Workshops
Monday, September 21 • 3:15 pm
The workshops are free for all those attending our Yom Kippur services.
We invite you to take part in multiple workshops on Yom Kippur to deepen your connection with the community and yourself:
- Join Rabbi Rishe in the sanctuary as she leads an overview of Judaism fundamentals, adult b’mitzvah and conversion programs she’s launching in the fall.
- Join us for an Israel-Palestine breakout circle in the Calvin Room. Details TBA.
- Head up to the smaller classrooms for creating pieces as part of the Art of Midrash.
- Take part in an End-of-Life Circle, a safe, non-judgmental space where we’ll explore personal fears, values, and practical wishes before a health crisis occurs.
- Take a walk together with a group over to Willard Park, accompanied by facilitators offering loosely guided prompts so participants can get to know each other better.
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
A powerful restoration practice is a transformative tool for maintaining trust and connection within our communities and relationships, and can even give us the confidence to take more risks together. The Gold Standard Apology is a six-step process informed by the best minds in restorative and transformative justice; anti-racism, and conscious communication. Activities include dyad story shares and discussion of the most common pitfalls of harmful apologies and the art of forgiveness. Participants emerge with an elevated and even transcendent understanding of what real accountability actually looks like, and a concrete practice for conducting restoration in their own lives.
Mischa Byruck
Mischa Byruck is a men’s integrity coach. He supports his clients to turn their biggest mistakes into their greatest opportunities for transformation. He also consults to organizations to bring greater accountability, power awareness and trauma-informedness to leaders. He is certified in somatic trauma therapy, with extensive training in harm reduction, counseling, sexuality, and antiracism. His clients have included organizations like ISTA and DanceSafe, he is the consent education partner for Bonobo Network and Bloom, and the official accountability referral partner of The Consent Academy. His writing has been published in O.School, the New Modality, and The Good Men Project. Previously, Mischa founded forLove, a virtual erotic events company, ran partnerships for DataKind and Code for America, and founded a $10 million humanitarian relief organization. He has a BA from Columbia and an MPA from NYU.
L’dor V’dor: From generation to generation. We each stand at the head of a long line of ancestors that reach back in time, more than simply our parents and grandparents, yet we commonly only reach out to nearby generations. Join Wilderness Torah elders Ellie Schindelman and Naomi Baran for a workshop that includes a guided meditation that can open a door to ancestral connection.
Ellie Schindelman and Naomi Baran
Ellie Schindelman is honored to be an “elder at large” in the rich multi-generational community of Wilderness Torah. This past year, Ellie developed a new elder rites of passage program for WT called “From Older to Elder” which launched this summer. Ellie has been leading Ancestral Connection workshops at Yom Kippur retreats with WT for the last few years, and is glad to bring it to Chochmat this year.
Naomi Baran is a member of the inaugural “Older to Elder” Wilderness Torah cohort. As a psychotherapist, Naomi works with ancestral connection as a part of family and cultural healing and repair. Her work is enriched by weaving the threads of life and death, grief and loss, creativity and ritual.
HIGH HOLY DAYS AT CHOCHMAT HALEV
אֲגֻדָּה אֶחָת בְּלֵבָב שָׁלֵם
Agudah Echad, BLevav Shalem –
A Tapestry of Tender Hearts:
Finding Strength in Community
(From the Rosh Hashana Musaf Liturgy)
In a world marked by uncertainty and overwhelm, the High Holy Days are an opportunity to be held by community, fill our cups with spiritual sustenance, and fortify our hearts for the challenges ahead. Don’t settle for rote performance or empty ritual this year. Join us at Chochmat HaLev to peel back the layers of the traditional liturgy to find meaning for our lives today. Make our sacred texts come alive in new and provocative ways. Allow our soulful music to open your heart and release what no longer serves you. Deepen your connection to Spirit by transcending outdated and dissonant notions of the Divine. Create deep bonds with a community that welcomes you in your full complexity.
Service Leaders: Rabbi Zvika Krieger | Lior Tsarfaty
Cantorial Soloist: Daniela Gesundheit
Teachers: Melanie DeMore | Laura Goldman | Rabbi Rishe Groner
Musicians: Lauren Arrow | Eliyahu Sills | Don Benedictson | Irene Sazar | Michaelle Goerlitz
Recordings of the services will not be available. Sorry, no photography or video allowed.
High Holy Days 5787
ROSH HASHANAH in partnership with Wilderness Torah
Erev Rosh Hashanah Evening Service: Friday, September 11 • 7 pm
Rosh Hashanah Daytime Service: Saturday, September 12 • 10 am
ROSH HASHANAH SECOND DAY
Torah Study & Contemplative Service: Sunday, September 13 • 10 am
YOM KIPPUR in partnership with Wilderness Torah
Erev Yom Kippur Evening Service (Kol Nidre): Sunday, September 20 • 6:30 pm
Yom Kippur Daytime Contemplative Service: Monday, September 21 • 10 am
Torah and Musaf: Monday, September 21 • 12:30 pm
Yizkor (Memorial) Service: Monday, September 21 • 5:00 pm
Neilah (Closing) Service: Monday, September 21 • 6:30 pm
