More information about the Women's Retreat specifically will be available as the date nears.

General information about Nehirim retreats:

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
- 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.




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

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.

Laura Evonne Steinman
Laura Evonne Steinman is a Community Artist who creates arty/spiritual spaces with people of all ages in neighborhood backyards, schools, hospitals, and elsewhere. Laura believes: "In each of our hands we hold gifts to share with others; let our hands be open wide to all the experiences we encounter in our world community." She currently lives in Boston and works at Boston's British School.She also teaches fabric collage for adults, makes prayer flags with community members of the Moishe/Kavod Jewish Social Justice House, and organizes women's Rosh Chodesh gatherings. Laura's spiritual journey is informed by her mixed-faith background. Raised in the Unitarian Universalist tradition, she is nurtured by both her father's Jewish family with Russian roots, and her mother's Polish-Catholic experience.

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.

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.