. She currently lives in the heart of LGBT San Francisco in the Castro with her 10-year old Chihuahua, Diego.
Sasha T. Goldberg is the Assistant Director of Nehirim. Prior to joining Nehirim in 2007, she taught grades K-12 in Religious Schools, led Jewish teen retreats, and worked with a wide variety of Jewish organizations in the Bay Area. Sasha holds a Master’s Degree in Judaism from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, and currently serves as President of the Board of Directors for NUJLS, The National Union of Jewish LGBTQQI Students. In addition to her work at Nehirim, Sasha has a long history of queer advocacy and social justice work, and, accordingly, has organized conferences, film festivals, fundraisers, workshops, and events, as well as having spoken extensively on sexuality, gender, and identity. A self-proclaimed masculinity enthusiast, Sasha particularly enjoys facilitating discussions and workshops about the intersections of masculinity and various elements of cultural, social, sexual, and religious identities.
Dr. Zvi Bellin is the Engagement Associate for Nehirim and is responsible for student outreach, internal community relations, and programming at Nehirim retreats. He leads workshops and directs retreats that integrate body-heart-mind-soul in a variety of spiritual and religious contexts. Zvi earned a PhD in Pastoral Counseling and an M.A. in Counseling and Guidance. He is a Registered Yoga Teacher with the Yoga Alliance. 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 exploring the raw experience of meaning in life, and the integration of personal spirituality into a practice of holistic well-being. He is a co-founder of the Silver Spring Moishe House, a Jewish community house sponsored by the Schusterman Foundation.
Andrew Ramer
Andrew Ramer lives in San Francisco. He writes a column, “Praxis,” for the gay men’s spirituality journal, White Crane. He is the author of the groundbreaking gay classic,Two Flutes Playing and his next book, Queering the Text: Biblical, Medieval, and Modern Jewish Stories, is forthcoming from Suspect Thoughts Press.
Davey Shlasko
Davey Shlasko is a multi-issue educator, author, and activist, and Program Coordinator of the Transgender Economic Empowerment Initiative (TEEI) at JVS (Jewish Vocational Service) in San Francisco. Ze has been working in various forms of community-based and popular education for about ten years, including student and youth organizing, health education, intergroup dialogue, anti-violence work, and queer & transgender education. As a consultant and trainer with Think Again Training, Davey helps individuals and organizations to learn about many social justice issues – especially those related to economic justice and gender diversity – and to develop the critical consciousness and the skills to enact justice in our work and lives.
Eric Glaser
Eric Glaser (a.k.a. HystErica or Hissy) is many things: performance artist, fashion/costume designer, stylist, and an SF residential Real Estate agent to boot. His legendary performance art pieces are multi-dimensional, thought provoking high concept musical journeys that often deliver a barrage of audio and visual stimuli to the senses. His sculpturally based clothing designs range from high fashion to fashion forward to otherworldly and always play an integral part to the performances.
Sam Goldman
Sam Goldman has been the California wilderness coordinator for The Wilderness Society in San Francisco since the Fall of 2007. This job takes Sam around California working to permanently protect our public lands: national parks, national forests, and other wild places. Sam is active with Wilderness Torah, a new organization committed to re-connecting Judaism to the earth and he is chair of the upcoming Passover in the Desert pilgrimage festival. Sam is a member of Chochmat Halev in Berkeley and enjoys hiking, mountaineering, skiing, backpacking, and fishing.
Sandra Lawson
Sandra Lawson is a Sociologist focusing on the cross sections between the issues of race, religion, gender and ethnicity. She recently moved to Baltimore from Atlanta to pursue a graduate degree in Jewish Studies from the Baltimore Hebrew Institute at Towson University. Prior to moving to Baltimore she served as the Investigative Researcher for the Anti-Defamation League’s Southeast Region. Currently, she works as an Adjunct Professor of Sociology at the Community College of Baltimore County and holds a Masters degree in Sociology from Clark Atlanta University.
Reba Connell
Reba Connell, LCSW, is a lay leader in Or Zarua Havurah and other communities. She is a Certified Gottman Method Couples Therapist and has studied teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. She has been practicing meditation and yoga since 1999, and has been writing feminist and queer midrash and haftarot for 20 years.
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.