Our world is a world of wonder and awesome beauty — the Holy Presence of the transcendent God, the God of creation, communal covenant, revelation, and redemption, is around us without end. Were we able to be continually conscious of this, we would be in an unending state of constant bliss. But, in truth, most of the time, we miss the wonder, we miss the Holy Presence, we miss the celebration. Why?

To see the wonders of the transcendent God, we must be able to see all of it through the eyes of the immanent God — the God Within, the God of deep personal, intimate, loving relationship.

When you open the channel between your GodSelf and God, between the “outer” and the “inner”, then God inundates you with your God-ness, the deepest, highest, and finest of your God-being. And then there is no difference between the “outer “ and the “inner.” There is Oneness.

In this class, we offer skills and techniques, prayers and poems, chants and meditations, as a guide to embracing and nourishing the very real God Within, for celebrating your GodSelf, and for finding your life's foremost purpose, clearest direction, richest meaning, and greatest joy in the greater, One God-Field.

Please bring your favorite copy of the Bible.

Rabbi Wayne Dosick, Ph.D., is the spiritual guide of The Elijah Minyan, the author of eight books, including Living Judaism, Soul Judaism, and 20 Minute Kabbalah, and the host of the weekly Internet radio show, SpiritTalk Live!: Journeys Into Mind Heart and Soul on HealthyLife.net

Ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1989, Reb Leila Gal Berner more recently received semikha from Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. She has a Ph.D. in medieval Jewish History from UCLA. Reb Leila serves on the Aleph Ordination Vaad and is director of its Biblical Studies Program.. She has taught biblical and medieval Jewish history, midrash, Jewish ethics and liturgy at Reed, Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr Colleges and the George Washington and Emory University. Reb Leila serves as spiritual leader of Kol Ami: The Northern Virginia Reconstructionist Community and is ongoing Scholar-in-Residence in the Philosophy/Religion Dept. at The American University in Washington D.C. She lives in Rockville, Maryland with her life-partner, Franna Ruddell and their daughter, Kayla Moriya Gal.

Perek Shirah is an ancient Jewish text that is a celebration of Praise for The Creator.

All of Creation has a voice in this celebration. The Heavens, the Earth and all the creatures large and small are quoted. Fruits, vegetables, all kinds of birds, clouds, rivers, fish, frogs, insects, lizards, snails and all the animals of the Wild join in with their song of Praise.
 
Together we will study Perek Shirah and be swept up into this holy chorus.

What can we learn from the Creatures that abound in our world?

How can we listen to the Song of Creation and let it instruct us in the Art of Praise?
 
We will attempt to unlock the secrets of Perek Shira through the practices of Chant, Silence, Imagination, Study, Movement and Stillness. 

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. She is the director of C-DEEP , The Center for Devotional, Energy and Ecstatic Practice in Jemez Springs, New Mexico. Shefa composes and performs spiritual music, has produced ten albums, and her liturgies have been published in several new prayerbooks. She teaches workshops and retreats on the theory and art of Chanting, Devotional Healing, Spiritual Community Building, Meditation, and trains Chant Leaders in Kol Zimra, a two year program for rabbis, cantors and lay leaders. She is also on the faculty of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Shefa combines her grounding in Judaism with a background in Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, and Native American spiritual traditions to make her uniquely qualified as a spiritual bridge celebrating the shared path of devotion. She is the author of two books: Torah Journeys: The Inner Path to the Promised Land, and In the Fever of Love: An Illumination of the Song of Songs,  published by Ben Yehuda Press.

Rabbi Leah Novick is a West Coast spiritual teacher who has been studying Zohar for  twenty two years. She enjoys sharing her insights and  welcomes people of all backgrounds and levels of study. (i.e. Hebrew and Aramaic not required). Reb Leah is known for her Kabbalah  workshops on the Tree of Life and work with guided imagery. She is the author of "On the Wings of Shekhinah" Re-discovering Judaism's Divine Feminine (Quest Books 2008) and a Meditation C-D with Desert Wind. Leah is one of the original founders of Ruach Ha’Aretz and has pioneered the movement for  Earth-centered Jewish practice. She lives on the California central coast; drawing inspiration for her travels and teaching from the ocean and the redwoods.

Rabbi Diane Elliot performed and taught internationally as a modern dancer and choreographed over thirty original dance works. She is a certified practitioner and teacher of Body-Mind Centering® and has maintained a private somatic therapy practice since 1986. Ordained by the Academy for Jewish Religion-California, she has served as spiritual leader of the Aquarian Minyan in Berkeley, CA, and teaches meditation and embodied Jewish practice nationally. Her poems and essays have appeared in Contact Quarterly, Currents, Tel Shemesh, and Rosh HaShanah Readings.

Sharon Alexander is a Somatic Psychotherapist and vocalist (and long-time activist in Jewish Renewal). As a singer and long-time collector of spiritual music, she has spent the last 6 years researching the techniques of gospel choir as an ecstatic path. She now teaches these techniques to spiritual groups around the world. She is ordained by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi as a Ba’alat Shirei Hama’alot B’chesed Elyon, a Leader of Sacred Chorales. She is presently completing a double Ph.D. in Consciousness Studies and Ethnomusicology with a dissertation (and eventually book) entitled: "Oh My God!!!: Ecstatic experience and the evocative techniques of gospel choir." Born and raised in Los Angeles, she now lives in Basel, Switzerland with her very evolved teenage daughter, Eliana, who sometimes co-teaches with her.

Biblical and Rabbinic views pose God as outside the universe and operating upon it. It also poses a universe that is complete and then serves as a stage for human history. But a subtle evolution in our God concept has been in the works for 3000 years, moving from monotheistic transcendent God to a "monist" God which is the divine nature of the universe Itself/Herself/Himself. Where are the hints of this evolution throughout our Jewish history and thinking? What are the implications for our covenantal responsibilities for this planet of which we are an organ?

David Jonathan Cooper is the congregational rabbi at Kehilla Community Synagogue in the Piedmont/Oakland/ Berkeley area. In addition to his pastoral responsibilities, Rabbi David teaches adult ed classes on Jewish history, philosophy, ethics, and practice from an iconoclastic and experiential approach.

Ellen Kaufman Dosick, LCSW, has been a psychotherapist for over 30 years, and is the master practitioner and teacher of the spiritual psychotherapy, Soul Memory Discovery. With her husband, Rabbi Wayne Dosick, she has co-authored 20 Minute Kabbalah, and Empowering Your Indigo Child, and she channels a bi-monthly Internet publication, The Cosmic Times: Spiritual News You Can Use.

“If the Ba’al Shem were living today, he would be concerned about the future of our earth. God so loved the world that She gave herself to it and became the Earth. Therefore, we must love and care for the earth because She is an embodiment of the Divine.”
~Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

Traditional Kabbalah was primarily concerned with the celestial realms beyond the earth. Israel Ba’al Shem Tov, founder of Hasidim, put the emphasis on the divinity of the physical world. In this class we will study the Ba’al Shem’s kabbalah. The Four Core Truths have to do with personal and collective liberation, with the integration of expanded states of consciousness into our ordinary activities, and with sanctifying existence on this plane. In this class we will learn about the Ba’al Shem’s life, his place in Jewish tradition, and his spiritual philosophy. 

Rabbi Burt will employ niggun, visualization, and meditation along with classroom study and discussion.

Rabbi Burt Jacobson founded Kehilla Community Synagogue in the East Bay in1984, a congregation that unites  the prophetic call for justice with the neo-Hasidic spirituality of Jewish renewal. He has been a student of the teachings of the Ba’al Shem Tov for over thirty years, and is engaged in writing a book that will examine the life, personality and spiritual philosophy of the founder of Hasidism.

Judith-Kate Friedman is an award-winning vocalist, songwriter, producer, cantorial soloist and creative catalyst. Known for her passionate concerts, keynotes and workshops, she performs and teaches internationally. As founding director of Songwriting Works™ and co-founder, with Rabbi Sheldon Marder, of Psalms, Songs & Stories™, Judith-Kate has composed songs with 3,000 elders across spectra of physical, cognitive and mental health. She is the recipient of a 2009 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the 2008 Blair Sadler/ Society for Arts in HealthCare International Healing Arts award, and songwriting honors from the John Lennon and Kerrville Songwriting Contests. Judith-Kate produced ALEPH’s Kallah Cabaret in 2003-2007. Publications include solo CDs, scholarly articles, a capella CDs with Vocolot, “Island on a Hill” CD and film documentary “A ‘Specially Wonderful Affair” featuring the Jewish Home elders, and Dr. Theresa Allison, M.D., M. Music’s study of Songwriting Works (Oxford Handbook of Medical Ethnomusicology, 2008). Judith-Kate lives in Port Townsend, WA where she revels with, and is awed by, the wild company of artists, the Olympics and the Sound. www.judithkate.com, www.songwritingworks.org

Rabbi Ori Har DiGennaro, received ordination as a Mashpi'ah (Spiritual Director) and Rabbi from ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. A meditator for many years, Reb Ori is a student of research in consciousness, Yoga and Kabbalah. She has been a teacher of Biblical Hebrew and Kabbalah for over fifteen years in various organizations, served as faculty of the Religious Studies Dept. of Naropa University, and is the author of God Speaks Here and Now – A Guide for Living.

Oz DiGennaro has been leading and teaching outdoor activities, including mountain bike trips, and winter ski trips. His training includes Wilderness First Responder, plant identification, geology, weather. Oz loves the ecstasy of experiencing G-d which comes with extended time away from civilization. He is probably more at home outdoors than anywhere else. But, these days he’s hard at work building a startup creating tools for the Semantic Web.
Ori Har and Oz DiGennaro are the founders and directors of Conscious Learning Community in Boulder, Colorado.