….To Renew the Old and Make Holy the New

Shabbat Metzora Leviticus

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for information about our 50th anniversary Jubilee shabbaton please click HEre

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Second Night Seder on zoom

Aquarian Minyan online Seder April 23rd 7 PM Led by Rabbi Seidel - with a variety of Haggadot and your input and discussion ! . ON ZOOM - at the following link click HERE - no registration necessary although donations are welcome .

The Aquarian Minyan is very sad to announce the death of Martin Potrop (Menachem cHaim ben Dov ber haLevi v’shima Ronya bat cohen ) our former Shomer, friend and long-time member and leader of the Aquarian Minyan. Marty passed away suddenly on monday evening April 1 at 6 PM at Alta Bates hospital several days after surgery. May his memory be a blessing, We are sending our love and support to his sister Beverly and the larger family.

To view the funeral service which was held Sunday morning April 7th please click HERE

To contribute to the Aquarian Minyan in memory of Marty or Abigail you can use the donation link below

Please specify in whose name you are making the contribution

We remember our Alta Shomeret Abigail Grafton z”l 1940-2024

If you would like to view the funeral ceremony which occurred on Wed. March 20th in its YouTube location please visit the following link

Click HERE

Donations to help Shoshana pay for the mortuary, tahara and burial costs can be made through the Aquarian Minyan at our donation button below, please specify “Tzedakah fund” (NOT the Rabbi fund, that is different) and add a note “Abigail Grafton funeral expenses” . Donatons to the Tzedakah fund are tax-deductible.

Barukh dayan ha-emet v’rahamim. Blessed be the True and Compassionate Judge

Thanks to Rabbi Diane and Rabbi Irwin for helping to orchestrate, plan and accomplish a very moving funeral for Abigail .

 יְשִׁיבַת מִנְיַן אַקְוֵרִיאַן

The Aquarian Minyan Yeshiva - Adult jewish education shifting the paradigm one class at a time.

We are dedicated to the vision of renewing Judaism and jewish education for the 21st century

PLEASE DONATE GENEROUSLY TO our ONLINE ACADEMY OF JEWISH STUDIES – to support our adult education programing-

OUR TEACHERS AND STAFF ARE ENTIRELY SUPPORTED BY YOUR DONATIONS. yOU CAN HELP SUSTAIN THE YESHIVA – BY DONATING TO INDIVIDUAL TEACHERS (AT ANY TIME) OR MAKE A GENERAL CONTRIBUTION

Click HERE to support our Minyan Yeshivah

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Spring 2024 / 5784

Signs, Symbols and Somatics: Embodied Amulet Magic in the Jewish World

with Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Seidel

Mondays April 29 May 6, 13 and 20, and June 3

12pm Pacific Time / 3pm Eastern

*A minimum donation of $60 is suggested for all five sessions of this class. Recordings will be provided to all who register.

REGISTER HERE

Amulets have been a significant part of Jewish identity and life for thousands of years. But, what makes an amulet “Jewish?”  Are amulets sacred? Do they “work”? How did the “rationalists” view amulets in the modern era after the Enlightenment? How are amulet makers evaluated and tested? What survives in medieval and modern history of the form and function of ancient amulets? Can amulets be considered as part of Jewish shamanic practice?

The contested nature of these embodied protective objects as well as their aesthetics will be the subject of our discussion. Sessions: 1. Ancient Amulets and Prayers; the Media of amulets 2. Rabbinic Discussions of the Legal Status of Amulets 2. Geniza collection of Aramaic and Hebrew amulets 3. Medieval Jewish amulets in Hebrew and early Yiddish 4. Early modern collections in magical books and the rise of the Ba’alei Shem (shamanic healers and scribes) Week 5 will cover contemporary Jewish amulets.

About Rabbi Jonathan Seidel 

Rabbi Jonathan Seidel is Currently Rabbi in Residence at the Aquarian Minyan and Visiting Prof at the University of Portland where he teaches Comparative Religion, Bible and Theology. His High School Religious School project, written under the guidance of Rabbi Charles Kroloff was devoted to post Holocaust theology. At Oberlin College Rabbi Seidel studied Religion and Music, inter alia, and worked extensively in Interfaith programs.  A Fullbright Scholar at the U. of Cambridge Jonathan holds a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley.  Rabbi Seidel is in his 41st year of teaching at the University level and has served as Rabbi for much of the past few decades as well. He is currently Chair of the Oregon Board of Rabbis and President of the Oregon Interfaith Hub. He divides his time between Oregon , the San Francisco Bay Area and the New York Metropolitan Area 

KABBALAH AND SCIENCE: INTERSECTION AND DIALOGUE

WITH RABBI DR. JEFF AMSHALEM 

Tuesdays 12pm Pacific/ 3pm Eastern

April 9, 16, 30 and May 7

TO REGISTER CLICK HERE

*There is a minimum suggested donation of $60 for all four sessions of this class. Recordings will be provided to all who register

In this series we will look at the fascinating interplay of Kabbalah and science in the 17th and 18th centuries. Following the scientific revolution, most Westerners, not only Jews, were reconsidering the relationship between religion and science, as some people tried to categorically separate the two, others to unite the two, and others to put them in dialogue. Over four sessions we will learn from four Kabbalists who, each in his own way, can also be seen as scientists: Yehudah Loew ben Bezalel, better known as the Maharal of Prague, made famous as the creator of the golem but actually much more interesting for his thoughts on God and nature; Avraham Yagel, a physician, kabbalist, and naturalist who lived in northern Italy, a center of cosmopolitan learning and discovery; Pinhas of Korets, an early Hasidic master whose kabbalistic teachings and observations about nature as revealing God earned him the nickname "the divine philosopher"; and Pinhas Hurwitz, whose book Sefer ha-Brit, both a scientific encyclopedia and a kabbalistic treatise, is credited with bringing modern science into the orthodox world and the orthodox world into modernity. The series will combine background knowledge with focused study of these kabbalists' works.

About Rabbi Dr. Jeff Amshalem

Rabbi Dr. Jeff Amshalem has been in Jewish education for over twenty years in a variety of roles, and has done much of his learning and teaching in pluralistic environments such as Pardes and Beit Midrash Elul in Jerusalem and at Hebrew College in Massachusetts. He earned his PhD in Jewish Thought from Ben-Gurion University and has orthodox rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Daniel Landes and Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg of Jerusalem. He now teaches in the Religion Department at Tufts University and lives in Sharon, MA, with his chef wife, Ariella, four children, a dog, a cat, and a flock of chickens

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Aquarian Minyan Groups and other offerings

Healing Circle

with Rabbi Diane Elliot

Weekly, Fridays, 8:30am – 9:30am Pacific Time

Zoom link here

The Aquarian minyan book club

JOIN THE AQUARIAN MINYAN BOOK CLUB IN AN ONGOING DISCUSSION OF THE OUTSTANDING STUDY BY DR. SHOSHANA FERSHTMAN. THE BOOK CLUB NOW MEETS TWICE MONTHLY! WE WILL MEET again in 2024 on January 4 and January 25 AT 1:00 PM PACIFIC.

Join the book club at this link

*New members are cordially welcomed. For more information, please contact Shoshana Dembitz (sdembitz@gmail.com)

Sunday Nights Minyan Sharing in Memory of Martin Potrop Sept. 23, 1951- April 1, 2024. Z”l

Weekly, Sundays, 7pm - 8:30PM or more Pacific Time

ZOOM link here

(no registration necessary)

Our Rabbi in Residence this year is Rabbi Jonathan Seidel PhD . To contact him please write to rabbi@aquarianminyan.com

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