MUSICAL ARTISTS
ALY HALPERT
A singer, pianist, drummer, and guitar player, Aly writes songs for building community and visioning different worlds. She leads music and prayer for Jewish community, including Let My People Sing, Kol Tzedek Synagogue, Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, & Hadar's Rising Song Institute.
Her songs have been sung in national gatherings, song circles, and quiet moments of personal prayer, and have moved people all over the world. Aly believes deeply in the power of music to awaken us to the loss and hope we carry, expand our sense of possibility, and connect us to each other and our collective strength.
alyhalpert.com
ELIANA LIGHT & THE ORAH HI ENSEMBLE
Eliana Light is cultivating a more connected world by making the urgent spiritual wisdom of Jewish liturgy and prayer practice (t’fillah) accessible and meaningful through her prayer leadership, consulting, teaching, and the Light Lab, a center for t’fillah education. She has put out five albums of thoughtful, playful, original Jewish music, including the liturgical and group singing-focused ORAH HI, and is the host of the Light Lab Podcast. She lives in Durham, NC where she is weaving everybody-welcome Jewish community.
elianalight.com
@_elianalight_
YOSEF GOLDMAN
Yosef is a rabbi, composer, prayer leader, and spiritual guide whose music and teaching draw on the full breadth of Jewish devotional tradition — including Sepharadi and Mizrahi piyyut, Hasidic nigun, and contemplative chant. His original songs are sung in communities across North America and Israel, and he has released three albums on Rising Song Records.
Yosef co-founded Kedmah, an ensemble reviving the sacred poetry and musical traditions of Jews from Arab lands. Rooted in decades of pastoral and spiritual accompaniment alongside his musical life, he creates immersive experiences of prayer and song that open people to connection, presence, and renewal.
MARNI LOFFMAN
Marni (they/them) is a Jewish musician, educator, and prayer leader with a deep love of people, nature and building connection. Their debut album, the long short path, is a liturgically infused exploration of Jewish belonging, diasporic identity, grief, and healing. Marni’s music blends folk, pop, and jazz with Ashkenazi and multi-faith prayer traditions, forming songs that feel both ancient, alive and intimate. Marni is known for work that invites tears, reflection, and unexpected joy. They can't wait to sing with you soon!
@singing_jewess
CHAVA MIREL
Chava is a multi-award winning Jewish musician and composer whose voice was recently featured on a Grammy award winning album. Celebrated for her rich, luxurious vocals, lush harmonies, and rhythmic phrasing, Chava is also known for her loving and compassionate presence.
Serving as an artist-in-residence and educator at congregations and conferences from coast to coast, she imbues her music and teachings with the universal themes of hope, caring, connection and inclusion. In addition to her own prolific portfolio of recordings, Chava continues to support dozens of other fellow artists in recording and performing projects. She serves as Music Director of her home congregation, Temple Beth Am in Seattle, WA.
@chavam
MALKA RUSSELL + YEHUDA LIONCHILD
Malka is an international sound artist who synthesizes heart frequency, soulful vocals, and a pop-RnB fusion. Her music draws listeners back to the truth of their heart.
Yehudah is a transformative musician who blends rhythmic textures, medicine music, with a pop-RnB edge. His sound creates an immersive experience, opening pathways for healing, introspection, and authentic connection.
Yehudah & Malka Russell, “Calling In Love”– are siblings, best friends, musical partners, and change agents. Growing up, they always used music as the medicine to heal themselves, their family, and the suffering in the world.
COLEEN DIEKER
After establishing herself as a musical presence in Jewish and secular communities in Kansas City, Coleen took opportunities to share her gifts with various congregations around the United States. She has collaborated with renowned artist Josh Warshawsky.
Coleen currently lives a nomadic lifestyle traveling the globe and offers a variety of musical gifts: soulful song-leading with the guitar and piano, entertaining on electric violin, and elevating music with her dynamic fiddling.
@la_colina_violinista
coleendieker.com
JACK LEOPOLD
Jack Leopold is a Jewish educator, musician, and meditation teacher living in Boulder, Colorado. Inspired by the teachings of Rabbi Jill Hammer and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Jack's work explores the intersection of Jewish mysticism, contemplative practice, and communal song. His passion lies in weaving Jewish myth and communal song into experiences that invite people to engage the paradox of inherent wholeness and brokenness at the heart of the human experience.
This fall, he will begin studying toward rabbinic ordination and will release his first EP of original music, exploring themes of earth-based Judaism, collective grief, and liberation.
@jackleopold21
RAFE PEARLMAN
Rafe started his singing career with the wolves, ravens and sled dogs of the Alaskan wilderness. The wild nature of his exploratory singing has led to performances spanning the globe, from India, Hong Kong, Israel and Germany, to Italy, France, Spain, Australia, Thailand, Mexico and all across the United States.
Rafe’s intention with his music is to inspire a vision of a world in harmony and unity, celebrating diversity, sustainability, and equality for all beings.
@rafepearlman
DANIEL BERKMAN
Daniel Berkman, acclaimed San Francisco based composer and master of the kora and electro-acoustic instrumentation, brings a deeply textured sonic journey shaped by decades of collaboration across dance, film, and electronic music.
"Treating the timeless instruments I play and the music I create as unique happenings, inspiring awe, seeking revelation."
@danielberkman
DEVORA
Devora Elise Sostman is a somatic psychotherapist, psychedelic facilitator, retreat leader, and ceremonial musician devoted to the integration of psychotherapy, ancestral lineage and sound. Trained through institutions such as the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research and Inner-Tribal Treatment, a Native-led recovery center for Native Americans, her work is grounded in both scientific rigor and culturally-rooted care.
As a ceremonial vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Devora weaves ancestral prayer, Jewish lineage, and devotional music into therapeutic and ritual spaces, offering music as a living bridge between history, presence, and collective healing.
@_debraaaa
LIGHT OF
THE MOUNTAIN
Aliko Weste is a visionary DJ whose sets are as diverse and dynamic as his own identity. Born and raised in the deep, rich Pacific Northwest, Aliko is a first-generation American, proud trans man– from Caribbean, Jewish, French and Middle Eastern ancestry.
His eclectic sets are a reflection of his life's journey– blending the magic of the world with sounds that transcend the ordinary, creating an immersive experience that resonates deeply with his audience.
alikoweste.com
ELANA BRODY
Kohenet Elana Brody is an ordained Hebrew priestess, musician and prayer leader. Elana offers Jewish prayer services across the country, and hosts healing song circles and singing retreats nationally and internationally. In September ‘24, Elana released her debut folk album The Garden, and has released many Jewish singles including her popular original songs “B’shem Hashem,” “Elah,” “Living a Miracle (Mi Chamocha) and a cover of “Kol Galgal.” Susan Rogers, engineer for Prince, said of Elana "Whatever she does will be ahead of its time."
Kohenet Elana is a frequent Jewish Renewal prayer leader at Isabella Freedman retreats, occasionally leads at Chochmat HaLev in Berkeley, and was a regular prayer leader at Romemu Brooklyn. She co-founded Or Harim, an earth based Jewish community in Asheville, NC, and currently lives and leads embodied musical prayer gatherings regularly in Boulder, CO.
YONI BATTAT
Yoni Avi Battat (he/him) brings Arab music into the soundscape of American Jewish life through composition, education, prayer, and performance on viola, violin, oud, and vocals. Described as "an education for the ear and the soul," his debut album Fragments seeks to find new pathways to connect with ancestry and find healing around our fragmented identities, and especially his Iraqi-Jewish heritage.
Yoni is the co-founder of Kedmah, an ensemble that preserves and re-imagines Middle-Eastern and North-African piyyutim (devotional poems). From 2021-2022 Yoni toured nationally as an actor and violinist with the Tony Award-winning musical, "The Band’s Visit."
yonibattat.com
@yoniavibattat
DJ BAMBI
Bambi is a ceremonial DJ who plays ethnic electronic music that welcomes bodies to align with lineage, story, celebration, and bass. He has DJ’ed at festivals like Lightning in a Bottle, MANA, and Burning Man, and at Ecstatic Dances around the world.
He is the co-founder of KUMI: Morning Dance, a family-friendly, Sunday-morning, outdoor dance-party that integrates ritual, dance, and farm-to-table lunch.
Soundcloud @bambi-yr
BOBOYOGO
Bobo Yogo drifted on a winged seed from a mighty birch tree in a forest somewhere far away and to the north. His music blends organic/latin/afro house and techno with ancestral music from the Jewish diaspora.
Be prepared to get down and make your ancestors proud.
@boboyogodj
JESSICA SIRENA
Jessica Sirena is a vocalist and live performance artist weaving together soulful pop, R&B, and ethereal, devotional soundscapes into immersive musical experiences. Her work blends rich harmonies, improvisation, and emotional depth, creating performances that feel both intimate and transcendent. Whether on stage or in ceremony, Jessica’s sound is unmistakable — sensual, expansive, and designed to move both body and spirit.
Facebook
@jessica.sirena
WORKSHOPS
LISTENING AS A SACRED PRACTICE: A LISTENING LAB FOR CONNECTION & HEALING
Isabel Mata is a mindfulness teacher, writer, and the lead facilitator of Listening Labs, intentional spaces designed to help people reconnect with themselves and one another through deep, compassionate listening. Rooted in evidence-based mindfulness practices, her work invites participants to slow down, soften, and connect more deeply with themselves and others.
In this workshop, participants will be guided through a Listening Lab: a structured yet spacious experience that reimagines listening as a sacred act. Together, we will explore what it means to truly listen—not to respond, fix, or judge, but to witness and be with one another authentically. Through gentle prompts, guided reflection, and paired or small group sharing, participants will practice deep listening and being deeply heard.
This offering is especially attuned to the complexities of being in community during tender and uncertain times, creating space for multiple truths, emotions, and lived experiences to coexist. Participants will leave with practical tools to bring more presence, empathy, and connection into their relationships and communities. No prior experience is needed, just a openness to show up as you are.
SHUVI NAFSHI: RETURNING TO SOUL THROUGH JEWISH ANCESTRAL WISDOM
This workshop is designed especially for people who feel distant from Judaism but sense there may be something meaningful waiting to be rediscovered. Through Jewish song and story, and the art of Council, we will explore how Jewish ancestral wisdom offers pathways back to soul, belonging, and spiritual depth.
Led by Daniel Schindelman Schoen, co-founder of MANNA Passover Festival, Shoov Ancestral Connection Course, and B’nai Nefesh Adult B’Mitzvah Program.
SHTETL TO WASHINGTON: MAKING ANCESTRAL HERBAL MEDICINE
Long before supplements and herbal shops existed, there were the healers of the Ashkenazi shtetl: grandmothers, midwives, wise ones who knew exactly which plant to reach for and why. They whispered to them, bargained with them, and wove their medicine into the fabric of everyday Jewish life. In this hands-on workshop, we'll craft a medicinal infused honey using herbs that root us in two landscapes at once: the forests of Eastern Europe where many of our ancestors walked, and the living lands of the Pacific Northwest where we now stand. The plants in this honey were chosen intentionally, in resonance and alignment with the month of Elul and the fiery, heart-opening energy of Leo season. Together, we'll explore the historical relationship between Jewish folk medicine and the plant world, while getting our hands sticky making a delicious and healing herbal honey. All are welcome. No prior herbal experience needed.
Jay Schwartz is a community herbalist, forager, menstrual cycle educator, and doula working at the intersection of plant medicine, women's wellness, and ancestral healing. Jay's path into herbal medicine began in 2018, rooted in a desire to explore body sovereignty, cyclical living, and healing outside conventional systems. Shaped by her Ashkenazi Jewish heritage and the Rocky Mountains she calls home, Jay brings a deeply bioregional approach to her practice. This was crystallized through a pivotal 2020 apprenticeship with Israeli botanist Elaine Soloway, whose work traces the wild plants of the Israeli desert ecosystem back to ancient and biblical medicine. Since then, working intimately with the plants of the land has been the beating heart of everything she does.
SHE RETURNS FROM EXILE: SHEKHINAH, MATRIARCHY & STABILITY
She Returns from Exile: A New Jewish Vision of a Future Rooted in Shekhinah, Matriarchy, and Sustainability
Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg is a Reconstructionist rabbi, teacher, writer, and feminist theologian in the Pacific Northwest. Her work explores Jewish spirituality, the Divine Feminine, ecology, matriarchy, and the sacred wisdom of midlife.
In this workshop, participants will explore a new Jewish spiritual vision for the future through the return of Shekhinah consciousness, the meaning of menopause and female leadership, and the science and symbolism of matriarchal societies such as orcas. Together we will consider how Jewish wisdom, ecology, and feminist thought can help us imagine a more sustainable, relational, and life-honoring future for humanity and the planet. Participants will engage in teaching, reflection, text, and discussion. The workshop will be a blend of learning, spiritual imagination, and shared conversation, inviting people into hope, tikvah, and a renewed sense of Jewish responsibility for the world we are building.
HEALING OUR JEWISH ROOTS: BECOMING A LIGHT UNTO THE NATIONS
We gather in sacred circle to gently tend to and heal the collective trauma carried within our Jewish lineage—from ancient exiles and pogroms to the Holocaust and ongoing antisemitism. In this Quantum Energy Healing Ceremony, we will:
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Compassionately witness and hold the collective wounds woven into our ancestral field
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Release stored fear, grief, anger, and inherited survival patterns that no longer serve our highest expression
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Reclaim the resilience, wisdom, creativity, and spiritual fire that are our birthright
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Clear the energetic imprints of persecution so future generations may carry less burden and more freedom
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Realign our personal and collective field with the pure, radiant essence of what it means to be a blessing in the world.
As we mend the wounds of the past, we step more fully into our sacred calling: to be a “light unto the nations” (Book of Isaiah 49:6). This is the essence of Tikkun Olam—healing ourselves so that we may bring greater blessing, hope, and light to the world. We begin in an opening circle, sharing our intentions, prayers, and what we are ready to heal or release. During the healing transmission, participants are invited to rest comfortably—either seated or lying down—softening into a receptive state as we receive the healing energies and allow our systems to gently release, recalibrate, and restore.
Dr. Elisha Bokman is a Naturopathic Physician, Licensed Acupuncturist, Quantum Energy Healer and Spiritual Life Coach. For true healing to occur, Elisha believes that the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and energetic levels of a person all need to be addressed. Dr. Elisha creates unique, personalized healing blueprints for each of her clients and masterfully weaves together her healing modalities to get to the root cause of dis-ease.
THE WORDLESS WORLD OF MELODY: AN ADVANCE NIGUN WORKSHOP
With Marni Loffman. Nigunim, wordless melodies, have emerged as a powerful, popular form of Jewish songwriting and community singing. While wordless melodies are a universal language, the nigun is a distinct Eastern European Jewish art, emerging from the 18th-century Hasidic revival. This spiritual practice bridges the human and the infinite. The nigun transcends words, unlocking a language of meaning that all of life sings.
During this workshop, immerse yourself in the nigun's powerful language. Sink into your personal practice to discover the collective wordless song that lives within us all.
TORAH & TORNIQUETS: DO NOT STAND IDLY BY
Blood, Life, and Responsibility in Jewish Text
Rabbi Jesse Epstein is the Assistant Rabbi at Temple Beth Am in Seattle, the owner of Shmaltz Brewing Company, and the creator of Torah and Tourniquets, a program that brings Jewish text and tradition into conversation with real-world emergency response. As both a rabbi and a former trained EMT, he is drawn to the ways Torah speaks not only to ideas, but to the body, to crisis, and to the preservation of life.
In this text-centered session, we will explore the role of blood in Jewish tradition as a powerful expression of life itself. Through close reading of biblical and rabbinic texts, we’ll examine phrases and biblical idioms that include mention of blood, while also uncovering deeper connections between blood, people, earth. Together, we’ll ask what it means for blood to carry moral weight — and what responsibility emerges from various layers of interpretation.
Participants will engage in guided text study and small group discussion. We’ll aim to connect these ancient ideas to lived experience and the Jewish imperative not to stand idly by when life is at stake.
"WATER WATER": JEWISH MYSTICAL WISDOM FOR NAVIGATING ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Dr. Yosef Rosen is the Director of Jewish Life & Learning at the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland (OR). A recipient of a doctorate in Jewish Studies (UC Berkeley), Yosef is a communal educator, historian of Jewish magic, and DJ. His public workshops merge what modern society often keeps separate: the contemporary and the ancient, the academic and the experiential, the religious and the secular, the spiritual and the somatic.
The Talmud teaches of four sages who entered a realm of overwhelming visionary experience. As they cross a threshold of altered perception, one gives a cryptic warning: “When you reach the place of pure marble, do not say ‘water, water.’” This workshop explores three interpretations of that warning as three distinct models of harm reduction. Together, we will examine how these models anticipate key dynamics of altered states, including self-doubt, misrecognition, and the urge to impose coherence too quickly. We will translate these insights into practical frameworks for moving through expansive consciousness with greater clarity, care, and groundedness.
CEREMONIAL CONCERT WITH MALKA & YEHUDA
Led by Malka Russell and Yehuda Lionchild. A unique and immersive concert that combines live performance, conscious movement, and sound healing- designed to uplift and inspire, creating a space of connection and healing- reminding us that LOVE is the most powerful medicine.
As siblings, best friends, and musical partners, Malka and Yehuda have always used music as a healing force in our lives and created the Calling In Love Experience to amplify this calling. Our mission is to inspire others to transform wounds into wisdom and fear into love, fostering deep connections and personal empowerment.
CORDAGE & CLOUDS: SPIRALING UPWARDS TOGETHER
With Barukh Brian S.
All things are better when paired well. So says the cordage...come learn this essential craft, while we also learn to speak the language of the clouds and learn to understand the sweet whispers of the Sun with the Earth for weather prediction and more. When wandering in the desert we followed spiraling clouds of glory, let's do it again!
JEWISH TRADITIONAL ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE
The Torah describes how the first humans were shaped from the soil itself and placed in the Garden of Eden to "tend and protect" a thriving ecological food system. As the story unfolds, we learn how the emergence of agriculture profoundly destabilized our ancestors’ connection to the land and to one another, giving rise to patriarchy, famine, forced migration, and war. In response, the Hebrew people developed specific social, spiritual, and ecological practices designed to restore the world and create a regenerative way of life. In this workshop, participants will be studying Torah to explore how Jewish Traditional Ecological Knowledge can help heal the wounds of extractive agricultural patriarchy and guide us towards Olam Ha’Ba - a renewed world of peace, justice, and ecological abundance.
Mitchel Davidovitz is a documentary filmmaker highlighting permaculture, regenerative agriculture, and land restoration projects around the world. As a co-founder of Chavurah B’Eretz Kalapuya, a grass-roots earth-based Jewish community in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, Mitchel helps to co-create and facilitate Jewish rituals, land stewardship projects, and the reclaiming of traditional Hebraic earth-skills. Mitchel is passionate about exploring the intersections of regenerative ecology and Judaism to help develop an effective practice of Tikkun Olam (Repair of the World).
DANCING INTO ELUL: RE-TURN, RE-WILD RE-CONNECT
Step into the sacred energy of Elul—a time of return, reflection, and coming home to what truly matters in this one wild and precious life.
This conscious dance workshop is an invitation to move exactly as you are. No experience needed, no steps to follow—just the freedom to listen to your body and let it lead. Through guided invitations and spacious exploration, we’ll embody the themes and teachings of Elul together, allowing movement to open pathways for insight, connection, and renewal.
Aliza, an Open Floor movement teacher and counsellor, weaves ritual, dance, and creative expression to hold a grounded and transformative space. Having recently relocated to Vancouver, BC after over two decades in Berkeley, California, she brings a depth of experience and a warm, intuitive presence to her work.
REGENERATING EDEN: SYNTROPIC AGROFORESTRY AS TIKKUN OLAM
Joanna Botvin is an agroecologist, herbalist, land steward, and environmental educator devoted to helping people reconnect with their role as stewards of the Earth. She is the founder of a regenerative landscaping company focused on restoring land through native, edible, and medicinal plants. Over the past decade, she has taught youth and adults about permaculture, herbalism, foraging, and ecological design through her work with nonprofits and botanical gardens.
Her work has taken her across the Americas, where she has learned from and collaborated with communities practicing traditional and regenerative land stewardship. In recent years, she has focused deeply on Syntropic Agroforestry, participating in projects throughout Brazil, Peru, Mexico, and Costa Rica, and leading initiatives in Texas to restore degraded land and support food sovereignty in underserved communities.
In this workshop, Joanna will introduce Syntropic Agroforestry as both an ancient and emerging approach to tending land—one that mirrors forest ecosystems to regenerate soil, increase biodiversity, and grow food and medicine in abundance. Rooted in ecological principles and Jewish wisdom, we will explore humanity’s role within the living systems we are part of, weaving together teachings on land stewardship, cycles, and Jewish mysticism. Through play, embodiment practices, shared learning, and hands-on planting, participants will co-create a small syntropic system and leave with a deeper understanding of how to cultivate regenerative relationships with the Earth.
MAKING OF A TORAH SCROLL
Rabbi Linda Motzkin is one of the first generation of sofrot (female scribes) and the founder of the Community Torah Project - a long-term educational endeavor to make a single Torah scroll involving the hands-on participation of individuals of all ages in various steps in the making of a Torah scroll, from processing deerskins into parchment, to proofreading completed panels to sewing fully proofread panels together.
In this session, participants will receive an overview of the process of making a Torah scroll, including seeing and touching various materials used. We will reflect upon the experience of creating holiness out of ordinary materials, and being part of the sacred ongoing transmission of Torah. Participants will also have the unique opportunity to be part of this sacred process, as we sew together two panels of the Community Torah Project scroll in progress.
EMBODY THE EARTH
A deeply experiential workshop guided by Hannah Bubis, a therapist (MFT), songstress, and ceremonialist who weaves together earth-based wisdom, plant medicine traditions, and Jewish spiritual practice. Drawing from her work with Shipibo healers of the Amazon and her field studies with Bedouin communities in the Israeli desert, Hannah creates spaces that invite participants into connection—with themselves, each other, and the living world.
This workshop is an invitation to remember the body as part of the Earth, not separate from it. Together, we will explore what the Earth teaches us about softening, listening, and being with what is present, rather than resisting or fixing. Through guided practices, voice activation, movement, and intentional dialogue, participants will be encouraged to access their authentic self-expression and reconnect with their inner rhythms.
Participants will engage in group and partner exercises, somatic awareness practices, and ritual elements that center sharing, creativity, and release. There will be space to both create—through voice, intention, and presence—and to purge what no longer serves, allowing for a more grounded and truthful way of being. Rooted in reciprocity, we will explore how we give and receive resources—energetic, emotional, and communal—mirroring the natural systems of the Earth.
This is a space for those longing to slow down, reconnect, and remember how to live in deeper alignment with the wisdom that is already within and all around them.
REWILDING JUDAISM: EMBRACING WILD NATURE IN OUR SOLO & COMMUNAL LIVES
In this workshop we will learn about ReWilding and how this Ecological navigation reunites us with our connection to the Natural World, and Root us in a different way to our Jewish Experience. These tools deepen our reality, and create familiarity in Nature.
Zahara Solomon, based out of Ashland Oregon, brings a lifetime of wild living immersed in Nature. From hiking, kayaking, backpacking, snowshoeing, to Gardening, wildcrafting and foraging for wild foods. A student of Kabbalah, and mother of two with decades of teaching, her goal is connecting everyone to their Natural Being in the Natural World.
Find her at Old Growth Life Coaching.
SONGS FROM WITHIN
In this song circle, we will co-conspire with the new moon, a time of beginnings, to set an intention within a shared field of connection, presence, and voice. Participants will be taught simple, layered songs by ear—no singing experience required. We’ll weave together singing and moments of reflection, inviting you to listen inward, connect outward, and clarify intentions for the time ahead. This practice supports movement toward a life aligned with your values, toward what matters most. Participants are invited to show up as they are and connect with their voice in an authentic, embodied way.
Gabrielle Gelfand is a Seattle-based clinician and facilitator who believes in the transformative and healing power of song. She is completing her Master’s in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in Somatic Psychology and has been leading singing circles and sound-based gatherings since 2017. Her background spans mechanical engineering, user experience design, and performance, including cabaret and burlesque, informing a facilitation style that is both grounded and expressive. She creates spaces that weave together music, embodiment, and community to foster connection, authenticity, and aliveness.
THE TORAH OF BREAD: LEARN TO MAKE CHALLAH
With Rabbi Jonathan Rubenstein. Learn to make challah—or improve your skills—in this workshop that focuses on general bread-making tips, simple and advanced braiding techniques, and engagement with the mitzvah of hafrashat challah. This practice, which involves separating a small portion of the dough as an offering, has much to teach us about our relationship to both the production and consumption of the food that sustains us. We will be making the Shabbat challah for the Chavaya community and exploring some teachings from our tradition about the mitzvah of challah.
Rabbi Jonathan served for 36 and a half years as co-rabbi, with his wife, Rabbi Linda Motzkin, of Temple Sinai in Saratoga Springs, New York. There, he founded and operated a non-profit, all-volunteer charitable bakery, Slice of Heaven Breads, out of the Temple Sinai kitchen. Proceeds from the sale of its products go to direct aid to people in the community, hunger relief programs, and other charitable causes. Through the Bread and Torah Project, Rabbi Jonathan and Rabbi Linda – a soferet (Torah scribe) and Judaic artist – teach workshops and classes on bread making and scribal arts in Jewish communities in North America and abroad, exploring the connections between physical and spiritual sustenance.
LETTING THE LAND LEAD: RETURN TO EARTH, RETURN TO EACH OTHER
Maddie Fontaine is a movement and dance facilitator, adventurer, explorer, student of life, counselor-in-training, and lover of co-creating spaces for meaningful community connection. Drawing from practices such as authentic relating, contact improvisation, yoga, mindfulness, authentic movement, and ecstatic dance, Maddie invites people into deeper relationship with themselves, each other, and the living world. Nature is her deepest teacher and greatest inspiration, continually calling her back to wander, wonder, create, play, revere, and enliven the inner child.
On a recent trip to Hawai‘i, Maddie witnessed the deep power of a land that is alive, dynamic, and ever-changing — a land that truly holds the ultimate power, and the final say. As humans, we often try to exert control over nature, and in this workshop, participants will be invited to soften that impulse and surrender to the land, allowing it to take the lead in our collective dance. Rooted in the reflective spirit of the Jewish month of Elul, we will gently soften into returning to the earth as we return to ourselves and to each other.
AN EXPERIENTIAL INTRO TO THE FOUR WORLDS OF KABBALAH
With Rebecca Schisler. Judaism conceives of “four worlds,” integrated aspects of reality that are associated with four levels of our experience: doing, feeling, knowing, and being.
This session will utilize a variety of contemplative practices and teachings to explore this ancient map and how its mystical and mundane applications can support us in infusing all dimensions of our lives with an intimate and embodied awareness of divine presence.
SONG CIRCLE WITH BEX
Join community songleader Bex Lipps for a spiral journey of songs and practices to strengthen our hearts and souls for these times.
This song circle draws on the wisdom of Joanna Macy, whose life legacy—The Work That Reconnects—helps us to remember our inherent belonging within the web of life.
Together we'll sing easy-to-learn songs that celebrate the beauty of life, tend to collective grief, remind us of our interconnectedness, and fuel us with the courage to keep going in a good way. All voices are welcome!
ESTATIC CLOWNING: CLOWNING AS RESISTANCE– FREEING THE SACRED FOOL
A playful fusion of clowning and physical theater, this workshop invites you to channel your wildest creative impulses into expressive, hilarious, and delightfully strange performance. Drawing upon the Jewish traditions of the "sacred fool", this workshop explores comedy as a form of cultural resilience, as participants are encouraged to persevere through failure (known in clowning as "the flop") in order to discover their unique inner clown.
Through movement-based improvisation, clown-inspired exploration, and ensemble play, we’ll tap into the body’s instinct for joy, absurdity, and truthful expression. Whether you’re brand new or returning for more, Ecstatic Clowning is a container to get silly, get weird, and discover new dimensions of physical creativity—all through the magic of collective play.
Ren (she/they) is a multidisciplinary theater-maker who is currently pursuing their MFA in Theater Directing at UW. She devises ensemble-driven performance and facilitates theatrical workshops that tap into the shared creative impulse of the collective. Ren believes in theater as a tool for revillaging, and clowning as means of reigniting imagination, play, and connection.
THE HIDDEN LIGHT WITHIN: AN EXPRESSIVE ART JOURNEY
In this expressive art workshop with Debbie Shapiro, participants are invited to explore Or HaGanuz—the Hidden Light Within—through reflection, creativity, and play. Using the lighthouse as a guiding metaphor, we will consider how our inner light has illuminated our path, weathered storms, and continued to shine through decades of lived experience. As the years bring joy, loss, resilience, and transformation, that light is often called upon, tested, and at times obscured. Together, in a supportive and reflective space, we will gently uncover and honor the unique glow each of us carries.
Through hands-on exploration with acrylic markers, oil pastels, and colored pencils, participants will have the freedom to express their light using color, shape, and form—without pressure, judgment, or expectations. This workshop is designed for those who have lived through four or more decades and wish to reconnect with their creative spirit in a meaningful way. No prior art experience is needed—only a willingness to be curious. Please dress comfortably and come ready to engage with a childlike sense of wonder as we rediscover the enduring light within.
FESTIVAL ELEMENTS
RED TENT
Casey Adashek, our Red Tent Steward, is passionate about the ancestral blood rites of the womb. The Red Tent has traditionally been a temple space– specifically for rituals around womb blood, marking life cycles and transitions.
The Red Tent offers a unique holding, one that honors the Shechinah (Feminine indwelling of the Divine) as she has fractilized into infinite faces. Casey creates a space for the diversity of experiences held in wombs and women.
SACRED FIRE
The Eish Tamid is the ever-present fire at the heart of Chavaya, a living symbol of continuity, presence, and sacred gathering. In Jewish tradition, the Eish Tamid represents an enduring connection to the sacred that is carried through time and community.
Throughout the festival, this fire will serve as a place to gather, reflect, sing, pray, and simply be together in the glow of shared presence. It is a space for both celebration and stillness, where connection naturally forms around the flame.
As part of its ritual arc, the fire will be intentionally extinguished before Shabbat begins and then relit after Shabbat concludes, serving as a symbolic anchor for the rhythm of rest, return, and renewal that sits at the heart of the weekend.
As night falls, the Eish Tamid becomes a central point of gathering, reminding us that even as moments pass, something enduring continues to burn between us.
GRIEF CEREMONY
On Friday afternoon, Nala Walla will facilitate a dedicated grief ceremony, held as a closed, long-form container for those wishing to enter more deeply into grief, remembrance, release, and collective healing.
This gathering is rooted in the understanding that Jewish grief is not meant to stay frozen or contained. It is meant to move.
To be witnessed, spoken, and carried in community so that it can begin to shift and transform.
Together we will make space for personal and ancestral grief through ritual, presence, and care. Participants are invited to enter this container with intention and commitment as we make room for the fullness of human experience and the ongoing work of healing.
TEA ZONE
The Tea Tent is a space to slow down, settle in, and connect. Throughout the weekend, tea will be available alongside comfortable places to sit, rest, and engage in meaningful conversation. Whether you're meeting a new friend, reconnecting with an old one, taking a break between workshops, or simply enjoying a quiet moment, the Tea Tent offers a welcoming place to land. In the midst of the music, movement, and celebration, the Tea Tent serves as a reminder that some of the most meaningful moments happen in the spaces between.
COMMUNITY KITCHEN
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The Community Kitchen is a shared space for preparing meals, washing dishes, and gathering around food throughout the weekend. Basic amenities will be available, including handwashing stations, dishwashing areas, potable water, and communal food preparation surfaces. Whether you're making coffee for friends, preparing Shabbat dinner, or sharing a snack with a neighbor, we hope this space helps nourish both body and community.
DANCE PERFORMANCE
Jordan Sun is a passionate advocate for movement as a means of healing. She gives gratitude to her teachers. She humbly offers appreciation for the opportunity to learn and act as an ambassador of the dance and culture of other llineages of origin, including MENAHT peoples. Jordan gives homage to her ancestors of Mediterranean and Ashkenazi Jewish origin. She weaves the cultural dances of her ethnic lineage with fusion bellydance.
In addition to offering healing, teaching movement medicine and performing as a fusion dancer, Jordan is a self-taught watercolor artist and a burgeoning singer/songwriter. Currently, she is a holistic Thai Massage Therapist, Postpartum Doula and is pursuing her Master’s in Dance Movement Therapy with Lesley University.
@jordansundancer
JEWS OF COLOR PANEL
Many Jewish spaces in the United States can become siloed into predominantly white Jewish experiences.
Chavaya Festival is committed to creating space for a broader and more expansive Jewish future by uplifting the voices and experiences of Jews of Color.
This year, we will be hosting a panel highlighting Black Jewish voices and the experiences of people who carry both Jewish and African diasporic identities.
Together, we’ll explore the impacts of assimilation into whiteness, the complexity of identity, belonging, culture, and what it means to move through the world today as a Black Jew.
Pictured: Ben Wilson founder of Color and Sound
THE BESHERET BOARD
Jewish tradition teaches that each of us has a b'sheret—a destined connection. While often understood as a romantic partner, a b'sheret can also be a dear friend, a creative collaborator, a teacher, a community, or someone who helps us become more fully ourselves.
Throughout the weekend, the B'sheret Board will offer a playful space to post introductions, friendship invitations, missed connections, heartfelt appreciations, hopes, adventures, and perhaps even a little romantic intrigue. Whether you're seeking conversation, companionship, collaboration, or love, this is an opportunity to make yourself known and discover who might be waiting to meet you.
After all, some of the most meaningful connections begin with a simple introduction. 🌿❤️
SHABBAT 101
New to Shabbat? Curious about the traditions, rituals, and rhythms that have sustained Jewish communities for generations? This workshop offers an accessible introduction to the heart of the Jewish week.
Together, we will explore the meaning behind Shabbat, its core practices, and how Jews across time and place have welcomed sacred rest into their lives. We’ll cover everything you need to feel comfortable and prepared for the Chavaya Shabbat experience, including blessings, customs, and the flow of the evening ahead.
Whether this is your first Shabbat or your hundredth, all are welcome. Come learn, ask questions, and prepare to enter the sacred time of Shabbat with greater understanding, intention, and joy.
AURELIAN
Arie and Bennet have developed an incredible immersive installation called Aurelian, which will be featured for the full duration of Chavaya Festival. This beautiful art piece invites curiosity, reflection, and wonder, and we’re thrilled to share it with the community.
Come experience Aurelian and spend time inside this living work of art.
OHEL CHACHAMIM (ELDER SPACE)
The Ohel Chachamim (Elder Tent) is an affinity space centering the wisdom, experience, and voice of elders within Chavaya. It is a place where older generations can gather in community, share insights, and offer the depth of perspective that comes from a lifetime of lived Jewish experience.
This tent holds space for conversation, storytelling, teaching, and informal exchange, allowing intergenerational wisdom to be spoken, heard, and integrated into the life of the festival. It is a space where presence itself is valued, and where experience is recognized as a vital source of guidance and meaning.
The Ohel Chachamim honors elders not as observers of community, but as active carriers of wisdom whose voices help shape and deepen the collective life of Chavaya.
SUNSET KUMZITZ
As the day begins to soften and the sun settles toward the horizon, we will gather on the beach for a community kumzitz of song, presence, and connection.
Rooted in the Jewish tradition of gathering around shared melodies, this is an opportunity to slow down, take in the beauty of the moment, and lend your voice to the collective. Whether you sing every word, hum along quietly, or simply listen to the waves and the music, all are welcome.
Together, we will greet the evening through niggunim, prayer, storytelling, and song, held by the water and the fading light of the day. Bring a blanket, bring a friend, and join us for one of the most timeless and beloved forms of Jewish gathering.
OPEN MIC IN THE CUDDLE TENT & TEA INN
Late nights at Chavaya are for music, stories, softness, and soul.
Join us in the Cuddle Tent and Tea Inn for open mic gatherings throughout the festival. Bring your instruments, your poetry, your songs, your prayers, your comedy, or whatever is alive in your spirit and share it with community. Whether you’re performing or simply listening under blankets with a cup of tea, these late-night gatherings are sure to become some of the most memorable moments of the weekend.
KIDS & FAMILY CAMP
The Kids & Family Zone is a dedicated space for families to gather, play, create, and connect throughout the weekend. With activities, crafts, games, and opportunities for exploration, this area is designed to support our youngest participants while fostering community among parents and caregivers. Throughout the festival, there will also be designated children's programming led by trusted staff and volunteers, giving parents and caregivers opportunities to attend workshops, enjoy music, connect with friends, or simply take a moment for themselves. Whether you're stopping by for a structured activity or looking for a welcoming place to spend time together, we hope this space helps families feel at home and fully supported at Chavaya.
REFUA TENT
The Refuah Tent will serve as a space for rest, care, healing, and support throughout Chavaya. Rooted in the Jewish value that every person is worthy of care and dignity, this space offers a place to slow down, reconnect, and tend to yourself when needed.
The Refuah Tent will provide a calm environment for rest, hydration, emotional support, grounding, and respite from the energy of the weekend. Whether you need some emotional support, a quiet moment to regroup, or simply a gentler place to land, you are welcome here.
Festivals are built on celebration, but they are sustained by care. The Refuah Tent exists to help ensure that everyone has the support they need to fully participate in the Chavaya experience.
SPONSORS
JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER SEATTLE
Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle is the driving force behind a vibrant Jewish Puget Sound — connecting people to Jewish life, combating antisemitism, investing in the next generation of leaders, and supporting communities locally and around the world. Founded in 1928, the Federation's work is rooted in the belief that a strong community uplifts everyone within it. Learn more at jewishinseattle.org.
WE ARE U PRODUCTIONS
We Are U Productions is Aliko's Seattle-based event company that creates exceptional experiences around music, art, and education. From small, intimate gatherings to large festivals with hundreds of attendees, we curate events that foster a sense of community and celebrate our shared humanity.
Our mission is to transform the culture of the Pacific Northwest by creating inclusive spaces where people can come together, connect, and be inspired.
TEMPLE BETH AM
Founded in 1956, Temple Beth Am is a vibrant Reform Jewish congregation serving the greater Seattle community. Guided by its mission to deepen relationships to Judaism and community by engaging the soul, heart, and mind, Temple Beth Am creates opportunities for meaningful worship, lifelong learning, personal growth, and authentic connection.
Inspired by its vision of inspiring lives and healing the world through powerful Jewish experiences, Temple Beth Am strives to cultivate a Judaism that is relevant, welcoming, and transformative—nurturing individuals, strengthening community, and empowering people to bring Jewish values into the world.
Come to Chavaya!