….To Renew the Old and Make Holy the New
Celebrating 50 Years!
Please Note our new phone number (510) 761-7710
Parshat Terumah Exodus 25:1-27:19
Haftarah - 1 Kings 5:26-6:13
Hodesh Tov !
Shabbat Shekalim*
* Shabbat Shekalim is a special Shabbat that takes place before or on the first of Adar. It commemorates the annual contribution of half a shekel to the Tabernacle.
Kabbalat Shabbat Services are at 7pm PST
February 28th Kabbalat Shabbat - Rabbi Jonathan leads on Zoom and will speak about the Mishkan and Rosh Hodesh Adar in Hasidic Perspective
Shabbat Shacharit Services are at 10am PST
March 1st Shabbat Shacharit- Community Led on Zoom with Hannah Cohen, Sophie Miron and Bob Jaffe
Join us for PURIM !!
The Aquarian Minyan and Temple Beth Sholom invite you to a join us for a Purim Celebration. In these challenging times a celebration with community will be Mamesh Gevalt!
In person and on Zoom
for Zoom click HERE
March 13th
4:00 Early "commuters" dinner at Sophie's - Potluck or optional group take - out (in person only)
RSVP to purimdinner@aquarianminyan.org for the address to the dinner.
6:30~10:00pm PST Temple Beth Sholom in the Little Shul,
Enter on GPS: 642 Juana Ave. San Leandro 94577 Entrance via gate in the parking lot off of Juana Ave, near Bancroft Ave behind Temple Beth Sholom. Please arrive 6:10-6:20pm.
6:30-Megillah reading: Rabbi Jonathan Seidel, Rabbi Josh Weissman, Cantor Linda Hirschhorn, Sophie Miron and other wonderful folks. We are still looking for a few leyners !
(Will include jokes between chapters)
7:50-Purim Shpiel written and directed
by Rob Katz. We dedicate our Purim Shpiel to the memory of our dear friend, Ed Silberman of the highest Blessed Memory. We hold him in our hearts and songs.
8:45-10:00- Dance party and Hamantashen bake off
9:30- Clean up begins. Volunteers appreciated
Aquarian Minyan Yeshivah - Spring
יְשִׁיבַת מִנְיַן אַקְוֵרִיאַן
NEW AND ONGOING CLASSES FOR WINTER AND SPRING 2025 NOW OPEN FOR REGISTRATION:
Everyday Holiness: A Fresh Approach to Kabbalah, Meditation, and Ecstatic Prayer with Rabbi T’mimah Ickovitz
Wednesdays 12pm Pacific Time
March 12, 19, 26, and April 2, 9
To Register Click HERE
*There is a suggested minimum donation of $72 for all five sessions of this class. Recordings will be provided to all who register.
Join Rabbi T’mimah in a practical and in-depth overview of kabbalistic practice for the everyday, presented in a new Key for our challenging times. Deepen your prayer practice through a fresh exploration of the traditional Eitz Chaim (Tree of Life), the Sh’ma prayer, the Ruach haKodesh (the Holy Spirit or Spirit of Holiness) and the Kedushah (Holiness Prayer). Follow in the footsteps of Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and learn to explore “davenology” for our time using tools that Rabbi T’mimah herself uses, incorporating more recent academic work in kabbalistic meditation and prayer. Rabbi T'mimah will lead you through the experiential journey of the interiority of the ecstatic that is Penimiyut. Each session will conclude with a guided meditation by Rabbi T'mimah.
About Rabbi T'mimah Ickovitz
Rabbi T’mimah Ickovits, BSE, is a ritual leader, spiritual companion, and translation artist. She is the founding rabbi and spiritual leader of Holistic Jew, a center for devotion and study in Santa Monica, CA. With her expertise in compiling and translating siddurim and mystical texts, Rabbi T’mimah makes the profound beauty and depth of ancestral teachings accessible to a broad audience. Former and current students appreciate her virtuosity in explaining difficult mystical texts and making esoteric practices surprisingly accessible. She can be reached at:
First Nations and The Jews: A Comparative Exploration in Dialogue and Indigeneity with Rabbi Jonathan Seidel and Special Guest Speakers- Final Week Features Dr Laura Kaplan
Mondays Feb. 3, 10, 17 and 24th, and March 3
12 PM Pacific Time/ 3PM Eastern
To Register Click HERE
*There is a suggested minimum donation of $75 dollars for all five sessions of this class. Recordings will be provided to all who register.
Join Rabbi Seidel as he discusses with guest speakers Rabbi Dr. Laura Kaplan, Rabbi Dr. David Seidenberg, and Rabbi Zelig Golden how First Nations teachings on Creation Myths, Holy Land, sacred water, ritual, earth-based practice, sacred dance, prophecy have influenced our sense of Jewishness as well as Jewish engagement with justice for First Nations. Our topics will include comparisons to Biblical views of indigeneity. We will explore seemingly counter-intuitive notion that Jews came from outside their own Holy Land, the validity and applicability of so called “New Age” Jewish renewal shamanic practices, notions of elder wisdom, and theomorphic and animal - based ecological ethics and storytelling traditions geared toward strengthening “tribal identity”. We will also examine how younger generations of Jews have become more “earth affiliated” and eco- centric in their thinking, and how this often scattered and previously unaffiliated portion of the Jewish world has become “tribal” once more.
This raises some important questions for the Jewish community in the North American Continent. How might Jews respectfully incorporate and utilize stories, drums and chants that have inspired them that are produced in the North American Indigenous “key"? To what degree have Jews successfully engaged in the movement for justice and reparation for Native Americans (i.e. supporting NAM as well as the Lakota at Standing Rock) , including assuming responsibility for homesteading practices that deprived Native Americans of their tribal territory? While the issues related to this important intersection; issues such as displacement, diaspora and Sacred Homeland are challenging and fraught, we will remain committed to providing an educational experience that values honoring our differences and sharing humanity with respect.
About our Guest Speakers
Rabbi Dr. Laura Kaplan is currently interim Dean of Faculty at the Vancouver School of Theology and the newly appointed Dean at the ALEPH Ordination Program
Rabbi Dr. David Seidenberg is a long time teacher and scholar of Kabbalah, anthropology, the sciences, ecology and classical Jewish texts. See his website at www.neohasid.org
Rabbi Zelig Golden is the founding Rabbi of Wilderness Torah and a long time ritualist, educator and innovator of programs related to the Earth within Jewish Renewal
Flavors of The Diaspora: Exploring Jewish Foodways, Herbal Wisdom and Women with Naomi Stein and Rabbi Jonathan Seidel PhD
Tuesdays 12pm Pacific
January 21, 28, February 4,11,18 and 25 and March 4
To Register Click HERE
*There is a suggested minimum donation of $72 for all seven sessions of this class. Please contribute what you can. Recordings of these sessions will be provided to all who register along with weekly resource documents with recipes, and other resources.
Come along with Rabbi Jonathan Seidel and Balabuste Naomi Stein as they unpack food as culture bearer, as medicine and as memory holder. We will follow the journey of Jewish foods, with a focus on plants and herbs, as they migrated from our Biblical homeland throughout the diaspora. Come explore the influence of neighboring communities as well as the skillful adaptation of the Jewish cooks and herbalists of the diaspora, the importance of geography, agriculture, and the issue of “cultural appropriation.” We will reveal treasured history embedded in recipes, and share the stories that flavor our foods. Learn from Rabbi Jonathan as he illuminates little known aspects of Jewish foodways in history, holidays, Shabbat,and family gatherings. We will include the relationship of cuisine, commensality (who we eat with) and Kashrut. We will explore how dishes and recipes "traveled" and evolved. We will also consider Naomi Stein's bold assertion that Jewish women have and continue to treat our families and communities through the foods we serve, as we investigate the relationship between the healing properties of common Jewish foods and the particular medical concerns of Jewish communities.
About Naomi Stein
Naomi Stein is a culture keeper, researching, studying and teaching about Jewish Ethnobotany. She worked for the Lawrence Hall of Science, U.C. Berkeley’s public science center, for close to two decades, leading environmental education, theatre and science programming, funded by the National Science Foundation, the State of California and the National Institute of Health (among scores of others). Her work has been published by the University and WestEd. As a Backcountry Programs Director, she led over 1,000 youth through the Sierras and California coast. You are welcome to reach out to her directly at jewishherbalist@gmail.com
About Rabbi Jonathan Seidel
Rabbi Jonathan Seidel PhD is the Rabbi in Residence at the Aquarian Minyan and the Rosh Yeshivah. He has taught a variety of Jewish food history and Foodways courses over the last 10 years and enjoys Jewish cuisine from all over the globe. Rabbi Jonathan Seidel is also visiting Prof at the University of Portland where he teaches Comparative Religion, Bible and Theology. His High School Religious School project, written under the guidance of Rabbi Charles Kroloff was devoted to post Holocaust theology. At Oberlin College Rabbi Seidel studied Religion and Music, inter alia, and worked extensively in Interfaith programs. A Fullbright Scholar at the U. of Cambridge Jonathan holds a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley.
Shir L’Shalom - A Song to Peace: Modern Israeli Poetry and Writings on War & Peace, Pain & Healing with Rabbi Moshe Halfon, MHL, DD
Wednesdays 12pm Pacific/ 3pm Eastern
February 5, 12, 19, 26 and March 5, 2025
To Register Click HERE
*There is a suggested minimum donation of $75 for all five sessions of this class. Recordings will be provided to all who register.
In Hebrew the word shir or shira can mean both “poem” ,and “song.”
Join Rabbi Moshe as he shares a carefully collected selection of poems and short written pieces from 20th and 21st century Israeli writers who struggle with the perennial and timely topics of war and peace, life and death, faith, justice, Israel itself, and their own souls. During this five week long class, writings of notables such as Yehuda Amichai, Natan Zach, Ehud Manor, Zelda, Rachel Bluwstein, Natan Yonatan, and Amir Gilboa will be explored. In addition to sharing these writings in spoken word form, Reb Moshe will also perform some of the poems which have been put to music. These works will be presented in Hebrew and English translation in a way that will be enjoyable and accessible for those without a background in Hebrew language. At the same time, these readings will be enriched by frequent reference to the sense of the original Hebrew, including the nuance of translation possibilities, that should prove stimulating for those with a more extensive background in Hebrew.
About Rabbi Moshe Halfon
Rabbi Moshe Raphael Halfon has been in the vanguard of spiritual and musical exploration for forty years, and has taught Kabbalah, Midrash and Middle Eastern dance at retreats throughout North America, Brazil and Israel. He is currently rabbi of Mt. Sinai Congregation in Cheyenne, WY, having "played every position on the rabbi baseball team" including pulpit rabbi, cantor, Hillel director and chaplain. His album of Jewish healing chants "Let There Be Light” is used by communities worldwide. Rabbi Moshe was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, completed a Masters degree in Educational Psychology at Temple University, and studied closely with Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. He received his BA in Jewish Studies at UCLA, where he also studied dance and Hebrew and Yiddish literature, founded the UCLA Bayit, and ran UCLA’s first Jewish Arts Festival. Rabbi Halfon has also studied at the Hartman Rabbinical Program in Jerusalem over the last several years and has taught previously for the Aquarian Minyan Yeshiva.
The 50th Anniversary Celebration has no Expiration Date !!
To read the J Weekly article about our 50th celebration click here:
Reviving, Renewing and Celebrating the Old Aquarian Minyan Spirit, Serving up Joy to the Divine in Difficult Times - Mazal Tov to all of us and thank you to the Planning Committee that worked HARD on the Jubilee
Aquarian Minyan Groups and other offerings
The Aquarian Minyan Book Club — meets on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the Month at its new start time of 2:00PM
JOIN THE AQUARIAN MINYAN BOOK CLUB IN AN ONGOING DISCUSSION OF THE OUTSTANDING STUDY BY DR. SHOSHANA FERSHTMAN. THE BOOK CLUB NOW MEETS TWICE MONTHLY!
Note: The Aquarian Minyan Book Club meets again on Tuesday February 2025
To Join the book club on Zoom click HERE
*New members are cordially welcomed. For more information, please contact Shoshana Dembitz (sdembitz@gmail.com)
Sunday Nights Minyan Sharing
Weekly, Sundays, 7pm Pacific Time
in Memory of Martin Potrop Sept. 23, 1951- April 1, 2024. Z”L
