Dec 19-21, 2008
As the days grow short and the night darkness long, we are invited into the mysteries of dying and rebirth. Many spiritual traditions honor this passage. Judaism, too, has its process of diving deep into the depths of our souls and, while there, kindling the sparks of mystery and tending to the sacred flames within. The spiritual potential of this time of the Winter Solstice is filled with nothing less than the miraculous!
Together we will celebrate the “Great Miracle” that is happening right here within us and among us as we use the Art of Sacred Chant to call light into our own places of darkness, kindling the sparks and tending the flames of the holy depths within. We will be preparing for Chanukah, celebrating the re-dedication of the ancient Holy Temple, the physical nexus point unifying holiness in spirit and in matter. Each year we recall the “great miracle that happened there.”
If you are intrigued by the prospect of entering into the winter’s sacred mystery through a door of spiritual practice inspired by Judaism, if you feel called to reclaim the festival of Chanukah as something more than draydels and latkes, join Rabbi Shefa Gold in this retreat of celebration and re-dedication.
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, has produced ten albums, and has published her liturgies in several new prayer books. She is the author of Torah Journeys: The Inner Path to the Promised Land and In the Fever of Love: An Illumination of The Song of Songs. Chanting and the practice of silence celebrate the shared path of devotion through song and praise.