Workshops from 6:45pm to 12:30am. Come for the whole thing or drop in for a spell. See the full schedule below.

Join us on Zoom: Check your weekly email for the link, or email Ner Shalom at learning@nershalom.org.  

Join Rabbi George and Rabbi Stephanie for an evening of Jewish study hosted and co-sponsored by Congregation Ner Shalom. 

Teachers

Shoshana Fershtman, Ilan Fichman, Rabbi George Gittleman, Reb Judith Goleman, Basha Hirschfeld, Rabbi Irwin Keller, Rabbi Stephanie Kramer, Barbara Lesch McCaffry, Marilyn Nagel, Orren Perlman, Joel Wirtschafter. Plus: Special Opening Session with Marcia Falk.

Workshop Topics 

Inclusion, Resilience, Revelation, Dreams, Plant Magic, Radical Haggadah, & Birding.

Workshop Schedule:

6:45 PM - Opening Ritual and Welcome.

7:00 PM - NIGHT OF BEGINNINGS: A RADICAL RE-VISIONING OF THE PASSOVER SEDER with Dr. Marcia Falk

Dr. Marcia Falk will read from and discuss her new haggadah, which returns to the roots of the Passover festival with a full recounting of, and original commentary on, the Exodus story. This “radicalizing” of the seder—rooting it to its most ancient source, which is largely absent from the traditional haggadah and modern haggadot—is also “radical” in another sense, re-creating the rabbinic offerings with new blessings and kavanot. There will be time for questions, comments, and requests after the presentation. If there is a particular passage in the haggadah that you would like to hear in Marcia’s version, please feel welcome to ask.

Dr. Marcia Falk is the author of The Book of Blessings; The Days Between: Blessings, Poems, and Directions of the Heart for the Jewish High Holiday Season; Inner East: Illuminated Poems and Blessings; and other books of poetry and translation. Her new haggadah, Night of Beginnings, is forthcoming from the Jewish Publication Society and University of Nebraska Press in 2022.

8:00 PM

 - FROM REVELATION TO REVOLUTION: HOW TO KICK INCLUSIVITY, DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND BELONGING INTO ACTION with Rabbi Stephanie Kramer and Marilyn Nagel

How can we build on the current momentum of the last year and create the inclusive community we all desire? Come together to discuss ways to advocate for a more Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable community and become better allies for under-represented populations. We will share best practices along with tips to create authentic self/institutional reflection.  

Rabbi Stephanie Kramer is the Senior Associate Rabbi at Congregation Shomrei Torah where she has served since July 2011. Rabbi Kramer was ordained from HUC-JIR LA in 2011 and is also a Senior Rabbinic Fellow at the prestigious Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. This July Rabbi Kramer will be moving to Kansas City to become the first female senior rabbi of The Temple, Congregation B'nai Jehudah. 

Marilyn Nagel is a well-known expert in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion who has been working with corporations and nonprofit organizations over the past 18 years to create more inclusive cultures. Marilyn is widely recognized as a thought leader in DE&I globally and co-chairs the DEI&B group at Shomrei Torah.

 - “AS CLOSE TO US AS BREATHING” – THE DIVINE PRESENCE IN EVERYDAY LIFE with Reb Judith Goleman and Basha Hirschfeld 

How can we live in harmony with our highest selves, in tune with the Divine, in touch with the Ineffable? In this hour, Basha and Judith will use guided meditation, quotes from their own great teachers, and speak from their own personal experience to bring us closer to the Revelation of Holiness celebrated on this day of Shavuot.

Judith Goleman, M.F.T., R.P., has a private practice in Individual and Couple Counseling in Sebastopol. In 2011 she was also ordained as a Rabbinic Pastor in the Jewish Renewal movement.

Basha Hirschfeld has been a student of Buddhism for over 25 years, and of Judaism all her life. She is one of a few lucky students of Ani Pema Chodron and through her of the Shambhala lineage, as first taught by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. She teaches meditation in the North Bay at various venues, and owns and runs a retreat space in west Sonoma County called “Open Sky Retreat Space.”  Her favorite thing is to bring together the two wisdom traditions, and to explore how her Buddhist training can inform her Jewish faith.

9:00 PM

 - FINDING RESILIENCE AS WE RE-EMERGE with Barbara Lesch McCaffry

As we shift from sheltering in place to our post-pandemic lives, many of us are struggling (or is it languishing?). Can we fully emerge or do we still need to be mindful of becoming ill or infecting others? How do we regain our ease after such social isolation? Can we perhaps learn lessons in rebalancing and resilience from each other and also from those who were hidden as children during the Holocaust?

Barbara Lesch McCaffry, Ph.D, taught in Sonoma State's interdisciplinary program, the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies, as well as in the Departments of English, American Multicultural Studies, Global Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies. Since 2000, she has also been actively involved in Holocaust and genocide education. She is currently the convener of Ner Shalom’s Beit Midrash: Lifelong Jewish Learning.

 - EYES MADE FOR WONDER: THE TORAH OF ANIMAL TRACKING & BIRDING with Rabbi George Gittleman

The pandemic opened many new eyes to the wonders of nature yet even experienced outdoors-people often miss the marvels at their feet and flying all around them. Over the past 15 years Rabbi George has explored Animal Tracking (getting to know the various signs animals make) and Bird Watching as a Spiritual Practice. He’ll share some of his insights as well as resources so that you can further tune your eyes (and  hearts!) to better know and be mindful of all that is around you.

Rabbi George Gittleman is celebrating his 25th year as the spiritual leader of Congregation Shomrei Torah. He holds a  Masters in Hebrew Letters and Ordination from the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, is a Senior Rabbinic Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, and a graduate of the Rabbinic Leadership Program and the Jewish Mindfulness Teachers Certificate Program of The Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Rabbi George is also a lifelong flyfisherman, backpacker, beachcomber, and tree-hugging nature enthusiast! 

10:00 PM 

 - PLANT MAGIC: HOW PLANTS HEAL US, HOLD US, AND WHAT WE CAN GIVE THEM with Ilan Fichman

A splash into the elevated Jewish earthen magic of Iyar with practical remedies, poetic musings, and dialogue with our green kin.

Ilan Fichman (they/them) is a gardener and educator currently residing on unceded coast miwok land. They love meanderings through time and space, riparian areas, and textually based conversations that drift into expansion. Ilan teaches in Ner Shalom’s family education program, Nitzanim.

 - KHAP A DREML: DEEPENING INTO YOUR DREAMLIFE with Orren Perlman and Shoshana Fershtman

The Talmud tells us that a dream unexplored is like a letter unopened. Each night our dreams bring us a beautiful and important story that unfolds in imagery, sounds, colors, turns of phrase, and sensations. In this experiential workshop we’ll learn an easily accessible format for getting acquainted and deepening our relationship with our dreams, the images that get our attention and what they want us to know. Bring a dream you’d like to explore and some writing or drawing materials too!

Dr. Orren Perlman, M.D., Ph.D., is a psychiatrist in private practice and a Ner Shalom member. “One of my favorite parts of being alive is sleeping so I can khap a dreml, as my Dad used to say.”

Dr. Shoshana Fershtman, J.D., Ph.D., is psychologist and Jungian analyst in private practice in Santa Rosa. She is a member analyst and teaches at the CG Jung Institute in San Francisco. She has spent many years studying the Jewish mystical tradition and the re-emergence of the Sacred Feminine in Judaism. Her pioneering book, The Mystical Exodus in Jungian Perspective: Transforming Trauma and the Wellsprings of Renewal is now available from Routledge Press.

11:00 PM 

 - TREMBLING AT THE FOOT OF SINAI: A RECONSTRUCTIONIST PERSPECTIVE ON REVELATION AND FEAR with Josh Wirtschafter

When we think of Revelation at Sinai, we tend to focus on the experience of Moses and the words he brought down. Let's consider the experience from the perspective of the people: terrified as the mountain trembles, thunders and smokes. We were there! We still are! What do we learn? How do we remember? Does our fear of the awesome Power of the Universe draw us near? Josh Wirtschafter leads a discussion from a Reconstructionist perspective on the Fear of G-d and the ongoing communal experience of Revelation.

Josh Wirtschafter is a founder of Reconstructionist havurot in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Berkeley, California, and is currently president of Or Zarua Havurah in Berkeley. He is also on the Board of Midrasha of Berkeley and Oakland. By profession, he an environmental enforcement attorney with a federal agency. By avocation, he is a player of string instruments (violin, mandolin, viola and guitar). His song writing and klezmer music have been eclipsed by 15 days of fame when a family seder video went viral in the spring of 2020. A Seder on the Zoom has been viewed over 200,000 times. Apparently, people have gotten tired of this act, as this year's follow-up video, Another Seder on the Zoom (Fiddler on the Roof Parody), has only 15% of the viewership. Unfortunately, neither his talented children nor their amazing partners have been drafted into performing during the presentation for the Tikkun.

 - MAGICAL THINKING FOR BEGINNERS with Rabbi Irwin Keller

The tradition of Jewish magic from antiquity and the Middle Ages reveals a connectedness with the Universe, both seen and unseen, and a keen awareness of conditions – time, place, and manner – that influence our ability to bring our heartfelt desires into manifestation. In this workshop, we will look at some of our ancestors’ magical principles and practices and inquire whether there is some 21st Century-equivalent orientation that can play a role in our activism, our endeavors, and even our love lives.

Rabbi Irwin Keller is the Spiritual Leader of Congregation Ner Shalom since 2008. A former lawyer, activist and drag performer, his sermons and essays can be explored on his blog, "Itzik's Well," found at irwinkeller.com.

11:50 PM - COLLECTING TONIGHT’S MAGIC with Rabbi Irwin Keller

12:00 AM - REVELATION FROM THE QUIET PLACES (MEDITATION SESSION) with Rabbi George Gittleman

Kabbalah teaches that the only thing uttered at Sinai was the letter aleph - a silent letter. In this midnight sit, we’ll open to the silence and the Torah that emerges from it.

12:30 AM - Good night. Chag sameach.