August 2010

RABBINIC DIRECTOR'S REPORT: August 2010

Dear Friends of Jewish Renewal,

In my previous note, I neglected to list our Newfoundland board member, Shifrah-Leah Gilbert, as the Rabbinic Pastor that she is. Shifrah-Leah holds the distinction of being the first Jewish clergy person to be licensed to officiate at weddings in our easternmost province.

Second, I again want to encourage you to read Rabbi Marcia Prager's letter about becoming a chai/month donor to ALEPH. Reb Marcia is the dean of our ordination programs and her thoughts about investing in ALEPH's infrastructure are especially relevant for us, given our focus in Canada on ALEPH's educational programs. Response has been gratifying to date and it would be wonderful if a few more of you would commit to this easy and painless way of giving to ALEPH and helping further the work of Jewish Renewal, both in Canada and world-wide.

Third, the first ever Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur experience on Hornby Island is beginning to take shape. A machzor is coming together, reflecting the idea of infusing the entire morning service with the primary themes of the day instead of leaving them for the end. Noam has sketched out a second day in nature, with shacharit happening as we walk through the Helliewell Woods, Torah reading and Shofar blowing on the bluffs overlooking the water, a picnic lunch, and tashlich on the beach. And, given this year’s amazing improvement, I’ve purchased a freshly caught sockeye salmon for us to share.
Given the intimacy of the group, there will also be ample opportunity to prepare for the services through learning and discussion.
We have let go of needing a minimum enrolment and have committed to experiencing the holidays on Hornby as long as we have a minyan of participants. So now is the time to check out the ALEPH Canada website for more details and to let us know if you would like to come. For now, please don’t be concerned about the cost or about paying; we will do what we can to help out if the cost is too much and we will also let you know when the registrations have hit the magic number of a minyan (actually, it already has for Rosh HaShanah and the next two registrants for Yom Kippur will take us there).
After reading what is on the website, please contact Daniel directly with more questions or to let him know of your intention to come (resources@aleph.org).

Finally, last month I mentioned that some changes were in the works and they have now received formal approval. The board of ALEPH Canada has approved a simple budget for next year, which includes a predictable salary for me, split between administration (20%) and program (80%). We have agreed to adopt the Jewish year for budgeting purposes. And, our sponsorship of the Bet Midrash is now moving into a new partnership with the ALEPH Ordination Programs, in which I serve as the Associate Dean. From now on, I will be focused more on the development of new classes and resources for the ALEPH Bet Midrash as well as working and teaching in the ordination programs.

I pray that the summer has been going well and may we learn to be happy with what we have.

Rabbi Daniel Siegel

ALEPH SUSTAINABILITY CAMPAIGN A LETTER FROM RABBI MARCIA PRAGER, DEAN OF THE ALEPH ORDINATION PROGRAMS	ALEPH CANADA IN CANADA ROSH HASHANAH & YOM KIPPUR RETREAT	ALEPH CANADA: THE ALEPH BET MIDRASH ALEPH ORDINATION PROGRAMS
JOIN MY TEAM Dear ALL; I am writing to ask you to join my team. What do I mean? Well, many or even most of you know that I am able to do all the other work I do in the world, because of the opportunities ALEPH makes possible. What that means is that all the work I do – P'nai Or; The ALEPH Ordination Programs which I serve as Director and Dean; all the traveling I do to other communities; the conferences I attend; the Israel Trips I lead; the teaching and counseling I do...... all of this is possible because I work under the umbrella of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. Without ALEPH I would not have become the rabbi of P'nai Or, or helped found OHALAH: The Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal, or studied with Reb Zalman, or learned "Davvenology," or become who I am as a rabbi and teacher. Right now we are embarking on a campaign in which every rabbi ordained by Reb Zalman, and any rabbi who wants to be part of this campaign, is recruiting a minimum of ten friends to become CHAI level members of ALEPH. This minyan-plus of CHAI donors honors that rabbi with this CHAI commitment in recognition of the contribution that rabbi has made to their lives I have joined this campaign and am writing to you to ask you to be on my team. Doing this is easy. Love and brachas to you. Thank you for allowing me to reach out to you in this way to help keep ALEPH financially secure for the coming years. We need (really!) 2000 people around the continent to say "yes!" for this possibility to be a reality. We can do it! Rabbi Marcia To donate, click on this link and then follow the simple steps: CanadaHelps.	Wednesday-Sunday 8-12 September 2010 Friday-Sunday 17-19 September 2010 Hornby Island, BC Led by Rabbi Daniel Siegel and Noam Dolgin Join us for an intimate High Holyday experience as we combine traditional liturgy, creativity, and study to create a unique connection among the deep meaning of these special days, our people’s traditions, and our contemporary commitment to a Judaism which embodies the universal as well as the particular. Beginning with a Rosh HaShanah dinner, we will meet to share in the familiar sounds and form of the evening service. The next day, we will davven together with an emphasis on adjusting the order of the service to focus on the major themes of Rosh HaShanah, the blowing of the shofar and the three unique sections of the Musaf (additional) service, usually recited so late in the morning that many of us have already left for home. The second day of Rosh HaShanah will, G!d willing, be spent outdoors, as we take the beautiful Helliwell Part walk, stopping for prayer, for the shofar to sound, for a picnic lunch, and tashlich. On Yom Kippur, we will again begin with a shared meal, followed by a traditional Kol Nidre service. During the day, we will once again structure the service so that it guides through the process which brings us to the Holy of Holies and the feeling of having been forgiven by a loving and compassionate universe and its Creator. There will be opportunities for study, for outdoor mikveh, hikes, and bicycle rides, as well as a Shabbat program for the day after Rosh HaShanah. For those coming for Yom Kippur, there will be the added treat of the annual Hornby Island Fall Fair, which has been moved to Sunday for the very first time! For the full schedule and fees, please click here. Click here to register.	ALEPH launched a MECHINAH / PREPARATORY program of study for those who •have initiated a serious inquiry into an ALEPH Ordination Program; •might be thinking of initiating a serious inquiry into an ALEPH Ordination Program; and/or •are looking for a higher level of the study of Torah Lishma, Torah for its own sake. This Fall (2010), we begin the second cycle of Mechinah courses with Biblical Hebrew. A compete review of the curricula in the ordination programs has been completed. This, in turn, leads to greater clarity for the existing course structure of the Mechinah program and guidance for the emerging program in Continuing Education. The Machzor Kol Koreh project, a new kind of High Holyday prayerbook, is now in the midst of its first upgrade, which should be available in time for this year's holydays. This upgrade includes the addition of acknowledgements pages and a fuller n'ilah service. A description of this project and how to participate can be found on the digital downloads page of this website. Finally, we have added a shopping cart to the electronic downloads store. Please watch for more offerings to be added to those already available. Return to the ALEPH Canada Home Page

ALEPH SUSTAINABILITY CAMPAIGN A LETTER FROM RABBI MARCIA PRAGER, DEAN OF THE ALEPH ORDINATION PROGRAMS

ALEPH CANADA IN CANADA

ROSH HASHANAH & YOM KIPPUR RETREAT

ALEPH CANADA:

THE ALEPH BET MIDRASH

ALEPH ORDINATION PROGRAMS

JOIN MY TEAM

Dear ALL;

I am writing to ask you to join my team.

What do I mean?

Well, many or even most of you know that I am able to do all the other work I do in the world, because of the opportunities ALEPH makes possible. What that means is that all the work I do – P'nai Or; The ALEPH Ordination Programs which I serve as Director and Dean; all the traveling I do to other communities; the conferences I attend; the Israel Trips I lead; the teaching and counseling I do...... all of this is possible because I work under the umbrella of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal.

Without ALEPH I would not have become the rabbi of P'nai Or, or helped found OHALAH: The Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal, or studied with Reb Zalman, or learned "Davvenology," or become who I am as a rabbi and teacher.

Right now we are embarking on a campaign in which every rabbi ordained by Reb Zalman, and any rabbi who wants to be part of this campaign, is recruiting a minimum of ten friends to become CHAI level members of ALEPH. This minyan-plus of CHAI donors honors that rabbi with this CHAI commitment in recognition of the contribution that rabbi has made to their lives

I have joined this campaign and am writing to you to ask you to be on my team.

Doing this is easy.

Love and brachas to you.

Thank you for allowing me to reach out to you in this way to help keep ALEPH financially secure for the coming years. We need (really!) 2000 people around the continent to say "yes!" for this possibility to be a reality. We can do it!

Rabbi Marcia

To donate, click on this link and then follow the simple steps: CanadaHelps.

Wednesday-Sunday 8-12 September 2010

Friday-Sunday 17-19 September 2010
Hornby Island, BC
Led by Rabbi Daniel Siegel and Noam Dolgin

Join us for an intimate High Holyday experience as we combine traditional liturgy, creativity, and study to create a unique connection among the deep meaning of these special days, our people’s traditions, and our contemporary commitment to a Judaism which embodies the universal as well as the particular.
Beginning with a Rosh HaShanah dinner, we will meet to share in the familiar sounds and form of the evening service. The next day, we will davven together with an emphasis on adjusting the order of the service to focus on the major themes of Rosh HaShanah, the blowing of the shofar and the three unique sections of the Musaf (additional) service, usually recited so late in the morning that many of us have already left for home.
The second day of Rosh HaShanah will, G!d willing, be spent outdoors, as we take the beautiful Helliwell Part walk, stopping for prayer, for the shofar to sound, for a picnic lunch, and tashlich.
On Yom Kippur, we will again begin with a shared meal, followed by a traditional Kol Nidre service. During the day, we will once again structure the service so that it guides through the process which brings us to the Holy of Holies and the feeling of having been forgiven by a loving and compassionate universe and its Creator.
There will be opportunities for study, for outdoor mikveh, hikes, and bicycle rides, as well as a Shabbat program for the day after Rosh HaShanah.
For those coming for Yom Kippur, there will be the added treat of the annual Hornby Island Fall Fair, which has been moved to Sunday for the very first time!

For the full schedule and fees, please click here. Click here to register.

ALEPH launched a MECHINAH / PREPARATORY program of study for those who

•have initiated a serious inquiry into an ALEPH Ordination Program;
•might be thinking of initiating a serious inquiry into an ALEPH Ordination Program; and/or
•are looking for a higher level of the study of Torah Lishma, Torah for its own sake.

This Fall (2010), we begin the second cycle of Mechinah courses with Biblical Hebrew.

A compete review of the curricula in the ordination programs has been completed. This, in turn, leads to greater clarity for the existing course structure of the Mechinah program and guidance for the emerging program in Continuing Education.

The Machzor Kol Koreh project, a new kind of High Holyday prayerbook, is now in the midst of its first upgrade, which should be available in time for this year's holydays. This upgrade includes the addition of acknowledgements pages and a fuller n'ilah service. A description of this project and how to participate can be found on the digital downloads page of this website.

Finally, we have added a shopping cart to the electronic downloads store. Please watch for more offerings to be added to those already available.

Return to the ALEPH Canada Home Page