Ruach HaYam, in partnership with Congregation Am Tikva, invites you to our seventh annual full day Shabbat retreat for LGBTQ+ Jews and friends and family.

November 16, 2019, from 9:30am to 7:30pm at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA 02139.

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED PLEASE REGISTER HERE

Eitz Chayim is 15 minutes walk from Central Square.  There will be a parking consideration in effect so that you may park within a couple blocks of the synagogue.   Eitz Chayim has a ramp entry and accessible and all gender bathrooms.

Refresh your spirit and make new friends in this fabulous day of egalitarian davening, creative and thoughtful workshops,and delicious kosher food!

Ruach HaYam welcomes queer Jews, friends, allies, family, and interfaith connections . We worship without a mechitza, with the music of our voices only, and with our own siddur. Our retreats are warm, meaningful, collaborative, lead to deepening of friendships, and are simply fabulous. 

Schedule for RetreatSee below for biographies

Workshop and other Leaders

	Penina Weinberg, Retreat Director is an independent biblical scholar and the founder of Ruach HaYam. Penina is President Emerita of Congregation Eitz Chayim in Cambridge, MA, where she is a frequent lay leader.  Her studying and teaching focus a queer lens on issues of gender, power, and identity in the Hebrew Bible. Penina teaches in Boston area synagogues, and has led many workshops for Nehirim and Keshet.  This is her seventh year as Ruach HaYam retreat director.
	Marvin Kabakoff, Service and Workshop Leader, graduated from Brandeis and received a Ph.D. in history from Washington University-St. Louis. He is recently retired as an archivist with the National Archives and Records Administration, and is a board member of the History Project, Boston’s LGBTQ archives. Marvin attended a community Hebrew school and Hebrew High School in New Haven, and has been a long-time service leader at Am Tikva.

Our Partner Organization

Congregation Am Tikva, since 1976, has been providing a safe and welcoming space for GLBT Jews in the Boston area to pray together and to socialize. It created its own gender-neutral prayerbooks and customs for Friday evening services, the high holidays, and special events, such as the Erev Pride Liberation Seder. Am Tikva is a mixture of genders and sexualities who come from a variety of Jewish backgrounds. The services reflect that variety. Am Tikva offers two Friday evening services a month, one more contemporary and one more traditional, as well as High Holiday services and celebrations of other queer and Jewish holidays

Image: Abraham and the Three Angels.   Marc Chagall

Ruach HaYam, in partnership with Congregation Am Tikva, invites you to our sixth annual full day Shabbat retreat for LGBTQ+ Jews and friends and family.

November 10, 2018, from 9:30am to 7:30pm at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA 02139.

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED PLEASE REGISTER HERE

Eitz Chayim is 15 minutes walk from Central Square.  There will be a parking consideration in effect so that you may park within a couple blocks of the synagogue.   Eitz Chayim has a ramp entry and accessible and all gender bathrooms.

Refresh your spirit and make new friends in this fabulous day of egalitarian davening, creative and thoughtful workshops,and delicious kosher food!

Ruach HaYam welcomes queer Jews, friends, allies, family, and interfaith connections . We worship without a mechitza, with the music of our voices only, and with our own siddur. Our retreats are warm, meaningful, collaborative, lead to deepening of friendships, and are simply fabulous. 

Schedule for Retreat See below for faculty and leader biographies

Retreat Directors

	Penina Weinberg, Retreat Director is an independent biblical scholar and the founder of Ruach HaYam. Penina is President Emerita of Congregation Eitz Chayim in Cambridge, MA, where she is a frequent lay leader.  Her studying and teaching focus a queer lens on issues of gender, power, and identity in the Hebrew Bible. Penina teaches in Boston area synagogues, and has led many workshops for Nehirim and Keshet.  This is her sixth year as Ruach HaYam retreat director.
	Marvin Kabakoff, Service Leader, graduated from Brandeis and received a Ph.D. in history from Washington University-St. Louis. He is recently retired as an archivist with the National Archives and Records Administration at their regional facility in Waltham, and is an adjunct in the Simmons Library School. Marvin attended a community Hebrew school and Hebrew High School in New Haven, and has been a long-time service leader at Am Tikva.
	Sarah Pasternak, Assistant Retreat Director and Gabbai hails from NJ. She graduated from Dartmouth College. After six years in New Hampshire, Sarah is excited by the size and diversity of the Boston Jewish LGBTQ+ community and doesn’t expect that excitement to fade for a little while yet.   Sarah serves on the board of Netivot an international LGBTQ+ traditional Jewish community

Workshop and other Leaders

Rabbi Reb Lea-h Campolo graduated from Oberlin College with a degree in Religion and Philosophy. She went on to rabbinic studies, learning with Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalom z”l, and received smicha in his lineage. She was the founder and spiritual director of Beit HaDorshim in Brookline MA. She currently teaches, speaks, and officiates life cycle events for many occasions. She also holds degrees in building construction and design, and is licensed to assist in surgery at Boston Medical Center where she currently works. Maryam Rhys is a healer, musician and ritual drummer who plays for a wide variety of groups. She is a Tsovah (temple keeper) in the Kohenet Hebrew priestess program, which trains Jewish women to become leaders in the Jewish community in traditional and non-traditional ways. She will get smichah as a full Kohenet next year. Mimi Yasgur, M.A., LMHC, is an expressive arts therapist and mental health counselor. She has a private psychotherapy practice in Medford, where she works with adults across the lifespan, including the LGBTQ community. She enjoys integrating her passions for art, creativity, Judaism, and spirituality to create vibrant community. Our Partner Organization Congregation Am Tikva, since 1976, has been providing a safe and welcoming space for GLBT Jews in the Boston area to pray together and to socialize. It created its own gender-neutral prayerbooks and customs for Friday evening services, the high holidays, and special events, such as the Erev Pride Liberation Seder. Am Tikva is a mixture of genders and sexualities who come from a variety of Jewish backgrounds. The services reflect that variety. Am Tikva offers two Friday evening services a month, one more contemporary and one more traditional, as well as High Holiday services and celebrations of other queer and Jewish holidays

Ruach HaYam, in partnership with Congregation Am Tikva, invites you to our fifth annual full day Shabbat retreat for LGBTQ Jews and friends and family.

November 18, 2017, from 9:30am to 7:30pm at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA 02139.

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED
PLEASE REGISTER HERE

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Eitz Chayim is 15 minutes walk from Central Square.  There will be a parking consideration in effect so that you may park within a couple blocks of the synagogue.   Eitz Chayim has a ramp entry and accessible and all gender bathrooms.

Refresh your spirit and make new friends in this fabulous day of egalitarian davening, creative and thoughtful workshops,and delicious kosher food!

Ruach HaYam Ruach HaYam welcomes queer Jews, friends, allies, family, and interfaith connections to our events. We organize short and all day Shabbat events, as well as queer Jewish text studies in the Boston area through out the year.  We worship without a mechitza, with acoustic music only, and with our own siddur. Services are warm, meaningful, collaborative, lead to deepening of friendships, and are simply fabulous. Full day Shabbat retreats include scholarly and experiential workshops and plenty of time to schmooze. Although Ruach HaYam speaks with a queer Jewish voice, we welcome persons of all gender and faith identities. We are friendly to beginners.

Schedule for Retreat 
(see below for faculty and leader biographies)

Retreat Director

Penina Weinberg is an independent biblical scholar and the founder of Ruach HaYam. Penina is President Emerita of Congregation Eitz Chayim in Cambridge, MA, where she is a frequent lay leader.  Her studying and teaching focus a queer lens on issues of gender, power, and identity in the Hebrew Bible. Penina teaches in Boston area synagogues, and has led many workshops for Nehirim and Keshet.  This is her fifth year as Ruach HaYam retreat director.

Partner Organization

Congregation Am Tikva, since 1976, has been providing a safe and welcoming space for GLBT Jews in the Boston area to pray together and to socialize. It created its own gender-neutral prayerbooks and customs for Friday evening services, the high holidays, and special events, such as the Erev Pride Liberation Seder. Am Tikva is a mixture of genders and sexualities who come from a variety of Jewish backgrounds. The services reflect that variety. Am Tikva offers two Friday evening services a month, one more contemporary and one more traditional, as well as High Holiday services and celebrations of other queer and Jewish holidays.

Faculty and Leaders

Shana Aisenberg  plays fiddle, mandolin, guitar banjo, ukulele, dulcimer, piano, percussion; and diverse styles including Appalachian, Celtic, New England contradance, Eastern European Klezmer, blues, jazz and classical. Shana has performed nationally; has recorded numerous albums; has written music instruction books; taught at workshops and festivals nationwide, and teaches private students and group classes locally. She is the Music Director at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Eastern Slopes (UUFES) in Tamworth NH. Visit Shana online at shanasongs.com.

Marla Brettschneider is Professor of Political philosophy with a joint appointment in Women’s Studies and Political Science at the University of New Hampshire. She is founder and past Coordinator of Queer Studies and long served as Coordinator of Women’s Studies. Marla has written widely on Jewish politics, queer and other diversity matters. Her book The Family Flamboyant: Race Politics, Queer Families, Jewish Lives (SUNY 2006) won an IPPY (Independent Book Publishers Award) in the GLBT category, and she is co-editor of the new LGBTQ Politics:A Critical Reader. She will present from her recent book Jewish Feminism and Intersectionality.

Ezra Rose Greenfield  is an artist and educator. (BFA ’09 RISD, M.Ed. ’12 Lesley University) living in the Boston area and teaching with community-based youth advocacy organizations. Her work explores themes of memory, mythology, personal symbolism and storytelling. Raised in Reform congregations in the midwest, Ezra is redefining and reconnecting to Judaism as an adult with a focus on integrating queer and trans identity with Jewish magic, mysticism and spirituality.

Marvin Kabakoff graduated from Brandeis and received a Ph.D. in history from Washington University-St. Louis.  He is recently retired as an archivist with the National Archives and Records Administration at their regional facility in Waltham, and is an adjunct in the Simmons Library School.  Marvin attended a community Hebrew school and Hebrew High School in New Haven, and has been a long-time service leader at Am Tikva.

Sacha Mankins  is a part-time librarian-archivist, part-time history student, and part-time stepparent to a family of miniature goats (the symbolic companion animal of Yiddish culture). When not sorting through dusty synagogue archives, Sacha writes fantasy fiction for queer and trans teens. Raised in a secular Christian family, Sacha officially converted to Judaism in April 2017 after three years of study, and spent the summer of 2017 in Manhattan in the YIVO Institute’s Uriel Weinreich summer program in Yiddish language, literature and culture.

Rabbi Yaakov ‘Trek’ Reef walks in the world as a spiritual teacher and is a regionally recognized speaker, serving as a frequent guest in the pulpit at synagogues, churches, and meeting houses throughout the Northeast. He has also led workshops and classes for the Adamah Farm Fellowship, Star Island Natural History Conference, Elat Chayyim Center for Jewish Spirituality, Keshet Boston, Hillel House at Boston University, and Seaside Yoga Retreat Center in Oregon.  For three years Trek served as a retreat director and the program manager at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, Connecticut. In 2016, he completed a pilgrimage along the storied Appalachian Trail, taking approximately five million steps over 2189.1 miles between Georgia and Maine to find a deeper connection to the awe-inspiring natural world.

 PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED
PLEASE REGISTER HERE

Ruach HaYam, in partnership with Congregation Am Tikva, and with the co-sponsorship of Congregation Eitz Chayim and Keshet, invites you to our fourth annual full day Shabbat retreat for LGBTQ Jews and friends and family.

November 12, 2016, from 9:30am to 7:30pm at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA 02139.

Eitz Chayim is 15 minutes walk from Central Square.  There will be a parking consideration in effect so that you may park within a couple blocks of the synagogue.   Eitz Chayim has a ramp entry and accessible and all gender bathrooms.

The theme for this year is Go to Yourself (Parashat Lech Lecha)

Refresh your spirit and make new friends in this fabulous day of egalitarian davening, creative and thoughtful workshops,and delicious kosher food!

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED
REGISTER  HERE

Schedule for Retreat
(see below for faculty and leader biographies)

Retreat Director

Penina Weinberg is an independent biblical scholar who is President Emerita of Congregation Eitz Chayim in Cambridge, MA. and the founder of Ruach HaYam.  Her studying and teaching focus a queer lens on issues of gender, power, and identity in the Hebrew Bible. Penina teaches in Boston area synagogues, and has led many workshops for Nehirim and Keshet.  This is her fourth year as Ruach HaYam retreat director.

Partner Organization

Congregation Am Tikva, since 1976, has been providing a safe and welcoming space for GLBT Jews in the Boston area to pray together and to socialize. It created its own gender-neutral prayerbooks and customs for Friday evening services, the high holidays, and special events, such as the Erev Pride Liberation Seder. Am Tikva is a mixture of genders and sexualities who come from a variety of Jewish backgrounds. The services reflect that variety. Am Tikva offers two Friday evening services a month, one more contemporary and one more traditional, as well as High Holiday services and celebrations of other queer and Jewish holidays.

Faculty and Leaders

Tamar Allen has facilitated Jewish communal events and retreats for over six years through The Open Tent, an independent pluralistic grass-roots chavurah in central Arizona. She is currently living in Chicago, where she is enrolled in the full-time program at SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva, a queer-centric space dedicated to making Talmud accessible to a wide spectrum of learners. Tamar aspires to continue her work as a Jewish community-builder, teacher, and leader of song and prayer by becoming a rabbi.

Ezra Rose Greenfield is an artist and educator (BFA ’09 RISD, M.Ed. ’12 Lesley University) living in the Boston area and teaching with community-based youth advocacy organizations. Her work explores themes of memory, mythology, personal symbolism and storytelling. Raised in Reform congregations in the midwest, Ezra is redefining and reconnecting to Judaism as an adult with a focus on integrating queer and trans identity with Jewish magic, mysticism and spirituality. This is her first workshop with Ruach HaYam.

Marvin Kabakoff graduated from Brandeis and received a Ph.D. in history from Washington University-St. Louis.  He is recently retired as an archivist with the National Archives and Records Administration at their regional facility in Waltham, and is an adjunct in the Simmons Library School.  Marvin attended a community Hebrew school and Hebrew High School in New Haven, and has been a long-time service leader at Am Tikva.

David Waters is Harvard Divinity School’s Swartz Scholar in Religion, Literature, and Culture. In addition to pursuing scholarship and teaching as ministry, he is also exploring reading and writing as spiritual practice in the Master of Divinity program. A cradle Catholic, David is a devoted member of Ruach HaYam and is grateful that his community of faith includes not only St. Cecilia in Boston, but Eitz Chayim in Cambridge.

Ruach HaYam invites you to a full day Shabbat retreat
for LGBTQ Jews and friends and family in Cambridge, MA
Our theme for this year is “Full Spectrum Judaism: the Gift of the Rainbow”

Micrography “Parashat Noach” used by permission. Visit artist Rae Antonoff at www.RaeAnDesigns.com or https://www.facebook.com/RaeAnDesigns

Refresh your spirit and make new friends in this fabulous day of egalitarian davening, creative and thoughtful workshops,
and delicious kosher food!

Ruach HaYam, in partnership with Congregation Am Tikva, and with the co-sponsorship of Congregation Eitz Chayim and Keshet, is presenting our third annual full day Shabbat retreat for LGBTQ Jews and friends and family.

October 17, 2015, from 9:30am to 7:30pm at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA 02139

We also invite you to join Congregation Eitz Chayim for Kabbalat Shabbat services on Friday, October 16, 2015.

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED
REGISTER  HERE

View comments from previous Retreats here!

Schedule for October 17, 2015
(see below for faculty and leader biographies)

9:30 am to Noon – Led by members of Congregation Am Tikva.  Siddur for Shabbat morning prepared by Marvin Kabakoff and Penina Weinberg.

Lunch 

Noon to 1:30 pm

Workshops

1:45 to 3:00 – Penina Weinberg. Full Spectrum Judaism: The Gift of the Rainbow.  What actually is the gift of the Rainbow?  We’ll look at Parashat Noach and selected other texts and see if we can determine what the gift might be.  Interactive discussion for all levels of text learners.

3:15 to 3:45 – Mimi Yasgur. Time for a 7th inning stretch! Loosen those muscles and take a moment… We’ll do some simple stretching and breathing, and we’ll get your circulation flowing for the next activity!

4:00 to 5:15 – Rachie Lewis. The Flood, Climate Change and Questioning Authority.  Challenging our institutions has been a common thread throughout the Jewish textual tradition. In this session we will look at the implications of our weekly parsha on the current problem of climate change and seek guidance from our text in how we challenge the current systems standing in the way of progress

Closing

5:30 to 7:00 – Meal/ Melave Malka,
7:00 Havdalah and Closing Circle – Jeremy Sher

Retreat Director

Penina Weinberg is an independent biblical scholar who is President Emerita of Congregation Eitz Chayim in Cambridge, MA. and the founder of Ruach HaYam.  Her studying and teaching focus a queer lens on issues of gender, power, and identity in the Hebrew Bible. Penina teaches in Boston area synagogues, and has led many workshops for Nehirim and Keshet.  This is her third year as Ruach HaYam retreat director.

Congregation Am Tikva, since 1976, has been providing a safe and welcoming space for GLBT Jews in the Boston area to pray together and to socialize. It created its own gender-neutral prayerbooks and customs for Friday evening services, the high holidays, and special events, such as the Erev Pride Liberation Seder. Am Tikva is a mixture of genders and sexualities who come from a variety of Jewish backgrounds. The services reflect that variety. Am Tikva offers two Friday evening services a month, one more contemporary and one more traditional, as well as High Holiday services and celebrations of other queer and Jewish holidays.

Faculty and Leaders

Marvin Kabakoff graduated from Brandeis and received a Ph.D. in history from Washington University-St. Louis.  He is recently retired as an archivist with the National Archives and Records Administration at their regional facility in Waltham, and is an adjunct in the Simmons Library School.  Marvin attended a community Hebrew school and Hebrew High School in New Haven, and has been a long-time service leader at Am Tikva.

Rachie Lewis has lived in Boston for 4 years and works with local synagogues on social justice issues. In her spare time, she loves learning and travels between different progressive and traditional communities to meet all of her social and spiritual needs, but hopes that some day, those needs will be met in one place!

Jeremy Sher  is a student for rabbinic ordination of Rabbi Natan Margalit.  He is a Master of Divinity candidate at Harvard Divinity School, where he was honored with the Ministry Fellowship, as well as the Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellowship for a year of research in Israel, which he just completed.  Author of the upcoming new book A Jewish Approach to Nonprofit Governance (Chaim Mazo Publishers), Jeremy has served on eight boards and in numerous other volunteer roles over 20 years of service.  He lives in Cambridge and is a certified mediator, MBTA busker, and avid cyclist. See his website, ThisIsJudaism.net

Mimi Yasgur, M.A., is an expressive arts therapist and  mental health counselor. She is the Senior Services Clinician and group therapist at the New England Center for Homeless Veterans. She enjoys integrating her passions for art, Judaism, and spirituality to create vibrant community.

Join Ruach HaYam for a queer Saturday morning Shabbat service and potluck lunch.
Saturday, April 18  at 9:30am
Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA.

Celebrate the coming of Spring and study parashat Shimini.

For the potluck bring cold veggie/dairy food. If brought in a package, food must be hechshered. Please register and let us know what you will be bringing. If you would like to read from the Torah let us know also. Sign up on facebook and leave a comment, or reply to this post.

We will have a text study over lunch – brought to us by Dev Singer over at Nice Jewish Queer Folk, http://www.meetup.com/Nice-Jewish-Queer-Folk/

THE CREATION OF GENDER.
Genesis 1:27 reads “God created the adam in God’s image; in the image of God [God] created him — male and female [God] created them.” What does this verse mean? How were the genders brought into existence according to the Tanakh? This text study will explore how rabbis explain this through the generations.