CHOCHMAT HALEV SPIRITUAL LEADERS AND TEACHERS
Welcome to our Spiritual Leaders and Teachers Page. Here you can find links to the web pages for Rabbi SaraLeya Schley, Chochmat HaLev's Rabbi, and for Brian Yosef Schacter-Brooks, Chochmat HaLev's Sacred Music and Ritual Director. In addition to Rabbi SaraLeya and Brian, our community is blessed with experienced Jewish Renewal teachers and spiritual leaders. You can read about them here, in alphabetical order.
RABBI SARALEYA SCHLEY
Please visit the Rabbi's page to learn more about Rabbi SaraLeya.
Please visit WORDS OF TORAH for Rabbi SaraLeya's teachings on the weekly Torah portion (parsha).
Please visit the Rabbi's page to learn more about Rabbi SaraLeya.
Please visit WORDS OF TORAH for Rabbi SaraLeya's teachings on the weekly Torah portion (parsha).
BRIAN YOSEF SCHACHTER-BROOKS~
SACRED MUSIC AND RITUAL DIRECTOR, MEDITATION AND JEWISH EDUCATION
Please visit Brian Yosef's page on this website to contact him and learn more.
SACRED MUSIC AND RITUAL DIRECTOR, MEDITATION AND JEWISH EDUCATION
Please visit Brian Yosef's page on this website to contact him and learn more.
Photo credit: Lea Delson
RABBI DIANE ELLIOT inspires her students to become clearer channels for Divine Light through awareness and movement practices, chant, and nuanced interpretations of Jewish sacred text. Diane was ordained at the Academy for Jewish Religion, California, in 2006, and before that worked for many years as an internationally known modern dance performer and choreographer, somatic (body-based) therapist, and teacher of Body-Mind Centering®. From 2007-2009 she served as spiritual leader of Berkeley's Aquarian Minyan. In addition to offering workshops and classes in the Bay Area, Rabbi Diane offers individual spiritual direction sessions, leads Jewish spiritual retreats, and teaches at the School for Body-Mind Centering®. She is the founder of Wholly Present, a center for embodied spirituality, and directs Embodying Spirit, En-spiriting Body, a two-year movement-based Jewish leadership training program, offered through Ruach HaAretz, a project of ALEPH Alliance for Jewish Renewal. You can learn more about her work through her Wholly Present website.
PROFESSOR DR. IBRAHIM FARAJE (IBRAHIM BABA) is Provost and Acting President of the Starr King School of the Graduate Theological Union where he is also Senior Research Analyst in the Centre of Islamic Studies of which he was one of the founders. He has worked closely for years with the GTU Centre for Jewish Studies and serves as a consultant for students working on Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish issues. He developed the Andalusia Project for the Starr King School, whereby Jewish, Christian, Unitarian Universalist, Muslim students and others study their interconnected histories and traditions together. He is also a spiritual teacher and guide (Pir/Shaykh) in the Ajmeri Chishti tradition and has spiritual students in the United States, Mexico, Europe, Israel/Palestine, Turkey, and India. He is a member of Chochmat HaLev and serves on the Chevra Kadisha.
ESTELLE FRANKEL is a practicing psychotherapist and spiritual advisor who blends depth psychology with the healing wisdom and spiritual practices of the Kabbalah. Ordained as a Mashpiah-Maggidah by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Estelle has taught Jewish mysticism in Israel and throughout the U.S. for over thirty years and is currently on the faculty of Chochmat HaLev and Lehrhaus Judaica in Berkeley, Ca. Estelle is a popular public speaker who has been hosted by many institutions including: the Cape Cod Institute, University of Judaism (L.A.), Academy of Jewish Religion, Naropa’s Wisdom University (Oakland, Ca.), Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, New York Open Center, and the 92nd St. Y in NYC. She offers continuing education for therapists on Kabbalah as Sacred Psychology and has published numerous essays that have been published by academic journals and popular magazines. She is the author of Sacred Therapy: Jewish Spiritual Teachings on Emotional Healing and Inner Wholeness (Shambhala).
JUELI GARFINKLE helps people access and incorporate into their lives the rich teachings and rituals of the moon cycles according to Jewish mysticism and spirituality. She integrates these vibrant teachings into meaningful everyday spiritual practices. For more than ten years, Jueli has facilitated workshops, retreats, women’s circles, and meditation classes throughout the Bay Area. She received advanced training and a teaching certification in Jewish Meditation and Mysticism in 2004. She was the founding publisher and editor of Jewish Spirituality: The Magazine, and the coauthor of Everyday Adventures for the Soul: 52 Simple and Surprising Ways to Wow Your Spirit. In addition to teaching at Chochmat HaLev, Jueli is on the faculty at Or HaLev, Center for Jewish Spirituality, as well as teaches a women’s meditation class on Thursday mornings in the East Bay. Learn more or contact Jueli at www.roshchodeshnewmoon.com.
NAN FINK GEFEN, PhD, is a teacher of Jewish meditation, a writer, and an editor. She has taught Jewish meditation to hundreds of students around the country. Nan was instrumental in establishing Chochmat HaLev and for six years, she directed the Chochmat program to train Jewish meditation teachers. She is the author of Discovering Jewish Meditation and Stranger in the Midst: A Memoir of Spiritual Discovery. She co-founded Tikkun magazine in 1985 and she is the founding editor/publisher of Persimmon Tree: An Online Magazine of the Arts.
MAGGID ZELIG GOLDEN, Founding Co-Director of Wilderness Torah, brings earth-based Jewish spirituality to the Bay Area as a teacher, community builder, wilderness guide and youth mentor. He brings over a decade of visionary leadership to the Jewish environmental movement. Zelig derives much inspiration from the Chochmat Ha Lev community, his years in the wilderness as an Outward Bound instructor in the Colorado Rockies, a backcountry park ranger in Alaska, and a life-long explorer of wild places. He received Maggidic smicha from Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in 2011 and a JD from Berkeley-Law in 2004.
LAURA GOLDMAN is a psychotherapist and spiritual director in private practice in Berkeley. She teaches meditation and Mussar throughout the Bay Area, as well as leading contemplative worship at Chochmat HaLev. She is influenced and inspired by multiple faith traditions, and is particularly interested in the areas where they overlap and intersect. Along with Jeffrey Kessler, Laura has been leading Contemplative Shabbat Services and meditation classes at Chochmat Ha Lev and teaching Mussar for several years.
Elizheva Hurvich is an artist and Jewish educator who has been part of the Chochmat HaLev community for over a decade. She is passionate about Jewish life and its multi-layered complexities. She has trained many students for bar/bat mitzvah and for 10 years, Elizheva was the "rosh" (head) of Kehilla's religious school. She creates custom tallitot (prayer shawls) and huppot (wedding canopies). In addition to thinking of creative ways to help raise FUNds for her beloved Chochmat HaLev, Elizheva was a member of the Youth Education Committee and is honored to serve on Chochmat HaLev's Chevre Kadisha.
Rabbi Margie Jacobs is a consultant to and former Regional Director of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, teacher of mindfulness meditation and Jewish spirituality, life coach, and ritual facilitator. She served as Rabbi of Temple Beth Hillel in Richmond, CA, and is the mother of Elana (4) and Shoshana (2).
JEN MIRIAM KANTOR has a rich and unique background as an early childhood educator, musician, teacher, performer, puppeteer and therapist. She has a passion for Judaism and especially loves to create experiences where people of all ages can celebrate together. She leads Tot Shabbat at Chochmat HaLev, is a member of Octopretzel and a ketubah artist. Visit Jen Miriam's website.
JEFFREY KESSLER is a longtime practitioner and teacher of meditation, Tai-Chi, and Chi Gung, who also does individual Somatic Therapy and Body-Based Spiritual Direction. Along with Laura Goldman, Jeffrey has been leading Contemplative Shabbat Services and meditation classes at Chochmat HaLev and teaching Mussar for several years.
HANA MATT is a Teacher of Jewish Spirituality, World Religions and Spiritual Direction at the Graduate Theological Union and The Interfaith Chaplaincy Institute in Berkeley. She is a Jewish Spiritual Director, and Co-Director of The Interfaith Spiritual Direction Training Program. She teaches Kabbalah and Zohar courses with her husband, Daniel Matt. Along with Susan Felix, Hana taught the 'Direct Experience of Joy' Class in the Fall, 2011.
YISKAH ROSENFELD has taught classes integrating Jewish text, mysticism, and creativity for over 20 years, including several popular workshops at Chochmat HaLev. Her approach is welcoming and inclusive, viewing ancient texts as mirrors and landscapes suitable for travel. She holds an MFA in poetry from Mills College and an MA in jurisprudence and social policy from UC Berkeley. Her writings appear in publications such as Lilith Magazine, Kerem, Bridges, Jewish Women: An Historical Encyclopedia, and Yentl’s Revenge: The Next Wave of Jewish Feminism. Yiskah received the Reuben Rose Memorial Award in Israel and the 2010 Anna Davidson Rosenberg prize for poems on the Jewish experience. In Philadelphia, she studied at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and taught literature and Jewish studies at Temple University. Yiskah served as spiritual leader of the Chico Havurah and is currently on the faculty of the Tauber Jewish Studies Program in San Francisco.
ZVI BELLIN
CHL is excited to welcome Zvi Bellin, Ph.D. to our cast of community meditation teachers. Zvi is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor living in Berkeley. He is the Director of Jewish Education at Moishe House and teaches Jewish contemplative practice worldwide. His website, meaningthroughbeing.com, highlights his fusion of meaning-based practices that are informed by spirituality and research. Zvi is an active member of both Wilderness Torah and of Nehirim: GLBT Jewish Culture and Spirituality.
Stay connected on Twitter: zvibellin
Follow on Facebook: Zvi J. Bellin, Ph.D.
CHL is excited to welcome Zvi Bellin, Ph.D. to our cast of community meditation teachers. Zvi is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor living in Berkeley. He is the Director of Jewish Education at Moishe House and teaches Jewish contemplative practice worldwide. His website, meaningthroughbeing.com, highlights his fusion of meaning-based practices that are informed by spirituality and research. Zvi is an active member of both Wilderness Torah and of Nehirim: GLBT Jewish Culture and Spirituality.
Stay connected on Twitter: zvibellin
Follow on Facebook: Zvi J. Bellin, Ph.D.
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