Sukkot 2011 Program Offerings Highlights
This year Sukkot on the Farm will be the largest gathering yet with over 200 adults and children, with ticket sales closing a month early because of such high demand. Some Highlights include:
Amazing Teachers and Rabbis such as: Rabbi Burt Jacobson, foremost scholar and teacher of the Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Leah Novick, author and teacher of the feminine Kabalah, Rabbi Shefa Gold, teacher and composer of original ritual chants and prayers, Rabbi Elliot Ginsburg, professor of Judaic studies at University of Michigan, Rabbi Diane Elliot, incorporates body movement into prayer, Rabbi Sarah Leya of Chochmat Halev, and many more.
Our Friday “Harvest Fair” will be put on by many skilled members of our community, with do-it-your-self, homesteading, and crafting activities, bobbing for apples, harvesting on the farm, and much more, including:
Basket Making with Rachel and Emily Harris
“Old School” Root Beer Making with Casey Baruch Yurow
“Mah Hoot,” a question and answer booth on Jewish prayer and ritual with Elizheva Hurvich
Poi Making with Suzannah Sosman
Fermented Sauerkraut Making with Tali Weinberg
Sukkah Decorating with Infinity Rotbard
Simchat Beit HaShoevah (Water Drawing) Ritual on Saturday night will bring the whole community together for a ritual honoring the return of the rain. The ritual will lead us to a Havdallah celebration, joyous dance and a live dance party with a soulful, funky, Jewish band that will get our heels stomping.
In addition we will have a children’s Sukkah and children’s programming that is adventurous and based in the teachings of the land and Sukkot, yoga and meditation every day, a choice of services for Shabbat, an Elders Council, a Red Tent, and many amazing offerings. For a place of refuge check out our Healing Hut or take a walk to the beach.
Some of our Sukkot on the Farm 2011 Teachers include:
Rabbi Shefa Gold is a leader in Aleph: the Alliance for Jewish Renewal and received her ordination both from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. Shefa composes and performs spiritual music, and teaches workshops on the theory and art of Chanting, Devotional Healing, Spiritual Community Building, and meditation. For information about how to order CD’s, books and teaching schedule, visit her website.
Jeffrey Kessler is a lifelong practitioner and teacher of meditation, Tai-Chi, and Chi Gung, who also does individual Somatic Therapy and Body-Based Spiritual Direction. He leads Jewish Meditation and contemplative Shabbat services and teaches classes in the Mussar tradition.
Rabbi Leah Novick has been studying Kabbalah for over twenty years, and enjoys sharing her insights with people of all backgrounds. She is known for her workshops on the Tree of Life, which include guided imagery work that supports absorption of the mystical teachings. Leah is the author of “On the Wings of Shekhinah: Rediscovering Judaism’s Divine Feminine” and creator of a Meditation CD with “Desert Wind.”
Rabbi SaraLeya Schley is the spiritual leader of the Chochmat HaLev community in Berkeley, CA. Ordained by ALEPH in 2005, she continues her secular work as a gynecologist and is the proud mother of Carl, Josh and Elie.
Rabbi Burt Jacobson is the founding rabbi of Kehilla Community Synagogue in Piedmont, CA. Ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1966, he was involved in the creation of both the Havurah and Jewish Renewal movements. Rabbi Burt has been a student of the teachings of the Ba’al Shem Tov for twenty-five years, and is engaged in writing a book that reconstructs the life and spiritual philosophy of the founder of Hasidism.
Rabbi Diane Elliot, spiritual teacher, dancer and somatic therapist, inspires her students to become clearer channels for Divine Light through awareness and movement practices, chant, and nuanced interpretations of Jewish sacred text. Her wise, loving presence creates a safe space for those who wish to explore spirituality individually and in community. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, she recently founded Wholly Present, a center for embodied Judaism, and directs Embodying Spirit, En-spiriting Body, a pioneering embodied spirituality leadership training, under the auspices of the ALEPH Alliance for Jewish Renewal and Ruach HaAretz.
Rabbi Elliot Ginsburg is a senior teacher in the Aleph Rabbinic program and a professor of Jewish Thought and Mysticism at the University of Michigan. He is the author of two books on Jewish mystical practice, and is working on a multi-tiered study of the sacred year as a guide to spiritual practice. He tries to combine a devotional stance with intellectual engagement, and believes that the turn to an embodied, earth-aligned Judaism is a kind of spiritual Homecoming. Reb Elliot lives in Ann Arbor with his wife Linda, and is father to three wonderful children and two mostly wonderful cats.
