We will be joined this year by the following Visiting Faculty members (list still in formation!):
Rabbi Jill Hammer, Ph.D.
Rabbi Jill Hammer is Director of Spiritual Education at the Academy of Jewish Religion, as well as the director and co-founder of Tel Shemesh, a website celebrating and creating Jewish earth-based traditions, and the author of The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons (forthcoming September 2006). She is a poet, writer, myth-maker, and midrashist who has been published in many journals and anthologies, and is the author of Sisters at Sinai: New Tales of Biblical Women, a collection of modern midrash. Rabbi Hammer teaches in Manhattan and around the country on ancient and contemporary midrash, bibliodrama, ritual-making, and the cycles of Jewish time, and is currently an instructor at the Academy for Jewish Religion. She received a doctorate in social psychology from the University of Connecticut in 1996 and was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2001.
Shira Kline 
Shira is a New York based performer and music educator. She travels with her band, ShirLaLa, throughout the country and internationally bringing a dynamic, fully participatory program of joy and spirit, story and song, not to mention all out rock-star dancing and grooving! Shira works with communities to deepen rituals, holiday celebrations, and love for Jewish life and prayer. Visit her online.
Mara Benjamin
Dr. Mara Benjamin is Assistant Professor of Religion at St. Olaf College,
in Northfield, MN. She received her doctorate in modern Jewish thought
from Stanford University and has held fellowships at the University of
Washington and Yale University. Her book, Rosenzweig's Bible: Reinventing
Scripture for Jewish Modernity, is due out from Cambridge University Press
this spring. She and her partner, Miryam, live in St. Paul, MN with their
daughter, Rayzel.
And by these members of the Nehirim Staff and Faculty:
Chani Getter, Retreat Co-Director
Chani Getter is a Motivational Speaker as well as a Certified Holistic Life Coach.
She holds a BA in Human Development from Empire State College. A single mother of 3 children
she has led parenting workshops. She is currently facilitating a Single-Mother’s support
group in her community as well as the Ma’agal Women’s Circle. Chani has spoken on numerous
panels to tell her story of growing up Ultra-Chasidic and her eventual acceptance of her
identity. Chani follows an eclectic spiritual path that allows her to connect to the source of
life within. In her work, she strives to create a safe space for people to explore the
paradoxes in their own lives.
Shoshana Jedwab, Retreat Co-Director
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 with the Kirtan Rabbi,
Andrew Hahn, and Tel Shemesh seasonal events.
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.
GLBT Jewish Culture & Spirituality
