Worship and Spirituality
Contact: Monica Cellio, cellio@pobox.com
The Neshama Center is located in the Lockhart Lounge, just outside the Library.
Neshama Center Column for July 2010 / Tammuz-Av 5770
Since its inception two years ago, the Neshama Center has accomplished some great things:
The first edition of Kol Ha-Neshama was excellent, and will enhance Temple Sinai’s standing in the local and national Jewish communities. We are grateful to Editor Ben Wecht and Graphic Designer Rick Landesberg, and to those who contributed their essays, poems and pictures.
Rhonda Rosen’s meditation groups each Thursday evening and one Shabbat afternoon a month have been well received.
David Goldstein’s Chanting Circles one Sunday morning a month have developed a loyal following among Temple Sinai members and others.
Mimi Botkin’s Writing Circle has gotten off to a strong start, with each member both writing and sharing their thoughts.
Rabbi Gibson’s Spiritual Thought of the Week has prompted many positive responses, and we are hoping to be able to establish a means for members to discuss these thoughts online.
I am very pleased that many of you have taken advantage of these offerings, and I hope you will continue to do so.
I have been honored to be the leader of the Neshama Center for its first years, but it is appropriate for me to turn that role over to someone new, Monica Celliio. I am confident that the Neshama Center will continue to provide opportunities for more members to express their spirituality in new ways.
Be sure to watch this page and future editions of DoorWays for Neshama Center news.
Our Journal, Kol Ha-Neshama
Kol Ha-Neshama Call for Submissions: Are you interested in Jewish spirituality? Are you a short fiction writer? A poet? An essayist? Are you an artist? An illustrator? A photographer? If so, we want your submissions for the second issue of Kol Ha-Neshama, The Journal of the Neshama Center for Jewish Spirituality. Our sophomore effort, to be published in the fall, will focus on Jewish spiritual journeys. Send us your stories as poems, essays, short fiction, photographic sequences, comics and graphic stories, or other forms of expression.
Download the first edition of our new literary journal, Kol Ha-Neshama: Voice of the Spirit, focusing on the role of nature in Jewish spirituality.
Spirituality Writing Circle
The newly-formed Temple Sinai Writing Circle invites writers of all varieties to join us from 4:00-5:30 on the first Saturday of each month. We call it our “circle” because it’s not a class: no lessons, no homework, no tests. A group of us meets to write together, share our writing, and learn from each other. This is a guided writing group only in the sense that one or two prompts are offered, the writers in the group respond (or not, if they so choose) in any way they want. Then we share our work, any of us who so choose. The atmosphere is non- threatening, casual and fun. Please join us.
Contact Mimi Botkin, mimi.botkin@gmail.com.
Chanting Circle
Hebrew chanting is a form of meditation that opens the doors of the heart. No prior knowledge of singing, chanting, or fluency with Hebrew is necessary. Chant leader David Goldstein uses old testament texts from Isaiah, Psalms, and Torah, combined with simple, repetitive melodies to dive deeply into an intention. Drumming and the East Indian shruti box will help to heighten the experience.
Chanting Circles will be on July 25, and August 29, from 10:00 to 11:30 AM. Please note the new starting time. David Goldstein is a composer of sacred music, and a graduate of Shefa Gold’s Kol Zimra Chant Leadership Program. Contact him at dpgold@yahoo.com.
Meditation Programs
Thursday evening meditation sessions will continue throughout the summer from 6:00 to 7:30. Each Thursday night Rhonda Rosen will be leading an ongoing interfaith meditation group in the Temple Library. Members of this group have a full range of experience, from beginning meditators to those with a mature daily practice. We work on cultivating the skills of mindfulness, concentration and absorption in silence. We work with the naturally arising hindrances to the deliberate use of attention. The integration of this into daily life can makes this an integral part of the development of ones spiritual life. If you would like to sit on the floor, please bring your own cushion, and arrive a little early the first time you come.
Rhonda Rosen started studying Buddhist forms of meditation in 1973, with Burmese and Tibetan masters. She was a student of Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man for ten years, from 1996 to 2006. She has been teaching meditation in the community since 2006.
Minyan Service
Each Thursday at 7:30 PM.
Shabbat Services
Neshama Center Email List
The Neshama Center sends email updates and reminders of programs and activities to everyone on our list. If you would like to receive these messages, please send your email address to Monica Cellio, cellio@pobox.com.
Mailing list: to send mail to the list:
; to subscribe, make changes in your subscription, or unsubscribe: http://lists.templesinaipgh.org/mailman/listinfo/neshama_lists.templesinaipgh.org
