The Nehirim spiritual retreat is a soulful, heartful gathering where you can connect with your community, relax and refresh, and explore your spiritual path, forming connections that last a lifetime. Our retreats feature:

- A wide range of spiritual options, from traditional shabbat davening to meditation, yoga, and dance.
- Connections with GLBT Jews of all ages, religious affiliations, and walks of life.
- Workshops and seminars featuring a wide range of teachers (see below for list)
- Opportunities to open your heart, participate and lead ritual, or just be yourself, be in nature, and be with a diverse, welcoming community.
- Dancing, singing, kosher (mostly vegetarian) food, an eruv, tennis courts, hot tub, a lake, and country roads.


Last Year's Schedule

Friday, May 30 - 25 Iyar - 40th day of Omer

2:00-4:00 Arrival, snacks, and registration
Theater 4:00 Welcome and opening program
Synagogue 5:00 Get ready for shabbat/ optional mikvas
5:15 Women's mikva with Shoshana Jedwab
5:45 Men's mikva with Corey Friedlander
6:15 Non-gendered mikva with Sasha T. Goldberg
6:30 Pre-shabbat session
- Mishpacha facilitators meet with Chani Getter
- Pre-shabbos movement with Daniel Max
- Jewish Spirituality for Beginners w/Zvi Bellin
7:15 Candlelighting and shabbat services w/Jay Michaelson, Shoshana Jedwab, and Storahtelling
8:30 Shabbos Dinner
10:00-10:50 Mishpacha groups
11:00-12:00 Midnight Zohar Study with Amichai Lau-Lavie

Shabbat, May 30 - 26 Iyar - 41st day of Omer

7:30-8:15 Cold breakfast available in dining hall
8:00-8:50 Morning spiritual practice
- Morning yoga (Daniel Max)
- Silent meditation with instruction (Ri Turner)
8:15-9:15 Breakfast
9:15-9:45 Pre-Shavuot Text Study (Prof. David Brodsky)
9:45-11:45 Shabbat Morning Davening
- Traditional-egalitarian davening & Torah reading
(Cantor David Berger)
- Storahtelling/Renewal davening (Amichai Lau-Lavie, Jake Goodman, Rabbi Jill Hammer & Shoshana Jedwab)
- Secular Study & Discussion (Sasha T. Goldberg)
12:00-1:20 Lunch
Student scholarship recipients please eat together
1:30-2:30 Afternoon Session 1 (choose one)
- David Brodsky, Vaginal God and Godlike Vaginas: The Encounter with the Mysterium Tremendum
- Chani Getter, The Not-Knowing Place
- Shoshana Jedwab, Moses as Medicine Man
- Zvi Bellin, The Meaning of Simply Being: Shabbat and Nature
2:40-3:40 Afternoon Session 2 (choose one)
- Rabbi Jill Hammer, Book of Ruth & the Journey of the Grain
- Paul Fischer, Out of Bounds: Re-imagining Our Bodies in Relation to the World
- Rafi Daugherty & Jase Schwartz, Trans 101
- Rabbi Dawn Rose, Opening the Book: An Intro to the Koran for Jews
4:00-6:00 A long, late-spring afternoon: naps, discussion groups, walks, free time, workshops, tennis, or nothing at all.
4:00-5:00 Yechidus w/ Rabbi Dawn Rose, Jay Michaelson, Zvi Bellin, and Daniel Max
4:00-4:50 Optional fun workshops (choose one)
- Jake Goodman, Telling Extremely True Stories
- David Berger, Sing Your Heart Out
- Amichai Lau Lavie, Open Space Discussion of a planned Nehirim program on Parenting
- Laura Yaros, Yiddish, Anyone?
5:00-5:50 Optional discussion groups (choose one - or convene your own)
- Terry Stinson, Relating to kids from "past lives"
- Rafi Daugherty, 12-Step meeting
- Zvi Bellin, Student Discussion Group
- Chasiah Haberman, Coming Out in Prayer
- Laura Evonne Steinman, Multifaith discussion group
6:00-6:50 Afternoon spiritual practice
- Traditional-egalitarian Mincha (5:50-6:10)
- Talmud study with David Brodsky (6:10-6:50)
- Yoga with Daniel Max & Zvi Bellin
- Guided meditation with Jay Michaelson
7:00-7:50 Seudah Shlishit (Third meal)
8:00-8:50 Mishpacha groups
9:00-9:15 Maariv/ Evening service
- Alternative Maariv with Jay Michaelson
- Traditional Maariv with Eli Kaplan-Wildmann
9:15-9:45 Omer & Havdalah w/ Zvi Bellin and Corey Friedlander
10:00-12:00 Night Program (choose one)
- Campfire with Cantor David Berger & Jake Goodman
- Contact Improv with Paul Fischer
Bookstore and hot tub will be open

Sunday, June 1 - 27 Iyar - 42nd day of Omer

7:30-8:00 Cold breakfast available in dining hall
8:00-8:50 Morning spiritual practice (choose one)
- Morning yoga with Daniel Max
- Guided Meditation with Zvi Bellin
- Shacharit (community-led)
8:00-9:10 Breakfast
9:15-10:15 Sunday session 1 (choose one)
- Prof. Marla Brettschneider, Living Families/Writing Families
- Ken Page, Passion and Prayer
- Jake Goodman, Queer Jewish Ritual
10:25-11:25 Sunday session 2 (choose one)
- Rabbi Dawn Rose, The Female as Cross-Gendered Religious Expression in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Rastafari
- Laura Steinman, Mandala making workshop
11:30-12:45 Closing session & final mishpacha group
1:00-2:30 Lunch
Bookstore and Farmer's Market will be open


Tachlis: What does it cost, where do I register

More specific information will be available as the date nears.

For information on financial aid, click here

For halachic information, click here.

Childcare is available free of charge -- families come every year!

The weekend lasts from 2:00 on Friday until 2:00 on Sunday. We do ask that retreatants stay for the entire weekend.

Teachers (list still in formation!)

Cantor David Berger
David Berger is the first full time cantor of CBST. He received cantorial investiture at the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, School of Sacred Music in May of 2007. Already an integral part of the musical life of CBST, Cantor Berger served as cantorial intern for two years (2005-2007), working in close partnership with Music Director Joyce Rosenzweig. Today he serves as CBST’s cantor, working to inspire both listeners and worshippers with music that speaks to their hearts and to reach out to the wider GLBT Jewish community.

Daniel Max
Daniel Max is the founder and director of Max Sense of Self. Daniel is a Nutrition and Health Counselor, Shiatsu Practitioner, and Yoga Instructor.

Rabbi Jacob J. Staub
Rabbi Jacob J. Staub is Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Spirituality at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, where he served as Academic Vice President for 17 years and where he was ordained. He served as editor of the Reconstructionist magazine. He is the founder and director of the first program in Jewish Spiritual Direction at a rabbinical seminary. He teaches medieval Jewish studies, Jewish meditation, and Jewish spirituality. He is the author of The Creation of the World According to Gersonides and the co-author of Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach. He came out as a gay man five years ago.


John Stasio
John Stasio is the founder of Easton Mountain, a retreat center and residential community in upstate New York. A former Catholic seminarian, he has worked as a bodywork therapist, retreat facilitator and teacher. He has worked for over fifteen years assisting people in realizing their dreams and connecting with their inner source of wisdom, well-being and joy.

Jay Michaelson
Jay Michaelson (www.metatronics.net) is the executive director of Nehirim: GLBT Jewish Culture and Spirituality (www.nehirim.org), the founding editor of Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture (www.zeek.net), a Ph. D candidate in Jewish Thought at Hebrew University and a recent Visiting Professor at Boston University Law School. He is the author of God in Your Body: Kabbalah, Mindfulness, and Embodied Spiritual Practice (Jewish Lights, 2006) and Another Word for Sky: Poems (Lethe Press, 2007). He is presently a columnist for the Forward, Zeek, American Jewish Life, Reality Sandwich, and Maariv Online, and his work has appeared in Slate, the Jerusalem Post, and other publications. His next book is Nondual Judaism (Shambhala, 2009).

Questions?

If you would like more information, if you would like to volunteer to teach or lead services, or if your organization would like to cosponsor the retreat, you can always email us at info[at]nehirim.org.