Women’s Retreat 2010
The Second Annual Nehirim Women’s Retreat
March 12-14, 2010
Isabella Freedman Retreat Center
Falls Village, CT
Registration for Nehirim’s Women’s Retreat 2010 is now open.
Early Birds registering before February 1st receive $50 off the Basic Triple price, so register today!
To offer or request a ride to the retreat, visit our Ride Board.
Join us for a weekend of rejuvenation, community, and fun…
Explore and refresh your relationship to Judaism and Jewish community in a warm, pluralistic and respectful setting.
Connect with 100 lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer Jewish women: families and singles, students and seniors, frum and secular — there are people like you at Nehirim! (Children and non-Jewish partners welcome.)
Daven and learn with scholars like Rabbi Jill Hammer & Professor Joy Ladin.
Nourish your body with delicious organic, kosher food.
Move with Jewish yoga innovator Myriam Klotz, and open your heart with Nehirim teachers Chani Getter, Becky Emet & Shoshana Jedwab, or just …
Relax by the fireplace or in the hot tub, and take a walk in nature.
Click one of the following links for more info:
-Tachlis/Logistics
-Financial Aid
-Tentative Schedule
-Halachic Information
-Teachers and Presenters
-Questions? Contact Us!
Registration
Registration for Nehirim’s Women’s Retreat 2010 is now open! Click here to register securely online.
Location & Transportation Information
The retreat will be held at Isabella Freedman Retreat Center in Falls Village, CT. For directions and transportation information, please visit the Isabella Freedman website. Transportation is “on your own” — we cannot assist with transportation requests. To offer or request a ride to the retreat, visit our Ride Board. Isabella Freedman is also accessible by train from NYC. If you need to be picked up or dropped off at the Wassaic train station (for MetroNorth service from New York City), a shuttle will be made available for a $15 charge per person each way. Details will be posted in February.
For other pickup times or locations, Lakeville Taxi, (860) 435-8000, is available. Lakeville Taxi is a reservation service; 24 hours advance notice required, and reservations are nonrefundable within 24 hours.
Prices
We are committed to enabling everyone to attend the Women’s Retreat and look forward to a wide range of sexual, gender, economic, religious, and ethnic diversity. Financial aid is available for those in financial need; click the link to apply. **Please note that the deadline for Financial aid for this retreat is FEBRUARY 1, 2010.**
Prices shown below are per person and include all room & board for two nights, and all your program expenses — it really is a steal, no?
Basic: Triple/Quad $225, Double $325, Single $375 (very simple, shared bathrooms)
Private Bath: Triple $275, Double $350, Single $450 (nice, rustic)
Deluxe: Triple $325, Double $400, Single $475 (swanky)
Child: $100, Children 2 and under are free
Friday, March 12th
2:00-3:30 Arrival, snacks, and registration
3:30-4:30 Welcome and opening program with Chani Getter and Becky Emet
4:00 ☺Kid’s Activity
4:45-5:15 Women’s Mikva with Rabbi Jill Hammer
4:45-5:15 Alternative to Mikva with Sasha T. Goldberg
5:00 ☺Kid’s Early Dinner Served
5:30-7:00 Candle-lighting & Shabbat Services with Rabbi Jill Hammer, Shoshana Jedwab & Chani Getter
7:15-8:45 Shabbos Dinner
9:00-9:55 Mishpacha Group
9:00 ☺Kid’s Activity
10:00-10:45Evening Program
Poetry Reading with Joy Ladin & Miryam Kabakov
12-Step Meeting
11:00-12:00 Tisch with Miryam Kabakov & Esther Smigel
Shabbat, March 13th
Parashat Vayakhel-Pekudei — Shabbat Parshat HaChodesh
7:30-8:15 Cold breakfast available in dining hall
8:00-9:00 Morning spiritual practice
* Morning yoga with Miriam Klotz
☺Kids’ Playtime
☺Board Games (older children)
8:30-9:15 Breakfast
9:00-11:45 Shabbat Morning Davening (Prayer)
* Women’s Halachic Davening with Chasiah Haberman
* Renewal Davening with Rabbi Jill Hammer, Shoshana Jedwab & Chani Getter
* Alternative to Services with Sasha T. Goldberg
☺ Babysitting for the tots
☺Kids’ Davennen
12:00 – 12:15 ☺Children’s Parsha Play Performance
☺All are welcome
12:15-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:30 Afternoon Session 1
*Trans Jew 101 Joy Ladin Synagogue
*A Deeper Mixer Chani Getter Beige Yurt
* Torah & Body Wisdom Myriam Klotz
☺Kid’s Activity
2:40-3:40 Afternoon Session 2
*Dating and Singles Workshop Becky Emet
*Butch/Femme Sasha T. Goldberg
*Women Speaking to Power in the Bible Irene Riegner
☺Kid’s Activity
4:15 Afternoon Spiritual Practice
* Nap, walk, schmooze in the lounge
* Torah Study with Chasiah Haberman
* Self-organized mincha
* Yoga with Myriam Klotz 5:15-6:15 Mishpacha Groups
6:30-7:45 Seudah Shlishit (Third meal/Dinner)
8:00- 8:15 Maariv Evening Service
8:15-8:30 Havdalah with Chani Getter
9:00-10:00 Talent Show
11:00 Campfire and singing Margot
Sunday, March 14
7:30-8:00 Cold breakfast available in dining hall
8:00-8:45 Morning spiritual practice
*Silent meditation space
*12 Step meeting Chani Getter
* Community-led Shacharit
☺Board Games for older children
8:30-9:30 Breakfast
9:30-10:30 Sunday session 1
*Writing to God Joy Ladin
*Yiddish workshop Amanda
☺ Kid’s Activity 10:45-11:45 Sunday session 2
*Community-Building: Taking Nehirim Home with Becky Emet
☺ Kid’s Activity
12:00–1:00 Closing session & final Mishpacha group
1:00 Lunch
2:30 Tzeitchem L’Shalom! (Bon Voyage!)
2010 Retreat Co-Directors
Becky Emet, Retreat Co-Director
Having worked as a therapist with at-risk youth and families, Becky is currently pursuing an MBA in hopes of starting her own social enterprise one day. Committed to social justice and community building, and striving for an ever-compassionate, present-focused perspective, Becky brings her passion and warmth to the Nehirim community.
Chani Getter, Retreat Co-Director
Chani Getter, is both an experienced financial professional and a leader in the fields of personal growth and spiritual development. She has reached individuals and professionals in the U.S. and Canada through a series of workshops and panel discussions. Chani has led informational and support groups in parenting, single-motherhood, domestic violence, cross-cultural integration, issues of sexuality and identity. She creates original rituals for variety of occasions and is a core member of the Nehirim faculty, coordinating “mishpacha” groups and facilitating the Ma’agal Womens’ Circle. Click here to visit her website.
2010 Teachers and Presenters
Myriam Klotz
Rabbi Myriam Klotz is a certified yoga teacher and Phoenix Rising Yoga therapist, teaching and studying Anusara, Iyengar and vinyasa methods. She is the Director of Yoga and Embodied Practices at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, and a spiritual director. Myriam has written about embodiment and Jewish spiritual life in many venues, and her recordings include Preparing the Heart: Yoga for Jewish Spiritual Practice and In All Your Ways Know God: Beginning Yoga for Jewish Spiritual Practice.
Professor Joy Ladin
Joy Ladin is the David and Ruth Gottesman Professor of English at Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University – and Yeshiva University’s (and the Orthodox Jewish world’s) first openly transgendered employee. A widely published poet and essayist, she is the author of three books of poetry from Sheep Meadow Press, Transmigration (2009), The Book of Anna (2006) and Alternatives to History (2003), as well as a collection of original psalms forthcoming in 2010. Since 2007, she has spoken and written widely about transsexuality, including writing a yet-unpublished collection of autobiographical essays, INSIDE OUT: CONFESSIONS OF A WOMAN CAUGHT IN THE ACT OF BECOMING.
Sasha T. Goldberg, Assistant Director of Nehirim, Retreat Director
Sasha T. Goldberg is the Assistant Director of Nehirim. Prior to joining Nehirim in 2007, she taught grades K-12 in Religious Schools, led Jewish teen retreats, and worked with a wide variety of Jewish organizations in the Bay Area. Sasha holds a Master’s Degree in Judaism from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, and currently serves as President of the Board of Directors for NUJLS, The National Union of Jewish LGBTQQI Students. In addition to her work at Nehirim, Sasha has a long history of queer advocacy and social justice work, and, accordingly, has organized conferences, film festivals, fundraisers, workshops, and events, as well as having spoken extensively on sexuality, gender, and identity. A self-proclaimed masculinity enthusiast, Sasha particularly enjoys facilitating discussions and workshops about the intersections of masculinity and various elements of cultural, social, sexual, and religious identities.
Jill Hammer
Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD, is the Director of Spiritual Education at the Academy for Jewish Religion. She is also the director of Tel Shemesh, a website and community celebrating earth-based Jewish traditions, and the co-founder of Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, a training program in women’s spiritual leadership. Rabbi Jill Hammer was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2001. She also holds a Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Connecticut. She is the author of The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons (Jewish Publication Society, 2006) and Sisters at Sinai: New Tales of Biblical Women (Jewish Publication Society, 2001).
Shoshana Jedwab
Shoshana Jedwab is a prize winning Jewish educator and the Jewish Studies Coordinator at the A.J. Heschel Middle School in NYC. She is the founding facilitator of the Makom Drum Circle at the JCC in Manhattan and is a percussionist and performance artist who has trained in bibliodrama and psychodrama. Shoshana has provided empowering drum circles to singles, student, training, and bereavement groups. Shoshana has performed with: Storahtelling, Chana Rothman, Debbie Friedman, Akiva Wharton, A Song of Solomon, Hebrew Mystical Chant withthe Kirtan Rabbi, Andrew Hahn, and Tel Shemesh seasonal events.
Miryam Kabakov
Miryam Kabakov, CSW, is Director of the Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival and editor of a forthcoming anthology of essays by and about lbt women and Orthodoxy. Previously, she was National Program Director of AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps and Coordinator of LGBT programming at the Manhattan JCC. She lives in Minnesota with her partner Mara and daughter Rayzie.
Chasiah Haberman
Chasiah Haberman is a founding member of Tirtzah: A community of Frum Queer Women. She has taught at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education, and various synagogues, retreats and jewish communal settings. She is a graduate of the Drisha Scholars circle and received her B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis. She currently lives and teaches in Boston MA.
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.