JEWISH RENEWAL IN SYDNEY
This page contains information about the Jewish Renewal
group in Sydney. For more information contact sufish@bigpond.com
Their sessions are of course open to all who are interested
in Jewish Meditation.
Very exciting news, we are thrilled to announce the
impending visits to
Sydney of two wonderful Jewish renewal teachers from the
US. Two very different teachers in
their orientation, both leaders in their field.
Firstly Rabbi Shefa Gold, who is best known for her music,
chanting,
dancing, leading of renewal services, and generally an
exponent of ecstatic meditation practise will be here in November. Starting with a renewal service at Temple
Emanuel Woollahra on 6th November (all are welcome) and through a full program
ending with a non-residential weekend retreat on 12 -14th November.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON RABBI SHEFA GOLD, PLEASE EMAIL
David Rapaport: davrap69@easy.com.au
or Judy
Kell: judykell@bigpond.com
And see below for more details.
And secondly, In March 2005 Rabbi David Cooper, and his wife
Shoshana will be running a full program
in Sydney. Rabbi Cooper doesn't need
much introduction to most of you, as so many of us have had our lives enriched
through GOD IS A VERB, and the very accessible way in which R. Cooper has made
our entry into the mysteries of the Kabbalah, and meditation practise.
He will also be running a program in Melbourne - for
information on this, please contact Fred Tropp ftropp@vtown.com.au
This email is an advance communication on Rabbi Cooper's
visit, so that you can diary in these dates.
A further email will be sent out with
registration forms, for his program, in September. SO PLEASE
DON'T CONTACT ME (SUE FISHER) ABOUT REGISTERING FOR RABBI COOPER!
Public Lecture - "Kabbalah and Meditation: An evening
with Rabbi David A Cooper
7.30pm Thursday 10
March, $15, Mill Hill Centre, 31-33 Spring St, Bondi Junction
Weekend Workshop Retreat - teachings and contemplative
practice
9.30am-4.30pm Saturday & Sunday 12 & 13 March
$100 p.d. Or $150
for both days
Drama Centre Temple Emanuel School, Randwick
Registration essential
Weeklong Retreat - silent meditation retreat for beginning
and advanced practitioners
Sunday 20-Sunday 27 March $850
Brahma Kumaris Retreat Centre in Leura
Accommodation is very comfortable, with twin share rooms
with bathroom, in cottages, in a gorgeous bush setting
Special Package: retreat & workshop
One day $900
Retreat & both days workshop $950
It will be possible to pay in installments.
For a full description of R. Cooper's program see below.
We look forward to being back in contact in September,
meanwhile
Shalom
Sue Fisher & Edna Ross
PS please forward this on to anyone you know would be
interested.
THE SYDNEY JEWISH
MEDITATIN GROUP IS PROUD TO PRESENT
Rabbi Shefa Gold
ECSTATIC MEDITATION
Enjoy
chanting, dancing, meditation and Torah
with one of America's leading exponents of ecstatic meditation practice on her
first visit to Australia.
Participate
in a variety of workshops and activities.
6th - 14th
November 2004
Rabbi Shefa Gold
Rabbi
Shefa Gold is a leader in ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal and is the
director of C-DEEP ~ Center for Devotional, Energy and Ecstatic Practice in
Jemez Springs, New Mexico. She received her ordination both from the
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.
Shefa composes and performs spiritual music, has produced nine albums, and her
liturgies have been published in several new prayerbooks. She teaches workshops
and retreats on the theory and art of Chanting, Devotional Healing, Spiritual
Community building and Meditation. Shefa combines her grounding in Judaism with
a background in Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, and Native American spiritual
traditions to make her uniquely qualified as a spiritual bridge celebrating the
shared path of devotion.
"Friends,
The repetition of a sacred
phrase is a form of meditation/prayer that facilitates the widening of heart,
and the clearing of mind, opening the doors that lead into multiple levels of
meaning and expanded states of consciousness. The practice of this kind of
chant has been a great gift for me. I am blessed to be able share it with you
......
love,
Shefa "
More information can be found on Shefa Gold's
website
www.rabbishefagold.com
FULL PROGRAM
Shabbat 6th November 10.00am :
Rabbi
Gold will lead a Renewal Shabbat service, with regular participants, followed
by a celebratory Kiddush.
Main
Sanctuary, Temple Emanuel,
7 Ocean St. Woollahra
Sunday 7th November 11,00am-1.00pm :
Rabbi
Gold will introduce and present Torah Journeys, relating to the Parsha reading
of the week.
Education
Centre, Temple Emanuel, Woollahra
Sun 7th November 2.00-5.00pm :
Chanting
workshop.
Education
Centre, Temple Emanuel, Woollahra
Wed 10th November 6.30-8.30pm :
An
introduction to ecstatic meditation.
Neuweg
Sanctuary, Temple Emanuel, Woollahra
NOTE:
Entry by donation
Thu 11th November 7.00-9.00 pm :
Ecstatic
dance workshop.
Neuweg
Sanctuary, Temple Emanuel, Woollahra
Fri 12th - Sun 14th November
Deepen
your spiritual life through connecting with yourself, others and the Divine in
this non residential weekend retreat.
Performing
Arts Centre, The Emanuel School,
20 Stanley St,
Randwick
FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION PLEASE EMAIL
David Rapaport: davrap69@easy.com.au
or
Judy Kell:
judykell@bigpond.com
"Torah Journeys": Receiving the Blessing and Rising to the Challenge of Torah through Spiritual Practice
Each Torah
reading provides us with the opportunity to seach for the blessing within, to
receive the spiritual challenge and rise to meet that challenge through our
personal practice. Spiritual practice
begins with a loving discernment of "Here" and "Now", and a
connection to seasonal cycles and the cycle of Torah.
The Torah
Journey workshop will uncover the blessing, present the spiritual challenge and
offer practices related to the weekly parsha. No previous knowledge is required.
When: 11.00 - 1.00pm Sunday 7th November
Where: Education Centre,
Temple Emanuel,
7 Ocean St. Woollahra
Cost: $ 20
Ecstatic Hebrew Chant: The Mystic Heart of
Jewish Prayer and Meditation
Chanting, the repetition of a sacred phrase, is a
way of transforming the words of liturgy into doorways. They become entrances
into expanded states of consciousness. From those expanded states, we can have
access to the fullness of our power to bless and to heal, both ourselves and
others. The sacred words become the lanterns by which our inner treasures, the unique
medicine that we each carry may be revealed.
This workshop will serve as an introduction to
chanting as healing, and an enrichment
of spirit through song.
When: 2.00-5.00pm Sunday 7th November
Where:
Education Centre, Temple Emanuel,
7 Ocean St. Woollahra
Cost: $ 20
Sacred Dance Workshop
Enjoy Shefa's unique approach to ecstatic dance,
drawing on a range of sacred dance traditions. Shefa will lead us in a series
of dance movements to open up our hearts and experience the joys of communal
dance.
When: 7.00 pm -9.00pm Thursday 11th November
Where:
Neuweg Sanctuary, Temple Emanuel,
7 Ocean St. Woollahra
Cost: $ 20
C-Deep Meditation Retreat
Each moment of silent meditation can
be seen as microcosm of life, dealing with physical pain, mental distraction
and conflicting inner voices. The qualities that are cultivated in order to
step through the meditative doorway are
the same qualities that are needed in order to live one's life to its fullest
and realise the love that is within.
Experience a special weekend exploring Shefa Gold's meditative practice, the C-DEEP Meditation
Retreat.
The C-Deep Meditation Retreat is for those of you
who
* wish to
build a deep and abiding Center
of Awareness
through
Meditation and Jewish Contemplative practice.
* are on a Devotional
path and have a commitment to live
from the
heart and do the work required to grow in
love
each day.
* understand what it means to perceive the world
as
Energy and want to become
energy-workers.
* want to explore Ecstatic states in order to expand
their
perceptive and creative potential.
* have a commitment to Practice on a daily, and hopefully
moment
to moment basis..
"Rabbi
Shefa knows how to contact the deep patterns of soul growth. She does that in
the dimensions of sound, meditation, movement, and transformation for
people."
RABBI
ZALMAN SCHACHTER-SHALOMI
“Shefa’s
C-DEEP retreat was life transforming for me. Not only did I experience the
presence of the God-Force in new and powerful ways, I took away specific
techniques and practices that have continued to deepen that
relationship."
YAFA
When: 7.00 pm -9.00pm Friday 12th November
9.00am - 7.00pm Saturday 13th
November
9.ooam - 3.00pm Sunday 14th november
Where
: Performing Arts Centre, The Emanuel School,
20 Stanley
St. Randwick
Cost
: $200 (includes lunch and tea and
coffee)
BOOKING FORM
Please post this form(or a copy) with payment to
reserve your place. You will be sent a receipt and additional detailed information .
Name: _________________________________________
Address: ________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
Phone: ________________________________________
Email:
_________________________________________
TORAH JOURNEY WORKSHOP
Sun 7th November 2004
Full payment $ 20 [
]
CHANTING WORKSHOP
Sun 7th November 2004
Full payment $ 20 [
]
SACRED DANCE WORKSHOP
Thu 11th
November 2004
Full payment $ 20 [
]
MEDITATION RETREAT
Fri 12th -Sun 14th November 2004
Full payment $ 200 [
]
TOTAL AMOUNT
ENCLOSED $________
Make
cheques out to 'Meditation Account' and mail to
PO BOX 1876 BONDI JUNCTION, 1355
RABBI
DAVID COOPER
Sydney March 2005
PUBLIC
LECTURE: Kabbalah and Meditation: An evening with Rabbi David A Cooper
Join Rabbi David Cooper for an evening of Hasidic tales and Kabbalistic
teachings that focus on the little known contemplative side of Judaism. Cooper
is a well known meditation guide and author of a number of books and
audio-tapes, including his best selling book: GOD IS A VERB: Kabbalah and the Practice of Mystical Judaism, which brings to light the mystical approach
to the Divine. He will discuss this idea in depth and will bring a new way of
understanding how to experience the Presence of the Divine in our everyday
lives.
Rabbi Cooper will speak for about an hour and then will welcome questions from
the floor. If you have read one of his many books, or listened to his tapes,
this would be an excellent time to discuss any of the issues he has raised. If
you have not encountered his work, this will be a good chance to get introduced
to Kabbalah in its most practical and useful form.
7.30pm
Thursday 10th march 2005
$15
at door
Mill
Hill Centre, 31-33 Spring St, Bondi
Junction
WEEKEND
MEDITATION WORKSHOP: teachings and contemplative practise
Join Rabbi David A. Cooper for a
weekend of teachings and contemplative practice. The weekend of training will
be divided into about one-third lecture, one-third practice, and one-third
dialogue in a question and answer format. The primary focus of this
mini-retreat will be to help people to learn and practice the Awareness
techniques that open the gates to what in Judaism is called devekuth-- the goal
of all Western mystics--to merge with the Divine and to dwell completely in its
embrace, sometimes called the Presence.
Cooper brings these teachings in a way that not only clearly illuminate the
concepts, but he also works with practices in experiential ways that touch the
four worlds: mental, emotion, physical and spiritual levels. In this way the
teachings are not only learned intellectually, the wisdom can be fully and
essentially integrated. These teachings are for both beginning and advanced
meditators. Meditation practice can be done on cushions or on chairs. No
particular background is required in Kabbalah, Judaism or Hebrew. We do ask, of
course, that participants bring a willing heart and an open mind to the
classes. In addition, advance reservations will be required as space is
limited. Priority will be given to participants who register for the entire
weekend. Lunch will be provided.
9.30am-4.30pm Saturday & Sunday 12 & 13 March
$100 p.d. Or $150 for both
days
Drama Centre Temple Emanuel School, Randwick
Registration essential
WEEKLONG SILENT RETREAT
For the first time in Australia, Rabbi
David A. Cooper and his wife Shoshana Cooper will be offering a week-long,
silent meditation retreat for beginning and advanced practitioners who seek to
deepen their contemplative practice. The Coopers have been offering this
retreat format for over ten years in different parts of the world, and have
dramatically influenced the development of Jewish Meditation in the USA. The
daily schedule for this week includes many sessions of sitting and walking
meditation. It is designed to provide a supportive environment for serious
participants to deeply explore the full spectrum of their own minds. Many
people have reported that a week with the Cooper's has transformed their
contemplative practice.
A week of retreat in silence is a
practice done in many traditions and it has roots as well in Contemplative
Judaism. Many Jewish mystics sat alone for extended periods, often returning
home only for special holy days. Some people who have never experienced a week
of silence on retreat initially feel that it would be a daunting task; however,
we have seen over and over again that within a few days the silence becomes
quite a refreshing experience. By the end of the week most retreatants actually
regret the end of the silence.
While the retreat is run in silence,
there actually is considerable opportunity to "voice." We chant
together every morning special niggunim for prayers; we offer spoken teachings
at different times during the day; we learn kabbalistic techniques of chanting
names of the Divine; and we have small group interview sessions to get personal
guidance from the teachers. In the groups, participants are also able to listen
to guidance given to others and this usually proves to be pertinent for
everyone at some time or another. Thus, there is plenty of communication during
this retreat. Still, participants are all encouraged to drop verbal social
conventions so that each person on retreat can be dedicated to deepening her or
his personal practice.
This is a wonderful opportunity for
those who are drawn to this kind of experience. We have worked with people who
have had no meditation background at all, and we have worked with those who are
advanced Buddhist practitioners. We have a variety of teachings to work with
all levels. The most refined teachings in the Tibetan world actually parallel
previously hidden contemplative teachings of Kabbalah. The Jewish mystical work
we offer in many ways parallels the esoteric teachings currently being brought
to the West by Tibetan dzogchen masters (the most secret and reputedly the
highest of all Buddhist practices.)
The teaching of Judaism (and many
traditions) is that all paths ultimately lead to the One, for nothing exists
but the One. The Coopers have deeply investigated and practiced in many arenas.
We have listened to the promises and checked for ourselves the results. In the
end, we have come to the conclusion that the spiritual path usually does not
fulfill grandiose expectations. But it can lead to a certain state of being
that most people want in their heart of hearts. That place is called Peace of
Mind.
We are not promising this as the result
of your week of practice. We are, however, saying that we are focused on
teaching each participant a methodology that will open the gates of inner
peace. You will almost certainly gain a peek, a view of this quieting of the
busy mind, and you will learn how to let go and simply be in this moment, right
now, in peace. This is not difficult to achieve. What is difficult, however, is
to sustain it. The week-long retreat is the beginning of learning how to
accomplish the stabilization of a profound practice.
Participants are expected to fully
commit to the spirit of silence. This does not mean that we will be somber; in
fact, a primary instruction in our practice is to be relaxed and light-hearted.
So we will find a balance between gentle discipline and ease of mind, without
speaking or gesturing to our neighbors. Previous meditation experience is
helpful, but not necessary. Knowledge of Kabbalah or Judaism also helps but
again is not a pre-requisite. We will chant some melodies in easy Hebrew that
raw beginners will be able to understand and join. If you have the time and
inclination, you will not regret joining us for this week-long experience.
Sunday 20-Sunday 27 March
$850
Registration essential.
Maximum number 70 people
Brahma Kumaris Retreat Centre in Leura
Accommodation is very
comfortable, with twin share rooms with bathroom, in cottages, in a gorgeous
bush setting.
ABOUT
RABBI DAVID COOPER
Rabbi David A. Cooper and his wife Shoshana have been leaders in the growing
popularity in Jewish Meditation. They have both been speakers and teachers at
many Jewish meditation conferences. They have taught at the Jewish Renewal
Kallah for the past twelve years and they have led a few dozen weeks of silent
retreat. They lived in the Old City of Jerusalem for eight years.
Rabbi Cooper has written books on the subject of contemplative Judaism,
including: THE HANDBOOK FOR JEWISH MEDITATION PRACTICES (Jewish Lights), THREE
GATES TO MEDITATION PRACTICE (Skylight Press); A HEART OF STILLNESS: A Complete
Guide to Learning the Art of Meditation (Skylight Press); and SILENCE
SIMPLICITY & SOLITUDE: A Complete Guide to Spiritual Retreat. He is also
the author of GOD IS A VERB: Kabbalah and the Practice of Mystical Judaism,
which is one of the best selling books in the Jewish genre, with close to
100,000 copies sold.
In addition, Rabbi Cooper has recorded a best selling audio-tape set with
Sounds True: THE MYSTICAL KABBALAH. An additional set, THE HOLY CHARIOT is also
available. Finally, the audio-set KABBALAH MEDITATIONS present a selection of
the guided meditations that appear in the first set.
The Cooper's have produced a CD of SONGS OF PRAYER AND SILENCE, which includes
many of the niggunim they use in the morning prayers on retreat. Much of the
music was composed by Shoshana. For four years they have guided two programs
for advanced meditators at the Jewish Retreat Center, Elat Chayyim, in upstate
New York. They have taught together at Omega Institute in New York, Mt. Madonna
in California, the Open Center in New York City, Chochmat HaLev in Berkeley,
and Yesod in Colorado, as well as in Holland, Germany, Israel, and Poland. They
currently reside in the small town of Crestone, Colorado, a center for many
contemplative traditions.
Last updated by Webmaster Fred Tropp v.1 25/6/04 \sydneyinfomed