Career and Learning Opportunities in
Spiritual Practice & Religion"(with a focus on Judaism)
Dear Grinnell Students,
This past summer I interned
at a Jewish Renewal spiritual retreat center called Elat Chayyim.
My experience was deep and meaningful to me emotionally, intellectually,
and spiritually. In addition, it exposed me to world of employment
and educational possibilities in various forms of spiritual practice,
rooted in a variety of religious traditions. The following information
includes a listing of some organizations, programs, and other
resources that I learned about both during and shortly after
the summer. I hope it will be of some use to you in your spiritual
journey and in leading to towards work that you find rewarding
and meaningful.
Shalom,
Beth Resnick 2000
[An Introduction to Jewish Renewal] [Jewish Renewal Organizations and Projects]
[Other Schools and Learning Centers]
[Retreat Centers] [Literary
Organizations and Publications] [Possible
Careers][Recommended Reading]
Introduction
to Jewish Renewal
Origins of Jewish Renewal (excerpted
and slightly modified from a hand-out written by Rabbi Arthur
Waskow):
The historical/philosophical
origins of Jewish renewal lie in the intertwining of at least
three strands of Jewish rethinking that deeply affected many
North American Jews in the 1960's and 1970's:
- a) the neo-Hassidism of Martin
Buber, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Schlomo Carelbach, and Zalman
Schacter-Shalomi;
b) the urge to create more hands on, participatory, and intimate
forms of Jewish community that in the period from 1967-1972 sparked
the emergence of a number of small communities that become the
model for this process; and
c) the emergence not only of a movement for equality of women
and men in existing Jewish life but more deeply in their equality
in shaping what Judaism is to become, including the insights
of feminist Judaism.
During the 1980's and 1990's,
two other strands became increasingly important in the weave
of Jewish renewal:
d) the knowledge and practice
of forms of meditation in Asian spiritual traditions, and
the rediscovery of meditative traditions in Judaism; and
e) the insights of a spiritually-rooted caring for the endangered
web of life on this plant.
The Heart of Jewish Renewal (excerpted
from the mission statement of the Alliance for Jewish Renewal)
At the heart of the movement
for Jewish spiritual renewal is an encounter with God. Each of
the crises faced by the Jewish people begins with a sense of
God's eclipse or hiding. Each crisis is followed by a renewal
of that encounter and a transformation of Judaism. We live in
such an historical moment.
This movement for the spiritual
renewal of Judaism in our time seeks to revitalize the three
pillars of life - prayer, study, and action. Its goals are to
empower individuals to respond to the call of Torah, nurture
communities seeking to express themselves spiritually, and provide
the resources that assist individuals and communities in their
searches for a meaningful, Jewish spiritual practice.
Jewish renewal draws on Jewish
tradition, sacred texts, mysticism, culture, history, modem life
experience and our own inner troths. Similar to eastern European
Hassidism, Jewish renewal is particularly rooted in a midrashic
response to Torah, Judaism's primary source and beginning.
Jewish Renewal
Organizations and Projects
ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal
7318 Germantown Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19119-1793
phone: (215) 247-9700
ALEPHajr@aol.com
www.aleph.org
ALEPH is the Jewish renewal umbrella organization whose central
mission is the
encouragement, development, and outreach of Jewish renewal. -Aleph
publishes a quarterly journal, New Menorah; -sponsors the Elat
Chayyim spiritual retreat center;
-sponsors a biennial week long, gathering of Jewish renewal Activists
called the
Kallah;
-includes a Network of Jewish Renewal Communities with about
40 community and synagogue affiliates;
-supports and affirms several "Pathfinders;"
-and sponsors the Shalom Center, the Jewish renewal Life Center
(a teaching and learning center), the Spiritual Eldering Institute,
and a process for the ordination of rabbis.
Elat Chayyim
99 Mill Hook Road,
Accord, NY 12404
phone: 1-800-398-2630
phone: 914-626-0157
fax: 914-626-2037
www.elatchayyim.org
A project of ALEPH, Elat Chayyim is the spiritual retreat center
where I spent the summer. In an open and supportive retreat environment
they offer courses and experiences to help guests discover more
personal meaning and joy within Judaism and how these teachings
can enrich their lives year-round. Throughout the cycle of the
Jewish year, they offer weekend and weeklong programs, and during
the summer, they offer weeklong retreats. Summer programming
features text classes in Torah, Talmud, and Kabbalah, as well
as offerings in Jewish prayer, music, art, writing, and movement.
Meditative retreats are regularly offered allowing people with
varying degrees of experience to explore the tradition of Jewish
meditation. They also have a wonderful summer internship program,
in which interns help in the different areas required to produce
the summer program and are given room and board and the opportunity
to take 13 hours of class each week. Perhaps most remarkable
about the internship is the opportunity to be a part of the intimate
spiritual community that forms during the summer.
The Shalom Center
ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal
6711 Lincoln Drive
Philadelphia, PA 19119
(215) 844-8494
email: shalomctr@aol.com
www.shalomctr.org
The Shalom Center brings Jewish spirituality, tradition, and
experience to bear on issues of tikkun olam-- pursuing peace,
seeking justice, healing the earth, and building community. They
especially draw on Jewish teachings about the rhythm of work
and rest, doing and being. The modem world has become so addicted
to making, doing, producing, consuming--and so contemptuous of
reflection, community, and love--that this addiction is endangering
both our society and the web of life on earth. Their projects
include: teaching the long tradition of spiritually rooted efforts
toward peace and justice; acting to prevent global warming, destruction
of forests, and the spread of environmentally caused disease;
encouraging "eco-kosher" practice among Jews; addressing
the issues of underemployment, overwork, and economic justice;
applying Jewish communal ethics to the social responsibility
of corporations; working for peace between Israel and the Palestinian
people; and training the next generation of spiritually rooted,
progressively committed Jewish community organizers and activists.
The Jewish Renewal Life Center
6445 Greene Street, Suite B202
Philadelphia, PA 19119-1793
(215) 843-4345
www.jewishrenewal.org/lifecenter
Also a project of ALEPH, the Life Center offers a unique program
in Jewish spirituality and community building, which aims to
"to touch the heart, soul, body, and mind." There are
two possible ways of getting involved at the Life Center: The
Core Group and Weekend Training Intensives. The Core Group is
a year-long, residential immersion in Jewish living and learning
in which participants share an intense journey that includes
participation in classes, service projects, individual spiritual
practice and counseling, and the experience of community life
as lived by the rhythm of the Jewish year.
Weekend Training Intensives take place on selected weekends throughout
the year. Here teachings are offered in a context of shared song,
food, tim, prayer, and study. These experiences are often centered
around questions of how to find spiritual sustenance that will
sustain meaningful work in the world; what is the connection
between healing the self and healing the world; and what does
it mean to work in a holy way.
ALEPH Smicha Program
c/o Susan Saxe, Chief Operating Officer
ALEPH
7318 Germantown Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19119-1793
(215) 247-9700 x23
ALEPHAJR@aol.com
This, is the rabbinical program of the Jewish Renewal Movement.
In contrast to rabbinical schools such as Hebrew Union College
(Reform), Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (Reconstmctionist),
and Jewish Theological Seminary (Conservative) this is a "without
walls" program, without a physical school and a uniform
curriculum. Instead students work with a group of teachres, who
determine what the student needs to grow/learn in order to be
strong enough in their spiritual practice to have others lean
on them. The ALEPH Rabbinic Program seeks to reveal the "rebbe"
within each student. Thus, each candidate for ordination in this
program must have a personal spiritual practice which includes
hitbon'noot (contemplative meditation), prayer, and cheshbon
hah-nefesh (introspective self-examination). Successful candidates
will become spiritual guides for others, opening the rebbe within
the people with whom they work and empowering their spiritual
searches. The ALEPH Rabbinic Program is open to students from
all parts of the Jewish people and from every movement, either
as a supplement to their current or completed studies in another
rabbinical seminary or as their primary location for preparation
for an active rabbinate. this could take any number of years,
depending on the student's progress. Ordination is given when
the teachers think the student is ready. Most people in this
program have other full-time responsibilities.
Other Schools
and Learning Centers
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute
of Religion
Cincinnati: 3101 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45220, (513)
221-1875, FAX (513) 221-1847
New York: The Brookdale Center, 1 West 4th Street, New York,
NY 10012, (212) 674-5300, FAX (212) 388A720
Los Angeles: 3077 University Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90007, (213)
749-3424, FAX (213) 747-6128
Jerusalem: 13 King David Street, Jerusalem 94101, Israel, (02)
620-3333, FAX (02) 625-1478
www.huc.edu/
HUC-JIR is a religious and scholarly learning community dedicated
to the development of Jewish professional and lay leaders to
transmit and apply to contemporary life the sustaining values,
responsibilities and texts of the Jewish tradition, as well as
applying the open and pluralistic spirit of the Reform movement
to the study of the great issues of Jewish life and thought.
Their services include: training and sustaining rabbis, cantors,
and communal and educational professionals throughout their careers
for service to Reform Judaism and Klal Yisrael, providing higher
learning for scholars of religion of all faiths, supporting the
educational spiritual growth of lay leadership for the Reform
movement, preserving and providing access to library, archival
and museum resources, working with Jewish institutions worldwide
to enhance Jewish life, learning, and values and to shape the
Jewish experience of the future. This is where you go in order
to become a rabbi or cantor in the Reform movement. They have
campuses in Cincinnati, New York, Los Angeles, and Jerusalem.
Jewish Theological Seminary
3080 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
(212) 678-8000
www.jtsa.edu/
JTS is the seat of the Conservative movement in Judaism. It offers
the largest program of advanced scholarship of Judaica in North
America on both graduate and undergraduate levels in ancient
Judaism, bible and ancient Semitic languages, Jewish art and
material Culture, Jewish Education, Jewish philosophy, and many
other subjects. They also have a rabbinical school, as well as
a cantoriai school.
Naropa University
2130 Arapahoe Ave.
Boulder, CO 80302
phone: (303) 444-0202
phone: 1-800-772-6951
e-mail: admissions@naropa.edu
www.naropa.edu
Naropa University is a fully accredited liberal arts college
offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in transpersonal
psychology, Buddhist studies, writing, environmental studies,
gerontology, somatic psychology, early childhood education, and
more. Founded by Chogyam Trungpa, one of the pioneers of American
Buddhism, the school has a Buddhist heritage but also represents
a rare and deep nexus of interfaith and interdisciplinary dialogue
and study.
Reconstmctionist Rabbinical College
1299 Church Road, Wyncote, PA 19095
phone: (215) 576-0800
fax: (215) 576-6143
www.shalem.org
Reconstmctionist Judaism defines Judaism as the evolving religious
civilization of the Jewish people. In the course of its evolution,
Judaism has passed through distinct stages, each reflecting the
conditions under which it fimctioned. Judaism continues to evolve
in our day, in response to the sweeping changes that have taken
place in Jewish history. Reconstmctionists seek a Judaism richly
and deeply connected to the past that also reflects the understandings
and satisfies the spiritual yearnings of the contemporary Jew.
They think that each generation of Jews has the right and the
responsibility to study the tradition anew and to carefully reformulate
ancient beliefs and practices in the light of its own understanding
of Jewish teachings and ideals. This rabbinical program requires
either 5 or 6 years of study, depending upon whether the student
already has adequate knowledge in Hebrew.
Shalem Institute for Spiritual
Formation, Inc.
5430 Grosvenor Lane
Bethesda, Maryland 20814
phone: (301) 897-7334
fax: (301) 897-3719
www.shalem.org
Shalem is an ecumenical Christian organization devoted to the
support of contemplative spirituality. Their ministry is to call
forth a deeper spiritual life in persons and communities, drawing
especially upon the rich resources of contemplative tradition
with its emphasis on direct, loving presence for God through
all dimensions of our lives. Although Shalem is grounded in the
Christian path, they draw from many world traditions and welcome
anyone who seeks to learn from the Christian contemplative way.
They offer many different learning experiences, including training
programs in spiritual direction.
Yakar Center For Tradition and
Creativity
Rechov HaLamed Heh 10
Jerusalem 93661, Israel
E-mail: info@yakar.org
Telephone: 972-02-5612310
Fax: 972-02-5632917
Yakar is a Yeshiva (or school
of Jewish learning) in Jerusalem, based on the philosophy that
one should learn Torah with an analytical mind, without compromising
intellect. But in addition, one must find ways of intemalizing
that Torah so that it becomes real to you, part of your reality.
It offers a variety of full and part time learning programs in
Hebrew and in English. Two of its central features include their
Center for Social Concern and a Center for Jewish Meditation.
Yakar also has a sister organization in London: Yakar, 2 Egerton
Gardens, Hendon, London NW44BA, Website: www.yakar.org.uk.
Retreat Centers
Insight Meditation Society
230 Pleasant Street
Bane MA 01005
phone: (978) 355-4378
fax: (978) 355-6398
http://www.dharma.org/ims.htm
IMS is retreat center for Insight or Vipassana meditation: a
simple and direct practice based on the moment-to-moment observation
of the mind/body process through calm and focused awareness.
They provide a secluded environment for intensive meditation
practice. Complete silence is maintained during retreats at all
times except during teacher interviews. They offer retreats of
various lengths including ten days, six weeks, three months,
and even longer.
Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health
P.O. Box 793
West Street, Route 183
Lenox, MA 01240
(800)-741-7353
www.kripalushop.org/kripalu/
Kripalu is the largest center for yoga and holistic health in
the US. They offer a large number of experiential yoga, self-discovery,
holistic health, and spiritual programs that present ancient
yogic principles in a contemporary, accessible, yet profound
way. Their educational programs are designed to provide participants
with tools they can apply in their daily lives to foster their
long-term growth and development. They offer intensive one-day
programs, weeklong retreats, as well as long-term live-in opportunities.
Literary
Organizations and Publications
National Yiddish Book Center
Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building
1021 West St.
Amherst, MA 01002-3375
phon: (800) 535-3595
fax: (413) 256-4900
e-mail yiddish@bikher.org.
www.yiddishbookcenter.org
The National Yiddish Book Center is a young, non-profit organization
dedicated to rescuing unwanted and discarded Yiddish books and
sharing the treasures they contain--the culture and sensibility
of the past thousand years of Jewish history--as a wellspring
of contemporary Jewish creativity. They are currently the largest
and fastest-growing Jewish cultural organization in America.
They offer internship opportunities.
Tikkun Magazine
2107 Van Ness Avenue
Suite 302
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 575-1200
www.tikkun.org
This political/literary/spiritual bi-monthly journal defines
itself as "the voice of liberal and progressive Jews and
our non-Jewish allies." The magazine's title and general
mission finds its roots in the Jewish liturgical concept of fixing
the world--tikkun o'lam, and the deep insistence that our political/socio-economic
concerns must not be divorced from our religious concerns and
vice versa. Instead the two must inform each other. The magazine
seeks to challenge the materialism of technocratic culture, support
Israel-Palestine Reconciliation, and to build a spiritual renewal
of Judaism. They offer both paid and non-paid internships (in
NY and San Francisco) and seem very interested in providing opportunities
for young politically/socially/spiritually conscious people.
The Editor of Tikkun Magazine is also the Rabbi ofBeyt Tikkun,
a spiritual community in San Francisco dedicated to the Jewish
principles of tikkun olam.
Some Possible
Careers
lay community leader
hospice chaplain
mediator
spiritual director
healer
activist
publisher
editor
yoga instructor
congregational rabbi
cantor
author, cultural critic
meditation instructor
retreat center manager
religious bookstore manager
artist
Hebrew language teacher
teacher/principal in day school
leader and resource person in religious organization
scholar and teacher on the college and university level psychotherapist
transpersonal psychologist
Recommended
Reading
Jewish Renewal/Theology
Buber, Martin. I and Thou
Kamentez, Rodger. The Jew in the Lotus
Lerner, Michael. Jewish Renewal
Schacter, Zalman. Paradigm Shifts
Waskow, Arthur. Seasons of Our Joy
Waskow, Arthur. God-Wrestling
Interdisciplinary/Buddhist/Hindu/Vedic
Dass, Ram. Be Here Now
Epstein, Mark. Thoughts Without a Thinker: Psychotherapy from
a Buddhist Perspective
Glassman, Bemie. Bearing Witness
Goleman, Daniel. Emotional Intelligence
Macy, Joanna. World As Lover World As Self
Trungpa, Chogyam. Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
Watts, Alan. The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You
Are
