ABOUT CHAVAYA
Chavaya is an earth-based, Jewish, family-friendly festival rooted in community, spirituality, and the living landscape of the Pacific Northwest. We gather to celebrate connection to one another, to the land, and to the Divine - through music, ritual, art, joy, learning, and a deep celebration of Shabbat.
Chavaya, the Hebrew word for ‘experience’, is the heart of our gathering— the lived, transformative encounter that arises when we show up with openness, creativity, and care. It’s the meeting point of people, place, and spirit — where Jewish wisdom, the rhythms of nature, and the fullness of who we are converge into an experience that stirs a deep remembering within us and reorients us towards a more holy and sacred life.
Whether you’re already steeped in Jewish community, seeking to reconnect, or just curious - Chavaya invites you into a space of renewal and discovery: a place to ground in Jewish tradition, explore new expressions of spirituality, and co-create an experience that nourishes the soul and honors the world we share.
Let Chavaya be your invitation to an authentic, co-created celebration of Judaism rooted in nature, alive with ruach (spirit), and with enough room around the fire for all.
OUR STORY
Chavaya was founded by Jacob Glickman and Aliko Weste, two friends whose lives have been shaped by more than fifteen years of shared community, creative projects, and Jewish connection. They first met as teenagers in a Jewish youth group and at Jewish summer camp in Washington State, where they experienced a kind of Jewish life that felt alive, relational, and deeply rooted in place and time.
Something from those early years stayed with them. A feeling that Jewish time, community, and the natural world could move together in a way that felt whole. As their paths continued to intertwine through the Seattle spiritual community and across the West Coast, that same current kept reappearing in different forms, calling out to be named and given shape and form.
Jacob, now a student at ALEPH Rabbinical School, brings a deep commitment to spiritual life, learning, and Jewish renewal. Aliko brings over eight years of experience producing gatherings and festivals that center creativity, celebration, and intentional community-building. Together, they carry both the vision and the practical ability to bring people into meaningful shared experience.
Chavaya is where these threads meet. It is a space shaped by the power of friendship, memory, and a shared longing to create Jewish experiences that feel rooted in tradition and honor the needs of today. Drawing from the communities that have formed them, Chavaya seeks to weave together people, place, and tradition into something that feels both familiar and new.
ALIKO
JACOB
JACOB & ALIKO 2011
Oy Vey!
MISSION
To create a vibrant, inclusive, and sacred gathering where Jewish wisdom, ecological awareness, and embodied spirituality intertwine.
Chavaya cultivates belonging, compassion, and shared responsibility, honoring the Earth and the Divine spark in all beings.
VISION
We envision a world where Jewish life flows in harmony with nature, where communities thrive in mutual care and presence, and where celebration, dialogue, and stewardship become acts of holiness.
Through Chavaya, we nurture a living Judaism that is rooted in tradition, joyous in spirit, and in right relationship with all creation.
VALUES
Areivut — Mutual Responsibility
At Chavaya, we hold responsibility for one another, knowing that our choices ripple through the community. We show up by looking out for each other, lending a hand, and nurturing a culture of support, respect, and safety. Every body is sacred here. We honor each person by listening closely, checking in, honoring boundaries and creating spaces where vulnerability is met with kindness, compassion, and safety of body, heart, and mind. Embracing generosity of spirit, loving-kindness, and care for our neighbors is essential to creating a community rooted in trust, belonging, and shared sacred purpose.
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Shmirah — Compassionate Care and Guardianship for Every Body
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In Genesis 2:12 we are reminded that it is our sacred responsibility to till and tend to the land. We embrace the Earth as our only home, taking care not to waste or harm what sustains us. Through mindful consumption, creative recycling, and respecting nature in all its forms, we acknowledge and honor our belonging to this living planet. At Chavaya, we walk in celebration and gratitude for the beauty, majesty, and wisdom of the natural world.
Machloket L’Shem Shamayim — Sacred Dialogue
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Difference is a doorway to growth, and moving through disagreement together can create deeper intimacy. At Chavaya, we engage across difference with curiosity, humility, and respect—listening reverently to one another and holding complexity with care. We embrace challenge and dialogue as sacred practices, trusting that honest exchange, when rooted in shared purpose, can deepen understanding and strengthen community.
Shabbas-tzeit — Shabbat Consciousness
Through the receiving and embodying of Shabbat, we honor our lineage and the wisdom of Shabbat as an ancient wellspring that provides a taste of Olam Habah, the world of peace, wholeness, and collective liberation that is continually emerging. We embrace opportunities for rest, presence, awe and joy, sensing the Sacred in music, movement, and stillness alike. Fully inhabiting Shabbat-mind is how we tend to the divine spark in ourselves, each other, and the world around us.
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Ruach v’Simcha — Spirit & Joy
Chavaya is a space for exuberance, aliveness, and uplift. Simcha is a Jewish value, and we allow it to guide our shared experience—through song, movement, laughter, and celebration. We honor joy not as a denial of grief, but as its sacred partner; both live on the same spectrum of the human heart, each giving depth and meaning to the other. At Chavaya, we make room for the full range of feeling, trusting the wisdom and power of our collective celebration of life to renew our spirits and restore hope and resilience in these turbulent times.
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Shalshelet HaMesorah— Chain of Tradition
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We recognize that as Jews, we are part of a vast and enduring lineage stretching back thousands of years. Through generations of peoplehood, we have inherited practices, rituals, customs, and wisdom traditions that form the living core of our ancestral identity. We relate to Torah as a living tree, Etz Chayim, whose roots draw from a deep wellspring of wisdom and truth that grows through us and shapes us, even as we shape it, in an ongoing relationship that unfolds and deepens over the course of our lives. Chavaya invites immersion in the mayim chayim, the living waters, of Judaism; linking past and present to help orient us toward the future we seek to create.
Teshuvah — Return and Renewal
As Chavaya begins on Rosh Chodesh Elul, we enter a sacred season of turning. Each day, the shofar's call pierces the ordinary, summoning us to re-awaken our awareness to the sanctity of life and our responsibility as partners with the Divine in the ongoing work of creation. Teshuvah invites us to return: to ourselves, to one another, and to the Sacred with honesty, humility, and care. This is the quiet, essential work that underlies all of Jewish life: the willingness to reflect, to repair, and to realign with what is most true. At Chavaya, we hold Teshuvah as both a personal and collective practice. We create space for reflection, for forgiveness, and for beginning again. In this time of opening, we remember that return is always possible, and that through it, we move closer to wholeness, connection, and right relationship with all that is.
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MEET THE TEAM
JACOB GLICKMAN
CO-CREATOR & SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR
Jacob Glickman is the Director of Jewish Experience at Temple Beth Am in Seattle and a student at ALEPH Rabbinical School. His work centers on building Jewish community that speaks to the realities and needs of the moment, weaving tradition with presence and relationship.
His work is shaped by years in Jewish summer camp , where he experienced Judaism as a lived experience of community, tradition, Jewish-time, and whimsy. Those early foundations continue to inform his approach to community building and spiritual life.
Jacob’s work focuses on creating spaces where people can gather with intention, encounter Jewish practice in meaningful ways, and feel a genuine sense of belonging. Through teaching, ritual, music, and facilitation, he works to cultivate environments that are grounded, open, and responsive to the evolving needs of Jewish life today.
ALIKO WESTE
CO-CREATOR, DESIGNER & PRODUCTION LEAD
Aliko was born and raised in Seattle ,Washington to a French Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish mother and a Caribbean father. Aliko is a first generation American, trans male, Blaxk, Jewish, Arabic, bilingual entrepreneur and producer. Aliko is the Founder and director of Our Living Design Studio and We Are You Productions.
Aliko is a coach, event producer, designer, speaker, and cultural thought leader. Through all of his businesses, events, expertise, and intersecting identities, he is able to live out his dedication to carving out space for our humanity through his work.
HELENA VIRGA
OPERATIONS LEAD
Helena (she/her) is a Jewish intentional gathering and event producer, nonprofit leader, mindfulness teacher, and activist. Her work lives at the intersection of wellness, play, community building, environmental stewardship, nature connection, healing, activism, and music. Through her events, Helena creates spaces rooted in meaning, cultural and natural connection, and collective care.
When she’s not organizing gatherings or supporting nonprofit work, you’ll find her meditating, singing with her Chavurah, hiking and camping, or traveling in search of beauty, inspiration, and belonging.
SHOSHANA GLICKMAN
MEDIA & FAMILY ZONE LEAD
Shoshana grew up in Washington and now calls Colorado home. There she stays deeply connected to community, creativity, and the natural world. Shoshana is the Media Team Lead for Unison Festival and has been running her own photography business for over fifteen years, using visual storytelling to capture meaningful moments and vibrant communities.
Judaism was a rich and meaningful part of Shoshanna's childhood, shaping her sense of tradition, community, and belonging. Family is deeply important to her, and that value is at the heart of why she is working on the Family Zone. She is passionate about children’s growth, learning, and creativity, and about creating spaces where kids feel safe, seen, and truly included.
JOSH SPECTOR
Josh is a community organizer, technologist, and land-tender with roots in the Tryon Creek Watershed of the Willamette Valley. His work has included geospatial data analytics, environmental justice activism, farming, collective governance experiments, regenerative economics research and event organizing, arboriculture, and more. He has been involved in Jewish life since birth, participating in youth groups, attending summer camp, engaging in campus organizations, and now contributing to the holding of Jewish spaces in Portland in his adult life. Josh hopes to continue bringing people together across different communities, as one piece of the shift towards a truly regenerative culture and society.
VOLUNTEER & LOGISTICS LEAD
REBECCA SCHISLER
SHABBAT & RITUAL LEAD
Rebecca is a meditation teacher, artist, and Jewish educator. A devoted contemplative practitioner, she is a core faculty member at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, where she created and steers the Shevet Jewish Mindfulness Community, a space for young adults to dive deep into Jewish spirituality and mindfulness practice in local and virtual spaces. Rebecca has taught with Stanford School of Medicine, Or haLev, Wilderness Torah, Urban Adamah, HaMakom, Awakened Heart Project and the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators, where she co-authored the Mahloket Matters Schools Curriculum.
A rabbinical student at ALEPH, Rebecca is passionate about integrating ancestral wisdom traditions with innovative approaches to personal and collective healing and liberation, and teaches Jewish spirituality as an embodied, transformational, and accessible path, with relevant and timely wisdom for all. Learn more at www.rebeccaschisler.com.
EMILY BOGDAN
WORKSHOP LEAD
Emily is a community builder and social justice advocate, working across Jewish and secular nonprofit spaces. She is committed to connecting people and strengthening community in ways that help them feel seen, supported, and able to bring their full selves.
Emily has a deep love for Jewish time and ritual. She is especially drawn to bringing people together to mark time through Rosh Chodesh gatherings, creating opportunities for reflection, learning, and conversation. She believes there is something powerful about pausing each month and noticing where we are, as individuals and as a community.
When she is not working, you can usually find Emily crafting, reading, or exploring a new hiking trail or neighborhood. A recent transplant to the Pacific Northwest, she is excited to help build Chavaya and contribute to a festival rooted in connection, creativity, and the natural beauty of her new home. creativity, and the natural beauty of her new home.
