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2. International Ohel Hachidusch Congress
Opening the Heart, April 4-6, 2008
Program Shabbat Behalotecha June 1-3 2007 in Oslo
Greeting by Elisa Klapheck
Program of the first international Ohel Hachidusch-Congress in Berlin

2. International Ohel Hachidusch Congress
28.08.2008- 31.08.2008 in Lund / Sweden

Special Guests:
Rabbi Shawn Zevit (Philadelphia)
Rabbi Elisa Klapheck (Amsterdam/Frankfurt/Main)
Prof Roger Sages (Lund)
Aleph Rabbinical Senior Student Lynn Feinberg (Oslo)
Sonja Guentner (Köln) u.a.

Download REGISTRATION FORM 2008

further information here: CONGRESS

Opening the Heart:
Mindfulness Meditation and Jewish Practices for Inner Liberation

The Inner Journey of Passover Friday 6 p.m.-Sunday 2 p.m. April 4-6, 2008 Quelle des Mitgefühls, Heidenheimerstr. 27, 13467 Berlin-Hermsdorf

In this weekend retreat we will renew ourselves through slowing down, silence, singing, sitting and walking meditation, and many Jewish practices including preparing for Passover, Shabbat, daily blessings, prayer and study. We will discover and practice preparations for Passover that offer roadmaps for finding spiritual connection and freedom from fears, anxiety and hopelessness. Retreat Information and Registration: channah@freenet.de
Comfortable accommodations and nutritious vegetarian meals are served.

Roberta Wall was a founding member of the residential community at the Elat Chayyim Jewish Retreat Center in New York State. She is a student of Thich Nhat Hanh and has led Jewish practice at Plum Village. She leads mindfulness and Jewish retreats and lives in the U.S.
www.steps2peace.com

Shabbat Behalotecha (In your lighting of the menorah)

The Womens Shabaton of June 1-3 2007 in Oslo, Norway.
If you are interested in joining please send an email to: lynn.claire@gmail.com

PROGRAMM
Friday June 1st.
17.00-19.00 Arrival
19.00 Welcome and orientation
19:30 Shirey be erev Shabat; introduction to some of the melodies used for Shabbat evening service led by Hazzan Jalda Rebling
20.20 We light the shabatcandles (Shabbat begins), followed by Kabbalet Shabbat, the service where we welcome Shabbat.
Kiddush, blessing of wine and Shabbat followed by dinner
Birkat ha mason/Benshen - we give thanks for the food

Saturday June 2.
9:30 Breakfast
10:30-13.00 Shacharit, morning service with torareading, dvar Torah etc.
Behalotecha is about spiritual leadership and what it entails. This is also a story about what happens to our people after having received Torah on Sinai, how fast they forget Sinai and the deeply reaching experiences they had there and how they let old habits and thought patterns get the upper hand. This is the week we also read about Miriam who gets tzaarat (an illness that makes her skin turn white) after she and Aharon rebuke Moshe. How can we understand these stories? Can they be of meaning for our lives today?
13.30 kiddush and lunch
During the meal we will continue to talk about what the service and Tora reading brought up.
Birkat ha mason

about 15.00 after lunch; time for a walk, talk, study in small groups, sleep etc.

ca 19.00 Mincha - a short service with torareading from portion of the week that follows, Shelach lecha, the portion about the scouts that are sent in to the promised land.

Ca. 20.30 Seudat Shlishit - the third meal.
Shabbat afternoon, the last hours of Shabbat..
The kabbalists tell us that the gates of heaven are wide open these last few hours before shabbat ends. Heavenly light and might is abundant. If we allow ourselves to open and receive this light our batteries are replenished for the week to come. It is a hassidic tradition to sing niggunim (songs without words) and tell stories around the meal table at this time. So this is what we also will do. Do you have a story, a song or melody with a Jewish content that you want to share? We will continue as long as we feel like. Officially Shabbat goes our at 01.15 in Norway, if we last that long we will do havdalah before going to bed, if not - we will do it the next morning.

Sunday June 3rd
10:30 Breakfast with wrap up and closure
Tidying up before departure around 12.00

We will use the services as a framework from where we can experience a deepening in relation to our tradition, texts and. You will also be given the opportunity to experience the function that Torah and the Toraservice has in a direct way.
Suggestions about what to bring:
- A shawl or Tallit
- Shabbat clothes, light/white or colourful clothes for Shabbat evening
- Shoes for inn and outdoors
- Clothes you might need for walking in the woods - it might rain
- Towels
- Sleeping bag /bedclothes (there are only mattresses, not blankets or duvets)
- Toiletry
- Extra money for wine to drink with the food (kosher)
- Siddur - (there will be made siddurim for the occation, but if you would like to cross reference with your own bring it along.)
- Chumash/Tanach - (there will also be copies made of the parasha)

Welcome and blessings from

Lynn and Jalda

Hazzan Jalda Rebling is ordained as chazzan (kantor) through Aleph Jewish Renewal. With her many years of experience as a Jewish storyteller, singer and actress and a teacher of Jewish culture she has a wide knowledge from which she can share and make Judaism come alive. During the last years she has been responsible for training two minjanim (prayer groups) in Germany where she lives. She is the main responsible person in forming a the European Jewish Network, Ohel Hachidusch; www.ohel-hachidusch.org an organisation from where to teach, develop and express Judaism and Jewish culture for all those who due to different reasons do not feel at home in traditional communities or for those who seek Jewish experiences and learning beyond what the traditional communities are able to offer. She will soon begin a training course in davvening (jewish prayer) leadership in Europe.

Chief responsible for this weekend is Lynn Claire Feinberg from Oslo, a rabbinical student under Aleph Jewish Renewal. As a part of this education she had participated in a two year program in davvening leadership and has a certificate as an Eco-kosher Masgiach (overseer of kosher). She is an Historian of Religion having specialized in Women and Judaism and is also trained as an Astrologer. She teaches a variety of Jewish themes and is presently engaged in creating texts and material to be used at the Jewish Museum in Oslo as it is being established. As a specialization within the rabbinical program she is training to become a mashpiah - a Spiritual Director.

Aleph Jewish Renewal in USA is a movement that aims at bridging all Jewish paths and denominations and to promote Judaism as living tradition and tool for inner growth and social action in the 21 century. As Jews we are facing changes that are as vast as the ones that happened after the fall of the 2.temple and the rise of rabbinical Judaism 2000 years ago. An important part of the renewal of today is women having more visible roles as spiritual leaders and creators of ritual space. Since the circumstances of Jews living in Europe are different than in the USA, Ohel Hachidusch has been created as a vehicle for this kind of change in Europe.

Dear Jalda, dear Marcia, dear Jack,
Dear Gesa, dear Avitall, dear Lynn,
Dear friends, and all other participants in the first Ohel Ha'Chidusch conference,

I deeply regret not being able to attend this important conference and that I can only contribute this introductory greeting! This expresses the essence of my dilemma: we who are actively working towards a renewal of Judaism in Germany, even in Europe, are, for historical reasons we are all too familiar with, a rather small group, especially in relation to the amount of challenges we're faced with. Everyone who is active in Jewish life here is aware of the enormity of work that has to be tackled. Unfortunately, I have not been able to free myself off from my many obligations to come to Berlin, the city in which I dream that, someday, Jewish renewal will spread out to the rest of Jewish Europe. I hope, however, that, through my activities in the past at the Oranienburger Strasse synagogue as well as the Bet-Debora conferences, I have already contributed to this endeavour.

In Amsterdam recently, (where I have been serving as rabbi for the last 2 years, Bet Ha'Chidush/House of Renewal), we discussed the issue of what being Jewish means in Europe in a Shiur. We've deliberated to what extent we can learn and incorporate what the American Renewal movement has achieved. At one of our meetings, I shared my reasons for participating in the 'Aleph' programme (for rabbinical training). One of these was to have more to do with Jewish life in the US. It was important for me to study in an environment imbued with a positive sense of Diaspora identity as opposed to the traumatic shadow that hangs over Judaism at home, in Germany. That would entail a society not constantly worried about anti-Semitism, and in which Judaism can be free to develop to necessary new ways. A Judaism in which the life individual Jews has meaning and a positive sense of who he or she is, while taking part in a community and serving a higher purpose. A Judaism in which joy plays an important role, in which one can even have fun while, at the same time, taking the matters at hand seriously. This form of Judaism deals with the ideas of great Jewish thinkers while never getting stuck in the purely intellectual or scientific sphere, but, in contrast, transferring that intensity into a personal spirituality and to every day life. I was able to experience all this and make it my own through my contact with Jewish life in the US. And, in many ways, it relieved me of many aspects of the burden that being Jewish in Germany entails.

Nonetheless, I was always aware, both as a rabbinical student and now as a rabbi, that one can't merely transpose Renewal in its American form to our situation here. In Europe we are remnants, She'erit Haplehta, what remains following destruction, as the prophets in the Tanach foretold. In addition, every country's Jewish population has its own unique history. My work as a rabbi in the Netherlands has made that especially vivid to me. I was surprised that assimilation in the Netherlands was taken much further than it was in Germany; the non-Jewish population's tolerance of Jews was intrinsically linked to this. The depth of prejudice against religion here, in Amsterdam, astonished me, as it is even more fervent than in Berlin. One example of this was a recent debate in my congregation about the term kadosh (holy). A few months ago, this word was unheard outside the four walls of Bet Ha'chidush. Many members of my congregation felt that "holiness" and "sanctity" were synonymous with "sanctimonious". The Hebrew term, kadosh, was just marginally acceptable within the framework of Shabbat liturgy without anyone seriously contemplating the meaning of the word. In one of our first rounds of discussion, the majority of members of the congregation made it clear that the term "holy" did not resonate with them. Upon reflection, many expressed ambivalence or even aversion to the idea. Yet, what exactly do we mean when we talk about a Jewish meaning of life, expressed in our Sidur as the sanctity of life? In a second round of discussions, it became clear that the congregants of Beit Ha'Chidush had, indeed, experienced a sense of holiness and that they had come to Bet Ha'Chidush precisely because we were endeavouring to connect with that special, eternal and always valid sense of kadosh. And we have progressed to speaking about how one can express this notion in a concrete manner.

This brings us to another aspect of European Judaism that is unique. Many of those coming to Bet Ha'Chidush are in the process of returning to Judaism after their parents or grandparents had, for comprehensible reasons, turned their backs on the faith. Our members do not, however, want to return to something established and old but, in contrast, opt for Bet Ha'Chidush precisely because it provides a new alternative. Everyone involved is consumed by an enormous desire to learn. Yet how can one renew something that those involved in are barely familiar with?
In the US, every Jew has some notion of what the various non-orthodox denominations in Judaism stand for, whether Reform, Reconstructionist or Conservative. In contrast, we in Europe are only beginning to gather experience with such diverse alternatives. And that turns the discussion to Renewal: the movement doesn't understand itself as a denomination, but, in contrast, as an impetus to inspire all existing denominations how to deepen the meaning of being Jewish. But, perhaps the European tension between rebuilding Judaism and renewing it at the same time is a key to how our future could develop.

When I use the term 'renewing,' I am aware that foundations for a multi-facetted renewal of Judaism were in Europe, both before and after the First World War, manifested in the protagonists of the Jewish Renaissance of that era. Franz Rosenzweig, for example, formulated his "Stern der Erlösung" (Star of Redemption) in German. He propagated a new kind of learning, suggesting that those Jews who were most estranged from tradition would be best placed to renew it. Following that logic, and considering our generation even further removed from our roots than the one of Rosenzweig, we seem to have a chance to realise important developments. Rosenzweig's perspective was based on his experience as an individual Jew and the moments of revelation therein. Each one of us experiences these same moments today and they can provide us with a foundation upon which an active practice of Judaism can spring that meets present day challenges. I indeed see concrete answers to these challenges in the Renewal movement in the US, in concepts such as "paradigm shift", "psycho-halacha" and Tikkun Olam, which are based on how Jews transcend their personal experience of being Jewish into a higher purpose, related to the everyday's conditions we live in and the challenges we face worldwide. These topics will, no doubt, play a crucial role later in the conference.

I would not be actively involved if I didn't have a vision of what Jewish life in Germany, or even in Europe in general, could become. This also includes a new vision of religious and political culture for us to strive for. Instead of constant bickering and power struggles, whether left- or right-wing, pro or contra, conservative or progressive, orthodox or reform, friend or foe, a kind of thinking that is geared towards looking for what is holy, kadosh, lies therein and also transfers to secular spheres of life. A form of Judaism that is not only beautiful, established, and traditional, but also an active and renewing force in our lives, in the lives of our Jewish communities as well as in the societies in which we live.

I am proud of those with whom I worked in Berlin who are now, in this conference that you're about to begin, setting new milestones in these directions, especially Jalda, whose courage, and persistence I'd like to applaud. I wish her all the success she deserves as a Chazanit! Dear Jalda: Behatzlacha! All the best from a distance to Marcia and Jack, my mentors, to whom I am ever so grateful, to Gesa and Avitall, with whom I've had the privilege of sharing so much mutual involvement in the Oranienburger Strasse synagogue, as well as all the others, who are too numerous to name. May this conference be a source of further impulses for progress and development, and may Berlin become a centre of Jewish Renewal for the future!

Shalom u'Vracha,
Rabbi Elisa

The first international Ohel Hachidusch-Congress in Berlin,
May 10th - May 13th

located at: Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin - Centrum Judaicum




Program:

Thursday, 10th of May, 2007
Arrival of participants at Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin
7.30 p.m.: Opening in Celebration Hall, Centrum Judaicum
- Lecture by Rabbi Marcia Prager
- Music by Chasan Jalda Rebling and Chasan Jack Kessler

Friday, 11th of May, 2007
Lectures with following discussions about:
10.00 a.m.-12.30: Visions for renewal of Jewish tradition in Europe
02.00 p.m.-03.45 p.m. Several workshops: Singing, Talmud-Studying, Social work etc.
- Prof. Tal Ilan: Masekhet Bavli Ta´anit als Beispiel für einen feministischen
  Kommentar des Babylonischen Talmud
- Lynn Feinberg: Eco-Kashrut - A New Kind of Kosher?
- Lilith Schlesinger: Women und Tallit
- Sandra Lustig: Turning the Kaleidoscope -
  Perspectives on European Jewry
- Joav Yoga

04.00 p.m.-5.30 p.m.
- Rabbi Marcia Prager: The Four Worlds of Jewish Renewal (1)
- Chasan Jack Kessler: The Spiritual Power of Nussach:
  the Synagoge Chant Tradition (1)

8:00 p.m. Lichteranzünden and Kabbalat Schabbat
Rabbi Marcia Prager, Chasan Jack Kessler, Chasan Jalda Rebling

Saturday, 12th of May, 2007
10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Schacharit Schabbat, following Kiddusch
Rabbi Marcia Prager, Rabbi Gesa Ederberg, Chasan Jack Kessler,
Kantorin Avital Gerstetter, Chasan Jalda Rebling


04:00 p.m. - 05:30 p.m. Workshops:
- Rabbi Marcia Prager The Four Worlds of Jewish Renewal (2)
- Chasan Jack Kessler: The Spiritual Power of Nussach:
  the Synagoge Chant Tradition (2)

06:00 p.m. - 07:00 p.m. Schabbat Mincha
09:00 p.m. - 09:30 p.m. Ma´ariw Chasan Jack Kessler, Chasan Jalda Rebling
10:05 p.m. Hawdala and public concert in Celebration Hall, Centrum Judaicum

Sunday, 13th of May, 2007
11.00 a.m. - 02.00 p.m. final session Rabbi Marcia Prager, Chasan Jalda Rebling
11.30 a.m. - 01.00 p.m. Presentation of the results and final discussion in plenum
03.30 p.m. Guided walking tour through Berlin-Mitte with Milk & Honey-Tours

Speakers:
Rabbi Marcia Prager, Philadelphia, USA
Chasan Jack Kessler, Philadelphia, USA
Lynn Feinberg, Oslo, Norwegen
Prof. Tal Ilan, Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin
Rabbi Gesa Ederberg, Berlin
Chasan Jalda Rebling, Berlin
Cantor Avital Gerstetter, Berlin
Lilith Schlesinger-Baader, Berlin

Chasan Jack Kessler, Chasan Jalda Rebling, Rabbinerin Marcia Prager

in cooperation with:

   
 

and kindly supported by:


Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Berlin

and by the Council of the Berlin Borough of Pankow