….To Renew the Old and Make Holy the New
Celebrating 50 Years!
Please Note our new phone number (510) 761-7710
Parshat Shemot Exodus 1:1-6:1
Haftarah - 1 Samuel 9:15-21
Kabbalat Shabbat Services are at 7pm PST
Jan. 17th Kabbalat Shabbat - Community Led on Zoom - join us in singing the liturgy and classic Civil Rights songs in honor of MLK
Weekly Shacharit Services are at 10AM PST
Jan. 18th Shabbat Shacharit- Community Led with Moreynu Ami and the Chevre. Drash and Torah discussion led by Jake Birnberg.
To read this week’s Aquarian Minyan Newsletter click HERE
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Click HERE to access our Calendar
Become a member of the aquarian minyan: click HERE
Aquarian Minyan Yeshivah
יְשִׁיבַת מִנְיַן אַקְוֵרִיאַן
NEW CLASSES FOR WINTER 2025 NOW OPEN FOR REGISTRATION:
Understanding Jewish Identity in a Changed World: Honoring and Celebrating our Diversity with Yoreshet D’vorah Grenn, Ph.D
(dvorahgrenn@me.com; dvorah@lillithinstitute.com)
Wednesdays at 12pm Pacific/3pm Eastern
January 8, 15, 22 and 29
To Register Click HERE
*There is a suggested minimum donation of $60 for all four sessions of this class. (Those who registered last month for this class under the previous title “Who is A Jew..with Dvorah Green” do not need to re-register)
How do people of multiple Judaisms connect with God and the Jewish people? There are cultural Jews, secular Jews, religious Jews, Jews by birth, Jews of color, Jews by choice, political Jews, Goddess Jews, “Jewitches”, Jewish pagans, and those who describe themselves as Jews who may not affiliate with any religious organization or who identify with any categories. In this class taught by author Yoreshet D’vorah Grenn We will explore multiple and intersecting theologies: what are the various ways we imagine, construct and connect with God? What are the limits of self-definition as “Jewish”? What prayers or rituals hold the most meaning for us? Can we define what makes us feel Jewish, the traits we feel give us our Jewish identity? What in our Jewish belief system or practices give our lives the most meaning?
Come explore the exciting contemporary challenges of Jewish identity with an outstanding educator who brings a fresh and inclusive perspective to the topic. Rabbi Jonathan Seidel will also join Dvorah Grenn to discuss some of the halakhic issues surrounding this topic.
Course material will include excerpts from Rabbi Rami Shapiro’s Judaism Without Tribalism: A Guide to Being a Blessing to All the Peoples of the Earth, and a chapter from Dr. Grenn’s dissertation, “For She Is A Tree of Life: Shared Roots Connecting Women to Deity - an Organic Theological Inquiry Into Identities, Beliefs and Practices Among South African Lemba and European-American Jewish Women.”
About Yoreshet D’vorah Grenn
Yoreshet D’vorah Grenn, Ph.D (she/her) is an educator, writer, Mashpi’ah Ruchanit / Spiritual Guide and Yoreshet. She founded The Lilith Institute, A Center for Feminist Spirituality in 1997, Co-Directed the Women’s Spirituality MA Program at ITP/Sofia University for eight years, and was a founding theorist of the Kohenet movement. She has taught Jewish Magic and Folklore, and The Sacred Feminine in Judaism for Hebrew College and Ner Shalom/Cotati, and Humanities and Philosophy classes at Napa Valley College. D’vorah also just completed a Women’s Sacred Conversations with G’d class for Hebrew College as well.
Flavors of The Diaspora: Exploring Jewish Foodways, Herbal Wisdom and Women with Naomi Stein and Rabbi Jonathan Seidel PhD
Tuesdays 12pm Pacific
January 21, 28, February 4,11,18 and 25 and March 4
To Register Click HERE
*There is a suggested minimum donation of $72 for all seven sessions of this class. Please contribute what you can. Recordings of these sessions will be provided to all who register along with weekly resource documents with recipes, and other resources.
Come along with Rabbi Jonathan Seidel and Balabuste Naomi Stein as they unpack food as culture bearer, as medicine and as memory holder. We will follow the journey of Jewish foods, with a focus on plants and herbs, as they migrated from our Biblical homeland throughout the diaspora. Come explore the influence of neighboring communities as well as the skillful adaptation of the Jewish cooks and herbalists of the diaspora, the importance of geography, agriculture, and the issue of “cultural appropriation.” We will reveal treasured history embedded in recipes, and share the stories that flavor our foods. Learn from Rabbi Jonathan as he illuminates little known aspects of Jewish foodways in history, holidays, Shabbat,and family gatherings. We will include the relationship of cuisine, commensality (who we eat with) and Kashrut. We will explore how dishes and recipes "traveled" and evolved. We will also consider Naomi Stein's bold assertion that Jewish women have and continue to treat our families and communities through the foods we serve, as we investigate the relationship between the healing properties of common Jewish foods and the particular medical concerns of Jewish communities.
About Naomi Stein
Naomi Stein is a culture keeper, researching, studying and teaching about Jewish Ethnobotany. She worked for the Lawrence Hall of Science, U.C. Berkeley’s public science center, for close to two decades, leading environmental education, theatre and science programming, funded by the National Science Foundation, the State of California and the National Institute of Health (among scores of others). Her work has been published by the University and WestEd. As a Backcountry Programs Director, she led over 1,000 youth through the Sierras and California coast. You are welcome to reach out to her directly at jewishherbalist@gmail.com
About Rabbi Jonathan Seidel
Rabbi Jonathan Seidel PhD is the Rabbi in Residence at the Aquarian Minyan and the Rosh Yeshivah. He has taught a variety of Jewish food history and Foodways courses over the last 10 years and enjoys Jewish cuisine from all over the globe. Rabbi Jonathan Seidel is also 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.
Shir L’Shalom - A Song to Peace: Modern Israeli Poetry and Writings on War & Peace, Pain & Healing with Rabbi Moshe Halfon, MHL, DD
Wednesdays 12pm Pacific/ 3pm Eastern
February 5, 12, 19, 20 and March 5, 2025
To Register Click HERE
*There is a suggested minimum donation of $75 for all five sessions of this class. Recordings will be provided to all who register.
In Hebrew the word shir or shira can mean both “poem” ,and “song.”
Join Rabbi Moshe as he shares a carefully collected selection of poems and short written pieces from 20th and 21st century Israeli writers who struggle with the perennial and timely topics of war and peace, life and death, faith, justice, Israel itself, and their own souls. During this five week long class, writings of notables such as Yehuda Amichai, Natan Zach, Ehud Manor, Zelda, Rachel Bluwstein, Natan Yonatan, and Amir Gilboa will be explored. In addition to sharing these writings in spoken word form, Reb Moshe will also perform some of the poems which have been put to music. These works will be presented in Hebrew and English translation in a way that will be enjoyable and accessible for those without a background in Hebrew language. At the same time, these readings will be enriched by frequent reference to the sense of the original Hebrew, including the nuance of translation possibilities, that should prove stimulating for those with a more extensive background in Hebrew.
About Rabbi Moshe Halfon
Rabbi Moshe Raphael Halfon has been in the vanguard of spiritual and musical exploration for forty years, and has taught Kabbalah, Midrash and Middle Eastern dance at retreats throughout North America, Brazil and Israel. He is currently rabbi of Mt. Sinai Congregation in Cheyenne, WY, having "played every position on the rabbi baseball team" including pulpit rabbi, cantor, Hillel director and chaplain. His album of Jewish healing chants "Let There Be Light” is used by communities worldwide. Rabbi Moshe was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia, completed a Masters degree in Educational Psychology at Temple University, and studied closely with Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. He received his BA in Jewish Studies at UCLA, where he also studied dance and Hebrew and Yiddish literature, founded the UCLA Bayit, and ran UCLA’s first Jewish Arts Festival. Rabbi Halfon has also studied at the Hartman Rabbinical Program in Jerusalem over the last several years and has taught previously for the Aquarian Minyan Yeshiva.
The 50th Anniversary Celebration has no Expiration Date !!
To read the J Weekly article about our 50th celebration click here:
Reviving, Renewing and Celebrating the Old Aquarian Minyan Spirit, Serving up Joy to the Divine in Difficult Times - Mazal Tov to all of us and thank you to the Planning Committee that worked HARD on the Jubilee
Aquarian Minyan Groups and other offerings
The Aquarian Minyan Book Club — meets on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the Month at its new start time of 2:00PM
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!
Note: The Aquarian Minyan Book Club meets again on Tuesday January 14 2025
To Join the book club on Zoom click HERE
*New members are cordially welcomed. For more information, please contact Shoshana Dembitz (sdembitz@gmail.com)
Sunday Nights Minyan Sharing
Weekly, Sundays, 7pm - 8:30PM or more Pacific Time
in Memory of Martin Potrop Sept. 23, 1951- April 1, 2024. Z”L
