Yom Kippur Day Workshops

We have 3 workshops to choose from on Yom Kippur

Meditation: The Gift of Returning
You’ve done the soul searching, you’ve asked for forgiveness, you’ve released old vows and are preparing new ones – Even in the midst of prayer, process and progress, return to the eternal presence you already always are.

Daniella Salzman has trained as a dance expressive arts therapist, meditation and mindfulness teacher, and community organizer. For over a decade, she has been a part of Chochmat HaLev’s leadership behind the scenes as well as on the bimah, and currently teaches in the Monday night meditation program and offers quarterly retreats. She founded Grow Awake, a community of practice that is ideologically inclusive and is dedicated to transforming our inner and outer worlds towards a lasting and integrated peace.

Call and Response – the Poetic Gates Are Open
We will use our liturgy, sacred texts and spiritual poetry, all forms of mystical, metaphorical messaging, as prompts for your creative response. Share the poetry of your soul within our sacred community. Readers, writers, listeners all welcome. Leah Shelleda and Lisa Strongin will facilitate a safe and generative container for all who choose to participate.

Leah Shelleda is an educator, facilitator, ritualist and published poet who can be found in her garden, kitchen or with her grandkids when she isn’t creating events and spiritual poetry workshops.

Lisa Strongin is a lover of Torah and Liturgy and a published poet who returns to the Bay Area and her writing after many decades of advocating for the rights of indigents caught up in our dysfunctional justice system.

Art as Midrash
On Yom Kippur, during the exquisite hours of inner reflection before the closing of the gates, choosing what to bring forward to the new year and what to leave behind can be challenging. This Art as Midrash workshop invites you to quietly unravel and express some of your personal High Holiday prayers and reflections — through making an art work, writing, or simply by sitting in silent meditation. If you feel called to make something, a variety of art and craft supplies are available. If writing, paper and pens are here. For those who wish to share their experience verbally, we will offer a forum during the workshop’s final 15 minutes.

Chochmat Art Committee members: Nadine Rosenthal and friends

The workshops are free for all those attending our Yom Kippur services.